Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi Disappointed UN Security Council Disagrees With Ceasefire Resolution In Gaza

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi delivered Indonesia's statement at the UN General Assembly Session to discuss the situation of Gaza, in New York, USA, on November 28, 2023. (Between/HO-Kemlu RI/am)

JAKARTA - Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Saturday expressed disappointment over the failure of the UN Security Council (DK) adopting a draft resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire to stop bloodshed in the Gaza Strip, Palestine.

"I deeply regret the failure of the Security Council in adopting a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza despite more than 102 countries, including Indonesia, participating in sponsoring the resolution," Retno said on social media platform X, quoted by Antara.

He stressed that the global community cannot continue to depend on the mercy of some countries and is powerless to witness the atrocities and killings of women and children in Gaza.

The UN DK resolution draft was vetoed by the US on Friday (8/12), although supported by 13 other DK members. Meanwhile, Britain, one in five permanent members of UN DK who own veto rights, chose abstain.

The draft resolution calls on all warring parties to comply with international law, particularly protection for civilians, demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and asks UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to report to the council on the implementation of the ceasefire.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), which proposed the draft, said it was trying to resolve the resolution as soon as the death toll increased during the 63-day war.

Guterres on Wednesday (6/12) used Article 99 of the UN Charter for the first time since he took office at the top of the organization in 2017, calling for a ceasefire and saying that current conditions in Gaza did not allow "mean humanitarian operations."

On the other hand, Robert Wood, a US representative for the United Nations, said the Joe Biden administration used veto rights because the ceasefire would keep Hamas in power inGaza.

"As long as Hamas remains on its destruction ideology, any ceasefire is only temporary and certainly not peace. And a ceasefire that allows Hamas to continue to control Gaza will close opportunities for Palestinian civilians to build something better for themselves," Wood said.

"Therefore, although the US strongly supports eternal peace in which Israel and Palestine can live peacefully and safely, we do not support a resolution call for a ceasefire that will only be the seeds of the next war," he added.

More than 17,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 46 thousand others injured in Gaza as a result of Israel's continuous air and ground attacks, according to Gaza's health authorities.

About 70 percent of the death tolls were women and children, and about 1.8 million residents had fled to safer areas.

Israel launched a war in Gaza in retaliation for cross-border attacks by the Palestinian Hamas resistance group on October 7. The attack killed more than 1,200 Israelis and another 240 were taken to Gaza as hostages.

The ceasefire over the week allowed the release of about 100 hostages and the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, although the number was very small compared to the time before the war.

After the ceasefire ended on December 1, the amount of aid was reduced again and Israel continued its attack on the Palestinian enclave.