US calls for ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Gaza with draft UN resolution

The US has drafted a new UN security council resolution calling for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, amid mounting pressure on Israel to halt its military campaign and allow the delivery of substantial amounts of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory.

After the declaration of imminent famine in parts of Gaza by a UN panel of experts earlier this week, the Biden administration has been ramping up efforts to call at least a temporary halt to the fighting, on top of warning Israel against launching a ground attack against Rafah in southern Gaza.

Details of the new draft resolution were revealed as the UN released an analysis of satellite imagery showing that 35% of buildings in Gaza had been damaged or destroyed during Israel’s offensive, which has claimed almost 32,000 Palestinian lives.

The US has blocked previous attempts to pass a ceasefire resolution, and the new draft marks a significant step in its approach to the conflict.

Details of the resolution, which calls for “an immediate ceasefire tied to the release of hostages” in Gaza, were disclosed by the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, as he toured the Middle East.

The US has vetoed previous UN security council votes on the nearly six-month war, objecting as recently as in February to the use of the term “immediate” in a draft submitted by Algeria.

In recent weeks, however, Washington has upped the pressure on its ally, while insisting that Hamas militants must immediately release the hostages seized during its 7 October attacks on Israel.

“Well, in fact, we actually have a resolution that we put forward right now that’s before the UN security council that does call for an immediate ceasefire tied to the release of hostages, and we hope very much that countries will support that,” Blinken said in Saudi Arabia as he toured the region for the sixth time in as many months.

“I think that would send a strong message, a strong signal,” he told the Saudi Arabian channel Al Hadath on Wednesday.

Blinken added that progress was being made in indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas over another ceasefire and hostage release that the US, Egypt and Qatar have spent several weeks trying to broker, saying the mediators worked with Israel to put a “strong proposal” on the table.

“The gaps are narrowing, and I think an agreement is very much possible,” Blinken said.

US officials had been negotiating an alternative text since blocking the Algerian draft resolution calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza at the end of February.

That alternative, focusing on support for a six-week truce in exchange for the release of hostages, had little chance winning approval, according to diplomatic sources.

While no vote has yet been scheduled on the new text, it sends the clearest message yet to Israel of the Biden administration’s growing frustration with its prosecution of the war, and comes after a warning from the UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, that Israel may be committing a war crime by using “starvation as a method of war”.

Officials from 36 countries and UN agencies gathered in Cyprus on Thursday to discuss how to expedite aid to besieged Palestinians in Gaza via a sea route launched last week.

Thursday’s gathering is being attended by Sigrid Kaag, the UN’s senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, as well as Curtis Ried, chief of staff of the US national security council.

Under an agreement hammered out with Israel, cargoes can undergo security inspections in Cyprus by a team including Israeli personnel, eliminating the need for screenings at its final offloading point to remove potential hold-ups in aid deliveries.

One vessel left Cyprus last week and distributed aid in Gaza, while another two are expected to depart in coming days, subject to weather conditions.

Constantinos Kombos, Cyprus’s foreign minister, said: “We are discussing how we can max up operational capacity both in terms of departure and means of transport and also in relation to the reception and distribution methodology.”

Delegates would also discuss the creation of a fund to coordinate operational activities of the initiative, Kombos said, although he clarified it was not a donors’ conference.

Agencies contributed to this report