The United Nations Security Council yesterday backed a proposal outlined by President Joe Biden for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and urged the Palestinian fighters to accept the deal aimed at ending the eight-month-long war.
Earlier yesterday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken blamed Hamas for holding up a ceasefire in Gaza, as the top US diplomat conducted a Middle East peace mission to deliver President Joe Biden’s latest proposed plan to end the Gaza war.
Meanwhile, Hamas welcomed the adoption of the US-drafted resolution and said in a statement that it is ready to cooperate with mediators over implementing the principles of the plan.
Russia abstained from the UN vote, while the remaining 14 Security Council members voted in favour of the resolution supporting a three-phase ceasefire plan laid out by Biden on May 31 that he described as an Israeli initiative. “Today we voted for peace,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council after the vote.
The resolution welcomes the new ceasefire proposal, states that Israel has accepted it, calls on Hamas to agree to it and “urges both parties to fully implement its terms without delay and without condition.”
Algeria, the only Arab member of the council, supported the resolution because “we believe it can represent a step forward toward an immediate and lasting ceasefire,” Algeria’s UN Ambassador Amar Bendjama told the council.
“It offers a glimmer of hope to the Palestinians,” he said. “It’s time to halt the killing.”
The resolution also goes into detail about the proposal, and spells out that “if the negotiations take longer than six weeks for phase one, the ceasefire will still continue as long as negotiations continue.”
Thomas-Greenfield said the vote showed Hamas that the international community was united. “United behind a deal that will save lives and help Palestinian civilians in Gaza start to rebuild and heal. United behind a deal that will reunite hostages with their families, after eight months in captivity,” she said.
The council in March demanded for an immediate ceasefire and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas.
For months, negotiators from the US, Egypt and Qatar have been trying to mediate a ceasefire. Hamas says it wants a permanent end to the war in the Gaza Strip and Israeli withdrawal from the enclave.
Speaking yesterday after meeting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi in Cairo, Blinken said Hamas was the only side that had yet to agree to Biden’s proposal, which Washington says already had Israel’s backing before Biden announced it on May 31.
“My message to governments throughout the region, to people throughout the region, is - if you want a ceasefire, press Hamas to say ‘yes’,” Blinken told reporters before leaving for Israel where he met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters Blinken’s comments were “an example of bias toward Israel and it offers American cover to the holocaust conducted by the occupation in Gaza”.
Yesterday evening, in his talks with Netanyahu, the US State Department said Blinken had emphasised the importance of a post-war plan in Gaza as well as the need to prevent the conflict from spreading.
“We are committed to total victory,” Netanyahu said in a statement released by his office, quoting remarks he made on Sunday to relatives of Israelis killed in Gaza. He said he would reject a Hamas demand to “commit to stopping the war without achieving our goals of eliminating Hamas”.
Hamas and its allies Islamic Jihad said in a joint statement: “Any agreement must ensure a permanent end to the aggression and a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, reconstruction, lifting the blockade and a serious swap deal.”
In Rafah, the city on the southern edge of Gaza where Israel launched an offensive last month, residents said yesterday tanks had been thrusting deeper towards the north in the early hours of the morning. They were on the edge of Shaboura, one of the most densely populated neighbourhoods at the heart of the city.
Residents in Nuseirat, north of Deir Al Balah, were still clearing debris after Israel freed four hostages in a massive raid there on Saturday.
“We are exhausted and helpless, enough is enough,” said Jehad, who fled under fire from Saturday’s assault in Nuseirat with his family and was now in Deir Al Balah, speaking by text message. The family had already been displaced from Gaza City to Nuseirat, to Khan Younis, to Rafah and back to Nuseirat before their latest flight.
In video obtained by Reuters from Nuseirat, resident Anas Alyan, standing outside the ruins of his home, described how Israel commandos wearing shorts had appeared in the streets, firing wildly while F-16s and quadcopters fired from the air. “Anyone moving in the street was killed - anyone moving, or walking, was killed immediately,” he said. “There are still children under this building. We don’t know how to pull them out,” he said, pointing to one ruin.
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