UN General Assembly Adopts Resolution for Immediate Gaza Cease-Fire

Facts

• The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly backed on Tuesday a resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza after over two months of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, with 153 votes in favor, 10 against, and 23 abstentions. ¹
• This non-binding, symbolic measure comes as a similar resolution failed in the UN Security Council last week due to a US veto on the grounds that a cease-fire would allow Hamas to regroup and possibly launch another attack like Oct. 7. ²
• Meanwhile, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed concern about reports of Israeli forces entering the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza after days of siege. Al Jazeera stated that some 3K people are believed to be taking shelter at the facility. ³
• Earlier in the day, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israeli forces had surrounded Hamas "strongholds" in Shejaiya and Jabalya in northern Gaza, claiming that the situation was at "a breaking point" and Hamas forces in the area were "on the verge of dismantling." Fighting has raged in and around Shejaiya and Jabaliya in the last week. ⁴
• Gallant on Monday indicated that the current phase of ground operations in Gaza will wind down in a few more weeks, but he didn't commit to a firm timeline. Nonetheless, he signaled that Israeli military activity could continue for months, with the military focused on “pockets of resistance.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said that Israel will maintain indefinite security control over Gaza.⁵
• Gaza's health ministry reports that the conflict has left over 18K people in the Gaza Strip dead and over 50K wounded. The official Israeli death toll stands at 1.2K people and there are still 135 hostages being held in the enclave, with Israel declaring 19 of them dead in absentia on Tuesday.⁶

Sources: ¹BBC News, ²Voice of America, ³Al Jazeera, ⁴CNN, ⁵Time, and ⁶Haaretz.com.

Narratives

• Pro-Israel narrative, as provided by Jerusalem Post. Though this has been a tragic war, Israel cannot allow Hamas to survive. Hamas seized upon the temporary pause to mark Israeli positions and prepare itself for continued attacks on Israeli forces in Gaza. Indeed, the pace at which Israeli forces maneuvered in Gaza threw Hamas's military leadership off-kilter, and Israel will have to work intelligently in its campaign in the south of the strip to fully eliminate the terrorist group so it can never launch an attack like Oct. 7 again.
• Pro-Palestine narrative, as provided by Middle East Eye. Israel continues to demonstrate that its war is not against Hamas but against the Palestinian people as a whole. Nowhere in Gaza is safe, and Israel has effectively rendered the north of the strip unlivable. Unfortunately, the temporary ceasefire only gave civilians a few days of relative rest, and now Israel has returned to killing Palestinians at an unprecedented rate. The US, Israel's biggest ally, must exert more pressure to end the war.
• Nerd narrative, as provided by Metaculus. There's a 50% chance that Israel will lift the Gaza Strip total blockade on electricity, food, gasoline, and medicine by February 2024, according to the Metaculus prediction community.