GENEVA (AFP) — The UN Human Rights Council criticised Israel on Thursday for its blockade of Gaza, in a resolution that EU member states on the council abstained from voting on, citing a lack of balance.
By a vote of 30 to one, the council adopted the resolution that had been tabled by Pakistan and Syria on behalf of the Islamic and Arab blocs. Canada cast the lone opposing vote, while a total of 15 other states abstained.
The resolution called for "urgent international action to put an immediate end to the grave violations committed by the occupying power, Israel, in the occupied Palestinian territory".
It marked the fourth time that the council, established in 2006 to replace the Human Rights Commission as the United Nations' main forum for human rights, had lambasted Israel in a special session.
The Palestinian ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Mohammad Abu-Koash, said the vote was significant but urged greater international pressure upon Israel.
"Israel cannot have a free hand, a free licence against the Palestinian people," he told journalists after the session.
Western states took issue with the resolution, arguing that it made no mention of Palestinian rocket attacks launched from Gaza into Israel.
Both the United States and Israel were absent from the session.
Neither country is a member of the 47-strong Council but both can attend as observers.
US ambassador Warren Tichenor said the Council's unbalanced approach had "squandered its credibility" by failing to address continued rocket attacks against Israel.
"Today's actions do nothing to help the Palestinian people, in whose name the supporters of this session claim to act," he said in a statement.
"Supporters of a Palestinian state must avoid the kind of inflammatory rhetoric and actions that this session represents, which only stoke tensions and erode the chances for peace," he added.
Speaking on behalf of the European Union, Slovenia's representative said the resolution lacked "an acknowledgement of civilian casualties on both sides".
Slovenia currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, which has seven member states on the council.
Last week Israel turned its prolonged blockade of Gaza into a full-scale lockdown, blocking all fuel shipments and humanitarian aid, in a bid to stop the firing of rockets from the Hamas-controlled territory.
On Tuesday, Israel allowed in shipments of cooking gas and fuel to power Gaza's sole power station, which had ground to a halt on Sunday night.
Earlier this week, tens of thousands of Gazans poured into Egypt to stock up on goods in defiance of the Israeli siege, after militants blew up parts of the barrier that marks the border.
Like its predecessor, the Human Rights Commission, the Human Rights Council has been criticised by mainly Western countries for focusing too much on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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