The UN Security Council meets about the situation in Gaza, at UN headquarters in New York on December 22, 2023. (Photo by AFP)

The United Nations Security Council has finally passed a resolution on the ongoing Israeli onslaught against Gaza, demanding increased aid deliveries to the besieged region but stopping short of calling for an immediate halt to the genocide.

The watered-down resolution, ratified on Friday, demanded all sides in the conflict allow the safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale.

It also called for the creation of conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities but it did not call for an immediate end to fighting.

The vote in the 15-member council was 13-0 with the United States and Russia abstaining.

The vote followed the US veto of a Russian amendment that would have restored that call for a suspension of hostilities. That vote was 10 members in favor, the US against and four abstentions.

The text, sponsored by the United Arab Emirates, was passed following days-long negotiations over its wording, during which it was watered down at the US request.

Washington had earlier vetoed two UNSC resolutions on the conflict, drawing widespread condemnations over the body’s lack of action since the start of the onslaught.

Russia says resolution ‘toothless’

Russian ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya hit out at the United States, saying they have resorted to their favorite tactic... of twisting of arms, calling the text toothless.

The UAE’s ambassador to the UN Lana Zaki Nusseibeh said it responds with action to the dire humanitarian situation.

We know this is not a perfect text... We will never tire of calling for a humanitarian cease-fire, she said.

The resolution demands all sides allow and facilitate the use of all... routes to and throughout the entire Gaza Strip, including border crossings... for the provision of humanitarian assistance.

It also requests the appointment of a UN humanitarian coordinator to oversee and verify third-country aid to Gaza.

An earlier text had said that the aid mechanism to accelerate the delivery of relief would be exclusively under UN control.

It now states it would be managed in consultation with all relevant parties -- meaning Israel would retain operational oversight of aid deliveries.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since October 7, killing at least 20,057 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 53,320 others, according to health authorities in the region.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins with half of the coastal territory’s housing stock damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million people displaced within the densely-populated territory amid shortages of food and clean water.