For months, the UN Security Council was divided on the issue of a ceasefire in the Gaza war. But now the USA is changing course. – Netanyahu reacts as announced. The events at a glance.
Almost six months after the start of the war, the UN Security Council called for an “immediate ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip for the first time. In addition, the most powerful body in the United Nations is demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by the Islamist Hamas. The United States, the veto power, abstained from the vote, thereby enabling the resolution to be adopted. The 14 remaining members of the committee voted in favor.
The decision, which is binding under international law, further increases international pressure on the conflict parties Israel and Hamas. However, it is questionable whether or to what extent the resolution will have any influence on decisions made by the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Hamas regarding the further course of the war.
Efforts to get the UN Security Council to call for a ceasefire have so far failed, mainly due to resistance from the veto power, the USA. Since the war began in October last year, Washington, Israel’s closest ally, has opposed a ceasefire and vetoed resolutions three times. At best, US representatives called for shorter “ceasefires”.
The brief text of the resolution that has now been adopted focuses on the demand for “an immediate ceasefire for the (Islamic fasting month) of Ramadan, respected by all sides.” This should lead to a “permanent and sustainable ceasefire,” the text said. The draft resolution also calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and emphasizes the “great concern given the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.” Aid deliveries to the civilian population must be expanded.
The resolution was introduced by non-permanent members of the UN body. A first planned vote on Saturday was postponed at short notice in order to gain more time for negotiations. A diplomat explained in advance that intensive negotiations had taken place, particularly with the USA.
A resolution in the UN Security Council needs the votes of at least 9 of the 15 member states. In addition, there may be no veto from the permanent members USA, Russia, China, France or Great Britain. Security Council decisions are binding under international law. If an affected state ignores them, the body can impose sanctions – which is not seen as likely in the case of Israel because of the US’s veto power.
Israeli delegation does not travel to the USA
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has canceled the planned trip of an Israeli delegation to the USA. This was announced by the office of the head of government in Jerusalem. It is a reaction to the US abstention from a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip for the first time.
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Zachi Hanegbi were scheduled to fly to the US to meet with senior government officials. They wanted to present the Israeli guests with alternatives to a ground offensive planned by Israel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which was rejected by the USA and other allies. Another topic of the talks would have been Washington’s proposals for expanding humanitarian aid for the suffering population in the Gaza Strip.
The cancellation of the trip to the USA by Dermer and Hangebi, two of the head of government’s confidants, marks another low point in Israel’s relationship with its most important ally. Relations with the US are strained because Washington increasingly disagrees with Israel’s conduct of the war in the Gaza Strip. The point of contention is, among other things, humanitarian aid for the civilian population, which the USA and international organizations believe is inadequate.
The spokesman for the US National Security Council, John Kirby, was disappointed by the cancellation of the trip by the Israeli government representatives. But that doesn’t mean “that we no longer have the opportunity to talk to them and have conversations,” he added.
Report: Israel faces endless guerrilla war
Meanwhile, Israel’s army is in danger of being drawn into an endless guerrilla war by Hamas due to a lack of a clear strategy, as the “Wall Street Journal” writes. The Israeli armed forces are fighting in more and more places in the Gaza Strip that they had previously taken and from which they had withdrawn, the US newspaper reported. This shows how hard Israel is fighting to eliminate Hamas and bring the Palestinian coastal area under its control.
The Israeli army said it began a new military operation in Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip on Sunday. An Israeli soldier was killed during another operation at Shifa Hospital in the northern city of Gaza. The army had already been involved in fighting in these locations in recent months and had said that the Hamas formations in these areas had been defeated and disbanded.
According to a media report, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also warned Israel not to continue the war without a clear strategy. Israel needs a coherent plan, otherwise it will get tangled up in an uprising that it will not be able to get under control, Blinken said last week at a meeting with Netanyahu and his war cabinet, the news portal “Axios” reported.
If the war continues as before, Hamas would remain in control of the Gaza Strip or anarchy would break out, resulting in even more terror. Netanyahu responded that “we will have our hands full for decades,” the news portal reported.
UNRWA reports: Too little help for people in Gaza
Despite urgent warnings of famine in the Gaza Strip, according to the United Nations, aid deliveries are no longer arriving in the embattled coastal strip. The UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA said that an average of 157 trucks carrying aid supplies had driven into the Gaza Strip every day this month – up to and including March 23. “This is still far below the operational capabilities of both border crossings and the goal of 500 per day,” said the statement from the organization, against which Israel recently raised terrorism allegations.
Israeli authorities did not allow urgent food deliveries to the north of the Gaza Strip. UNRWA’s corresponding requests were all rejected. Aid organizations have repeatedly warned that hunger in the Gaza Strip has reached catastrophic proportions. According to the head of UNRWA, Israel no longer allows the aid agency to send humanitarian convoys to the north of the Gaza Strip. UNRWA is being prevented from bringing life-saving aid to northern Gaza, wrote Philippe Lazzarini on the platform X, formerly Twitter.
Guterres advocates a two-state solution
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has once again spoken out in favor of a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict. “Israelis must see their legitimate security needs realized and Palestinians must see their legitimate aspirations for a fully independent, viable and sovereign state realized,” he said in Jordan’s capital Amman. This is the only way to permanently end the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
Given the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, Guterres called on the Israeli government to open more border crossings for aid deliveries. “But we have to face the facts. In a war as bloody as this one, there will be no sustainable humanitarian solution,” said Guterres at a meeting with Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi. This requires a humanitarian ceasefire. He acknowledged that nothing justifies the “heinous October 7 attacks and Hamas hostage-taking.” At the same time, he said: “Nothing justifies the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”