The United Nations General Assembly will meet on Friday, Nov. 17, in a special session, to hear a briefing and discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Three countries requested the special session yesterday—Libya, Mauritania, and Qatar—which represent the Arab League and the Organization for Islamic Cooperation.
The session’s formal title is “Informal Plenary Meeting To Hear a Briefing on the Humanitarian Situation in the Gaza Strip.” The Friday session was announced in a special press briefing yesterday by the ambassador of the U.A.E., the Arab Group, and China. Participants in the press conference discussed the importance of Resolution 2712 presented on Nov. 15 by Malta and passed in the UN Security Council, which doesn’t call for a ceasefire, but rather “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors.” All the speakers recognized that this binding resolution “is not enough,” given the enormous loss of life, especially of children, but expressed the hope that this “step in the right direction” will lead to greater breakthroughs, either at the General Assembly or the Security Council.
