NEW YORK: The UN Human Rights Council on Friday will review a draft resolution moved by Pakistan, demanding a halt to arms sales to Israel.
The resolution if adopted, would mark the first time that the UN’s top rights body has taken a stance on the war in Gaza.
The draft resolution denounces the use of starvation as a tool of warfare in Gaza and demands Israel to fulfill its legal responsibility to stop genocide.
Pakistan moved the resolution on behalf of 55 of the 56 UN member states in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. The text of the resolution is co-sponsored by Bolivia, Cuba, and the Palestinian mission in Geneva.
The draft demands Israel to lift the Gaza blockade immediately and stop all other forms of communal punishment.
It urges all states to stop the sale, transfer of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel to stop further violations of international humanitarian law and abuses of human rights in the Gaza Strip.
According to the Hamas health ministry, Israel’s relentless bombardment has killed at least 32,975 people in Gaza, most of them women and children.
Meanwhile, the US has asked Iran not to retaliate against it for an attack on Iranian consulate in Syria. US representative to the UN Robert Wood said that Washington has conveyed to Iran that it was not involved in the strike on the consulate, nor did it have any knowledge about such a strike.
He said that the US authorities will not hesitate to defend its personnel, asking Iran not to take advantage of the situation to restore their attacks on US troops.
Deputy representative of Iran to the United Nations, Zahra Ershadi, said Tehran has always shown restraint but there are certain limits.
