Washington opposes Israel’s plans for a major ground offensive in Rafah, south of Gaza, alongside a temporary ceasefire.
Israel’s close ally, the United States, has been opposing a cease-fire in Gaza for a long time. The country has also vetoed the UN Security Council meeting several times. As a result, the resolution was not passed for a humanitarian ceasefire. This time, the country is going to propose a temporary ceasefire to the Security Council. For this purpose, the US administration has already prepared a draft. However, it has not been mentioned when it will be voted in the council.
Washington opposes Israel’s plans for a major ground offensive in Rafah, south of Gaza, along with a temporary ceasefire, according to the US draft. In addition, the United States is in favor of the release of all hostages held by Hamas and the removal of all obstacles to the delivery of relief materials to Gaza. However, the United States vetoed Algeria’s draft proposal for a ceasefire yesterday.
On October 7 last year, almost five months after the start of the war between Hamas and Israel, Washington changed its position. A senior US administration official said on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity, that the United States “will not rush” into the vote. At the same time, he wants to give time for negotiations to end the war. The Security Council needs at least 9 votes to pass a resolution on any issue.
“A major ground offensive in Rafah under current circumstances would result in further civilian casualties,” the US draft said.
This is the second time Washington has proposed a resolution on the Gaza issue since the start of Israeli brutality. The US did not use the word ‘ceasefire’ in the proposal made last October, but this time it did. Analysts consider this to be significant. Russia and China vetoed the proposal.
Earlier, the United States twice vetoed the draft resolution brought against Israel. And abstained from voting twice.
Richard Gowan, director of the United Nations’ International Crisis Group, said Israel will now be more concerned about Washington’s draft proposal. He said the draft is the strongest signal the United States has sent to the United Nations for Netanyahu.
Another senior US administration official said on condition of anonymity that the US draft “does not imply a deterioration in relations with Israel or any of our other partners.”
A few other things are mentioned in this draft. This includes rejecting any attempts at demographic or territorial change in Gaza and Israeli plans to establish a buffer zone. At the same time, the United States opposes any move to reduce Gaza’s territory, either temporarily or permanently, by mass destruction of civilian infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Israel’s economy shrank by 20 percent in the last three months of last year because of the war; Which is close to the time of corona epidemic. At that time, the economy of the country decreased by 30 percent. The reasons for this are said to be increased spending on the war with Hamas, sending additional troops to the battlefield, and reduced trade and investment. The Central Bureau of Statistics released this information last Monday.
