India changes tack, votes in favour of UN General Assembly resolution seeking ceasefire in Gaza

New Delhi: India has finally voted in favour of the United Nations General Assembly resolution demanding an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip, where Israel’s aerial and ground offensive in retaliation to the October 7 attacks by Hamas purportedly resulted in the death of over 18000 Palestinians.

New Delhi told the UN General Assembly in its explanation of votes that the challenge in the current “extraordinarily difficult time” was to strike the “right balance”. The resolution was adopted by the 153-nation General Assembly at its emergency special session with 153 voting in favour of it and 10 against it while 23 others abstaining from voting on it.  

India had earlier on October 27 abstained from voting on another UN General Assembly resolution, which had called for a humanitarian truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“The situation that this august body has been deliberating upon has many dimensions. There is the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7 and the concern for the hostages taken at that time. There is an enormous humanitarian crisis and large-scale loss of civilian lives, especially of women and children,” Ruchira Kamboj, New Delhi’s permanent representative to the UN in New York, said, presenting the explanation of India’s vote in favour of the latest UN General Assembly resolution.

“There is the issue of observing international humanitarian law in all circumstances. And there is the endeavour to find a peaceful and lasting two-state solution to the long-standing Palestine question. Our challenge in this extraordinarily difficult time is to strike the right balance.”

The draft resolution was introduced in the UN General Assembly by Egypt. It demanded “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire” and reiterated its “demand that all parties comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, notably about the protection of civilians”. It demanded the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”, as well as ensuring humanitarian access.

New Delhi had refrained from voting on the October 27 UNGA resolution as it had not included any explicit condemnation of the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas on Israel on October 7.

Hamas terrorists had killed 1400 people in southern Israel on October 7 and took 229 hostages.

The latest UNGA resolution that New Delhi decided to vote for also did not condemn Hamas or make any specific reference to the extremist group. Israel, Austria and the US are among the nations that voted against the resolution.

Austria and the US had moved separate amendments seeking direct reference to Hamas, naming the organisation, condemning it and holding it responsible for the October 7 terror attacks. Though India voted in favour of both amendments, none of them could be adopted.

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently invoked a rare and “dramatic constitutional move” under the United Nations Charter and made an appeal to the Security Council for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and to avert a "humanitarian catastrophe”.

“The gravity and complexity of what the international community faces is underlined by the Secretary-General invoking Article 99 of the Charter of the United Nations,” Kamboj said.