AGI – The United States is intensifying pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza with an appeal for a UN Security Council vote on a truce and with a Antony Blinken tour in the area.
The secretary of state will visit Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Qatar in his eighth regional tour since the war broke out. “The only obstacle to reaching a ceasefire is Hamas. It’s time for them to accept the deal,” the Foggy Bottom chief said Saturday. Hamas has insisted on a permanent truce and a complete Israeli withdrawal from all parts of Gaza, demands that Israel has firmly rejected.
Blinken’s arrival was preceded by another night bombing of Gaza by the Israeli forces, while Benjamin Netanyahu faces dissent internal with the resignation of war cabinet member Benny Gantz. Washington has submitted a draft resolution to the United Nations, calling for an “immediate ceasefire with the release of hostages” after months of criticism of the United States for blocking several drafts calling for an end to the fighting.
There push for an agreement promoted by President Joe Biden has so far failed to produce tangible results, while the raid by Israeli special forces that led to the release of 4 hostages distances the prospect of a truce: in the fighting that accompanied the blitz, dozens – if not hundreds – of Palestinians.
According to Hamas, 274 people – including 64 children, 57 women and 37 elderly people – were killed and 698 injured in what the Islamist movement called the “Nuseirat massacre“. Figures which however cannot be independently verified.
Gantz’s decision, which will not bring down the right-wing government, comes after he issued an ultimatum to Netanyahu to present a post-war plan for Gaza by June 8. Responding to the first major political blow received during the conflict, the prime minister told Gantz that “this was not the time to abandon the fight.”
