UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly will vote Wednesday on a Palestinian resolution demanding that Israel end its “unlawful presence” in Gaza and the occupied West Bank within a year, withdraw its military forces and evacuate all settlers.
The resolution is being put to a vote in the 193-member assembly as Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza approaches its first anniversary and as violence in the West Bank reaches new highs . The war was triggered by Hamas attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, opened the assembly meeting Tuesday by saying Palestinians face an “existential threat” and claiming Israel has held them “in shackles.
” He demanded an end to Israel’s decades-long occupation and for Palestinians to be able to return home to live in peace and freedom. Israel’s ambassador to the U.N.
, Danny Danon, urged member nations to reject the resolution, describing it as “an attempt to destroy Israel through diplomatic terrorism” that never mentions Hamas' atrocities and “ignores the truth, twists the facts and replaces reality with fiction.” “Instead of a resolution condemning the rape and massacre committed by Hamas on Oct. 7, we gather here to watch the Palestinians’ U.
N. circus — a circus where evil is righteous, war is peace, murder is justified and terror is applauded,” he said. If adopted, the resolution would not be legally binding, but the extent of its support would reflect worl.