Summary
The General Assembly’s resolution ES-10/22, adopted on 12 December 2023 at the resumed tenth emergency special session under the same title as ES-10/21, which, taking note of the Secretary-General’s letter of 6 December 2023 under Article 99 of the Charter and of the UNRWA Commissioner-General’s letter of 7 December 2023, demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, reiterates its demand that all parties comply with international law notably on the protection of civilians, and demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages as well as ensuring humanitarian access (Resolution ES-10/22: Protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations (12 December 2023), PDF p.1-2).
What the file is
United Nations document A/RES/ES-10/22, General Assembly, Distr.: General, 19 December 2023, Tenth emergency special session, Agenda item 5, 2 PDF pages, about 309 words in the text copy. Adopted at the 45th plenary meeting on 12 December 2023 without reference to a Main Committee (A/ES-10/L.27). The text copy is clean and matches the original. Footnote 1 gives the Secretary-General’s letter symbol S/2023/962. No vote count is given in the file.
Section by section
- Preamble (PDF p.1). Guided by the Charter; recalling Palestine resolutions and all relevant Security Council resolutions; taking note of the Secretary-General’s 6 December 2023 Article 99 letter to the President of the Security Council and of the Commissioner-General of UNRWA’s 7 December 2023 letter to the President of the General Assembly, neither reproduced; grave concern over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and the suffering of the Palestinian civilian population, and that Palestinian and Israeli civilian populations must be protected under international humanitarian law.
- Operative paragraphs 1-4 (PDF p.1-2). Paragraph 1 demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire; paragraph 2 reiterates the demand for compliance with international law including international humanitarian law, notably on protection of civilians; paragraph 3 demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as ensuring humanitarian access; paragraph 4 adjourns the session temporarily, the President authorized to resume it on Member State request.
Key passages
- “Demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire” (operative paragraph 1, PDF p.1)
- “Demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as ensuring humanitarian access” (operative paragraph 3, PDF p.1)
Evidence the work relies on
A General Assembly resolution, not an evidentiary work. Its stated bases are the Charter, the recalled Palestine and Security Council resolutions, and the two December 2023 letters it takes note of, identified by date, author, addressee and, for the Secretary-General’s letter, document symbol. It gives no figures.
Analysis
The whole escalation from ES-10/21 is carried in one word change and two letters. Where ES-10/21 called for a truce, this text demands a ceasefire, and it grounds the return to the Assembly in the Secretary-General’s Article 99 letter and the Commissioner-General’s letter, which it notes without summarizing. Everything else from the October text — provision, corridors, evacuation order, forced transfer, facilities, mechanisms — is dropped; only compliance, hostages and access survive, compressed into paragraphs 2 and 3.
People, organizations, places and events
UN General Assembly Resolution ES-10/22, UNRWA, Gaza
Concepts
none
How it relates to other sources
- Resolution ES-10/21: Protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations (27 October 2023) is the longer October text this resolution succeeds under the identical title; the move from truce to ceasefire demand is the central difference.
- Resolution ES-10/23: Admission of new Members to the United Nations (10 May 2024) recalls this resolution by number in its preamble.
- Resolution ES-10/26: Demand for ceasefire in Gaza (11 December 2024), a year later, demands an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire, adding both qualifiers absent here.
Open questions
- No vote count is given in the file.
- The contents of the 6 December 2023 Article 99 letter and the 7 December 2023 Commissioner-General letter are not reproduced, so what either letter said cannot be stated from this file beyond its existence, date and addressee.
Coverage
PDF p.1-2 of 2, read in full.