UN votes for immediate Gaza ceasefire after US abstains, Netanyahu furious

The United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution on Monday demanding an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas after the United States abstained from the vote, sparking a spat with its ally Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the failure of the US to veto the resolution was a “clear retreat” from its previous position and would hurt Israel’s war efforts and bid to release more than 130 hostages still held by Hamas. Washington had been averse to the word “ceasefire” earlier in the nearly six-month-old war in the Gaza Strip and had used its veto power to shield ally Israel as it retaliated against Hamas for an October 7 attack that Israel says killed 1200 people.

Deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said Security Council resolutions are international law, “so to that extent they are as binding as international law is.” “We believe it was important for the council to speak out and make clear that any ceasefire must come with the release of all hostages,” Thomas-Greenfield told the council. “A ceasefire can begin immediately with the release of the first hostage and so we must put pressure on Hamas to do just that.”

Famine is imminent and likely to occur by May in northern Gaza and could spread across the enclave by July, according to a UN-backed report by a global authority on food security released last week.“We hope that this time there will be a ceasefire so that things will calm down and people can go back to their homes - enough bloodshed, destruction, martyrs, and death,” Wafaa Al-Deais told Reuters as he made tea on a fire outside a tent.

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