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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Threat carried out

Photo: Leo Correa / AFP

He had warned the USA and now got serious: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has banned his diplomats from a planned trip to the US. His office announced this immediately after a UN resolution on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip was announced. Netanyahu therefore blames the USA for the UN Security Council's decision.

The committee unanimously called for a ceasefire in the Gaza war for the first time on Monday. This became possible after the US did not veto it as before. Immediately before the vote, Netanyahu had already threatened that he would cancel the planned trip of two of his envoys to Washington at short notice if the USA did not prevent the resolution. The announcement now became real.

Parallel to the ceasefire, the UN Security Council had also demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by the Islamist Hamas. Apart from the USA, the 14 other members of the committee voted in favor. The USA had vetoed previous votes. Previously, China and Russia had also blocked another resolution introduced by the USA for a ceasefire.

The decision that has now been adopted and is binding under international law further increases international pressure on the conflict parties Israel and Hamas. However, it is questionable whether or to what extent the resolution will influence decisions by the Israeli government or Hamas regarding the further course of the war.

In view of the increasing number of civilian casualties and the threat of famine in parts of the sealed-off coastal strip, the USA has recently increased the pressure on Israel. US President Joe Biden has also become increasingly critical, for example with regard to Israel's planned ground offensive in the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people have sought protection from the fighting there.

On Friday, Washington made a U-turn and called for the first time in a resolution for "an immediate and permanent ceasefire" in the Gaza war. But Russia and China vetoed it. The draft resolution did not go far enough for Moscow and Beijing - in their eyes, the text was, among other things, too pro-Israel and not sufficiently binding in places.

The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre with 1,140 deaths that terrorists from Hamas and other groups carried out in Israel on October 7th.

mrc/AFP