This live blog is now closed. For the latest news on this UN vote, you can read our full report:
The UN general assembly overwhelmingly passed the resolution for the UN security council to reconsider and support the full membership of Palestine into the United Nations.
143 countries supported it, nine voted against and 25 abstained.
The nine countries who opposed were:
Argentina
Czechia
Hungary
Israel
Micronesia
Naura
Palau
Papua New Guinea
United States
It is just after 7.30pm in Gaza and Tel Aviv.
Here’s a summary of what has happened today:
The UN general assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution for the UN security council to reconsider and support the full membership of Palestine into the United Nations. 143 countries supported it, nine voted against, including the United States, and 25 abstained.
The resolution also gives Palestine a range of rights and privileges, in addition to what it is allowed in its current observer status.
Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer of Palestine, addressed the UN as the international body weighs a resolution for Palestine’s full membership into the UN. Mansour said: “I stand before you as lives continue falling apart in the Gaza Strip … as more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed, 80,000 have been maimed, 2 million have been displaced, and everything has been destroyed.” He added: “No words can capture what such loss and trauma signifies for Palestinians.”
Gilad Erdan, Israel’s UN delegate, accused the intentional body of attempting to allow a “terror state” into its membership led by the “Hitlers of our time” during debate on the upcoming resolution. Erdan also shredded a copy of the UN charter, accusing members of doing so while debating the resolution.
Three Israeli whistleblowers working at the Sde Teiman desert camp, a holding site for Palestinians detained during Israel’s invasion of Gaza, have claimed to have witnessed a series of abuses by the military, including prisoners being restrained, blindfolded and forced to wear diapers, reports CNN. The Israeli whistleblowers said of the prisoners: “We were told they were not allowed to move. They should sit upright. They’re not allowed to talk. Not allowed to peek under their blindfold.” According to the sources, guards were instructed to enforce silence by shouting “uskot” (Arabic for “shut up”) and to identify and punish problematic individuals.
Dwindling food and fuel stocks could force aid operations to grind to a halt within days in Gaza as vital crossings remain shut, forcing hospitals to close down and leading to more malnutrition, United Nations aid agencies warned on Friday. Humanitarian workers have sounded the alarm this week over the closure of the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings for aid and people as part of Israel’s military operation in Rafah, where around 1 million uprooted people have been sheltering, Reuters reported.
About 110,000 people have fled Rafah in southern Gaza and food and fuel supplies in the area are critically low, a United Nations official said. All crossings into southern Gaza remain closed, cutting off supplies and preventing medical evacuations and the movement of humanitarian staff, said Georgios Petropoulos, an official for the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs working in Rafah.
That’s it for today’s blog. Thank you for reading.
The United Nations general assembly voted overwhelmingly to enhance Palestinians status at the UN and take it closer to full membership.
The assembly voted 143 to 9 with 25 abstentions for a resolution calling on the security council to bestow full membership on the state of Palestine, while giving its mission a range of rights and privileges, in addition to what it is allowed in its current observer status.
The resolution was tailored over the past few days, diluting its language so as not to trigger a cutoff of US funding under a 1990 law. It does not make Palestine a full member, or give it voting rights in the assembly, or the right to stand for membership of the security council, but the vote was resounding expression of world opinion in favour of Palestinian statehood, galvanised by the continuing bloodshed and famine caused by Israel’s war in Gaza.
Even before the vote in the assembly on Friday morning, Israel and a group of leading Republicans urged funding be cut anyway because of the new privileges the resolution granted to the Palestinian mission.
The US mission, which voted no to the resolution, warned that it would also use its veto again if the general assembly’s call for Palestinian membership returned to the security council for another vote.
“Efforts to advance this resolution do not change the reality that the Palestinian Authority does not currently meet the criteria for UN membership under the UN charter,” the mission’s spokesperson, Nathan Evans, said. “Additionally, the draft resolution does not alter the status of the Palestinians as a ‘non-member state observer mission’.”
The historic resolution, which passed with a wide majority, gives Palestine a number of rights within the UN assembly.
According to the resolution text, Palestine now has the right to introduce and co-sponsor proposals as well as amendments within the assembly.
