After months of stalemate, the Security Council has finally passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The document, which obtained 14 votes in favor and the US abstention, "calls for an immediate ceasefire for Ramadan respected by all parties which leads to a lasting and sustainable ceasefire and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as the guarantee of humanitarian access to address their medical and humanitarian needs."
The adoption was greeted with long applause.
Before the vote, Russia took the floor to propose an amendment and replace the term "durable" with "permanent" in the sentence which called for "an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan, respected by all parties, leading to a lasting and sustainable ceasefire".
The term was replaced at the last minute and according to Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia "it waters down the text and leaves room for interpretation, allowing Israel to resume military operations at any time".
The request was rejected but Moscow still voted in favor of the resolution.
"The UN Security Council has just passed a long-awaited resolution on Gaza, calling for an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages. This resolution must be implemented, failure would be unforgivable."
This is how Secretary General Antonio Guterres commented on the Security Council's green light for the draft on the truce in Gaza.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield called on Hamas to release the hostages following the UN Security Council's call to action for a ceasefire in Gaza.
"We must put pressure on Hamas, the ceasefire can begin immediately with the release of the first hostage, and this is the only path," she said.
"The abstention of the United States" in the vote on the resolution on the ceasefire in Gaza "does not change our policy".
The spokesman for the American National Security Council, John Kirby, said this in a briefing with a small group of journalists, underlining that Washington "has always asked that the ceasefire be linked to the release" of the hostages by Hamas.
“Our decision to abstain must not be perceived as an escalation by Israel.”
Kirby said this, commenting on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reaction to the vote at the UN.
Benyamin Netanyahu has in fact canceled the departure for Washington of a high-level Israeli delegation.
The prime minister's office made this known, indicating as the reason the US abstention from the UN resolution on Gaza.
The US vote "is a clear step back from the US's constant positions since the beginning of the war".
"This withdrawal - he added - affects the war effort and to free our hostages because it offers Hamas hope that international pressure will allow it to obtain a ceasefire without freeing our hostages".
France called for a "permanent ceasefire" in Gaza after Ramadan.
This was said by Paris' ambassador to the UN Nicolas de Riviere after the adoption of the Security Council resolution calling for a truce for Ramadan.
At least 8 rockets were fired at Ashdod from the Gaza Strip.
The army made it known.
According to media reports, 2/4 were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system and the rest fell in uninhabited areas.
At the moment there is no news of damage or victims.
The launch, according to the same source, was claimed by Hamas.
Since last January, no launches had taken place on the coastal city which is not far from Gaza.
A high-level Israeli delegation arrived in Cairo this morning on board a private plane from Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport to participate in further negotiations to reach a ceasefire agreement and exchange between Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
Airport sources revealed this.
The delegation was received by senior Egyptian intelligence officials and was accompanied by car to the secret location of the talks.
There is growing international consensus that Israel should reach a ceasefire in Gaza and not enter Rafah, in the south of the Strip.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said this at a press conference in Jordan, reported by the Israeli media.
"We find - he underlined - a growing consensus in the international community to tell the Israelis that the ceasefire is necessary and I also see a growing consensus, I have heard in the United States, I have heard from the European Union, not to mention obviously the Muslim world , to clearly tell the Israelis that any ground invasion of Rafah could spell a humanitarian disaster."
Hamas, 'the agreement is not as close as Israel makes it seem'
The possibility of reaching an agreement on the release of hostages and a truce in Gaza is not as close as Israel suggests.
This was made known by Hamas sources cited by Haaretz, according to whom the delegation that is negotiating in Doha sent this message to Gaza, to the faction's leader Yahya Sinwar, adding that Israel is trying to stall and continue the offensive, including the one in Rafah.
According to an Arab source - cited by the same newspaper - Hamas made it known that it did not hide its frustration that the events in Ramada in Jerusalem had not led to increasing pressure on Israel.
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