United Nations, Nov 19 : It took 46 days for the UN Security Council to call for a humanitarian pause in the Israel-Hamas conflict that has claimed over 12,000 lives, most of them civilians, many of them children, but in a resolution without teeth.

A day later on Thursday, a UN effort with real-life implications for the people of Gaza was undone when the relief supplies it was sending to Gaza through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt after days of intense diplomacy came to a halt as it ran out of fuel and because of a communication shutdown.

Although the resolution represented a hard-won victory for the Council members wanting to signal themworld that the paralysed body had finally moved to act, it was merely symbolic – a pathetic plea – despite the Council having enforcement powers.