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The UN General Assembly approved a nonbinding resolution Friday calling for a “humanitarian truce” in Gaza leading to a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers, the first United Nations response to the war.

The 193-member world body adopted the resolution by a vote of 120-14 with 45 abstentions after rejecting a Canadian amendment backed by the United States. It would have unequivocally condemned the Oct 7 “terrorist attacks” by Hamas and demanded the immediate release of hostages taken by Hamas, which is not mentioned in the Arab-drafted resolution.

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN ambassador, called the General Assembly “more courageous, more principled” than the divided UN Security Council, which failed in four attempts during the past two weeks to reach agreement on a resolution. Two were vetoed and two failed to get the minimum nine “yes” votes required for approval.

Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan called it “a day that will go down in infamy,” saying after the vote: “Israel will not stop the operation until Hamas terror capabilities are destroyed and our hostages are returned. … And the only way to destroy Hamas is root them out of their tunnels and subterranean city of terror.”

Frustrated Arab nations went to the General Assembly, where there are no vetoes—just as Ukraine did after Russia’s Feb 2022 invasion because of Moscow’s Security Council veto power—to press for a UN response. And the United Arab Emirates Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh, the Arab representative on the Security Council, expressed delight at the result.

“120 votes in this kind of geopolitical environment is a very, very high signal of the support for international law, for proportionate use of force, and it is a rejection of the status quo that is currently happening on the ground,” she said.

The 14 countries that voted against the resolution include Israel and its closest ally, the United States, five Pacific island nations and four European countries—Austria, Croatia, Czechia and Hungary, all European Union members. Eight EU members voted in favor.

France’s UN Ambassador Nicolas De Riviere said his country supported the resolution “because nothing could justify the suffering of civilians,” and he urged collective efforts to establish a humanitarian truce.

Mansour said the European votes indicate they can be “very helpful” in pursuing a Security Council resolution “or in maximizing pressure in Israel to stop this war.”

While the surprise Hamas attacks killed some 1,400 Israelis, more than 7,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory airstrikes, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The escalating death toll and destruction in Gaza heightened international support for “humanitarian truces” to get desperately needed food, water, medicine and fuel to the 2.3m people in Gaza.

Unlike Security Council resolutions, General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding but the UAE’s Nusseibeh told reporters “they carry incredible weight and moral authority.”

She said the 10 elected Security Council members, who serve two-year terms, will take the “moral authority” from the General Assembly and try to break the gridlock on a council resolution.

The votes came part way through a list of 113 speakers at an emergency special session of the General Assembly on Israeli actions in occupied Palestinian territories.

Jordan’s UN Ambassador Mahmoud Hmoud, speaking on behalf of the UN’s 22-nation Arab group, called for action on the resolution because of the urgency of the escalating situation on the ground.

Before the vote, Hmoud urged defeat of the Canadian amendment, saying “Israel is responsible for the atrocities that are being committed now, and that will be committed in the ground invasion of Gaza.”

Canada’s UN Ambassador Robert Rae countered that the resolution appears to forget that the events of Oct 7 happened. The amendment would condemn Hamas, “which is responsible for one of the worst terrorist attacks in history,” he said.

Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram drew loud applause when he said the Arab-drafted resolution deliberately didn’t condemn or mention Israel or name any other party. “If Canada was really equitable,” Akram said, “it would agree either to name everybody—both sides who are guilty of having committed crimes—or it would not name either as we chose.”

The vote on the Canadian amendment was 88-55 with 23 abstentions, but it failed to get a two-thirds majority of those voting for or against—abstentions didn’t count. In the vote on the entire resolution that followed, Canada abstained.

The assembly’s emergency special session, which began Wednesday, continued Friday morning with US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield echoing Israel’s Erdan in calling the resolution “outrageous” for never mentioning Hamas and saying it is “detrimental” to the vision of a two-state solution.

She called it “a perilous moment for Israelis and Palestinians,” stressing that there is no justification for Hamas “terror,” that Palestinians are being used as human shields and that “the lives of innocent Palestinians must be protected.”

Oman, speaking on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council, condemned Israel’s “siege” of Gaza, starvation of its population and collective punishment of Palestinians. But it said the Palestinians won’t be deterred from demanding their “legitimate inalienable rights, chief among them the right to self- determination and the right to establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

In addition to calling for “an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities,” the resolution adopted Friday demands that all parties immediately comply with their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law requiring protection of civilians and the schools, hospitals and other infrastructure critical for their survival.

