A special session of the UN General Assembly has been called amid continued Israeli operations in the besieged Valley. General Assembly President Dennis Francis said the session will be held on Tuesday at 3 p.m. New York local time.

In the meantime, Dennis Francis has written to all the member states of the United Nations. He mentioned in the letter that this special session has been called at the request of Egypt and Mauritania. Egypt is the president of the Arab Group of Arab States. And Mauritania is the OIC president of the Alliance of Muslim Countries.

In a letter to the President of the General Assembly, the two countries called for ‘united for peace’. This letter is issued with reference to UN General Assembly Resolution 377. Which was originally approved in 1950. Resolution 377 basically allows the 193 members of the council to take action if the UN Security Council fails to safeguard international peace and security.

Earlier on Friday, the United Arab Emirates presented a resolution to the UN Security Council calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. In this, 13 out of 15 members of the council supported the proposal. The UK abstained from voting. However, the United States, a permanent member of the Council, opposed the proposal and vetoed it. And this destroys the possibility of ending the conflict in Gaza.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed regret over the failure of the Security Council resolution. He condemned the division among the council members for this failure. Guterres said the lack of consensus among members has rendered the Security Council virtually ineffective.

He lamented that the Council has become paralyzed due to the “geographical division” of the members of the Security Council. Due to this division, the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, a Palestinian independence organization, cannot be resolved. The ‘credibility’ of the United Nations is suffering greatly.