An International Coalition
Calls for Urgent Action in Gaza:
Implement UN Resolution 377 Now

Aug. 3—As the horrific conditions in Gaza have worsened beyond imagination, the world has increasingly asked the question of why the United Nations—the key institution tasked with maintaining peace and ensuring genocide is “Never Again” allowed to occur—remains silent. Despite overwhelming support for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, including a ruling by the International Court of Justice that Israel must cease its actions which are plausibly committing a genocide, a small group of nations, led by the United States and United Kingdom, have provided cover for Israel to continue. Rather than being an enforcer of peace, the United Nations Security Council has become a roadblock to peace.

In mid-July, an international coalition led by World Beyond War, Rootsaction.org, and others, launched a campaign to force action at the UN. They have called for the implementation of UN Resolution 377, titled “Uniting for Peace.” Resolution 377, adopted November 3, 1950, empowers the General Assembly to override the United Nations Security Council under conditions that the world deems immediate action to be essential, in order to preserve the international peace and security of the world. The United Nations website, regarding Emergency Special Sessions, says that Resolution 377—

resolves that if the Security Council, because of lack of unanimity of the permanent members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security in any case where there appears to be a threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or active aggression, the General Assembly shall consider the matter immediately with the view to making appropriate recommendations to members for collective measures, including, in the case of a breach of the peace or active aggression, the use of armed force if necessary, to maintain or restore, international peace and security.

In an update published on August 2, World Beyond War reports that the mobilization to initiate Resolution 377 has already resulted in at least 200,000 emails sent to various governments around the world, and is gearing up for a week of action in the vicinity of the UN’s headquarters in New York to begin on August 10. They emphasize that “the General Assembly should NOT escalate the war or deploy armed troops.” Rather, the UN should convene an emergency session and use “Uniting for Peace” to “impose an arms embargo and targeted sanctions on the Israeli government, suspend the Israeli government from the United Nations, and send to Palestine unarmed peacekeepers (who have repeatedly shown their superiority to armed peacekeepers).”

Given the urgency of the situation and the importance of the coalition’s call, EIR is including a substantial excerpt of their original statement below:

The world has watched in horror as Israel has unleashed its ferocious and unlawful assault on the Palestinian people in Gaza, with a declared intent, from the very beginning, to stop food, electricity, water, and other basic goods from entering this occupied territory.

On July 9, 2024, UN Experts declared that the recent deaths of more Palestinian children due to hunger and malnutrition leaves no doubt that famine has spread across the entire Gaza strip.

In the past seven months the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip has been systematically dismantled. According to OCHA, 24 hospitals in Gaza, Palestine are now out of service, while 493 health workers have been killed.

There is no telling what the indirect human cost in deaths and long-term injuries will be as a result of aid and treatment having been denied.

According to the United Nations, a staggering 1.7 million people, constituting approximately 75% of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents, are internally displaced. This displacement has given rise to formidable challenges affecting the population and straining the humanitarian response, particularly in the areas of shelter, food, sanitation, and health.

The current climatic conditions in Gaza further exacerbate the hardships faced by displaced individuals trying to survive in tents.

Mindful of the suffering that Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank endure, we urge the members states of the United Nations to uphold the rule of law where the United Nations Security Council has failed. Member states of the General Assembly can and should enact the “Uniting for Peace” resolution 377 to end Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.