UN Security Council passes resolution calling for Gaza ceasefire

The UN Security Council has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza after the US did not veto the measure in a shift from its previous position.

It also demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.

It is the first time the council has called for a ceasefire since the war began in October after several failed attempts.

The move by the US signals growing divergence between it and its ally Israel over Israel's offensive in Gaza.

In an unusually strong rebuke, a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the US had "abandoned" its previous position, which had directly linked a ceasefire to a hostage release.

It says regrettably that the United States did not veto the new resolution.

The statement said this harmed efforts to release hostages by giving Hamas hope that could be used to put pressure on Israel to achieve a ceasefire without freeing the captives.

It also says Netanyahu had decided to cancel meetings between an Israeli delegation and US officials in Washington that were scheduled for this week.

Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant says Israel would not stop the war in Gaza while hostages were still being held there.

The Palestinian representative to the UN, Riyad Mansour, welcomed the resolution but said it was overdue.

Mansour says it has taken six months, over 100,000 Palestinians killed and maimed, two million displaced, and famine, for this council to finally demand an immediate ceasefire.

Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group which governs Gaza and which triggered the war with an unprecedented attack on Israel on 7th October, also welcomed the resolution.

It says it was ready "to engage in an immediate prisoner exchange process that leads to the release of prisoners on both sides".

The group has made any hostage release conditional on the release by Israel of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

The current war broke out after Hamas gunmen burst through the border and attacked Israeli communities, killing about 1,200 people and taking 253 into Gaza as hostages.

Of those taken, 130 remain unaccounted for following a series of releases, rescues and the recovery of bodies.

Source: BBC