By Edith M. Lederer -
The Associated Press
The United Nations Security Council on Monday demanded a ceasefire in Gaza during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the first time it has called for a pause in hostilities in the conflict.
The United States abstained from the resolution, passed 14-0, which also calls for the release of all hostages taken during the October 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas against southern Israel.
But the resolution does not link that demand to the ceasefire during Ramadan, which ends on April 9.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a high-level delegation's planned visit to Washington in protest of the UN Security Council resolution.
Netanyahu accused the United States of “backing away” from what he said had been a “principled stance” by allowing the vote to pass without conditioning the ceasefire on the release of hostages held by Hamas.
The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, abstains from voting in the UN Security Council on a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Craig Ruttle / AP
The Israeli delegation was due to present to White House officials plans for an expected ground invasion in the strategic Gaza city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinian civilians have sought refuge from the war.
The United States later Monday regretted the decision to cancel the visit.
“We are very disappointed that they will not come to Washington DC to allow us to have an extensive conversation with them about viable alternatives to the ground offensive on Rafah,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in a conversation with the media. .
National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer were scheduled to travel to Washington this week at the request of the White House.
The ground incursion into Rafah is one of the main points of friction between the US and Israel, since Netanyahu considers it essential to defeat the four Hamas battalions that remain there and win the war.
But the Joe Biden Administration considers it a “red line” because 1.4 million displaced people, more than half of the Gazan population, are in that city at the southern end of the enclave.
The UN vote came after Russia and China on Friday vetoed a US-proposed resolution calling for “an immediate and sustained ceasefire” in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The United States warned that the resolution passed Monday could harm negotiations to end hostilities that are brokered by the US, Egypt and Qatar, raising the possibility of another US veto.
The resolution, introduced by the council's 10 elected members, is backed by Russia and China and the 22-nation Arab Group at the United Nations.
A statement issued Friday by the Arab Group called on the 15 council members to “act with unity and urgency” and vote in favor of the resolution “to stop the bloodshed, preserve human lives and prevent further suffering and destruction.”
“It is more than time for a ceasefire,” declared the Arab Group.
Because Ramadan ends next month, the call for a ceasefire will last just two weeks, although the draft states that the pause in fighting must lead “to a permanent and sustainable ceasefire.”
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Since the war began, the Security Council has adopted two resolutions on the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza, but neither has called for a ceasefire.
More than 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza have died in the conflict, according to the territory's Health Ministry, which is ruled by Hamas.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but says women and children comprise two-thirds of the dead.
Gaza is also mired in a serious humanitarian crisis and an international organization warned last week that “famine is imminent” in the north of the territory and that the war could push half of the 2.3 million inhabitants to the brink of starvation.