The United States has circulated a potential U.N. Security Council resolution supporting a temporary ceasefire in Gaza.
In the draft resolution the U.S. says there should be a temporary ceasefire ‘as soon as practicable,’ although no date was given.
Washington has been averse to the word ceasefire in any U.N. action on the Israel-Hamas war.
The U.S. draft text echoes language that President Joe Biden said he used last week in conversations with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
It was not immediately clear when, or if, the draft resolution would be put to a vote in the 15-member council.
The U.S. put forward the draft resolution as an alternative after Algeria requested the council vote on its draft resolution on Tuesday.
Algeria’s proposal would demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks to members of the press after a weekend in Delaware, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., February 19, 2024
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., has already quickly indicated that America would veto that.
The U.S. draft resolution also requires the release of all hostages taken from Israel during the Hamas terrorist atrocity on October 7 attack.
It also calls for the lifting of all restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid.
The draft says those actions ‘would help to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities’ as already called for in a resolution adopted by the Security Council on December 22.
The proposed resolution says Israel’s planned major ground offensive into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where some 1.5 million Palestinians have sought safety, ‘should not proceed under current circumstances.’
And it warns that further displacement of civilians, ‘including potentially into neighboring countries’ like Egypt would have serious implications for regional peace and security.
Thomas-Greenfield said on Sunday that the U.S. has been working on a hostage deal for months that would bring at least a six-week period of calm.
She said “we could then take the time and the steps to build a more enduring peace.”
the ambassador said Biden has had multiple calls over the last week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the leaders of Egypt and Qatar, to push the deal forward.
She said it was the best way to secure a prolonged pause in fighting that would allow aid to get to Palestinian civilians.
On Monday, U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood said the Algerian draft resolution is not “an effective mechanism for trying to do the three things that we want to see happen – which is get hostages out, more aid in, and a lengthy pause to this conflict.”
He said the U.S. draft is ‘another possible option’ although he suggested nothing would happen imminently.
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