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Middle East conflict

UN Security Council reschedules vote on draft resolution on Gaza for December 21

"The Security Council has agreed to continue negotiations today to allow for additional time for diplomacy. And the presidency will schedule the adoption for tomorrow morning," Ecuador's permanent representative to the UN, Jose de la Gasca, said

© EPA-EFE/PETER FOLEY

UN, December 21. /TASS/. The UN Security Council decided to postpone until Thursday, December 21, the vote on the draft humanitarian resolution of the Arab countries in order to agree on its wording, Ecuador's permanent representative to the UN, Jose de la Gasca, told reporters.

"The Security Council has agreed to continue negotiations today to allow for additional time for diplomacy. And the presidency will schedule the adoption for tomorrow morning," he said late on Wednesday.

Ecuador chairs the UN Security Council in December.

The countries are now having "very high discussions" to "reach a text that will in fact be adopted," said Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, permanent representative of the UAE, which co-sponsored the resolution.

"We believe today giving a little bit of space for additional diplomacy could yield positive results and we are going to be optimist and try and do that," she added.

The document, sponsored by the UAE, Egypt and Palestine, consists of 16 points and is intended to help improve conditions for the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The draft resolution, in particular, demands to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave through checkpoints and supply the sector with fuel at a level sufficient to meet existing needs, to ensure the protection of UN facilities and personnel and people involved in providing humanitarian assistance.

The document calls on all parties to use deconfliction mechanisms to protect humanitarian facilities in the Gaza Strip. The draft resolution strongly condemns all violations of humanitarian law, including indiscriminate attacks on civilians and objects, violence against civilians and acts of terrorism, but does not mention the radical Palestinian movement Hamas in this context.

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Middle East conflict

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