The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly approved resolutions on Wednesday calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and support for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which Israel recently moved to ban.

158 countries voted in favor of the resolution to immediately cease fire, 9 voted against it, and 13 countries abstained (out of 193 countries). 159 countries voted in favor of the resolution to support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), 9 countries voted against the resolution, and 11 countries abstained.

The votes capped two days of speeches that overwhelmingly called for an end to the 14-month war between Israel and the Hamas militant group and demanded access to all of Gaza to address the growing humanitarian catastrophe.

The United States voted, along with Israel, with a small minority speaking and voting against the resolutions: Argentina, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and Tonga.

It should be noted that Security Council resolutions are legally binding, but General Assembly resolutions are not, although they reflect world opinion. There is no veto power in the General Assembly.

The Palestinians and their supporters went to the General Assembly after the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution on Nov. 20 that demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. It was supported by 14 other council members, but the United States objected that it was not linked to the immediate release of hostages taken by Hamas militants during their Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the war.

Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour expressed his gratitude for the overwhelming support for both resolutions on Wednesday, saying the vote "reflects the resolve and determination of the international community."

"We will continue to knock on the doors of the Security Council and the General Assembly until we see an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and until we see the widespread distribution of humanitarian aid throughout the Gaza Strip," he said.

The language of the resolution adopted by the Assembly on the ceasefire mirrors that of the Council resolution that Washington vetoed. The resolution calls for “an immediate, unconditional and lasting ceasefire by all parties,” while also emphasizing “the demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”

This language is much stronger than General Assembly resolutions adopted on October 27, 2023 – three weeks after the Hamas attack – which called for an immediate and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities and on December 12, 2023, which demanded “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.”

The resolution adopted on Wednesday (11/12/2024) was also the first time that Germany and Italy, which abstained in December 2023, voted in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza. Their support left the United States as the only G7 member still opposed.

On the humanitarian front, the resolution rejects "any effort to starve the Palestinians" and demands immediate access to civilians to provide assistance indispensable to their survival.

The second resolution supports the mandate of UNRWA, which was established by the General Assembly in 1949. It also condemns the laws adopted by the Israeli parliament on 28 October banning UNRWA activities in the Palestinian territories, a measure that is due to come into effect within 90 days. The resolution reiterates UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s statement that UNRWA is the “backbone” of all humanitarian operations in Gaza and that no organization can replace it. The resolution stresses the need for “UNRWA operations to continue without hindrance.”

The resolution calls on the Israeli government to "abide by its international obligations and respect the privileges and immunities of UNRWA" and to uphold its responsibility to facilitate the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance throughout the Gaza Strip.

Israel claims that about a dozen of UNRWA's 13,000 employees in Gaza took part in Hamas attacks on Israel that led to the war. It recently gave the United Nations the names of more than 100 UNRWA employees it accuses of having ties to "militants" without explanation.

US Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Wood reiterated America's opposition to the ceasefire resolution ahead of Wednesday's vote and criticized the Palestinians for again failing to mention Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

"At a time when Hamas feels isolated by the ceasefire in Lebanon, the draft resolution on a ceasefire in Gaza risks sending a dangerous message to Hamas that there is no need to negotiate or release hostages," he said.

Israel says Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack killed about 1,200 people, including 391 soldiers, and took 250 hostages to Gaza. About 100 of the hostages are believed to still be in Gaza, and a third are believed to be dead.

Ceasefire efforts have stalled.

The brutal war on the besieged Gaza Strip resulted in the killing of 45,000 citizens, the overwhelming majority of whom were women and children, while more than 100,000 citizens were injured, most of whom were also women and children, according to the local Ministry of Health.

Wood said the United States would continue to seek a diplomatic solution to the war and called UNRWA a “critical lifeline for the Palestinian people.” But he said the UNRWA resolution was “seriously flawed” because it failed to create a path to restoring trust between the UN agency and Israel — despite U.S. efforts and the U.S. proposal.

Just before the vote, Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon accused the resolution's supporters of collusion with Hamas, which he said had "desperately infiltrated" UNRWA, and denounced their failure to link a ceasefire to the release of the hostages.

Slovenia's UN Ambassador Samuel Zbojar, echoing the views of many speakers, pointed to the tens of thousands killed in Gaza.

"Gaza no longer exists. It is destroyed. Civilians face hunger, despair and death," he told the assembly on Wednesday.