UN Security Council Passes Resolution Calling For An “Immediate Ceasefire” in Gaza (Worthy News Alert)
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
NEW YORK/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – The United Nations Security Council has, for the first time, adopted a resolution calling for “an immediate ceasefire” in Gaza as the United States shifted its position and abstained from voting.
Monday’s U.N. Security Council resolution passed with 14 votes in favor. The U.S. abstained, allowing the resolution to pass. The chamber “broke into applause” after the vote, observers said.
It comes amid mounting international pressure on Israel to halt its war against Hamas, despite the group’s attacks in Israel on October 7 that killed 1,200 people, and it is still keeping some 100 Israelis as hostages.
Israel says the “worst atrocity against Jews” since the Holocaust, or Shoah, triggered its military operations in the Gaza Strip.?
The Hamas-run health ministry claims more than 31,000 Palestinians were killed, but those figures have been difficult to verify independently.
Israel says it has killed more than 13,000 Hamas fighters, figures not mentioned in the Hamas health ministry figures.
It has also denied that it plays a role in alleged starvation, saying many humanitarian goods arriving in Gaza are either confiscated by Hamas or sold for high prices on markets.
“LEGALLY BINDING”
Yet it was unclear whether the U.N. resolution, which is “legally binding” and was put forth by the 10 non-permanent members of the Council, would lead to the demanded truce.
It was reportedly negotiated intensely until the last minute. The U.S. asked for a change in the text that removed “permanent cease-fire” and replaced it with “lasting cease-fire,” according to diplomats familiar with the talks.
Analysts said the language would leave room for Israel to defend itself and called for both sides to create conditions where the halt in fighting could be sustained.
The resolution came as Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, was set to arrive in Washington on Monday for several meetings with senior U.S. officials.
Ties between Israel and U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration have been tense over what Washington views as the high civilian death toll in Gaza.
President Biden, who faces pressure within his Democratic Party ahead of elections, also expressed “deep concerns” over a planned Israeli ground invasion of Rafah.
More than one million Palestinians have taken shelter in the area in the southern Gaza Strip, but Israel has made clear it will give civilians time to escape.
Several U.S. and other top officials have urged Israel to seek an alternative, but Israel’s government has made clear it is running out of options in its attempt to crush Hamas, which seeks the destruction of Israel.
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