TheCable

Nigeria has joined 119 members of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to vote for an immediate humanitarian truce in the war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group.

The general assembly convened on Friday in New York, United States, as Israel intensified its bombardment on Gaza after announcing an expansion in ground operations.

Telephone and internet services have been cut off in Gaza and residents said Friday’s air strikes were the most intense they had seen since the war broke out three weeks ago.

During the UNGA session, the 193-member body passed the resolution calling for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities”.

The UNGA also said it “firmly rejects any attempts at the forced transfer of the Palestinian civilian population”.

The resolution also stated the need to avoid a wider escalation of the fighting and demanded increased humanitarian aid for Gaza.

The move was led by a group of 22 Arab countries and 120 countries voted in favour, with 14 countries voting against, and 45 abstaining. 

The US, Israel, Austria, Croatia, Czechia, Fiji, Hungary, Guatemala, Papua Guinea, and Nauru were among those who voted against it.

Gilad Erdan, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, said “a ceasefire means giving Hamas time to rearm itself,” adding that the vote was not intended to bring peace but to “tie Israel’s hands”.

Meanwhile, a Canadian-introduced amendment to the resolution that would have added a condemnation of the Hamas attack did not receive the necessary two-thirds majority.