India on Tuesday voted in favour of resolution at United Nations General Assembly that demanded immediate humanitarian ceasefire on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas and also release of hostages without conditions.
Several countries including Algeria, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, Palestine, United Arab Emirates and others voted in favour of the humanitarian ceasefire while, ten countries including Israel and United States votes in opposition. 23 countries abstained from voting.
Soon after the voting at United Nations Palestinian envoy said, “It’s a historic day in terms of the powerful message that was sent from the General Assembly”.
“India has voted in favour of the resolution just adopted by the General Assembly. The situation that this August body has been deliberating upon has many dimensions. There was the terrorist attack in Israel on 7 October and the concern for the hostages taken at that time. There is an enormous humanitarian crisis and a large-scale loss of civilian lives, especially of women and children. There is the issue of observing international humanitarian law in all circumstances. And there is the endeavour to find a peaceful and lasting two-state solution to the longstanding Palestine question,” said Ruchira Kamboj, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN.
She further said that India praises the unity brought by the number of countries to find a common ground to address the serious implications of the war between Israel and Hamas.
“Our challenge, in this extraordinarily difficult time, is to strike the right balance. The gravity and complexity of what the international community faces are underlined by the secretary general invoking Article 99 of the Charter of the United Nations. We, therefore, welcome the fact that the international community unity has been able to find a common ground to address the multiple challenges facing the region right now,” said Ms Kamboj.
In October, India had abstained from voting on a similar resolution that demanded immediate humanitarian truce in the Israel-Hamas war.