The United States has proposed an alternative draft United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a temporary ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and opposing a major Israeli ground offensive in Rafah in southern Gaza, according to the text seen by Reuters on Monday.
Washington has been averse to the word “ceasefire” in any UN action on the Israel-Hamas war, but the U.S. draft text echoes language that President Joe Biden said he used last week in conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The U.S. draft text “determines that under current circumstances a major ground offensive into Rafah would result in further harm to civilians and their further displacement including potentially into neighbouring countries.”
Israel plans to storm Rafah, where more than one million of the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza have sought shelter, prompting international concern that such a move would sharply worsen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The draft U.S. resolution says such a move “would have serious implications for regional peace and security, and therefore underscores that such a major ground offensive should not proceed under current circumstances.”
For the first time, Israel is giving a potential timeline for its ground offensive into Rafah. Benny Gantz, a minister in the Israeli war cabinet, says that if all of the hostages are not released by March 10, Israel Defence Forces troops will move into Rafah.
It was not immediately clear when or if the draft resolution would be put to a vote in the 15-member council. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favour and no vetoes by the U.S., France, Britain, Russia or China to be adopted.
The U.S. put forward the text after Algeria on Saturday requested the council vote on Tuesday on its draft resolution, which would demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the UN, quickly signalled that it would be vetoed.
Rejects buffer zone
The Security Council is expected to vote Tuesday morning on the Arab-backed draft resolution circulated by Algeria, which represents the 22 Arab nations in the UN’s most powerful body.
In addition to a ceasefire, the final Algerian draft, obtained by The Associated Press, also demands the immediate release of all hostages kidnapped In Israel by…
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