Russia says UN Gaza vote violates international law
On Monday, the Council adopted a measure establishing a transitional Board of Peace and authorizing an International Stabilization Force (ISF) to manage governance, reconstruction and security in the Gaza Strip. Both bodies are set to operate until Dec. 31, 2027, unless the Council decides otherwise.
The resolution passed with 13 votes in favor, while Russia and China abstained.
Since October 2023, nearly 69,500 Palestinians — mostly women and children — have been killed and more than 170,700 injured during Israel’s war, which has devastated most of Gaza.
Responding to the vote, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the resolution does not give the Security Council the “necessary prerogatives to maintain peace and security.”
It argued in a statement that the decision contradicts “generally recognized international legal decisions that provide for the creation of an independent and territorially contiguous State of Palestine within the 1967 borders with its capital in East Jerusalem, coexisting in peace and security with Israel.”
Russia noted that it abstained after considering the stance of the Palestinian Authority and Arab and Muslim countries supporting the resolution, saying the choice aimed to “avoid a relapse into violence and military action in Gaza.”
The statement said the conflict could have been halted earlier had Washington not used its veto against draft resolutions calling for an immediate cease-fire, adding that the US has done so six times in the past two years.
“The main thing now is that this decision does not become a cover for uncontrolled experiments in the occupied Palestinian territory, and does not turn into a final verdict on the legitimate rights of Palestinians to self-determination, or the aspirations of Israelis for security and peaceful coexistence in the region,” it said.
Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, also outlined the reasons for Moscow’s abstention, saying the plan excluded Palestinian involvement.
“Neither is there any clarity in the draft regarding the timelines for the transfer of control over Gaza to the Palestinian Authority, nor any certainty vis-a-vis the Board of Peace and the International Stabilization Force, which…will be able to act absolutely autonomously, without any regard for Ramallah's position and opinion,” he told the Council after the vote.
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