NEW DELHI: India was among 13 countries that abstained from voting on a
UN Human Rights Council resolution
that called for an immediate
ceasefire in Gaza
but also, in a first, sought an
arms embargo on Israel
. The resolution was adopted as 28 countries voted in favour and 6, including the US and Germany, against.
In all, the Council adopted 5 resolutions, including a text in which it demanded that Israel immediately lift its blockade on the Gaza Strip and all other forms of collective punishment, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, according to a statement by the UN Human Rights Office.
The resolution also sought accountability for possible “war crimes” but Israel was reported to have dismissed it as “distorted text”. The resolution called for pursuing accountability for “violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law”.
Given its strong ties with Israel, India had been reluctant to back ceasefire in Gaza initially but later came around to voting in favour of a UNGA resolution that demanded humanitarian ceasefire in December last year. The text of the UN human rights resolution, especially the call to cease the transfer of arms to Israel, meant India could only abstain.
The resolution called for a report on both the direct and indirect transfer or sale of arms, munitions, parts, components and dual use items to “Israel, the occupying power, and to analyse the legal consequences of these transfers”. This may be of concern to India if reports about India having supplied made-in-India Hermes drones to Israel are true.
Israeli authorities said the resolution condemned Israel for the war in Gaza but made no mention of Hamas or its October 7 terror attack, while also disregarding
supply of weapons to Hamas by Iran and its allies.
"All that matters to this Council and many of its members is condemning the State of Israel, and defending the Hamas terrorist organization as well as anyone else who seeks to harm and destroy us,” said
Israel's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Meirav Eilon Shahar.
India voted in favour of other resolutions like the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, which was adopted with 42 votes in favour, human rights in the occupied Syrian Golan and also Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan. India has backed these resolutions in the past too.
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