Palestine can also be seated among member states and raise procedural motions, among other rights.
The latest resolution also serves as a further reminder on where much of the world stands on whether Palestine should be granted membership in the UN.
The UN general assembly overwhelmingly passed the resolution for the UN security council to reconsider and support the full membership of Palestine into the United Nations.
143 countries supported it, nine voted against and 25 abstained.
The nine countries who opposed were:
Argentina
Czechia
Hungary
Israel
Micronesia
Naura
Palau
Papua New Guinea
United States
The UN general assembly is now voting on the resolution.
Stay tuned.
Gilad Erdan shredded a copy of the UN charter on stage while alleging that UN would be violating its own charter by allowing Palestine to be admitted into the membership.
“Today, I will hold up a mirror for you,” Erdan said, taking out the paper shredder to destroy a copy of the charter.
“You are shredding the UN charter with your own hands. Yes, yes, that’s what you’re doing. Shredding the UN charter. Shame on you.”
שגריר ישראל באו״ם גלעד ארדן תקף את האו״ם במהלך דיון בעצרת הכללית לפני הצבעה על החלטה שנותנת זכויות נוספות לפלסטינים באו״ם וקוראת למועצת הביטחון לשקול מחדש לקבל את מדינת פלסטין כחברה מלאה בארגון. הוא הוציא מגרסת נייר וגרס מעל הבמה את אמנת האו״ם pic.twitter.com/Q41n1UtvnT
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) May 10, 2024
Gilad Erdan, the UN delegate of Israel, accused the intentional body of attempting to allow a “terror state” into its membership led by the “Hitlers of our time” during debate on the upcoming resolution.
In starkly different tone to Mansour’s remarks, Erdan accused the UN of attempting to allow a “terror state … into its ranks”.
Erdan criticized the resolution, especially as it takes place during Holocaust remembrance week in Israel: “It is during our sacred week that this shameless body has chosen to reward modern day Nazis with rights and privileges?”
Erdan added that a Palestinian state would be led by the “Hitler of our times”.
“You are about to grant privileges and rights to the future terrorist state of Hamas. You have opened the UN modern day Nazis, to genocidal jihadists committed to establishing an Islamic state against Israel and the region,” Erdan added, alleging that such a state would murder “every Jewish man, woman, and child”.
Mansour also celebrated the ability of Palestinians to survive despite decades of injustice.
He also acknowledge that the Palestinian flag flys on Columbia University’s campus and is raised by those who “believe in freedom”.
“We face and continue to face attempts to push us out of geography and out of history … by ethnic cleansing, apartheid and genocide. But against all odds, we survive. Our flag flies high and proud in Palestine and across the globe and on the campus of Columbia University.”
“It has become a symbol raised by all those who believe in freedom,” he added.
Speaker Riyad Mansour added that civilians in Rafah fear for their survival and wonder where to relocate, as Israel prepares to launch a major attack on the southern Gaza city.
“As we speak, 1.4 million Palestinians in Rafah wonder if they will survive the day and wonder where to go next. There is nowhere left to go,” he said.
Mansour added that despite the countless times he has addressed the UN, he has never spoken to the international body for a more historic vote or during a time of such suffering.
“I have stood hundreds of times before at this podium, often in tragic circumstances, but none comparable to the ones my people endured today … never for a more significant vote than the one about to take place, a historic one,” he added.
Speaker Riyad Mansour said that Israel’s war is “against the Palestinian people as a whole” while describing the intense suffering experienced by civilians in the Gaza territory.
“I stand before you as every inch of Gaza has witnessed massacres, as mass graves continue to be uncovered where hospitals used to stand. As the world is barely starting to grasp the cruel and extensive nature of the actions committed against the Palestinian people,” he said.
Mansour also accused Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, of using the upcoming invasion of Rafah as a way to “ensure his political survival”.
“I stand before you as the Israel prime minister is ready to kill thousands more to ensure his political survival, as he openly declares the Palestinian people [as] an existential threat and together, with his co-conspirators, continues 76 years after the Nakba, to try and finish the job,” Mansour said.
“Israel’s war is against the Palestinian people as a whole,” he said.
