The UN Security Council is set to vote on a resolution demanding a Ramadan cease-fire
UNITED NATIONS — The UN Security Council will soon vote on a resolution demanding a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but the United States warned the measure could undermine negotiations to halt hostilities between Israel and Hamas harm.
The resolution, put forward by the ten elected council members, is backed by Russia and China, which on Friday vetoed a US-sponsored resolution calling for “an immediate and lasting ceasefire” in the war between Israel and Hamas was supported in Gaza.
The 22-nation Arab Group at the UN issued a statement on Friday evening calling on all 15 council members “to act with unity and urgency” and vote in favor of the resolution “to stop the bloodshed, preserve human lives and to avert further human suffering and destruction. ”
“It is long past time for a ceasefire,” the Arab Group said. Ramadan started on March 10 and ends on April 9.
The council is expected to vote on the resolution Monday morning. The vote was previously scheduled for Saturday morning but was postponed early Saturday, a U.N. diplomat said.
Many members hope that the UN’s most powerful body, charged with maintaining international peace and security, will demand an end to the war that began after Gaza’s Hamas rulers launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7 , which killed approximately 1,200 people. and taking about 250 others hostage.
Since then, the Security Council has adopted two resolutions on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, but none called for a ceasefire.
More than 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in the fighting, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. She makes no distinction between civilians and combatants in the count, but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.
Gaza is also facing a serious humanitarian emergency, with a report from an international authority on hunger this week warning that there is “a threat of famine” in northern Gaza and that escalation of the war could kill half of the 2.3 million could bring people in the area to the brink of starvation.
The short resolution, which will be voted on Monday, demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire for Ramadan “leading to a permanent sustainable ceasefire.” It also demands “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages” and emphasizes the urgent need to protect civilians and provide humanitarian assistance throughout the Gaza Strip.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council after Friday’s vote that the current text of the resolution “fails to support sensitive diplomacy in the region. Worse, it could even give Hamas an excuse to walk away from the deal on the table.”
“We should not move forward with a resolution that jeopardizes the ongoing negotiations” being conducted by the United States, Qatar and Egypt, she said, warning that if diplomacy is not supported, “we will once again find this council deadlocked.” could find. ”
“I really hope that doesn’t happen,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
The United States has vetoed three resolutions demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, the latest an Arab-backed measure. This measure was supported by 13 members in a vote on February 20, with one abstention.
Russia and China vetoed a US-backed resolution in late October calling for a pause in fighting to deliver aid, protect civilians and halt the arming of Hamas. They said this did not reflect global calls for a ceasefire.
They vetoed the US resolution again on Friday, calling it ambiguous and saying it was not the direct demand for an end to fighting that much of the world is seeking.
A major problem was the unusual language saying that the Security Council “determines the need for an immediate and lasting ceasefire.” The wording was not a simple ‘demand’ or ‘call’ for a cessation of hostilities.
The Security Council vote became another showdown between world powers locked in tense disputes elsewhere, with the United States criticized for not being tough enough on its ally Israel even as tensions rise between the two countries.
Before the vote, Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow supports an immediate ceasefire but criticized the watered-down language, which he called philosophical language that does not belong in a U.N. resolution.
He accused US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield of “deliberately misleading the international community” by calling for a ceasefire.
“This was a kind of empty rhetorical exercise,” Nebenzia said. “The American product is extremely politicized, with the sole purpose of deceiving voters, encouraging them in the form of some mention of a ceasefire in Gaza… and promoting impunity of Israel, whose crimes are not even assessed in the draft.”
China’s UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said the US proposal sets conditions and falls far short of the expectations of council members and the broader international community.
“If the US was serious about a ceasefire, it would not have vetoed multiple council resolutions over and over again,” he said. “It wouldn’t have taken such a detour and played word games while being ambiguous and evasive on critical issues.”
The vote in the 15-member council was 11 members in favor and three against, including Algeria, the Arab representative on the council. There was one abstention, from Guyana.
After the vote, Thomas-Greenfield accused Russia and China of vetoing the resolution for “very cynical reasons.” first time.
A second “minor” reason, she said, is that “Russia and China simply did not want to vote for a resolution drafted by the United States because they would rather see us fail than see this council succeed.” She accused Russia of once again putting “politics before progress” and having “the audacity and hypocrisy to throw stones” after launching an unjustified invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The resolution reflected a shift from the United States, which has found itself at odds with much of the world, with even Israel’s allies pushing for an unconditional end to the fighting.
In previous resolutions, the US has closely linked the call for a ceasefire with the demand for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza. This resolution, which used formulations open to interpretation, continued to link the two issues, but not as firmly.