Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided not to send a delegation as planned to Washington, seemingly in retaliation for the US abstaining from the UN Security Council vote on a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
According to Reuters, Netanyahu’s office said Washington’s failure to block the resolution was a ‘clear retreat’ from its previous position, and would hurt war efforts against Hamas, as well as efforts to release over 130 hostages in Gaza captivity.
The high-level Israeli delegation was due to travel to Washington to discuss a planned Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians are taking shelter.
Reuters reports that 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 its ally Israel as it retaliated against Hamas for the 7 October attack that Israel says killed 1 200 people.
But amid growing global pressure for a truce in the war that has killed more than 32 000 Palestinians, the US abstained from the vote yesterday to allow the Security Council to demand an immediate ceasefire for the month of Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which ends in two weeks.
The resolution also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas since its 7 October attack.
The US has vetoed three draft council resolutions on the war in Gaza. It has also previously abstained twice, allowing the council to adopt resolutions that aimed to boost aid to Gaza and called for extended pauses in fighting.
According to the BBC, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres made a renewed call for an ceasefire in Gaza on a visit to the region last week.
He was speaking on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing on a visit he said was intended ‘to spotlight the pain of Palestinians in Gaza’. He also called for the release of Israeli hostages.
‘It is time to silence the guns,’ he said. ‘It’s time to truly flood Gaza with life-saving aid. The choice is clear: either surge or starvation. Blocked relief trucks on the Egyptian side of border are a moral outrage.
Gutteres added: ‘I want Palestinians in Gaza to know: You are not alone. People around the world are outraged by the horrors we are all witnessing in real time. Palestinians in Gaza remain stuck in a non-stop nightmare.’
[Image: B Palestinian News & Information Agency (Wafa) in contract with APAimages, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=138775628]