The UN Security Council on Monday adopted a US-sponsored resolution supporting a plan for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The Islamist group Hamas acknowledged the resolution’s adoption later that evening.
The text backing President Joe Biden’s ceasefire proposal, first announced on 31 May, secured 14 votes in favour, while Russia abstained. In his speech, Biden outlined a three-phase roadmap to an enduring ceasefire and the release of the hostages in the Israel-Hamas war.
The resolution affirms Israel’s acceptance of the plan, urging Hamas to do the same and calling on both parties to fully implement its terms promptly and unconditionally.
The plan proposes, initially, a ceasefire of six weeks, accompanied by an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza’s densely populated areas, alongside the release of hostages abducted by Hamas and Palestinian detainees held by Israel, following over eight months of war after Hamas' terrorist attack against Israel on 7 October.
“We voted today for peace,” US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, commented. “Today this council sent a clear message to Hamas, accept the cease-fire deal on the table. Israel has already agreed to this deal, and the fighting could stop today if Hamas would do the same. I repeat, the fighting could stop today,” she said.
Criticism had been levelled at the US, a strong ally of Israel, for blocking several resolutions calling for a Gaza ceasefire. in recent months, the US has countered this criticism, asserting that a truce could only be a result of agreement on the ground.
Late May, Washington argued that an Algerian resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and cessation of the Israeli offensive in Rafah “would not be helpful.”
Signifying the all-out diplomatic campaign by Washington, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to the Middle East on Monday to promote the ceasefire plan.
Acknowledging the Security Council’s resolution, Hamas expressed its willingness “to co-operate with mediating brothers to begin indirect negotiations about the implementation of these principles,” a reference to its demands for a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza strip and a full Israeli withdrawal.