Speaker Riyad Mansour called out mass famine that has spread across Gaza, blaming the Israel government for failing to allow aid to the most “vulnerable people”.
“I stand before you as famine is settling in, by design and by the decision of the Israel government, killing the most vulnerable among our people, women and children,” Mansour said.
“Israel closed the crossings instead of opening them … seizing by force the Palestinian crossing point of Rafah. Humanitarian convoys were attacked with its blessing and the honorable headquarters were assaulted with its complicity,” he added.
Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer of Palestine, is now addressing the UN as the international body weighs a resolution for Palestine’s full membership into the UN.
“I stand before you as lives continue falling apart in the Gaza Strip … as more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed, 80,000 have been maimed, 2 million have been displaced, and everything has been destroyed.
“No words can capture what such loss and trauma signifies for Palestinians.”
The UN representative for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is now introducing the draft resolution for the UN security council to reconsider and support Palestine’s full membership into the UN.
“Granting Palestine full membership in the United Nations will send a message in support of the two-state solution,” said delegate Mohamed Abushahab.
“By voting in favor of today’s draft resolution, you will demonstrate that the international community refuses to settle for anything less than upholding the legitimate rights of people and rejecting double standards,” Abushahab added.
The resolution, which was previously introduced on 18 April, has widespread support in the UN.
But the United States vetoed the motion, the only country on the 15-member security council to oppose the resolution.
The United Nations has resumed the 10th emergency special session on the ongoing crisis in Gaza.
The special session is to vote on a resolution for the UN Security Council to reconsider and support the full membership of Palestine into the United Nations.
President of the general assembly Dennis Francis gavelled in the session, which was previously adjourned.
The latest special session comes as Israel prepares to launch a major military assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The US, UN and humanitarian agencies have warned that such a move would cause a humanitarian disaster in the region.
Three Israeli whistleblowers working at the Sde Teiman desert camp, a holding site for Palestinians detained during Israel’s invasion of Gaza, have claimed to have witnessed a series of abuses by the military, including prisoners being restrained, blindfolded, and forced to wear diapers, reports CNN. The Israeli whistleblowers said of the prisoners: “We were told they were not allowed to move. They should sit upright. They’re not allowed to talk. Not allowed to peek under their blindfold.” According to the sources, guards were instructed to enforce silence by shouting “uskot” (Arabic for “shut up”) and to identify and punish problematic individuals.
Dwindling food and fuel stocks could force aid operations to grind to a halt within days in Gaza as vital crossings remain shut, forcing hospitals to close down and leading to more malnutrition, United Nations aid agencies warned on Friday. Humanitarian workers have sounded the alarm this week over the closure of the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings for aid and people as part of Israel’s military operation in Rafah, where around 1 million uprooted people have been sheltering, Reuters reported.
About 110,000 people have fled Rafah in southern Gaza and food and fuel supplies in the area are critically low, a United Nations official said. All crossings into southern Gaza remain closed, cutting off supplies and preventing medical evacuations and the movement of humanitarian staff, said Georgios Petropoulos, an official for the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs working in Rafah.
An Israeli drone strike on a southern Lebanese village killed a paramedic and an employee of a telecommunications company on Friday as military activities have increased along the frontier in recent days. State-run National News said the paramedic and the technician died in the drone strike on Teir Harafa, about three kilometres (two miles) from the border with Israel, AP reported.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to submit a highly critical report to Congress as soon as Friday on Israel’s conduct in Gaza that stops short of concluding it has violated the terms for its use of US weapons, Axios said. The report, citing three officials, added that the State Department was reviewing the use of weapons by Israel and six other countries engaged in different armed conflicts.
Dozens of women gathered at Tzahal Square in East Jerusalem on Friday for a silent sit-in, calling on the Israeli government to halt hostilities in Gaza and end the war. Dressed in white, they held banners with messages of ‘humanity’, ‘peace’ and ‘compassion’, as well as ‘stop the bloodshed’ - a poignant reminder of the toll of conflict.
