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I would like to know if the United Nations has a responsibility, due to what is stated in its Charter, to begin pressuring Israel as soon as possible to ensure that there exists a safe corridor to Egypt from the Gaza Strip for civilians wishing to flee from Gaza, especially women, young children, and the elderly.

I have not read the Charter of the United Nations, so I am unfamiliar with it and what it has to say concerning the promotion for and establishment of a safe corridor for civilians during wartime.

Does the United Nations have a responsibility to pressure Israel to establish a safe corridor to Egypt for those wishing to flee from Gaza?

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    Why do you think only/mainly Israel would have to be pressured here? And not Egypt? See politics.stackexchange.com/questions/81694/…
    – got trolled too much this week
    Commented Oct 12, 2023 at 18:15
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    @Fizz, because Egypt does not pose a threat to the lives of those currently wishing to flee the bombing and the potential of encountering Israeli ground troops going door-to-door in the near future.
    – user57467
    Commented Oct 12, 2023 at 18:19
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    That would only be a good idea if it also obtained formal assurances from Israel that it would let them back in once the emergency was over. And Israel could, with some measure of good reasons, insist it vet the outgoing refugees for Hamas affiliations.
    – Italian Philosophers 4 Monica
    Commented Oct 12, 2023 at 18:39
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    @user57467 There will be an answer but it will not be a simple yes or no as you seem to suggest. Nowhere in the charter it will say "You shall pressure Israel to ..." so somebody will have to interpret the charter. People may even come to different result or the nature of any pressure that might or might not be needed is different. What does it mean to pressure? Publicly calling for? Sending troops? The UN is not a World government, more an organization that kind of promotes peace and cooperation. It's a rather difficult question to estimate the exact obligations from that.
    – NoDataDumpNoContribution
    Commented Oct 12, 2023 at 19:56
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    @user57467 You're assuming Egypt would allow Gaza refugees in. I'd bet Egypt wants nothing to do with any Hamas members that all but inevitably would come embedded in any stream of Gaza refugees. I suspect Egypt would likely view Hamas members as threats to Egypt given Egypt's history with other Muslim Brotherhood-linked organizations.
    – Just Me
    Commented Oct 12, 2023 at 20:15

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Not explicitly. The UN is often involved in establishing such corridors, but unless you take a very generous interpretation of some general provisions of the Charter, they are under no specific obligation to establish these.

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    The UN doesn't have any obligations to anyone.
    – ohwilleke ♦
    Commented Oct 13, 2023 at 19:42
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Question:

Does the United Nations have a responsibility to pressure Israel to establish a safe corridor to Egypt for those wishing to flee from Gaza?

Short Answer

There is no place for the Gaza refugee's to flee too.

Israel does not need to be pressured by the U.N to open humanitarian corridors to Egypt. It would be to Israel's advantage to do so. Israel has long advocated for Egypt and their other Arab neighbors to accept these refugees. Egypt won't accept mass refugees from Gaza. Egypt's long standing policy is that the refugee's are Israel's making, and Israel's responsibility. This policy which unites all of Israel's neighbors is a long standing political impasse of the region's troubles.

Answer

The United Nations isn't designed to take any action not favored unanimously by its Security Council. It's primarily designed as a stage for discussions, that's it. It has no mandate as operating as some sort of world government, in the absence of that unity. There would be no unanimous endorsement by the security council to pressure Israel to do anything right now.

As for "safe corridor's to Egypt", that's a politically charged topic and ultimately not something Israel would need to be pressured to do. The issue is Egypt won't take refugee's in mass from Gaza. The Palestinian refugee's in Gaza and the West bank are displaced peoples pushed out of their homes primarily during the creation of Israel in 1947 and when Israel doubled it's size in the 1967 war. Israel's neighbors including Egypt have long held the position that the refugee's are Israel's responsibility and Israel's problem. Israel has long desired for their Arab neighbors to accept the responsibility for these refugees and that has never happened.

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  • "that has never happened"? Jordan? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinians_in_Jordan
    – got trolled too much this week
    Commented Oct 14, 2023 at 2:43
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    @Fizz like every issue in the middle east there are multiple sides to every issue and some fraction of truth in each. You are not wrong, but I would still sand behind my words as more truthful. "It's never happened, bulk immigration of Palestinians.", as the most accurate statement. Jordan in 1947 took and occupied Jerusalem and the vast majority of the refugees were not permitted into Jordan. Since 67, when Jordan lost Jerusalem, there have been millions of Palestinian refugees on their boarder and Jordan has consistently refused to permit them.
    – user47010
    Commented Oct 14, 2023 at 14:21

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