The United Nations Security Council asked for fighting to stop in Gaza during Ramadan, which is an important time for Muslims. It was the first time they made this kind of request.
The United States did not vote either way on the resolution. The resolution also said that all hostages taken by Hamas in October should be released. There was a surprise attack in southern Israel. However, the measure doesn’t connect the demand to stop fighting during Ramadan, which ends on April 9th.
Russia and China said no to a US plan to stop the fighting between Israel and Hamas.
The United States said the decision made on Monday could make it harder to stop fighting. The US, Egypt, and Qatar are trying to negotiate peace. This might lead to the US vetoing the decision.
The 10 council members made a plan, and Russia, China, and the 22-nation Arab Group support it at the United Nations.
On Friday night, the Arab Group asked all 15 council members to work together and vote for the resolution to stop the fighting, save lives, and prevent more suffering and destruction.
“The Arab Group said it’s been a long time since a ceasefire is needed. ”
Since Ramadan will end next month, the request for a ceasefire will only be for two weeks, even though the plan says that the break in fighting should lead to a lasting ceasefire.
Since the war began, the Security Council made two decisions about the getting worse situation for people in Gaza, but neither of them asked for the fighting to stop.
Over 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza have died in the fighting, as reported by the Gaza Health Ministry. The agency counts both civilians and soldiers, and says that two-thirds of the people who died are women and children.
Gaza is in a very bad situation. A group that knows about hunger said that a famine could happen soon in the northern part of Gaza. If the war gets worse, half of the 2. 3 million people living in Gaza could have no food to eat.
The US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that the resolution does not help with delicate negotiations in the area. Even more, it might give Hamas a reason to not accept the deal that is being offered.
“We shouldn’t approve any decision that could harm the current negotiations,” she said. She warned that if we don’t support the diplomacy, “the council might be stuck without making any progress again. ”
“I really hope that doesn’t happen,” said Thomas-Greenfield.
The United States said “no” to three plans that wanted to stop the fighting in Gaza. The latest one was suggested by Arab countries in February. Rewrite this text in simpler words: 20清单23. 13 council members agreed to the resolution, one member didn’t vote, showing that most everyone supports a ceasefire.
Russia and China said no to a resolution made by the US in late October. The resolution wanted to stop fighting so aid could be delivered, protect civilians, and stop giving weapons to Hamas. They said it does not show that everyone around the world wants the fighting to stop.
Once again, they said no to the US resolution on Friday. They said it was unclear and did not directly demand an end to the fighting like many countries want.
The vote was a big fight between powerful countries who are arguing in other places. The United States got criticized for not being strong against its friend Israel, even though they are getting more and more tense with each other.
One important problem was the strange wording in the US draft. The Security Council said it is very important to stop fighting right away and for a long time. They didn’t just demand or ask for it directly.
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said that before the vote, Russia supports a ceasefire right away. But he didn’t like the vague language in the resolution and said it was too philosophical for a UN resolution.
He said that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield were not telling the truth about asking for a ceasefire.
“This was just a meaningless talk,” Nebenzia said. The American product is very political and is only meant to appeal to voters by mentioning a ceasefire in Gaza. It also aims to protect Israel from punishment for its crimes.
China’s ambassador to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, said that the US proposal had conditions and did not meet the expectations of council members and the worldwide community.
He said that if the US really wanted peace, it wouldn’t keep blocking the council’s resolutions. “It should have been more direct and clear on important issues instead of being unclear and avoiding them. ”
On Friday, the 15-member council voted. Eleven members were in favor and three were against. Algeria, the Arab representative on the council, was one of the countries that voted against. Guyana chose not to vote.
After the vote, Thomas-Greenfield said Russia and China said no to the resolution for bad reasons. They couldn’t condemn Hamas’ attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, which the resolution would have done for the first time. 7 would have been done for the first time by the resolution.
She said another small reason is that Russia and China didn’t want to vote for a resolution written by the United States because they would rather see us fail than see the council succeed. She accused Russia of putting politics first and being hypocritical for invading Ukraine and then criticizing others.
The decision showed that the United States is changing its position, because even Israel’s friends are asking for the fighting to stop without any conditions.
In the past, the US has asked for a ceasefire and for Israeli hostages in Gaza to be freed. This decision, with wording that can be understood in different ways, still connected the two problems, but not as strongly.