Fourteen countries oppose UN resolution to end Israel's occupation of Palestine

A total of 124 states voted for Israel to withdraw forces and cease settlement activity in the occupied West Bank

The result of a vote on the legal consequences of Israel's actions in the Palestinian territories is shown at the United Nations Headquarters, New York, on September 18. AFP

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A UN General Assembly resolution calling on Israel to end its illegal occupation of Palestine within a year was passed overwhelmingly on Wednesday. Israel’s closest ally, the US, was among the opposing nations.

While 124 countries voted in favour, 14 countries opposed the resolution and 43 abstained.

The resolution urged Israel to "comply with international law and withdraw its military forces, immediately cease all new settlement activity, evacuate all settlers from occupied land, and dismantle parts of the separation wall it constructed inside the occupied West Bank". It also demanded Israel return land and other assets it has seized since 1967.

Apart from the US, Argentina, Hungary and Paraguay also voted against the resolution. Other opposers were: Oceania's Palau, Micronesia, Nauru, Fiji, Tonga, Tuvalu and Papua New Guinea, East Africa's Malawi and Europe's Czechia.

Notably, South America's Argentina has had a long-standing pro-Palestine policy, which it broke off from in a May vote on recognising Palestinian as a state, before designating Hamas a terrorist group two months later.

Argentina's President Javier Milei had been aligning his country closer with Israel and the US in recent months, even visiting Jerusalem in February and making more public his religious views after converting to Judaism three years ago.

Hungary's position on Israel remained unchanged. It has long been a supporter and ally of Israel, and is the only EU member state to not have called on Israel to stop its incursion into Rafah in May, in the continuing war in Gaza, as part of a joint declaration among other EU member states.

More than 41,200 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's war in Gaza, and 95,550 were wounded with at least 10,000 more missing and believed to be under rubble.

Paraguay has strong trade ties with Israel but a complicated relationship with it.

In 2018, President Horacio Cartes said he would relocate his country's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem – effectively recognising the city as Israel's capital, following the footsteps of Donald Trump, who made the same controversial move.

Paraguay's decision was eventually reversed under new president Mario Abdo Benitez and the embassy was moved back to Tel Aviv, prompting anger from Israel, which closed its embassy in Paraguay.

Six years later, Paraguay’s current President Santiago Peña expressed his support for Israel, saying he will move his embassy to Jerusalem and in turn attended the inauguration of Israel's embassy in the capital Asuncion on Wednesday – the day of the UN vote – where his envoy voted against the resolution to show further support to Israel.

Ahead of the vote, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the kingdom condemns "the crimes of the Israeli occupation authority against the Palestinian people". The Crown Prince said the kingdom will not establish diplomatic ties with Israel without an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.