UN approves cease-fire resultion for Gaza
Netanyahu cancels delegation’s DC trip after US abstains from vote
WASHINGTON − The United Nations Security Council approved a resolution Monday demanding an immediate cease-fire in Israel’s war in Gaza during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and the unconditional release of all hostages from Gaza after the U.S. abstained from voting.
The U.S., a steadfast ally of Israel during its war in Gaza, allowed the resolution to move forward by abstaining, making it the first cease-fire resolution to pass the council since the Israel-Hamas war began. The 14 other member nations voted to approve the resolution.
Efforts to pass similar cease-fire resolutions had failed four times − three vetoed by the Biden administration.
“Our vote does not − and I repeat that, does not − represent a shift in our policy,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters shortly after the vote.
Netanyahu halting meeting in US
Yet the U.S. abstention was met with strong resistance by the Israeli government.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel will no longer send a delegation that had planned to meet with Biden administration officials in Washington, D.C., this week as Israel moves toward a military operation in Rafah in southern Gaza.
“It’s certainly not ideal that they won’t be coming to D.C.,” Kirby said of the full delegation, but noted that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is already in Washington and the White House has every expectation that Rafah will come up during their conversations.
Why the US abstain?
Ramadan started March 10 and ends April 9.
Most recently, Russia and China had objected to a U.S.-led resolution Friday for an “immediate and sustained ceasefire” that also condemned Hamas for the deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield cited the latest resolution’s lack of language condemning Hamas as the primary reason the U.S. did not vote in its favor. She blamed Hamas for the failure to achieve a cease-fire agreement, which has been under negotiation for weeks.
“However, as I’ve said before, we fully support some of the critical objectives in this nonbinding resolution,” Thomas-Greenfield said, “and we believe it was important for the council to speak out and make clear that our cease-fire − any cease-fire − must come with the release of all hostages.”
Guterres: Let aid into Gaza
António Guterres, secretary-general of the U.N, applauded the action on the “long-awaited resolution on Gaza” that also emphasizes “the urgent need to expand the flow” of aid into Gaza.
“This resolution must be implemented. Failure would be unforgivable,” Guterres
said in a statement. “It is absolutely essential to have a massive supply of humanitarian aid now.”
The Biden administration has become increasingly at odds with Netanyahu over efforts to get humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians.
Netanyahu has refused Biden’s demand for a two-state solution to the Middle East crisis and has pledged to continue the war in Gaza until Hamas is crushed.
Rafah, the last refuge for about half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population after many people arrived in search of shelter after being displaced by fighting elsewhere, came under heavy fire in the latest Israeli attacks, witnesses said.
Palestinian medics said 30 people had been killed in the previous 24 hours in Rafah, where Israel is planning a ground assault to eliminate what it says are Palestinian militant cells there.
“The past 24 hours were one of the worst days since we moved in to Rafah,” said Abu Khaled, a father of seven who declined to give his full name for fear of reprisals.
“In Rafah, we live in fear, we are hungry, we are homeless and our future is unknown. With no ceasefire in sight, we might end up dead or displaced somewhere else, maybe north and maybe south (to Egypt),” he told Reuters via a chat app.
Dozens of Palestinians took part in rallies and attended funerals early on Monday after an Israeli airstrike killed 18 Palestinians in one house in Deir AlBalah in central Gaza, medics and witnesses said.
Israeli forces were also besieging AlAmal and Nasser hospitals in the southern city of Khan Younis, Palestinian witnesses said, a week after entering Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City, the main hospital in the Gaza Strip.
U.S.-backed mediation by Qatar and Egypt has so far failed to secure agreement on a cease-fire and prisoner-hostage swap between Israel and Hamas, and international concerns about famine are increasing.
“We see a growing consensus emerging in the international community to tell the Israelis that the ceasefire is needed,” Guterres said in Jordan.
Israel: No Palestinian statehood
Israel told four European countries on Monday that their plan to work toward recognition of a Palestinian state constituted a “prize for terrorism” that would reduce the chances of a negotiated resolution to the conflict between the neighbors.
Spain said on Friday that, in the name of Middle East peace, it had agreed with Ireland, Malta and Slovenia to take first steps toward recognizing statehood declared by the Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.
“Recognition of a Palestinian state following the October 7 massacre sends a message to Hamas and the other Palestinian terrorist organizations that murderous terror attacks on Israelis will be reciprocated with political gestures to the Palestinians,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on X.
He did not specify what kind of resolution he had in mind. Israel, whose governing coalition includes pro-settlement far-rightists, has long ruled out Palestinian statehood.
Contributing: Reuters