Just within the past three days, there have been seven different delays or postponements in a UN Security Council (UNSC) vote on humanitarian aid getting into Gaza.

According to diplomats, The UN Security Council vote on a bid to boost aid to the Gaza Strip and ask the UN to monitor humanitarian aid deliveries there has been delayed at the request of the U.S.

Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, the UAE’s Ambassador to the UN, has voiced hope for a resolution calling for the suspension of hostilities in Gaza to pass at the Security Council.

“I am optimistic, and if this fails then we will continue to keep trying because we have to keep trying,” Nusseibeh told reporters.

“There is too much suffering on the ground for the council to continue to fail on this .. we have a resolution and we need to build on that,” she added.

According to the United Arab Emirates envoy to the UN, the vote will take place on Thursday, December 21, 2023.

“Everyone wants to see a resolution that has impact and is implementable on the ground, and there are some discussions going on on how to make that possible,” Nusseibeh, whose country drafted the resolution, said.

The text aims to dilute Israel’s control over all humanitarian aid deliveries to the 2.3 million people of Gaza. The initial text has been reportedly modified to soften calls to end the fighting in Gaza to avoid yet another veto from the US.

Currently, Israel monitors the limited humanitarian aid and fuel deliveries to Gaza via the Rafah crossing from Egypt and the Israel-controlled Karem Abu Salem crossing, known as Kerem Shalom in Hebrew.

Diplomats say the negotiations have aimed to avoid a veto by the U.S, which has raised objections around the phrase “cessation of hostilities” in the original draft.

The U.S and Israel oppose a ceasefire, believing it would benefit only Hamas. Washington instead supports pauses in fighting to protect civilians and allow the release of captives taken by Hamas.

It is believed that the main bone of contention is the language in the draft about a monitoring mechanism being implemented.

It would be the United Nations that takes the lead in overseeing and facilitating aid entering into Gaza and then its distribution to the people who need it the most.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in comments after the UNSC again delayed voting on the resolution, said in a post on X that “intense fighting, lack of electricity, limited fuel and disrupted telecommunications” have “severely” restricted the UN’s efforts “to provide life-saving aid to Palestinians in Gaza.”

“Conditions to allow for large-scale humanitarian operations need to be reestablished immediately,” he added.

Head of Amnesty International Expresses Frustration Over Vote Delay

Agnes Callamard, the Head of Amnesty International, expressed frustration in a brief post on X amid news that a UN Security Council (UNSC) vote on a new Gaza resolution was again postponed.

“Millions of people around the world have advocated for a ceasefire and are now waiting for the UN Security Council vote over humanitarian access to Gaza. Will the US government listen to the world demands? Or will it continue in its deadly inhuman course?” she wrote.

In a series of posts on social media, former Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official, Hanan Ashrawi shared what it feels like to watch the devastation wrought by Israel’s attacks on Gaza from afar.

“Can you put on warm clothes without remembering them shivering in the cold?” she asked.

“Can you take refuge in your safe home without remembering how their homes are being destroyed even with whole families inside them? Can you hold your loved ones without remembering how they lost their[s]?

“Can you forget the torn bodies, the traumatised wounded children, the haunted look in the eyes of those who have lost everything & everyone, the horrible rubble of everything that sustained life now turned into a mass grave or trap for the injured? I can’t. You can’t.”
Hanan Ashrawi