Can Gaza be saved by the UN General Assembly through a 1950 Resolution?

AN immediate ceasefire in Palestine, which is being bombed every 8-9 minutes according to the UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, was deadlocked at the Security Council last week through a veto by the United States of America. A deadlock which blocked a potential halt to the killing of civilians at a scale and intensity that the world has not seen in living memory outside of World War II.

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If blocked by a veto-wielding country, the UNGA has the means to bypass the Security Council.

Thankfully, all is not lost at the United Nations. In this situation of deadlock where there is a threat to global peace and security, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) isn’t entirely helpless. If blocked by a veto-wielding country, the UNGA has the means to bypass the Security Council by invoking a 1950 Resolution known as Uniting for Peace, Resolution 377 A(V), which gives the General Assembly the power to recommend a number of mechanisms including the use of force.

Christian Tomuschat, Professor Emeritus at Humboldt University, Berlin explains: “Obviously, the crucial element of Resolution 377 A (V) was the affirmation that the General Assembly may, if deemed appropriate by it, recommend collective action, including the use of force.”

The ‘Uniting for Peace’ Resolution has been invoked over a dozen times thus far. Professor Tomuschat writes that the tenth emergency special session, which dealt with the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory “started in 1997 and has not yet come to its end. (It was adjourned by resolution ES-10/16 of 17 November 2006, para. 18, and can at any time be resumed upon request by Member States.)”

Kushtrim Istrefi, Associate Professor of Public International Law and Human Rights Law at Utrecht University writes that the “ICJ in its advisory opinion on Kosovo has affirmed the legal weight of the Uniting for Peace resolution.” (https://opiniojuris.org/2025/09/17/uniting-for-peace-in-gaza-a-test-for-the-general-assembly/)

Human rights experts urge use