UN resolution on Gaza welcomed

With the United Nations Security Council adopting a resolution on Monday for a comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza, the international community is calling on Israel to urgently implement the consensus and halt the military campaign that is causing untold suffering to millions of besieged Palestinians.

According to a statement published by WAFA news agency, the Palestinian presidency welcomed the adoption of Resolution 2735 by the UN Security Council, calling for an immediate and complete ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, as "a step in the right direction to stop the ongoing war of genocide against the Palestinian people".

It also reiterated its call for the implementation of the two-state solution. Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour, who spoke to the media after the vote in New York, said Palestine is "determined with our friends to make a long-lasting, permanent cease-fire".

On Tuesday, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri, who is based outside Gaza, said it accepted the cease-fire resolution and was ready to negotiate over the details.

It is up to Washington to ensure that Israel abides by it, he added. He said Hamas accepted the formula stipulating the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and a swap of hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel.

Belal Alakhras, a political analyst and Palestinian researcher at the University of Malaya in Malaysia, told China Daily that the resolution endorsing a cease-fire in Gaza reflects the international consensus that "continuing the genocidal war is illegitimate and that restoring stability in the region is urgently needed".

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the fighting could "stop today if Hamas agrees to the deal now endorsed by the Security Council".

But Reut Shapir Ben-Naftaly, political coordinator of the Israeli mission to the UN, said her country's goals have been "very clear "since Oct 7, namely to bring all Israeli hostages home and dismantle Hamas and its capabilities, ensuring that Gaza "does not pose a threat to Israel in the future".

She also said Israel "will not engage in meaningless and endless negotiations which can be exploited by Hamas as a means to stall for time".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday following the rescue of four Israeli hostages that Israel would not relent "until we complete the mission and return all our hostages home, both the living and the deceased".

Last week, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich issued calls to "expand the war in Gaza" and to invade southern Lebanon.

Turkiye welcomed the UNSC resolution as "an important step toward putting an end to the massacre", and lauded Hamas' "constructive and positive approach" to the cease-fire plan. "It is imperative that Israel announces its commitment to the implementation of a permanent cease-fire and fully implements all elements of the resolution," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

Alakhras noted that the US vetoed three cease-fire proposals while enabling Israel's conflict in Gaza for more than eight months, leading to unprecedented killing and destruction that impacted the entire region and swayed the US' and international public opinion.

Dire need

"This inconsistency highlights the world's dire need for a system not confined to one major power that can rapidly reverse course on matters of self-inflicted consequence. The priority now is implementing this resolution, though Palestinians seek guarantees that the war will truly end, while Israeli leaders publicly want to achieve all objectives of their total war," he said.

Further, he said emerging powers on the Security Council "should take the initiative to promote stability proactively, not just react after massive lives and interests are impacted".

In a social media post, Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the West Bank and Gaza, welcomed the cease-fire resolution, but shared what she called "some critical observations".

She said the UNSC "cannot infringe people's right to self-determination" as it lacked the authority to determine who will or should rule over Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory, and underscored that only Palestinians will have to choose via "free and democratic elections".