UNITED NATIONS
A Gaza ceasefire and hostage
release deal “now is in sight,” the US envoy to the United Nations told the
Security Council on Thursday, urging members to press Palestinian militant
group Hamas to accept a bridging proposal agreed to by Israel.Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Representative of the US to the UN, speaks during a UNSC meeting on situation in the Middle East on August 22, 2024 in New York City.
Months of on-off talks have
circled the same issues, but Israel and Hamas have stuck to their demands.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda
Thomas-Greenfield said a bridging proposal put forward last week by the US,
Qatar and Egypt was consistent with a plan outlined by President Joe Biden in
May and endorsed by the Security Council in June.
“Israel has accepted the
bridging proposal. Now Hamas must do the same,” she told the council. “As
members of this council, we must speak with one voice, and we must use our
leverage to press Hamas to accept the bridging proposal.”
Disagreements over Israel’s
future military presence in Gaza and over Palestinian prisoner releases are
obstructing a deal, sources familiar with talks told Reuters, stemming from
demands Israel has introduced since Hamas accepted Biden’s May proposal.
“It’s a decisive moment for
ceasefire talks and for the region, and so every member of this council should
continue to send strong messages to other actors in the region to avoid actions
that would move us away from finalizing this deal,” said Thomas-Greenfield.
The conflict in Gaza put the
entire Middle East region on edge, triggering months of border clashes between
Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, and threatening a wider
escalation drawing in major powers.
Iran has also vowed
retaliation over the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July
31, which it blamed on Israel. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied it was
behind the killing.
“There’s very real danger of
regional escalation,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
“So let us do everything in
our power to get this ceasefire and hostage release deal over the finish line
now.”
The current war in the Gaza
Strip began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israeli
communities, killing around 1,200 people and abducting about 250 hostages,
according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israel’s military
has leveled swathes of the Palestinian enclave, driving nearly all of its 2.3
million people from their homes, giving rise to deadly hunger and disease and
killing at least 40,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.
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