US submits draft resolution to UN for ceasefire in Gaza

The United States has drafted a new resolution for the United Nations Security Council advocating for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, amid increasing pressure by the Biden administration on Israel to limit its offensive.

In a statement released yesterday, Nate Evans, the spokesperson for the US mission to the UN, revealed that Washington “has been working in earnest with Council members over the last several weeks on a Resolution that will unequivocally support ongoing diplomatic efforts aimed at securing an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as part of a hostage deal, which would get hostages released and help enable a surge in humanitarian aid.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken added to the revelation during his trip to Egypt, saying that the draft resolution calls for “an immediate ceasefire tied to the release of hostages”. Acknowledging that difficult work remains ahead with regard to that deal, he stated: “I continue to believe it’s possible.”

In recent weeks, talks between officials from all sides have advanced and repeatedly failed to bring about a ceasefire in the besieged Gaza Strip, with Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, demanding a permanent ceasefire and end to the war in exchange for the remaining Israeli prisoners of war, while the US and many within Israel want to limit the agreement to a temporary six-week pause in the offensive.

“I think the gaps are narrowing, and I think an agreement is very much possible,” Blinken told the Saudi news channel Al Hadath. At a news conference in the Egyptian capital Cairo, he also criticised Israel’s planned move to launch an offensive on Gaza’s southern area of Rafah, where over half of the Strip’s displaced Palestinian population are seeking shelter. “A major military operation in Rafah would be a mistake, something we don’t support.”

Read: US foreign policy is prolonging Israel’s genocide in Gaza

The US’s proposed resolution comes as CIA head William Burns and Mossad Chief David Barnea are expected to begin talks in Qatar today in an effort to finally reach a truce in Gaza. European leaders also met in Brussels this week to discuss a common EU call for a ceasefire.

According to reports, the wording of the new US draft resolution is rather vague and ambiguous, merely suggesting that an “immediate and sustained ceasefire” is “imperative” and that support should be given to hostage negotiations “towards that end”.

Despite that ambiguity and lack of firmness, it represents the strongest push yet by US President Joe Biden’s administration against Israel’s transgressions in the offensive on Gaza. It is also the first official American call for a ceasefire at the UN, even if it has come after five months of Israeli atrocities and numerous US vetoes of previous UN resolutions.

The UK’s Guardian newspaper also reported that unnamed European sources acknowledged that the shift in the US’s position may have led some EU nations such as Austria and Czechia “to revisit their position” and join other member states like Germany in supporting “an immediate humanitarian pause leading to a sustainable ceasefire”.