An emergency meeting of the UN security council requested by the United Arab Emirates will be held on Monday as the council’s Arab representative seeks a binding resolution demanding that Israel accepts a humanitarian pause to the fighting in Gaza.
One hour after Israel launched its expanded operations in Gaza on Friday, the 193-strong UN general assembly voted 120 to 14 with 55 countries abstaining for a humanitarian pause, but the assembly, bringing together all nations recognised by the UN, does not have the power to pass binding resolutions, unlike the 15-strong security council.
In its statement seeking an emergency security council meeting, the UAE ministry of foreign affairs underlined “the importance of the protection of civilians, according to international humanitarian law, international treaties for the protection of civilians and human rights, and the need to ensure that they are not targeted during conflict”.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, called on the international community to cease funding the UN after Friday’s UN general assembly vote, which did not condemn Hamas.
“Every honest country should defund the UN. Until the bias stops and the antisemitism stops, we can no longer continue business as usual,” he told Fox News. Erdan said the recent resolution was “unfathomable”, saying it showed the UN had “completely lost its legitimacy and relevance”.
The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, said on Sunday he regretted that “instead of a critically needed humanitarian pause, supported by the international community, Israel has intensified its military operations”.
“The world is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe taking place before our eyes. More than 2 million people, with nowhere safe to go, are being denied the essentials for life – food, water, shelter and medical care – while being subjected to relentless bombardment. “I urge all those with responsibility to step back from the brink.”
Since 21 October, only 94 humanitarian aid trucks have been able to arrive through the Rafah crossing, but Israel has not allowed any fuel into Gaza, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
In a sign of growing tensions between the US and Israel, the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said Israel had to make a distinction between military and civilian targets. Speaking to CNN, he said Israel was solely responsible for its military operations. “They’re the ones making decisions, they’re the ones conducting the operations,” he said, declining to openly criticise any aspect of the new military effort.
India’s economy will become carbon neutral by the year 2070, the country’s prime minster has announced at the COP26 climate crisis summit in Glasgow. The target date is two decades beyond what scientists say is needed to avert catastrophic climate impacts. India is the last of the world’s major carbon polluters to announce a net-zero target, with China saying it would reach that goal in 2060, and the United States and the European Union aiming for 2050.
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
A crucial U.N. conference heard calls on its first day for the world's major economies to keep their promises of financial help to address the climate crisis, while big polluters India and Brazil made new commitments to cut emissions. World leaders, environmental experts and activists all pleaded for decisive action to halt the global warming which threatens the future of the planet at the start of the two-week COP26 summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Monday. The task facing negotiators was made even more daunting by the failure of the Group of 20 major industrial nations to agree ambitious new commitments at the weekend.