US to bring UN resolution calling for ceasefire in Gaza
The United States will bring a draft resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an Israel-Hamas hostage deal to a UN Security Council vote.
Israelis rally in Tel Aviv to demand the return of the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, Dec. 16, 2023. Photo by Eitan Elhadez-Barak/TPS
The latest version of the draft resolution, seen by Reuters, says an “immediate and sustained ceasefire” lasting roughly six weeks would protect civilians and allow humanitarian assistance to be delivered.
The resolution “unequivocally supports ongoing international diplomatic efforts to secure such a ceasefire in connection with the release of all remaining hostages,” it reads, referring to ongoing talks brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.
Nate Evans, spokesperson for the US mission to the United Nations, said on Thursday that the 15-member council would vote on Friday morning on the text negotiated in “many rounds of consultations” with Security Council members.
To pass, a resolution needs at least nine votes and no vetoes by the US, France, Britain, Russia or China.
The US has wanted any Security Council support for a ceasefire to be linked to the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
During the five-month-long war, Washington vetoed three draft resolutions, two of which would have demanded an immediate ceasefire. Most recently, the US justified its veto by saying such council action could jeopardise efforts by the US, Egypt and Qatar to broker a pause in the war and release hostages.
The US traditionally shields Israel at the United Nations, but it has also abstained twice, allowing the council to adopt resolutions that aimed to boost aid to Gaza and called for extended pauses in fighting.
In the meantime, EU leaders have issued their first joint demand for a humanitarian ceasefire and the release of all hostages in Gaza in a joint summit statement.
The statement called for “an immediate humanitarian pause leading to a sustainable ceasefire” and repeated condemnations of the attacks by Palestinian militant movement Hamas against Israel on October 7.
In the aftermath of the Hamas attacks, EU leaders together only managed to call for “humanitarian corridors and pauses” in Gaza to allow aid to reach Palestinian civilians.
European Council President Charles Michel called the statement “strong and unified” on X, formerly Twitter.
Ireland, Spain and Belgium pushed for the ceasefire at the summit in Brussels.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed to the calls after previously opposing a ceasefire in October, citing Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks from Hamas.
Pressure was building for the bloc to take a stronger stance on the Israel-Hamas war.
“A ceasefire should have happened a long time ago,” said Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who announced on Wednesday that he will step down when a successor is in place.
The EU leaders’ demand for a ceasefire in Gaza repeated a call from their foreign ministers that Hungary, viewed as sympathetic to the Israeli government, abstained on.
Varadkar said at the start of the summit that Austria and the Czech Republic were preventing the EU from making a joint call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer countered that the EU must recognise the sexual violence carried out by Hamas during the October 7 attacks on Israel.
The statement from EU leaders later said it was “appalled by the sexual violence” during the October 7 attacks, noting UN reports on the issue and declared support for independent investigations.
EU leaders also called on Israel not to go ahead with a planned ground offensive in the southern city of Rafah on the Egyptian border, where 1.5 million Palestinians have sought refuge.
United Nations Secretary General António Guterres joined talks in Brussels and urged the EU to support a ceasefire. He warned that civilian casualties in Gaza like in Ukraine must be condemned “without double standards.”
AAP
What a shocker. Nothing the US says now can be trusted or believed by Israel. It’s all fuelled by US politics and an election year; and this poor excuse of an ally is willing to put ethics aside and even the necessary defeat of Hamas to secure their own needs,