By Palestine Chronicle Staff 
“This resolution must be implemented. Failure would be unforgivable.”
The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has said a failure to implement the UN Security Council resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire in the besieged Gaza Strip would be “unforgivable.”
“The Security Council just approved a long-awaited resolution on Gaza, demanding an immediate ceasefire, and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages,” Guterres stated on X on Monday. “This resolution must be implemented. Failure would be unforgivable.”
His remarks came after the Security Council adopted a resolution earlier demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, with the UN refraining from using its veto power for the first time, after 171 days of war.
“The Security Council just approved a long-awaited resolution on Gaza, demanding an immediate ceasefire, and the immediate & unconditional release of all hostages.
This resolution must be implemented. Failure would be unforgivable.”
— @antonioguterreshttps://t.co/nOBuQOkxnj pic.twitter.com/68306FOR31
— United Nations (@UN) March 25, 2024
US Abstention
The resolution, which was presented by non-permanent members of the Security Council, “demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a sustainable lasting ceasefire.”
It also “demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, stressing the urgent need to increase aid and demanding the removal of all obstacles to its delivery.”
The resolution, which was written by the ten elected members to the council and was proposed in the council by Mozambique’s representative, passed with 14 votes in favor and the US abstaining.
Rising Death Toll
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 32,333 Palestinians have been killed, and 74,694 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire.’
(The Palestine Chronicle)
