OAN’s Taylor Tinsley
11:05 AM – Monday, March 25, 2023
The United Nations Security Council has demanded an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
14 council members voted in favor of the resolution on Monday. The U.S. abstained instead of vetoing, allowing the measure to pass.
The council called for an immediate ceasefire during the month of Ramadan, which started on March 10th and ends on April 9th. Additionally, the council called for the immediate and unconditional release of all remaining hostages.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the United States abstained the resolution due to the lack of condemnation for Hamas.
“We appreciated the willingness of members of this council to take some of our edits and improve on this resolution,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “Still, certain key edits were ignored, including our requests to add a condemnation of Hamas, and we did not agree with everything in the resolution. For that reason, we were unfortunately not able to vote yes.”
White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said the vote doesn’t represent a “shift in policy.”
In response to the resolution Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he’d no longer be sending a delegation to Washington D.C. this week, where they were set to discuss alternatives to a ground operation in Rafah.
“The withdrawal of the U.S. from its position hurts efforts to release the hostages because it gives Hamas hope that international pressure will allow them to accept a cease-fire without the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu said.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is already in D.C. and Kirby expects Rafah to be a topic of discussion.
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