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UN Security Council Adopts Resolution Demanding Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza After US Abstains

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UN Security Council Adopts Resolution Demanding Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza After US Abstains

Following the United States’ abstention from the vote, the United Nations Security Council requested an immediate ceasefire between the Israeli occupation forces and the Palestinian Resistance, as well as the immediate and unconditional release of all captives.

The resolution was sponsored by the body’s ten elected members, and the remaining 14 council members voted for it.

Algeria’s UN Ambassador Amar Bendjama expressed after the vote that the Palestinians have “suffered greatly”, citing that the “bloodbath has continued for far too long.”

Shortly before the council meeting began, Israeli army radio claimed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would cancel a scheduled mission to Washington if the US did not reject the measure.

Washington has repeatedly opposed the term “ceasefire”, and it used its veto authority to defend its ally for its war on Gaza, which has killed over 32,000 Palestinians and injured over 74,694.

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield claimed that the US was “working around the clock” to drive “diplomacy on the ground,” adding that a ceasefire could only take effect if the Palestinian Resistance movement, Hamas, released the first captive.

“A ceasefire can begin immediately with the release of the first hostage and so we must put pressure on Hamas to do just that,” she said.

The ambassador also alleged the US abstained due to the language of the text not including a condemnation of Hamas.

“This must be a turning point,” an emotional Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour told the Security Council after the vote on Monday. “This must lead to saving lives on the ground.”

The resolution also “emphasizes the urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian assistance to and reinforce the protection of civilians in the entire Gaza Strip and reiterates its demand for the lifting of all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged “Israel” on Monday to lift all obstacles to aid into Gaza and allow convoys of the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA into Gaza’s north.

Famine is imminent and likely to occur by May in northern Gaza and could spread across the enclave by July, according to a UN-backed report by a global authority on food security released last week.

According to the version seen by AFP on Sunday, the text “demands an immediate ceasefire” for the ongoing Muslim holy month of Ramadan, “leading to a permanent sustainable ceasefire.” In contrast, it “demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages as well as the lifting of all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale.”

Credit : ALMAYADEEN

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