UN Security Council demands Gaza aid deliveries 'at scale'
After days of delays, the resolution also called for the creation of «conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities» but did not call for an immediate end to fighting.
Russia and the United States, which both could have vetoed the measure as permanent members of the council, abstained, meaning it passed with 13 votes in favor.
Nonetheless, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield called the resolution «a strong step forward.»
«This council provided a glimmer of hope among a sea of suffering,» she said.
UN chief Antonio Guterres said in the wake of the vote that Israel's offensive was the «real problem» to getting aid shipments into Gaza, as he reiterated his call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
The Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour said using humanitarian aid «as a method of war has to end now.»
«You need to stop the killer to save the patient,» he said calling the resolution a «step in the right direction.»
Diplomatic wrangling at United Nations headquarters in Manhattan — causing the vote to be postponed several times this week — has come against the backdrop of deteriorating conditions in Gaza and a mounting death toll.
Russian ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya condemned the United States for «blocking an extremely weak call for cessation of hostilities.»
«If this document weren't supported by a number of Arab states we would of course have vetoed it,» he said.
The United Arab Emirates sponsored the resolution, which was amended in several key areas to secure compromise.
The UAE's ambassador to the UN Lana Zaki Nusseibeh said «it responds with action to the dire humanitarian situation.»
«We know this is not a perfect
