The UN Security Council will vote on another ceasefire resolution, on Monday, with diplomats cautiously expecting the resolution to be adopted, after working with the US to avoid their veto.
The UN Security Council will vote Monday on a new draft resolution on an “immediate” ceasefire in Gaza, after Russia and China vetoed an earlier text proposed by the United States.
The Council has been divided over the Israel-Hamas war since the October 7 attacks, approving only two of eight resolutions, with both dealing mainly with humanitarian aid to the devastated Gaza Strip.
The United States has unequivocally supported Israel’s right to defend itself following Hamas’s unprecedented attacks.
But with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepening, the United States has tempered its support for Israel over its conduct of the war against the Palestinian militant group.
The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on Sunday put the total death toll in the territory at 32,226, most of them women and children.
The ministry said 72 people had been killed in early hours of Sunday, including at least 26 killed in air strikes on five homes in the southern city of Rafah.
Last Friday, the Security Council voted on a draft submitted by the United States that called for an “immediate” ceasefire linked to the release of hostages.
China and Russia vetoed the resolution, criticizing it for stopping short of explicitly demanding Israel halt its campaign.
The new text, according to the version seen by AFP on Sunday, “demands an immediate ceasefire” for the ongoing Muslim holy month of Ramadan, “leading to a permanent sustainable ceasefire.”
It also “demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages as well as the “lifting of all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale.”
The text is being put forward by non-permanent members of the Security Council, which worked with the United States over the weekend to avoid a veto, according to diplomats speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity.
“We expect, barring a last-minute twist, that the resolution will be adopted and that the United States will not vote against it,” one diplomat told AFP.
A key source of tension between Israel and the United States has been the fate of Rafah, where around 1.5 million Palestinians have sought shelter since the start of the war.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a major ground operation in Rafah was not necessary to deal with Hamas, and “there is no place” for civilians there to get out of harm’s way.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads a coalition including religious and ultra-nationalist parties, has vowed to go ahead with a Rafah invasion even without Washington’s support.
Negotiations aimed at securing a truce in exchange for the release of hostages have meanwhile continued in Qatar, but the heads of the Israeli and US spy agencies involved in the talks have now left the Gulf emirate for consultations, an informed source told AFP.
With AFP
