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US President Joe Biden
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The United States is introducing a new draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council that aims to "establish a temporary ceasefire in the Gaza Strip as quickly as possible." The draft states that “under the current circumstances, a major ground offensive in Rafah would result in further harm to civilians and their further displacement, possibly to neighboring countries.
Such a ground offensive should therefore not be carried out under the current circumstances," says the paper, which is available to the Reuters news agency. It is still unclear when and whether the draft resolution will be voted on.
The US introduced the text after Algeria asked the 15-member council to vote on its draft on Tuesday, which calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.
Demands also from all EU states – except Hungary
It is not the only demand of this kind. Germany and 25 other European Union states have also called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza war. This should lead to a permanent ceasefire, the unconditional release of the hostages and the provision of humanitarian aid, said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday evening after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
The 26 EU member states also called on Israel not to take military action in Rafah, in the far south of the Gaza Strip. Critics fear that this could further worsen the already dramatic humanitarian situation in the area. More than a million civilians currently live in the city - most of them refugees from other parts of the Gaza Strip.
Hungary did not want to support the joint appeal, as the dpa news agency learned from several diplomats. The country is considered particularly Israel-friendly in the EU.
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