what happens – Time

For the first time since the beginning of the conflict in Gaza, the UN Security Council has approved a resolution calling for “an immediate ceasefire during Ramadan”. The text was approved thanks to the fact that the United States abstained and did not veto as previously. A decision, specified the spokesperson of the National Security Council of the White House John Kirby, which “does not represent a change in our policy”. The US abstained due to the resolution’s lack of condemnation of Hamas and remains “in support of a ceasefire as part of a hostage agreement”, he explained.

But Israel’s reaction was not long in coming: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revoked the mission to Washington of a delegation that was supposed to discuss alternatives to a ground operation in Rafah with the Biden administration. The resolution “harms both the war effort and the attempt to free the hostages, because it gives Hamas hope that international pressure will allow them to accept a ceasefire without the release of our hostages,” the prime minister’s office explained. The fact that the resolution approved by the UN Security Council does not condemn the Hamas attack on October 7 “is a shame”, said the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan.

For Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, on an official visit to the US for meetings with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Israel “does not have the moral right to stop the war while there are still hostages detained in Gaza. The lack of a decisive victory in Gaza could bring us closer to a war in the North.” Washington made it known, through Kirby, that it was “very disappointed” by the cancellation of the Israeli mission in the US.

Hamas welcomed the UN resolution, reiterating the request for “a permanent ceasefire leading to the withdrawal of all Zionist forces from the Gaza Strip and the return of displaced persons”. The Palestinian group also said it was willing “to engage in an immediate process that leads to the release of prisoners on both sides.” «This resolution must be implemented. Failure would be unforgivable”, commented UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who this morning had condemned the stop imposed by Israel on UNRWA in the delivery of aid to the north of the Strip, calling it “totally unacceptable”.