The resolution demands that essential supplies be allowed into the Gaza Strip and humanitarian workers have sustained access. And it calls on Israel to rescind its order for Gazans to evacuate the north and move to the south and “firmly rejects any attempts at the forced transfer of the Palestinian civilian population.”

The resolution also stresses the need “to urgently establish a mechanism to ensure the protection of the Palestinian civilian population.”

And it “emphasizes the importance of preventing further destabilization and escalation of violence in the region” and calls on all parties to exercise “maximum restraint” and on all those with influence to press them “to work toward this objective.”

AP

Washington: China’s top diplomat is meeting high-level US officials, possibly including President Joe Biden, on a highly watched visit to Washington that could help stabilize the US-China ties by facilitating a summit between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister, met Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday afternoon, shortly after he landed for the three-day visit and quickly raised hopes that the relationship can be steadied.

Before going into their closed-door meeting, Wang said China would seek consensus and cooperation to “push the relationship as soon as possible back to the track of healthy, stable and sustainable development.”

Before the meeting, US officials said they would press Wang on the importance of China stepping up its role on the world stage if it wants to be considered a responsible major international player. The US has been disappointed with China over its support for Russia in the war against Ukraine and its relative silence on the Israel-Hamas war.

“China should use whatever ability it has as an influential power to urge calm” in the Middle East, said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. “We know China has relationships with a number of countries in the region, and we would urge them to use those relationships, the lines of communication they have, to urge calm and stability.”

US officials believe the Chinese have considerable leverage with Iran, which is a major backer of Hamas.

In a readout after the meeting, the State Department said the two men addressed “areas of difference” and “areas of cooperation,” while Blinken “reiterated that the United States will continue to stand up for our interests and values and those of our allies and partners.”

China’s Foreign Ministry said, “The two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on China-US relations and issues of common concern in a constructive atmosphere.”

Wang is scheduled to meet again Friday with Blinken as well as national security adviser Jake Sullivan. They are expected to urge China to play a constructive role in both the Israel-Hamas and Russia-Ukraine wars.

It’s not yet clear if Wang will meet with Biden. The diplomatic practice of reciprocity suggests it is likely, since Blinken met with Xi when he visited China in June.

Neither side has confirmed whether Biden and Xi will meet next month on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders gathering in San Francisco. But Wang’s trip indicates the likelihood is extremely high, said Scott Kennedy, senior adviser and trustee chair in Chinese business and economics at the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“His visit is most likely about nailing down the agenda and negotiating potential deliverables,” Kennedy said.

The Chinese president last came to the US in 2017, when former President Donald Trump hosted him at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Biden, who took office in 2021, has yet to host Xi on US soil. The two men last met in Bali, Indonesia, in Nov 2022, on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meeting of leading rich and developing nations.

The US-China relationship began to sour in 2018 when the Trump administration slapped hefty tariffs on $50bn worth of Chinese goods. It deteriorated further over a range of issues, including rights abuses, the South China Sea, Taiwan, technology and the Covid-19 pandemic.

AP

Kathmandu: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is scheduled to arrive in Kathmandu on Oct 29 during his four-day visit to Nepal. Secretary-General Guterres is visiting Nepal at the invitation of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Prime Minister Dahal extended this invitation while attending the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September and the United Nations Food Summit in Rome, Italy in July.

Prime Minister Dahal’s press advisor, Govinda Acharya, informed that the UN Secretary-General’s initial visit, set for Oct 13-15, was postponed due to the Hamas militants’ attack on Israel and is now rescheduled for Oct 29. During his visit, discussions will focus on concluding Nepal’s ongoing peace process and establishing sustainable peace in the country. Climate change, sustainable development, and the agenda for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) will also be in the spotlight.

Guterres had previously visited Nepal in 2007 in his capacity as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Guterres, who has been serving as the United Nations Secretary-General for a second term since 2017, succeeded Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, issuing a press statement on Friday, said the Secretary-General will be accompanied by Jean Pierre Lacroix, Under Secretary General for Peace Operations, Hanaa Singer-Hamdy, the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations to Nepal and other officials from the UN Headquarters in New York and the United Nations country team in Nepal.

