The UN General Assembly is holding a session on Gaza today after the U.S. veto last December derailed a call for a cease-fire in the Security Council.

The forum will host a debate on the context in the Middle East, including the Palestinian issue, after an amendment to the draft resolution submitted to the security body on December 22 was rejected.

The draft, introduced by the United Arab Emirates, initially called for a cessation of hostilities, but the five-day negotiations to prevent its failure limited the demand to calling for «conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities» as well as the entry of further assistance.

Prior to its adoption, the Russian delegation proposed amending the text to call for «the urgent suspension of hostilities» for safe and unimpeded humanitarian access, as well as the adoption of «measures aimed at a sustainable cessation», but the US veto stood in the way.

The resolution finally approved did not include the call to stop the conflict, although it called for the fulfillment of obligations for its conduct and the protection of the population and its goods; humanitarian access as well as of the personnel in charge of the aid and its freedom of movement.

However, the main voices of the organization insist on the need to put an end to the fighting of catastrophic proportions that has resulted in more than 22,000 Palestinian deaths while hunger, overcrowding and displacement cause more pain to civilians.

In the opinion of the Secretary General himself, António Guterres, given the dimensions of the crisis in Gaza, much more than the approved resolution is needed.

A humanitarian ceasefire is the only way to begin to meet the desperate needs of the people in the enclave and put an end to their ongoing nightmare, the UN chief stressed in a press appearance last month.

At the same time, the high representative pointed to other concerns such as the continuing risk of a wider regional conflagration.

Guterres warned of escalating violence in the occupied West Bank, exchanges of fire across the Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon, and the spillover effects of continued attacks by groups in Iraq and Syria, as well as by Houthis against ships in the Red Sea.