The main United Nations aid agency for Palestinians closed its headquarters in East Jerusalem after local Israeli residents set fire to areas at the edge of the sprawling compound, the agency said. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNWRA, said in a post on the social media platform X that he had decided to close the compound until proper security was restored, Reuters reported. He said Thursday’s incident was the second in less than a week.
Spain, Ireland and other European Union member countries plan to recognise a Palestinian state on 21 May, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said late on Thursday ahead of an expected UN vote on Friday on a Palestinian bid to become a full member. Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez said in March that Spain and Ireland, along with Slovenia and Malta, had agreed to take the first steps towards recognition of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, seeing a two-state solution as essential for lasting peace.
Australia appears likely to support a UN vote on Palestinian membership after the draft resolution was significantly watered down in last-minute negotiations. The Australian government is continuing to consult on the matter ahead of a critical vote in the UN general assembly in New York, but the changes to the wording have allayed some of its earlier concerns.
Human Rights Watch has called on the German government to provide a public explanation for issuing a Schengen-wide ban on a prominent London surgeon who has provided testimony on the ongoing war in Gaza, as he is blocked from entering the Netherlands later this month. Last week, Prof Ghassan Abu-Sitta told the Guardian he felt criminalised after being denied entry to France over the weekend, where the plastic and reconstructive surgeon was due to speak about the war to the French parliament’s upper house.
On a visit to Washington, German defence minister Boris Pistorius expressed “understanding” for the US threat to limit arms supplies to Israel in the event of a full-blown Rafah offensive but stopped short of setting any new red lines on German weapons. However, he told ZDF public television that Germany must put pressure on Israel “not to go too far” and to “slow down” in its military response to the 7 October attacks.”
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organisation said on Friday it had received a report of a failed hijacking attempt of a vessel 195 nautical miles east of Yemen’s Aden. The vessel’s master reported being approached by a small craft carrying five or six armed people with ladders.
Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel will stand alone and “fight with our fingernails” in defiance of US threats to further restrict arms deliveries if Israeli forces proceed with an offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, was speaking on Thursday after Israeli and Hamas delegations left the ceasefire negotiations in Cairo. It was unclear whether the talks had broken down or simply paused. Hamas said early on Friday that the “ball is now completely” in Israel’s hands, while Israel has claimed that Hamas’ version of a deal fell far short of its requirements.
Egypt has said Hamas and Israel must show “flexibility” if they are to strike a deal for a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange , according to a foreign ministry statement released Friday. The readout of a phone call between Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and US secretary of state Antony Blinken said both diplomats agreed on “the importance of urging the parties to show flexibility and make all the necessary efforts to achieve a ceasefire agreement and put an end to the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza”.
Hamas said early Friday that its delegation attending Gaza ceasefire negotiations in Cairo had left the city for Qatar, adding the “ball is now completely” in Israel’s hands. “The negotiating delegation left Cairo heading to Doha. In practice, the occupation [Israel] rejected the proposal submitted by the mediators and raised objections to it on several central issues,” the group said in a message to other Palestinian factions, according to Agence France-Presse.
Dozens of women gathered at Tzahal Square in East Jerusalem on Friday for a silent sit-in, calling on the Israeli government to halt hostilities in Gaza and end the war.
Dressed in white, they held banners with messages of ‘humanity’, ‘peace’ and ‘compassion’, as well as ‘stop the bloodshed’ - a poignant reminder of the toll of conflict.
“We are trying to remind people that there is an alternative,” says Amit, a member of the organisation Women Peace Sit-In. “For too long, the discourse in Israel has been one-sided, culminating in the present extreme violence and militarism. We advocate for a path to peace and coexistence.”
“Regrettably,” she adds, “we find ourselves a minority within a minority.’’
“We are all human beings and we deserve the same rights, freedom of movement and food security’’, says Lena. “We heard words the like deal and ceasefire, but the word peace has completely disappeared from the discourse. We stand firm in the belief that peace is attainable and halting the bloodshed is imperative.”
After Israel vowed to enter the southern Gaza city and flush out Hamas forces, the country has faced increasing pressure as the operation could derail fragile humanitarian efforts in Gaza and endanger many more lives.
Anti-war movements, pacifists and families of hostages are mobilising nationwide, with thousands in recent days taking to the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to voice their dissent.
