Putting aside its divisions, the UN Security Council on Monday threw its support behind the Gaza ceasefire plan, adding its weight behind the US-led diplomatic campaign to promote the three-phase proposal .
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The resolution prepared by the Americans — which received 14 votes in favor, with Russia abstaining — “welcomes” the truce proposal announced on May 31 by President Joe Biden.
The resolution, affirming that Israel has “accepted” this plan, urges Hamas to also “accept it and calls on both parties to fully implement its terms without delay and without conditions.”
After more than eight months of war, the plan provides, in a first phase, a six-week ceasefire accompanied by an Israeli withdrawal from densely populated areas of Gaza, the release of certain hostages kidnapped during the attack on Hamas and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
“This Council has sent a clear message to Hamas: accept the ceasefire agreement on the table. Israel has already accepted it and the fighting could stop today if Hamas did the same,” said American Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
Widely criticized for having blocked several draft resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, the United States, Israel’s ally, has continued to justify itself in recent months, ensuring that a truce cannot come. only an agreement on the ground and not a unilateral call from the Council.
“This text is not perfect, but it offers a glimmer of hope to the Palestinians,” responded Algerian Ambassador Amar Bendjama.
Hamas also welcomed this resolution and assured its willingness to “cooperate with the brother mediators to begin indirect negotiations regarding the implementation of these principles.”
A sign of the all-out American diplomatic campaign, American Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to the Middle East on Monday to promote the ceasefire plan.
The United States clearly places the primary responsibility for accepting it on the Palestinian Islamist movement.
But while Joe Biden described the plan as coming from Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he wanted to continue the war until the destruction of Hamas and political divisions in his country could complicate American diplomatic efforts.
Russian reserves
After the vote, Israeli representative Reut Shapir Ben Naftaly reiterated that “the war will stop” when the Israeli “objectives”, notably the release of the hostages and the “destruction” of Hamas, are “fulfilled”.
“Hamas’ refusal to release the hostages through diplomacy proved that efforts to bring our hostages home must also be done through military means,” she insisted.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the vote, seeing it as “a step in the right direction”, while his ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour insisted on the fact that the “burden” of implementing such a ceasefire “falls on Israel”.
The war was sparked by Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, which left 1,194 dead, 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.
Responding to requests made by certain Council members during negotiations, the resolution finally adopted Monday 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.
This was not enough to satisfy Russia, which however did not use its right of veto against a text “supported by the Arab world”.
“The Council gives carte blanche and supports a plan of which it does not know the details,” denounced Russian Ambassador Vassili Nebenzia, also deploring an absence of “clarity regarding Israel’s official agreement” on this plan.
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 Russians and Chinese on the other.
After two resolutions mainly focused on humanitarian aid, the Council finally demanded at the end of March an “immediate ceasefire” for the duration of Ramadan; a call previously blocked several times by the United States, which this time abstained.
