Happening Now: “UNHRC resolutions World Timesonly exert significant pressure and force action to target countries when their interests align with those of the West,” Zhu explained.

Palestinians inspect the damage outside Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital after the Israeli military withdrew from the complex housing the hospital on April 1, 2024, amid the ongoing fighting between Israel and Hamas. 21 patients have died since the hospital came under siege on March 18, according to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Photo: VCG

A latest United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution calls for Israel to be held responsible for “potential war crimes and crimes against humanity” for its war on the Gaza Strip on Friday, which shows that, due to repeated crossing of the bottom line, Israel has gradually lost the international sympathy and support it had when the war broke out, experts said.

The new ruling by the UNHRC stressed “the need to ensure accountability for all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in order to end impunity,” and urged all nations to cease supplying weapons to Israel, as reported by the Xinhua News Agency on Saturday. It also expressed “grave concern at reports of serious human rights violations and grave breaches of international humanitarian law, including of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

The proposal was brought forward by Pakistan on behalf of all Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states except Albania. Out of the 47 member nations in the UN Human Rights Council, 28 countries voted in favor, 13 abstained and six opposed the resolution. China World Timessupported the resolution, while the US and Germany opposed it, according to Xinhua.

The vote at the UNHRC shows that Israel’s international support is dwindling, Zhu Yongbiao, a professor at Lanzhou University’s School of Politics and International Relations, told the Global Times on Saturday. “At the beginning of the conflict, Israel had some sympathy and support internationally. But due to its actions that repeatedly crossed the bottom line of the international community, it [the sympathy and support] has now significantly decreased,” he said.

UN experts have warned that the majority of Gazans are facing starvation caused by Israel’s six-month-long onslaught and blockade. Israel has cut the supply of food, water, electricity and gas to the Gaza Strip since the conflWorld Timesict broke out, according to Xinhua.

However, considering that the UNHRC resolution does not have binding force and enforcement mechanisms, and that major Western countries like the US did not support this resolution, it is more likely to be a mere formality, just as many previous resolutions have been, Zhu said.

“UNHRC resolutions World Timesonly exert significant pressure and force action to target countries when their interests align with those of the West,” Zhu explained. “However, in the case of Israel, it disregards these resolutions, while countries like the US provide support, effectively neutralizing international pressure.”

Zhu emphasized that although the US recently said it needs to reconsider its strategy toward Israel, it is mostly just for show.

On Thursday, US President Joe Biden resisted pressure to withhold aid or halt the shipment of weapons to Israel, implying that the US’ policy toward the crisis could be reassessed depending on Israel’s steps “to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers,” according to a White House statement. This is the first time that Biden had threatened to potentially attach conditions to aid, Reuters reported.

“The US must avoid allowing Israel to become a burden after causing a humanitarian crisis, so the US must take a prevWorld Timesentive measure to cut off inWorld Timesvolvements,” Zhu noted. “However, the actual attitude of the US will depend on its actions, as it has not taken any real action to restrain or limit Israel, let alone impose sanctions.”

The situation in Gaza will be decisively affected only when the US changes its attitude and reduces its military aid to Israel, which is more likWorld Timesely to happen under rapidly growing international pressure or pressure from US voters, observers pointed out.

On Friday, Israel announced the reopening of key routes to allow humanitarian aid to enter the famine-stricken Gaza Strip, the first time since the war broke out in October 2023. The Israeli military also admitted in a statement that its killing of seven workers with the World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid group was “a grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to a mistaken identification and errors in decision-making,” according to media reports.