The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: India voted in favour of a resolution passed by the United Nations General Assembly demanding an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in the devastated Gaza Strip on December 11.
India was among the 158 countries which voted in favour of the resolution. Nine countries voted against – the US, Argentina, Czechia, Hungary, Israel, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and Tonga. There were 13 abstentions.
The vote was triggered by the use of veto by the US to stop the approval of a draft resolution by the UN Security Council.
The adopted resolution (A/RES/ES-10/26) demanded an “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire, to be respected by all parties, and further reiterates its demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”.
The General Assembly also approved another resolution which provides backing for the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
The Israeli parliament passed two bills at the end of October banning UNRWA from operating on Israeli soil and prohibiting Israeli authorities from communicating with its staff. The legislation is set to come into effect 90 days after it was passed.
“Without UNRWA, it is safe to say people will die; more people will die,” Juliette Touma, communications director for the UN’s agency for Palestine refugees, has said.
The resolution asked that Israel respect UNRWA’s mandate and “enable its operations to proceed without impediment or restriction.”
This was passed with 159 votes in favour. The US, Israel and seven other countries voted against it, while 11 others abstained.
Speaking at the assembly, the representative of Saudi Arabia said that the use of veto had been “used to prevent any real, substantial action on Gaza more than once over the last 14 months”.
A senior US diplomat claimed that the vote on the ceasefire risked “sending a dangerous message” to Hamas when it was feeling isolated due to the ceasefire in Lebanon. At the same time, he said, “Israel’s fight is with Hamas, not UNRWA”.
The Israeli diplomat reiterated that UNRWA had been “hopelessly infiltrated by Hamas”, while asserting that Assembly resolutions are “beyond logic”.
India has not issued an explanation, but its stance on the Gaza war has been to condemn the October 7 terror attack while also expressing concern over the loss of civilian lives.
Initially, its position leaned more towards Israel, but it has since adopted a more nuanced approach as the conflict has progressed.
Since Israel’s military offensive in Gaza began, the UN General Assembly has passed 15 resolutions, with India abstaining on three occasions. Two of these abstentions occurred in the early months of the Gaza war, before India began voting in favour of resolutions advocating a ceasefire.
The most recent instance of India abstaining on an Israel-Palestine resolution in the General Assembly followed the landmark International Court of Justice ruling that called for Israel to end its occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.