A view of the screen showing the result of a vote on a resolution regarding the Israeli military campaign in Gaza,
during the 55th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, on April 5, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

The United Nations’ (UN) top human rights body called on countries to stop selling or shipping weapons to Israel in a resolution passed on April 5 that aims to help prevent rights violations against Palestinians amid Israel’s blistering military campaign in Gaza.

The 47-member-country Human Rights Council voted 28-6 in favour of the resolution, with 13 abstentions.

The sweeping measure, which takes aim at an array of Israeli actions such as impeding access to water and limiting shipments of humanitarian aid into Palestinian areas, also calls on UN-backed independent investigators to report on shipments of weapons, munitions and “dual use” items — for both civilian and military purposes — that could be used by Israel against Palestinians. It is not binding.

Western countries were divided, with the U.S., Germany and others opposing the resolution, several abstaining and some European countries voting in favour. Israel — at times joined by the United States — has regularly and roundly criticised the council for its alleged anti-Israel bias.

The council has approved far more resolutions against Israel for its actions toward Palestinians over the years than against any other country.

The council is wrapping up its first session of the year, which began on February 26, with action on more than 40 resolutions on subjects as diverse as the rights of the child; the environment and human rights; genocide prevention; and rights situations in countries like Sudan, Belarus and North Korea.

The resolution comes amid a growing focus on weapons shipments to Israel — notably by its strongest backer, the United States — as Israel continues its military campaign in Gaza that has led to the killings of nearly 33,000 Palestinians that began in response to the attacks in Israel by armed militants on October 7.

In a sign of Washington’s growing impatience with Israel’s handling of the military campaign, U.S. President Joe Biden issued a stark warning to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on April 4 that future the U.S. support for Israel’s Gaza war depends on the swift implementation of new steps to protect civilians and aid workers.

That was the first time that Mr. Biden has threatened to rethink his backing if Israel doesn’t change its tactics and allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza.

A view of the Aleppo world airport in Syria. Document
| Picture Credit score: Reuters

“An Israeli airstrike hit the international airport in the city of Aleppo in northern Syria early on August 28, damaging a runway and putting it out of service,” Syrian shape media stated.

Atmosphere information company SANA, mentioning an army respectable, stated Israeli planes coming from the Mediterranean Sea performed the assault at round 4.30 a.m. There have been deny casualties reported.

The airport has been focused a number of occasions this yr, together with two assaults in March that still put it out of carrier. There was once deny instant remark from Israeli officers.

Israel has performed loads of moves on goals inside of government-controlled portions of Syria in recent times, together with assaults at the Damascus and Aleppo airports, but it surely hardly ever recognizes or discusses the operations. Incessantly the moves goal Syrian army forces or Iranian-backed teams.

Israel has focused airports and sea ports within the government-held portions of Syria in an obvious struggle to block palms shipments from Iran to militant teams subsidized by means of Tehran, together with Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Hundreds of Iran-backed combatants from across the patch joined Syria’s 12-year warfare serving to tip the stability in general of President Bashar Assad’s forces.

Aleppo, which suffered prevailing demolition in Syria’s civil conflict, was once once more closely broken within the appalling 7.8-magnitude earthquake that clash Turkey and Syria in February.