The UN Security Council broke its silence for the first time since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, calling on Wednesday for “truces and humanitarian corridors” in the Gaza Strip. The resolution drafted by Malta calls for “large-scale and urgent truces and humanitarian corridors for a sufficient number of days.”

On Wednesday evening, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution calling for the implementation of urgent humanitarian truces in the Gaza Strip, with the approval of 12 countries and the abstention of Britain, the United States and Russia from voting.

The resolution, drafted by Malta and adopted by a majority of 12 votes with three abstentions, calls for “broad and urgent humanitarian truces and corridors for a sufficient number of days” to provide humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza.

This wording raises the question of how many days are considered “enough”. An earlier draft called for an initial halt for five consecutive days within twenty-four hours of the resolution being adopted.

Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, commented that it “should be long enough to allow us to mobilize resources - once we have enough fuel - to provide the population with what they need,” without going into details.

It is noteworthy that Security Council resolutions are binding, but that does not prevent some countries from ignoring them.

For its part, Israel called on “the Security Council and the international community to insist on the speedy release of all kidnapped Israelis in accordance with what was stated in the text of the resolution,” according to a statement issued by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It added, "Israel expects the Security Council to unequivocally condemn Hamas and address the need to create a different security reality in Gaza," and said, "There is no room for a long-term humanitarian truce as long as 239 kidnapped persons are in the hands of Hamas saboteurs."

The draft resolution, which emphasizes the situation of children in almost every paragraph, calls on “all parties to respect their obligations under international law, especially with regard to the protection of civilians, especially children.”

It also "calls" for "the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other factions, especially children."

After the Al-Qassam Brigades attack on October 7, and the Israeli army’s continued bombing of Gaza, the Security Council tried in vain to reach a consensus.

Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun commented: “I know we are all disappointed by the Council’s inaction over the past 40 days.”

In evidence of his long-standing divisions on the Palestinian issue, four successive draft resolutions were rejected in October, with the United States on the one hand and China and Russia on the other hand blocking the draft resolutions by using their veto power.

Faced with the Security Council's inability to act, the General Assembly took up the task and on October 27 adopted, by a large majority, a non-binding text calling for an “immediate humanitarian truce.” The United States and Israel voted against this resolution, which did not mention Hamas.

The Security Council, prompted by the ten non-permanent members, began new negotiations that faltered over the question of how to call for an end to the war, between a “humanitarian ceasefire” or a “truce.” Diplomatic sources said that the United States particularly opposes any indication of a ceasefire.

Negotiations on Malta's text finally bore fruit, and Malta's ambassador, Vanessa Fraser, described it as a "balanced and practical text to respond to part of the current crisis and the immediate needs of affected children."

An amendment put forward by Russia was rejected and demanded, like the General Assembly, “an immediate, permanent and sustainable humanitarian truce leading to the cessation of hostilities.”

Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia said, “I would like to ask our American colleagues who rejected anything that might indicate the need to stop hostilities: Does this mean that you want the war in the Middle East to continue indefinitely?”