Israel-Hamas war: UN Security Council adopts ceasefire resolution

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council on Monday overwhelmingly approved its first resolution endorsing a ceasefire plan aimed at ending the eight-month conflict. war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The U.S.-sponsored resolution welcomes a ceasefire proposal announced by President Joe Biden and which the United States says Israel accepted. It calls on the Palestinian militant group Hamas to accept the three-phase plan.

The resolution – which was approved by 14 of the 15 Security Council members voting in favor and Russia abstaining – calls on Israel and Hamas “to fully implement its terms, without delay and without conditions”.

It remains to be seen whether Israel and Hamas will agree to move forward with the plan, but the strong support for the resolution within the UN's most powerful body puts additional pressure on both sides. for them to approve the proposal.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Israel Monday, where he urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the plan for post-war Gaza while pushing for more international pressure on Hamas to accept the ceasefire proposal. Netanyahu has been skeptical of the deal, saying Israel is still determined to destroy Hamas.

Hamas said it welcomed the adoption of the resolution and was ready to work with mediators in indirect negotiations with Israel to implement it. The statement is among Hamas' strongest to date, but it emphasizes that the group will continue its fight against the Israeli occupation and work to create a “fully sovereign” Palestinian state.

A senior Israeli diplomat did not directly mention the resolution, telling the Council that Israel's position is unwavering: “We will continue until all hostages are returned and until the military and governmental capabilities of the Hamas are dismantled. »

“It also means that Israel will not engage in meaningless and endless negotiations, which could be exploited by Hamas as a means to buy time,” Minister Counselor Reut Shapir Ben Naftaly said.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, however, reiterated that Israel had accepted the ceasefire agreement, which is supported by countries around the world.

The adoption of the resolution, she said, “sent a clear message to Hamas to accept the proposed ceasefire agreement.”

“The fighting could stop today if Hamas did the same,” Thomas-Greenfield told the council. “I repeat, this fighting could end today.”

Deputy U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood told reporters Monday that the United States views the deal as “the best, most realistic opportunity to at least temporarily end this war.”

Earlier on Monday, leaders of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad met in Qatar to discuss the proposed ceasefire deal and later said any deal must lead to a permanent ceasefire, for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, reconstruction and “a serious exchange agreement”. between Gaza hostages and Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said Moscow abstained because details of the three-phase plan had not been disclosed and “we had a whole series of questions.”

“Hamas is being called upon to accept this so-called deal, but there is still no clear clarity about Israel's official deal,” Nebenzia said. “Given Israel's numerous statements about prolonging the war until Hamas is completely defeated… what specifically has Israel agreed to?”

Algerian Ambassador to the UN, Amar Bendjama, Arab representative to the Council, said that although the text is not perfect, “it offers a glimmer of hope to the Palestinians, because the alternative is continued massacres and the suffering of the Palestinian people. »

“We voted for this text to give diplomacy a chance to reach an agreement that will end the aggression against the Palestinian people that has lasted far too long,” Bendjama said.

The war was started by Hamas October 7 surprise attack in southern Israel during which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, and took around 250 others hostage. Around 120 hostages remain, including 43 dead.

The Israeli military offensive has killed more than 36,700 Palestinians and injured more than 83,000 others, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. It also destroyed around 80% of Gaza's buildings, according to the UN.

The Security Council adopted a resolution on March 25 demanding a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, with the United States abstaining, but the war was not stopped.

Monday's resolution highlights “the importance of ongoing diplomatic efforts by Egypt, Qatar and the United States aimed at achieving a comprehensive ceasefire agreementconsisting of three phases” and affirms that the three countries are ready “to work to ensure that negotiations continue until all agreements are concluded”.

Biden's May 31 announcement of the new proposal said it would begin with an initial six-month ceasefire and the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from populated areas of Gaza and the return of Palestinian civilians in all. areas of the territory.

The first phase also requires the safe distribution of humanitarian aid “on a large scale throughout the Gaza Strip,” which Biden said would lead to 600 aid trucks entering Gaza each day.

In the second phase, the resolution stipulates that with the agreement of Israel and Hamas, “a permanent end to hostilities, in exchange for the release of all other hostages still in Gaza, and a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza” will take place.

The third phase would launch “a major multi-year plan for the reconstruction of Gaza and the return to their families of the remains of all deceased hostages still in Gaza.”

The resolution reiterates “the Security Council's unwavering commitment to realizing the vision of a negotiated two-State solution in which two democratic States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders.”

It also emphasizes “the importance of unifying the Gaza Strip with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority,” something Netanyahu’s right-wing government has not accepted.

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Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed to this report from Beirut.

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