Palestinian boys stand near bloodstains at the United Nations School, a shelter for displaced people after Israeli bombings in Nuseira, central Gaza Strip – Copyright AFP Bashar Taleb
Sean Tandon and Amelie Botolier-Despois at the United Nations
The United States is waging a diplomatic offensive, working with the United Nations and world leaders who favor the Palestinians, to persuade Hamas to accept a ceasefire plan laid out by President Joe Biden.
Biden, whose support for Israel has alienated some of his supporters with just five months to go before a close election, took his boldest move yet on May 31 by unveiling a plan to halt the conflict and eventually end the war.
The White House released a statement Thursday from President Biden and 16 other world leaders urging Hamas to agree, saying there was “no time to waste.”
“The time has come to end the war and this agreement is a necessary starting point,” the statement said.
The statement was also endorsed by the leaders of the European powers Britain, France and Germany.
But they also included Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who has infuriated Israel by joining a South African-led lawsuit at the International Court of Justice that recognises a Palestinian state and accuses Israel of “genocide”.
The White House statement was echoed by two leftist Latin American presidents who have angered Israel with their comments on the conflict – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Colombian President Gustavo Petro – and their ideological rival on the continent, Argentine President Javier Milley, a strong defender of Israel.
U.S. officials privately acknowledge there are limits to such diplomatic pronouncements toward Hamas and its shadowy leader, Yahya Sinwar, who is believed to be hiding out in the devastated Gaza Strip.
But U.S. officials believe Sinwar has been emboldened by international condemnation of Israel, and want to show him that a global agreement to end the conflict is near.
Under the plan announced by Biden, Israel would withdraw from populated areas of Gaza, Hamas would release hostages for an initial six weeks and the ceasefire would be extended as negotiators seek a permanent end to hostilities.
Biden has billed the plan as an Israeli proposal, but it has drawn criticism from right-wing Israeli politicians critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government.
Violence continued to escalate, with a Gaza hospital saying on Thursday that at least 37 people were killed in an Israeli attack on a UN-run school that the Israeli military claims is a Hamas stronghold.
– Progress being made at the UN –
Mediator Qatar has submitted the plan to Hamas for consideration, and a Hamas official said Thursday it was “just words” and not a written proposal, but did not formally reject it.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a regular visitor to the region, has also promoted the plan in calls with Arab foreign ministers.
One of the key venues where the U.S. wants to push for a deal is the United Nations, where Palestinians have long hoped for broad international support.
The United States has been circulating a draft Security Council resolution supporting the deal, hoping it can garner support and avoid a veto by Russia, whose relations with the United States have fallen to their lowest point.
Diplomats said Algeria, the Arab representative on the U.N. Security Council, agreed not to prioritize its own resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire after a call between Blinken and his Algerian foreign minister.
The latest version of the resolution, circulated on Thursday and seen by AFP, calls on Hamas to accept the agreement and “calls on both sides to fully implement the terms of the agreement without delay and without conditions.”
The language is a shift from an earlier draft that explicitly called on Hamas alone to implement the agreement, causing concern in some countries, diplomats said.
A statement from the leaders released by the White House similarly called on both sides to “make any final compromises necessary to conclude this agreement.”
The war began with a Hamas attack on October 7 that left 1,194 people dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
The Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip’s health ministry said Israel’s retaliatory military strikes have killed at least 36,654 people in the Gaza Strip, the majority of them civilians.
