The U.N. Security Council added its voice Monday to calls for Hamas and Israel to implement a permanent cease-fire deal and hostage release in Gaza.
"Colleagues, today we voted for peace," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told council members following the 14-0 vote in favor of a U.S.-drafted resolution supporting the cease-fire proposal. Russia abstained.
She said the plan is the best and only way to bring about a durable end to the 8-month-old war, which began with Hamas' terror attack inside Israel on October 7.
"There is an opportunity to chart a different course," Thomas-Greenfield said. "Hamas must take it."
Russia questioned whether Israel has indeed signed up to it and said there have not been enough details about the cease-fire proposal for the council to give its blessing.
"The Security Council should not sign up to agreements with vague parameters," Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzia said.
The resolution seeks to add pressure on Hamas while urging both Hamas and Israel to fully implement the cease-fire deal "without delay and without condition." It is also the first time the 15-nation council has called for a "permanent" end to the hostilities.
Israel's ambassador, Gilad Erdan, was present for the vote but did not stay to deliver his government's statement. Instead, political coordinator Reut Shapir Ben-Naftaly spoke without mentioning the resolution's adoption or Israel's support for the proposal. She urged the international community to put pressure on Hamas.
"It is Hamas that is preventing this war from ending. Hamas and Hamas alone," she said.
The Reuters news agency reported that following the vote, Hamas issued a statement welcoming that the council has "affirmed a permanent cease-fire in Gaza" and indicating a willingness to engage in indirect negotiations over implementing the principles "that are consistent with the demands of our people and resistance."
Blinken in region
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to the Middle East on Monday, marking his eighth diplomatic mission to the region since the military conflict in Gaza began.
He urged regional leaders to press Hamas to agree to the three-phase deal, which Washington says that Israel has accepted but Hamas has not since President Joe Biden announced it on May 31.
"The best way to ensure that there's not another civilian casualty is for the cease-fire deal to go forward, for Hamas to accept it. It's as basic and as simple as that," Blinken told reporters in Cairo.
"Our Egyptian counterparts were in communication [with Hamas] as recently as a few hours ago," Blinken said. "I think Egypt, the United States, other countries believe that again, we should be able to get to yes."
Proposal
In its initial phase, the three-phase cease-fire proposal calls for a halt in fighting, the release of some hostages from Gaza, the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, a surge in humanitarian aid for Palestinians, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from populated areas of Gaza, and the return of Palestinian civilians to their homes and neighborhoods.
The second phase envisions a permanent cessation of hostilities in exchange for the release of all other hostages in Gaza and a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. The final phase includes a multiyear reconstruction plan for the Gaza Strip, much of which has been devastated by eight months of Israeli bombardment. It would also provide for the return of the remains of any deceased hostages still in Gaza.
Blinken went to Israel after his meetings in Cairo. In Tel Aviv, he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
He emphasized the importance of efforts to provide long-term peace, security and stability to Israelis and Palestinians alike.
The State Department said Blinken also reiterated that the proposal on the table "would unlock the possibility of calm along Israel's northern border and further integration with countries in the region," referring to Lebanon and Hezbollah militants there. Exchanges of fire along that border have escalated since the war in Gaza started, and tens of thousands of civilians in both Israel and Lebanon have had to evacuate their towns and homes.
Blinken will go to Jordan for a humanitarian aid conference on Gaza and also visit Qatar.
The October 7 Hamas terror attack resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures. Hamas militants took about 250 hostages, 116 of whom remain in the Palestinian territory, including 41 the army says are dead.
Israel's military response has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its figures.
VOA's State Department bureau chief Nike Ching and U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
