Following five months of violence in Palestine, South Africa has welcomed the decision by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza after the US withheld its veto to enable the adoption of Resolution 2728 (2024).
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‘South Africa has welcomed the adoption of Resolution 2728 (2024) by the UNSC on 25 March 2024, which demands an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip for the Holy Month of Ramadan,’ department spokesperson Clayson Monyela said in a DIRCO statement.
Commenting on the resolution in the statement, minister Pandor reiterated: ‘South Africa is pleased that the Security Council has, at long last, demanded an immediate and lasting ceasefire for the month of Ramadan and the Resolution must also propose that this ceasefire should lead to a lasting sustainable ceasefire.’
Pandor added that South Africa has been calling for a ceasefire for many, many weeks.
Minister Naledi Pandor speaking to @UbuntuRadioZA and reacting to the UN Security Council resolution on ceasefire in the Gaza, for the month of Ramadan. #PeaceAndSecurity #CeaseFireNow #MultilateralMatters pic.twitter.com/VHVcEzPHmm
— DIRCO South Africa (@DIRCO_ZA) March 25, 2024
The legally binding resolution also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and emphasises the urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian access to civilians in the entire Gaza Strip by lifting all barriers to the provision of aid at scale and in line with international humanitarian law.
The DIRCO statement added that ‘it is now the responsibility of the UNSC to ensure there is compliance, which will be binding from both parties’ with Pandor saying that the UNSC ‘will be tested’ in this regard.
Fourteen countries voted in favour of the draft, proposed by the UN’s ten elected members, while the United States abstained.
#BREAKING
Security Council ADOPTS resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for the month of Ramadan leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire, and the immediate, unconditional release of all hostagesIN FAVOR: 14
AGAINST: 0
ABSTAIN: 1 (US)⤵️https://t.co/chqgoyKICb pic.twitter.com/kisp5YDyGT
— UN News (@UN_News_Centre) March 25, 2024
As per SABC News, the adoption follows a failure in the Council last week to pass a US-drafted text that determined the imperative for a ceasefire but failed to explicitly demand its immediate implementation.
This text does exactly that.
It’s unclear if it will be implemented, particularly by Israel, which has already begun criticising the resolution because it does not explicitly condemn Hamas, which has been a key ask for both Israel and the United States.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a planned visit to Washington following the vote, according to Reuters. A high-level delegation was meant to visit to discuss a planned Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where some 1.5 million Palestinians have sought shelter.
Hamas welcomed the UNSC resolution, saying in a statement that it ‘affirms readiness to engage in immediate prisoner swaps on both sides’.
Some 32 000 people, of whom around 13 000 are children, have been killed since October last year.
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Picture: @UN_News_Centre / X