The UN Security Council has voted in favor of a multi-stage plan for a ceasefire in the Gaza war presented by US President Joe Biden. A corresponding resolution was adopted by the United Nations’ most powerful body in New York on Monday. 14 member states approved the draft, while the veto-wielding Russia abstained.
With this decision, which is binding under international law, the body supported a specific plan for a ceasefire for the first time since the war began. “Today we voted for peace,” said US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield afterwards.
The paper expresses its support for a plan presented by Biden that envisages ending the fighting in the Gaza Strip in three phases. According to the US, only the Islamist Hamas has not yet agreed to the plan. However, there has not yet been a clear and public approval of the plan from the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
However, the resolution, which is binding under international law, states that Israel has accepted the plan and calls on the Islamist Hamas to do the same, urging all parties involved to implement the plan “without delay and without conditions”.
Hamas welcomed the Security Council resolution in the evening and reiterated its willingness to continue indirect negotiations for an agreement. However, the positive reaction did not appear to represent a formal acceptance of the proposed multi-stage plan. Qatar, Egypt and the USA have been trying for months as mediators to reach an agreement for a ceasefire in the Gaza war, the release of hostages and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.
The ambitious draft deal presented by Biden at the end of May initially provides for a complete and unrestricted ceasefire lasting six weeks. During this period, a specific group of hostages would be released. In return, Palestinians imprisoned in Israel would be released. In the next phase, the fighting would then be permanently stopped and the remaining hostages released. In a final phase, according to the draft, the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip should begin.
It was the eleventh time since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip that the UN Security Council voted on a resolution on the conflict. Only four proposed resolutions were adopted.
The European Union is calling for the immediate implementation of the plan, EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell announced in the evening. The international community fully supports the comprehensive roadmap presented by Biden, the foreign policy chief reiterated.
In the resolution that has now been passed, the UN Security Council also stresses its commitment to the vision of a two-state solution in which Israel and the Palestinians can live peacefully side by side. To achieve this, it is important to reunite the West Bank and the Gaza Strip under the leadership of the Palestinian Authority. However, Israel’s government is currently vehemently opposed to this.
