UN Security Council adopts ceasefire resolution to end war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza Strip

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council on Monday overwhelmingly passed its first resolution approving a ceasefire plan to end the eight-month war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The US-backed resolution welcomes a ceasefire proposal announced by President Joe Biden, which the US says Israel has accepted, and calls on the Palestinian militant group Hamas to accept the three-phase plan.

The resolution, which was adopted by the votes of 14 of the 15 Security Council members, with Russia abstaining, calls on Israel and Hamas to “fully and immediately implement the conditions contained therein, without conditions.”

It remains questionable whether Israel and Hamas will agree to the implementation of the plan. However, the strong support for the resolution in the UN’s most powerful body puts additional pressure on both parties to agree to the proposal.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Israel on Monday, where he urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the plan for post-war Gaza. He urged more international pressure on Hamas to agree to the ceasefire proposal. Netanyahu is skeptical of the deal and said Israel remains determined to destroy Hamas.

Hamas welcomed the adoption of the resolution and said it was ready to work with mediators in indirect negotiations with Israel to implement it. The statement was one of the strongest Hamas has issued to date, but stressed that the group would continue its struggle against the Israeli occupation and work to establish a “fully sovereign” Palestinian state.

“Efforts are continuing to investigate and clarify some issues to ensure implementation by the Israeli side,” Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha said on Tuesday. He said Israel “is procrastinating and delaying and building obstacles to continue the aggression.”

A senior Israeli diplomat did not mention the resolution directly, but told the council that Israel’s position was unwavering: “We will continue until all hostages are returned and until Hamas’ military and governmental capabilities are destroyed.”

“This also means that Israel will not engage in senseless and endless negotiations that could be exploited by Hamas to buy time,” said Councilor Reut Shapir Ben Naftaly.

However, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield reiterated that Israel had accepted the ceasefire agreement, which was supported by countries around the world.

The adoption of the resolution was “a clear message to Hamas to accept the current ceasefire agreement,” she said.

“The fighting could stop today if Hamas did the same,” Thomas-Greenfield told the council. “I repeat, this fighting could stop today.”

Deputy U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood told reporters on Monday that the United States sees the agreement as “the best and most realistic way to end this war, at least temporarily.”

On Monday, leaders of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad met in Qatar to discuss the proposed ceasefire, later saying any deal must lead to a permanent ceasefire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, reconstruction and a “serious exchange agreement” between hostages in Gaza and Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

Russian UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia said Moscow abstained because details of the three-phase plan had not yet been announced and “we have a whole range of questions.”

“Hamas is called upon to accept this so-called deal, but there is still no clear statement of Israel’s official consent,” Nebenzia said. “Given Israel’s numerous statements about extending the war until Hamas is completely defeated… what exactly has Israel agreed to?”

Algerian UN Ambassador Amar Bendjama, the Arab representative on the council, said the text was not perfect but “offered a glimmer of hope to the Palestinians, because the alternative was the continued killing and suffering of the Palestinian people.”

“We voted for this text to give diplomacy a chance to reach an agreement that will end the aggression against the Palestinian people that has continued for far too long,” Bendjama said.

The war was triggered by a surprise attack by Hamas on October 7 in southern Israel, in which the terrorists killed around 1,200 people, mainly Israeli civilians, and took around 250 hostage. Around 120 hostages are still in custody, and 43 have been declared dead.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 36,700 Palestinians and injured more than 83,000 others. According to the UN, about 80% of Gaza’s buildings have also been destroyed.

On March 25, the Security Council passed a resolution, with the United States abstaining, calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. However, the war did not end.

Monday’s resolution underlines “the importance of ongoing diplomatic efforts by Egypt, Qatar and the United States aimed at a comprehensive, three-phase ceasefire agreement” and says the three countries are ready “to work to ensure that negotiations continue until all agreements are reached.”

Biden’s May 31 announcement of the new proposal said it would begin with an initial six-week ceasefire and the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from populated areas in the Gaza Strip and the return of Palestinian civilians to all areas of the territory.

Phase one also requires the safe distribution of humanitarian aid “on a large scale throughout the Gaza Strip,” which Biden said would result in 600 trucks of aid reaching Gaza every day.

In phase two, the resolution states, with the agreement of Israel and Hamas, there will be “a permanent cessation of hostilities in exchange for the release of all other hostages still in the Gaza Strip and a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.”

Phase three will initiate “a comprehensive, multi-year reconstruction plan for Gaza and the return of the remains of all hostages still in the Gaza Strip to their families.”

The resolution reaffirms the Security Council’s “unwavering commitment to the realization of the vision of a negotiated two-state solution in which two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders.”

It also stresses “the importance of unifying the Gaza Strip with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority,” something Netanyahu’s right-wing government was not prepared to do.

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Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed to this report from Beirut.

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This article has been corrected to indicate that the first phase of the proposed ceasefire would last six weeks, not six months.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.