United Nations Ceasefire Resolution + Recent Headlines

Tuesday Digest (06.11.24)

UN Security Council Votes for Permanent Ceasefire

With 14 votes in favor and one abstention (Russia), the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution yesterday afternoon on a U.S.-drafted proposal for a ceasefire between Gaza and Israel. The draft resolution, which has been negotiated for a week among members of the council, calls for a permanent ceasefire and release of the hostages in Gaza.

Russia abstained, signaling it doesn’t fully support the resolution but also isn’t interested in blocking it. China voted for it. Both of these votes are significant, because with neither country vetoing the resolution, Hamas may have more reason to decide to accept it. (Russia and China both vetoed a ceasefire resolution in March, and the U.S. vetoed ceasefire resolutions before that.)

The proposal has been accepted by Israel, which is not a member of the Council. The U.N. vote calls upon Hamas to accept it “and urges both parties to fully implement its terms without delay and without condition.”

At the same time that proposal was passing, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Israel meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, telling Israel’s leader that world leaders stand behind the proposal. It’s roughly the same proposal outlined by President Biden a couple of weeks ago in a televised address.

CNN includes this interesting detail, however:

Blinken has repeatedly emphasized that Israel has agreed to the proposal on the table, despite comments from Netanyahu suggesting otherwise.

Israel’s rescue of hostages on Sunday may have strengthened Netanyahu’s position and given him a reason to continue the invasion rather than agreeing to a ceasefire. In fact, this morning, Israel insisted it would continue its military operation in Gaza and would not engage in “meaningless” negotiations with Hamas, while Blinken made clear that “he got an explicit assurance from Netanyahu that he continues to support the deal.” Someone is not telling the truth.

But presuming Israel is actually in favor of the ceasefire, the vote now puts all the pressure on Hamas.