New Gaza truce reso stalls at Security Council

The US is expected to veto the Arab-backed resolution.

Voting was postponed for a new Gaza ceasefire resolution filed before the United Nations Security Council on Friday, following the veto of a United States-drafted version earlier.

The new ceasefire text supported by Arab countries was meant to go to a vote on Saturday, but was pushed back to allow further discussions, diplomatic sources said.

The new, tougher draft resolution, seen by Agence France-Presse,

“demands an immediate ceasefire” for the ongoing Muslim holy month of Ramadan that leads “to a permanent sustainable ceasefire” respected by all sides.

“We as (the) Arab Group unanimously endorse and support the draft resolution,” said Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour, who had denounced the US-led text as biased.

But US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield indicated opposition, saying the resolution would jeopardize ongoing diplomatic efforts to secure the release of hostages — the same reason the US gave before vetoing previous ceasefire resolutions.

“In its current form, that text fails to support sensitive diplomacy in the region. Worse, it could actually give Hamas an excuse to walk away from the deal on the table,” she said.

Friday’s text did not explicitly use the word “call,” but simply stated that a ceasefire was imperative, and linked to ongoing talks, led by Qatar with support from the United States and Egypt, to halt fighting in return for Hamas releasing hostages.

Earlier, Algeria, China and Russia vetoed a US-led draft resolution on a Gaza ceasefire for being biased.

The draft resolution supported “the imperative of an immediate and sustained ceasefire” and for the first time condemned the 7 October attack by Hamas.