March 25 (UPI) — The United Nations Security Council on Monday passed a resolution for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza for the rest of Ramadan, ending April 6, with the United States abstaining.
The resolution called for the unconditional release of hostages and the “urgent need to expand the flow” of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The United States was the only country to abstain in the 14-0 vote.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for swift action in implementing the cease-fire in hopes of getting a flow of aid flowing into Gaza.
“The Security Council just approved a long-awaited resolution on Gaza, demanding an immediate cease-fire and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages,” Guterres said on X. “This resolution must be implemented. Failure would be unforgivable.”
The passage on Monday comes on the heels of Russia, China and Algeria voting against a U.S. draft resolution late last week calling for a cease-fire. Russia charged that the U.S. resolution was too weak and left a pathway for Israel to carry out an attack in Rafah.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Security Council on Monday that the cease-fire supported the United States’ ongoing work with Qatar and Egypt to bring about an end to the fighting, return hostages and get aid into Gaza.
“The United States fully supports these critical objectives,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “In fact, they were the foundation of the resolution we put forward last week – a resolution that Russia and China vetoed.
“[The United States] is working around the clock to make them real on the ground, through diplomacy.”
In response to the vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a delegation traveling to Washington, D.C. this week, accusing the United States of giving in to the pressure against Israel.
“Regrettably, the United States did not veto the new resolution, which calls for a cease-fire that is not contingent on the release of hostages,” Netanyahu’s office said in a post on X. “This constitutes a clear departure from the consistent U.S. position in the Security Council since the beginning of the war.
“Today’s resolution gives Hamas hope that international pressure will force Israel to accept a cease-fire without there lease of our hostages, thus harming both the war effort and the effort to release the hostages.”
