UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States urged the UN Security Council on Monday to support the three-phase plan announced by President Joe Biden that aims to end the nearly eight-month-old war in Gaza, release all hostages and send massive aid to the devastated Strip. . province.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the United States circulated a draft resolution to the other 14 council members to support the proposal to end the conflict that began with a surprise attack by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7 that killed about 1,200 people, most of them Israelis. Civilians.
“Many leaders and governments, including in the region, have supported this plan and we call on the Security Council to join them in calling for the implementation of this agreement without delay and without further conditions,” she said in a statement.
The draft summary resolution, obtained by The Associated Press, welcomes the May 31 agreement announced by Biden and calls on Hamas “to fully accept it and implement its terms without delay and without conditions.” Hamas said it viewed the proposal “positively.”
The report did not indicate Israel's acceptance of the agreement.
When Biden made the announcement, he described it as an Israeli offer that includes a “permanent ceasefire” and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza if Hamas releases all the hostages it holds.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu He told his hardline ruling partners on Monday that the proposal announced by Biden would achieve Israel's goal of destroying Hamas, according to local media. The ultra-nationalists threatened to topple his government if Netanyahu agreed to a deal that did not eliminate Hamas.
Netanyahu told parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday that Biden provided the broad outlines of the deal but not all the details, and said there were “gaps.”
Biden said the first phase of the proposed deal would last for six weeks and would include a “full and complete ceasefire,” the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas in Gaza and the release of some hostages, including women, the elderly and prisoners. wounded in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The American hostages will be released at this stage, and the remains of the hostages who were killed will be returned to their families. it will be A boom in humanitarian aid600 trucks enter Gaza daily.
In the second phase, the remaining living hostages, including soldiers, will be released, and Israeli forces will withdraw from Gaza. Biden said that if Hamas fulfills its commitments, the temporary ceasefire will become a “permanent cessation of hostilities.”
About 250 people, most of them Israeli civilians, were kidnapped on October 7, and more than 100 of them were released in a short truce in late November and early December. Israel says about 80 hostages are believed to be still being held The remains of about 43 others.
Israeli bombing and ground attacks in the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by Hamas, killed more than 36,000 Palestinians. According to the Ministry of Health in GazaWhich does not differentiate between combatants and civilians.
The third phase of the plan announced by Biden calls for the start of a major reconstruction process in Gaza, which faces decades of rebuilding from the devastation caused by the war.
The draft resolution stresses the importance of Israel and Hamas’ commitment to the agreement once it is agreed upon “with the aim of reaching a permanent cessation of hostilities, and calls on all member states and the United Nations to support its implementation.”
The draft will also affirm the Council's “firm commitment” to the two-state solution, and emphasize the importance of unifying the Gaza Strip and the West Bank under the leadership of the Palestinian Authority.
US Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield said that Security Council members “continuously called for the steps outlined in this agreement: repatriating the hostages, ensuring a complete ceasefire, enabling an increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza and renewing basic services.” And paving the way for a long-term reconstruction plan in Gaza.”
“Council members should not let this opportunity pass them by,” she said. “We must speak with one voice to support this deal.”
On Monday, the foreign ministers of five major Arab countries — Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt — urged Israel and Hamas to consider Biden’s proposal “seriously and positively.”
The Group of Seven major industrialized countries – the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Canada and Italy – also supported the ceasefire plan.
