US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Monday, during a new tour to defend a ceasefire plan in the Gaza Strip after more than eight months of war with Hamas.
Posted at 6:21 a.m.
Updated at 5:13 p.m.
Shaun TANDON
France Media Agency
This eighth regional tour by the Secretary of State since the start of the war in the Palestinian territory comes as the UN Security Council adopted on Monday a draft American resolution supporting the ceasefire plan.
The text, which “welcomes” the truce proposal announced on May 31 by American President Joe Biden, received 14 votes in favor, with Russia abstaining.
PHOTO ANGELA WEISS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The UN Security Council on Monday adopted a draft US resolution supporting the Gaza ceasefire plan.
Hamas for its part “welcomed the Security Council resolution” and underlined in a statement that it “wishes to reaffirm its desire to cooperate with the brother mediators to begin indirect negotiations concerning the implementation of these principles.”
The Islamist movement thus refers to its demands for a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory.
The United States clearly places the primary responsibility for accepting it on Hamas.
If Joe Biden described the plan as coming from Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu says he wants to continue the war until the destruction of Hamas and the political divisions in his country could complicate American efforts.
After a stop in Cairo and a meeting with the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, the head of American diplomacy met Benjamin Netanyahu for approximately two hours in Jerusalem.
Mr. Blinken stressed that “the proposal on the table would pave the way for calm along Israel’s northern border” with Lebanon and “further integration” of Israel “with countries in the region.” according to the State Department.
In Cairo, Mr. Blinken called on countries in the region to “pressure Hamas” to agree to a ceasefire.
“I firmly believe that the overwhelming majority” of Israelis and Palestinians “want to believe in a future” in which the two peoples “live in peace and security,” he added.
Reserves
The war was sparked by Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, killing 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
The Israeli retaliatory offensive has left at least 37,124 dead in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas health ministry.
PHOTO AMIR COHEN, REUTERS
Israeli soldiers near the border between Israel and Gaza, June 10, 2024.
Most members of the Security Council had from the start supported the principle of a resolution supporting the ceasefire plan, but several of them had been very reserved on the wording of previous versions of the American text. , in particular Algeria, which represents the Arab group, and Russia, which has a veto.
Responding to requests made by certain members, the latest text specifies certain elements of the plan.
It indicates in particular that if the first phase takes more than six weeks, the ceasefire will be maintained “as long as negotiations continue”.
The resolution also opposes “any attempt to modify the demographic or territorial nature of the Gaza Strip, including any action that would reduce” its territory and reiterates its support for the two-state solution.
Since October 7, the Security Council has struggled to speak with one voice. Many draft resolutions were rejected, either for lack of votes or due to American vetoes on one side and Russian and Chinese vetoes on the other.
After two resolutions mainly focused on humanitarian aid, the Council finally demanded an “immediate ceasefire” at the end of March for the duration of Ramadan; a call previously blocked several times by the United States, which this time abstained.
Multiple keystrokes
On Monday, an Israeli strike on a house in Gaza City, in the north of the territory, left five people dead, including an eight-month pregnant woman, according to Civil Defense.
PHOTO OMAR AL-QATTAA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A Palestinian girl sits on a cart carrying containers to transport water, in Gaza City, June 10, 2024.
Also in the north, a strike killed two people in a house in Choujaiya, according to al-Ahli hospital.
In the center, the air force carried out a strike on Deir al-Balah, while artillery fire was heard east of this city, causing deaths according to witnesses.
The army announced that it was engaged in an operation in the east of Deir al-Balah and the east of the nearby Bureij camp.
“Soldiers are conducting ground and underground operations against terrorist infrastructure and locations used to fire rockets into Israel,” the army said.
In the south, witnesses reported fighting in central Rafah, a town where the army launched a ground offensive against Hamas on May 7.
