Arab group circulates updated Gaza draft resolution

The Arab group late Sunday circulated an updated draft resolution on the situation in Gaza after including suggestions by some Security Council members, with the hope a vote will take place soon. The group will further discuss the draft later today Monday, and insist on Council action.
The draft asks the Security Council to condemn all hostilities against civilians in Gaza, calls for an immediate and durable ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli troops; urges for all necessary measures to protect civilians; respecting sanctity of UN installations, seeking an investigation of the attacks on UN schools and lifting the blockade on the Strip.
Although no date has been set for a vote, the group has in parallel called for a General Assembly informal meeting, to be held probably this week, to hear briefings by UN high-level officials on the political, humanitarian, human rights and Palestinian refugee situations in Gaza. The move was interpreted by diplomats as a pressure on the Council to act.
The draft would welcome the Egyptian initiative for a ceasefire and the mediation efforts by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other international partners, including at the Paris meeting last month.
It would call on the UN to establish a mechanism to monitor the implementation of a ceasefire agreement, once in place, and the understandings and measures agreed upon, with the aim of ensuring respect for a permanent ceasefire by the parties and reporting on any violations.
The Arab proposed resolution urges all parties to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law, including the 1949 Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilians in time of war, calls for "all necessary measures" to ensure the protection of civilians, including an immediate halt to military reprisals, collective punishment and excessive use of force against civilians.
It further calls on all parties to respect the inviolability, the sanctity and neutrality of UN installations, strongly condemns all actions in contravention of these principles, which endanger the safety and lives of Palestinian civilians.
It would request the UN to carry out a full and transparent investigation regarding the recent attacks on UNRWA schools in the Gaza Strip and request the UN Secretary-General to report on its findings to the Council. It would also call for the full implementation of resolution 1860 of 2009, including the lifting of the Israeli restrictions imposed on the movement of persons and goods into and out of the Gaza Strip and for the sustained reopening of the crossing points.
Furthermore, the draft resolution stresses the need for the immediate provision of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian civilians in the Strip, including through "urgent" additional contributions to UNRWA, which plays a "vital" role in providing emergency aid to the affected civilians, and to contribute to the urgent reconstruction and economic recovery of the Strip.
It would finally call for "renewed and urgent" efforts by the parties and the international community to achieve a comprehensive peace based on the vision of two States, Palestine and Israel, living side by side on the basis of the pre-1967 borders in peace and security, as envisaged in relevant Council resolutions, recalling in this regard the "importance" of the Arab Peace Initiative.
The council issued press statements and a presidential statement on the situation in Gaza last month, but they are not binding. Only resolutions are.
In the meantime, US Ambassador Samantha Power late Sunday issued a statement saying the strike early Sunday outside a UNRWA school in Rafah, where an estimated 3,000 people were taking shelter, is "horrifying." She did not mention Israel by name. The incident, which took the lives of at least ten Palestinians, including one UNRWA staff member, and injured many more, is the latest in a conflict that has left approximately 1,750 people dead, including 11 UN staff, and close to 9,000 injured.
The UN estimates as many as 475,000 people have been displaced by the violence, of whom more than 259,000 are sheltering in 90 UNRWA schools which are not equipped as shelters. "It is imperative that all sides work towards a ceasefire that ends the rocket attacks and tunnel threat from Hamas, and the perilous situation faced by civilians in Gaza," Power said in her statement, again not mentioning Israel by name.
"We call on all parties to take all feasible precautions to prevent civilian casualties, comply with international humanitarian law and respect UN facilities in Gaza," she said, urging Israel, not the UN, to conduct a "full and prompt investigation" of this incident as well as the recent strikes that hit other UNRWA schools. Civilians, many of whom have been told to evacuate their homes by the Israel Forces, she added, "must be able to find refuge in safe, UN-designated shelters." Power's statement, issued later Sunday evening, does not sound like the US will accept the Arab updated draft resolution on Gaza.