Croatia on Friday joined 142 countries in voting for a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly aimed at giving fresh momentum to a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The text, prepared by France and Saudi Arabia, passed with 142 votes in favour, 10 against – including Israel and the United States – and 12 abstentions. Hungary was the only European country to vote against.
The seven-page declaration calls for an end to the war in Gaza and a just, peaceful, and lasting resolution to the conflict, while explicitly condemning Hamas and demanding that the group lay down its weapons. It states: “We condemn the attacks committed by Hamas on October 7 against civilians” and insists that “Hamas must release all hostages” held in Gaza.
Israel sharply rejected the resolution, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein denouncing it on X as “a shameful decision” and “a political circus detached from reality.” He argued that the text ignores Hamas’s role in prolonging the war by refusing to surrender hostages or disarm.
The so-called “New York Declaration” stems from a July UN conference on the decades-long conflict, co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and France, which Israel and the United States boycotted. It envisions, in the context of a future ceasefire, the deployment of a temporary international stabilisation mission in Gaza under a UN Security Council mandate to protect civilians, support Palestinian state-building, and provide “security guarantees to both Palestine and Israel.”
Currently, about three-quarters of UN member states recognise Palestine as a state. Following French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement, several other countries have signalled their intention to do so during the UN General Assembly session that opens on September 22 – a move seen as additional pressure on Israel to end the war in Gaza, which began after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks.