After almost 6 months of war the UN, for the first time, voted for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, favored by the US abstention in the Security Council. A decision that infuriated Israel, which branded the American ally’s failure to veto as “a step backwards” by the Biden administration. The resolution, which he attacked the Jewish State, does not mention Hamas and does not favor the release of the hostages still held captive in the Strip.
For now – while negotiations are open with Hamas in Doha mediated by the USA, Qatar and Egypt – the American move has had the immediate effect of the cancellation by Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu of the mission of senior Israeli exponents who, upon request of the head of the White House, they were supposed to go to Washington to discuss the war and the announced military operation in Rafah. On the contrary, Hamas cheered the UN vote and said it was willing “to engage in an immediate prisoner exchange process leading to the release of detainees on both sides.”
“The Hamas movement informed the mediators that the movement sticks to its position and vision presented on March 14 because the occupation’s response did not respond to any of the fundamental demands of our people and our resistance – the organization wrote on Telegram -: a complete ceasefire, withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the return of displaced people and a real prisoner exchange.” “The movement reiterates that Netanyahu and his extremist government bear full responsibility for having thwarted all negotiation efforts and hindered the achievement of an agreement to date.”
In the document approved by the Security Council with 14 votes in favor and, indeed, the US abstention, it calls for an “immediate ceasefire for Ramadan respected by all parties which leads to a lasting and sustainable ceasefire and the immediate release and unconditional access to all hostages, as well as the guarantee of humanitarian access to address their medical and humanitarian needs.” A text that has received applause from the international community, including Italy. “It certainly represents a first positive step forward”, commented Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, while UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres underlined that “the resolution must be implemented” because “failure now would be unforgivable”.
France went further, calling for a “permanent” ceasefire at the end of Ramadan on April 9. But Israel’s reaction was furious. The abstention of the Americans, denounced the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “is a clear step backwards from the positions taken by the USA since the beginning of the war. It affects the war effort and the effort to free the hostages because it offers Hamas hope that international pressure will allow him to obtain a ceasefire without releasing the abductees.” UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan warned that “not making the ceasefire conditional on the release of the hostages damages efforts to free them. Everyone should have voted against this shameful resolution” which “does not condemn the Hamas attack on October 7” . “We will not cease fire – warned Foreign Minister Israel Katz -. We will destroy Hamas and continue to fight until the last of the hostages has returned home”.
While defense chief Yoav Gallant – who is in the US to meet Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan – said that Israel “does not have the moral right to stop the war in Gaza” until when all the hostages have not returned home. The United States has responded point by point to the Israeli accusations. After asking the UN to immediately release the hostages, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby explained that “abstention does not change our policy”. Washington, he insisted, “has always asked that the ceasefire be linked to the release” of the hostages. Then he underlined how the US is “very disappointed” by the fact that Israel has decided to no longer send its delegation to Washington. Now it is a question of seeing how much the resolution manages to engage the parties and what impact it will have on the possible operation in Rafah, which the USA and the international community judge to be a mistake. The minister of the War Cabinet, the centrist Benny Gantz, criticized Netanyahu’s decision not to send the delegation to the USA, asking that at this point the prime minister himself should go to Biden. But he also said the resolution “has no operational significance for Israel.” While the centrist minister Gideon Saar announced his resignation, complaining that he had failed to influence the conduct of the war.
Read the full article on ANSA.it
2024-03-25 22:18:00
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