We reject UNGA's call for ceasefire: Israel's Foreign Minister

TEL AVIV: Israel Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said that Tel Aviv rejects the United Nations General Assembly's call for a ceasefire. He said that Israel intends to eliminate Hamas as the world dealt with Nazis and ISIS.

Eli Cohen's statement comes after the United Nations General Assembly on Friday (local time) adopted a resolution calling for an "immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce" between Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Taking to X, Cohen stated, "We reject outright the UN General Assembly's despicable call for a ceasefire. Israel intends to eliminate Hamas just as the world dealt with the Nazis and ISIS."

The Jordanian-led draft resolution has been adopted by the General Assembly, with 120 votes in favour, 14 against and 45 abstentions. The 45 nations that abstained from voting on the resolution included Iceland, India, Panama, Lithuania and Greece.

The resolution was adopted during the UN General Assembly's emergency special session on the Israel-Palestine crisis. The UNGA also demanded "continuous, sufficient and unhindered" provision of lifesaving supplies and services for civilians trapped inside the enclave.

The voting at UNGA comes at a time when Israel has announced expanding ground operations in Gaza. However, the Jordan-proposed resolution makes no specific mention of the Hamas terror attacks of 7 October.

The Jordan-backed draft resolution was backed by 40 countries, including Russia, UAE, in the region by Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, Gilad Erdan, Israel's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, in his remarks at the United Nations General Assembly Emergency Special Session on the Israel-Hamas war, said, "The truth holds zero importance in this body. Today, the majority of the community has shown that it prefers to support the defence of Nazi terrorists rather than support the law-abiding state of Israel to defend its civilians. Anyone who is truly interested in preventing violence shouldn't vote for resolutions protecting terrorists."

"Whoever truly wants to prevent more violence should be calling on Hamas to lay down their arms, turn themselves in, and return all hostages. If this were to happen, the war would end immediately. This is a dark day for the UN and for mankind."

Speaking about Israel's counter-offensive against Hamas, Erdan said, "Israel will continue to defend itself. We will defend our future, our very existence, by reading the words of Hamas's, evil, so that it can never threaten anyone else again. Israel will use every means at its disposal to accomplish this mission. Israel will do what must be done to eradicate Hamas's capabilities and bring the hostages home and we will bring them home."

He stressed that Israel endured the "largest massacre of Jews" since the Holocaust." However, Israel has no right to defend itself as per the majority of the "so-called family of nations."

He said that the resolution adopted at the UNGA did not mention Hamas. "Israel has the right to defend itself and the realization of this right is to ensure that such atrocities are never repeated. The only way to ensure this is the eradication of Hamas's terror capabilities.

The only way. Yet this resolution does not even name Hamas. As if this war started on its own. Not once, even when discussing our hostages, the drafters could not even bring themselves to name the Hamas terrorists responsible for this blatant war crime, not even once," Gilad Erdan said.

He further said, "It is the duty of this body to call out murderous terrorists by name, not hide them behind empty words. Why are you defending murderers? Why are you defending terrorists who deliberately beheaded children and abducted babies? What is going on here? This must make each of you ask yourselves what the true aim was when this resolution was submitted. Was it to bring about a solution or was it to tie Israel's hands from defending itself?"

He asserted that Israel's goal is to eradicate Hamas's capabilities to prevent future atrocities. He further said, "We all know that if given the chance, Hamas and Hezbollah would commit the October 7 massacre again and again and again, until there is not a single Israeli left to murder or a single citizen to terrorize and drive away from Israel. And the only way to destroy Hamas is to root them out of their tunnels and their subterranean city of terror."