During his visit, the Secretary-General is scheduled to pay courtesy calls on President Ramchandra Paudel and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. He will also meet with the leaders of major political parties, including Nepali Congress President and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN-UML Chairperson and former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

Secretary-General Guterres is scheduled to address a joint session of the federal parliament at 4:00 pm on Oct 31 (Tuesday). 

During his four-day visit, he is scheduled to visit Patan Durbar Square, Pokhara, Annapurna Base Camp, and Lumbini among other places.

Washington: The US military launched airstrikes early Friday on two locations in eastern Syria linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Pentagon said, in retaliation for a slew of drone and missile attacks against US bases and personnel in the region that began early last week.

The US strikes reflect the Biden administration's determination to maintain a delicate balance. The US wants to hit Iranian-backed groups suspected of targeting the US as strongly as possible to deter future aggression, possibly fueled by Israel's war against Hamas, while also working to avoid inflaming the region and provoking a wider conflict.

Information about the specific targets and other details were not yet provided.

According to the Pentagon, there have been at least 12 attacks on US bases and personnel in Iraq and four in Syria since Oct 17. Air Force Brig Gen Pat Ryder said 21 US personnel were injured in two of those assaults that used drones to target al-Asad Airbase in Iraq and al-Tanf Garrison in Syria.

In a statement, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the “precision self-defense strikes are a response to a series of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militia groups that began on Oct 17.”

He said President Joe Biden directed the narrowly tailored strikes “to make clear that the United States will not tolerate such attacks and will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests.” And he added that the operation was separate and distinct from Israel's war against Hamas.

The Biden administration has not accused Iran of having a direct role in the Oct 7 Hamas attack on Israel and has said it appears so far that Tehran was not aware of it beforehand. But the US has noted that Iran has long supported Hamas and has raised concerns that Iran and its proxies could turn the conflict into a wider war.

Austin said the US does not seek a broader conflict, but if Iranian proxy groups continue, the US won’t hesitate to take additional action to protect its forces.

According to the Pentagon, all the US personnel hurt in the militant attacks received minor injuries and all returned to duty. In addition, a contractor suffered a cardiac arrest and died while seeking shelter from a possible drone attack.

The retaliatory strikes came as no surprise. Officials at the Pentagon and the White House have made it clear for the past week that the US would respond, with Ryder saying again Thursday that it would be “at the time and place of our choosing.”

“I think we’ve been crystal clear that we maintain the inherent right of defending our troops and we will take all necessary measures to protect our forces and our interests overseas,” he told reporters during a Pentagon briefing earlier in the day.

Biden said Wednesday that he warned Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, that if Tehran continues to “move against” US forces in the Middle East, “we will respond.”

The latest spate of strikes by the Iranian-linked groups came in the wake of a deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital, triggering protests in a number of Muslim nations. The Israeli military has relentlessly attacked Gaza in retaliation for the devastating Hamas rampage in southern Israel nearly three weeks ago, but Israel has denied responsibility for the al-Ahli hospital blast and the US has said its intelligence assessment found that Tel Aviv was not to blame.

The US, including the Pentagon, has repeatedly said any strike response by America would be directly tied to the attacks on the troops, and not connected to the war between Israel and Hamas. Such retaliation and strikes against Iranian targets in Syria after similar attacks on US bases are routine.

In March, for example, the US struck sites in Syria used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard after an Iranian-linked attack killed a US contractor and wounded seven other Americans in northeast Syria. American F-15 fighter jets flying out of al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar struck several locations around Deir el-Zour.

US officials have routinely stressed that the American response is designed to be proportional, and is aimed at deterring strikes against US personnel who are focused on the fight against the Islamic State group.

US officials have not publicly tied the recent string of attacks in Syria and Iraq to the violence in Gaza, but Iranian officials have openly criticized the US for providing weapons to Israel that have been used to strike Gaza, resulting in civilian death.

The Pentagon, meanwhile, has beefed up air defenses in the region to protect US forces. The US has said it is sending several batteries of Patriot missile systems, a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery and additional fighter jets.

The THAAD is being sent from Fort Bliss, Texas, and the Patriot batteries are from Fort Liberty in North Carolina and Fort Sill in Oklahoma. An Avenger air defense system from Fort Liberty is also being sent.

Officials have said as much as two battalions of Patriots are being deployed. A battalion can include at least three Patriot batteries, which each have six to eight launchers.

Ryder said Thursday that about 900 troops have deployed or are in the process of going to the Middle East region, including those associated with the air defense systems.

AP