UN Security Council adopts Gaza resolution calling for immediate ceasefire and release of hostages

In this photo taken on March 25, 2024, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield (2nd R) abstains during a resolution vote calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. (Reuters)
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Updated 11 June 2024
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UN Security Council adopts Gaza resolution calling for immediate ceasefire and release of hostages

  • Plan consists of three phases, culminating in permanent halt to hostilities and start of reconstruction
  • It was the 11th time council had voted on draft resolution relating to the war in Gaza, only three adopted

NEW YORK CITY: A US-led resolution endorsing a ceasefire plan aimed at ending the eight-month war in Gaza was adopted by the UN Security Council on Monday, with 14 of the 15 members voting in favor and Russia abstaining.

It was the 11th time the council had voted on a draft resolution relating to the war in Gaza. Only three have been adopted.

Resolution 2735, a copy of which was obtained by Arab News, welcomes a three-phase ceasefire proposal announced by US President Joe Biden on May 31, which Washington said Israeli authorities have accepted, and calls on Hamas to accept it as well. It urges both sides “to fully implement its terms without delay and without condition.”

After it was adopted, the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said the council has sent “a clear message to Hamas: accept the ceasefire deal on the table.” If it does so, “the fighting would stop today,” she added.

Hamas can now see the international community is united behind a deal that will save lives, help Gazans “to rebuild and heal” and reunite Israeli hostages with their families, she said.

The deal will also lead to “a more secure Israel and unlock the possibility of more progress, including calm along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon,” Thomas-Greenfield continued.

“We cannot forget the Israelis displaced from their homes in northern Israel, under threat from Hezbollah. These attacks from terrorist groups backed by Iran must stop. They have to stop.”

She said Palestinians have endured “sheer hell in this war started by Hamas. There’s an opportunity to chart a different course; Hamas must take it.”

Phase one of the plan, as outlined by the resolution, requires “an immediate, full and complete ceasefire, with the release of hostages, including women, the elderly and the wounded, the return of the remains of some hostages who have been killed, (and) the exchange of Palestinian prisoners.”

It also calls for the “withdrawal of Israeli forces from the populated areas in Gaza, the return of Palestinian civilians to their homes and neighborhoods in all areas of Gaza, including in the north, as well as the safe and effective distribution of humanitarian assistance at scale throughout the Gaza Strip to all Palestinian civilians who need it, including housing units delivered by the international community.”

Phase two would include “a permanent end to hostilities, in exchange for the release of all other hostages still in Gaza, and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.” Phase 3 would begin “a major, multi-year reconstruction plan for Gaza and the return of the remains of any deceased hostages still in Gaza to their families.”

The proposal states that should negotiations between the two sides during phase one take longer than six weeks, the ceasefire will be maintained as long as the talks continue, and it “welcomes the readiness of the United States, Egypt and Qatar to work to ensure negotiations keep going until all the agreements are reached and phase two is able to begin.”

It rejects any potential attempts to impose “demographic or territorial change in the Gaza Strip, including any actions that reduce the territory of Gaza,” reiterates the commitment to a two state solution, and stresses the importance of “unifying the Gaza Strip with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority.”

Slovenia’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, Ondina Blokar Drobic, told council members after the vote: “We have been saying this for months now: The suffering in Gaza must end.

“We have been constantly calling for the immediate release of hostages. However, military operations for the release of hostages, leaving hundreds of civilians killed and injured, like the one in the Nuseirat refugee camp on Saturday, cannot be the new normal. The principles of international humanitarian law and human rights law apply to hostage-rescue operations as well.”

Listing the many atrocities and horrors witnessed during the war, Drobic added: “The denial of aid to civilians, including women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons; humanitarian and UN personnel killed; UN premises targeted; hospitals besieged; children’s limbs amputated without anesthesia; women giving birth without appropriate assistance; mass graves; civilian areas in Gaza and in Israel targeted, attacked and destroyed — none of this should be taking place.

“Photos of children, some of them born during this war, dying because of malnutrition” will go down in history among the defining images of a conflict “this council should have prevented.”

She added: “It is for this reason we once again call for an immediate ceasefire. This is the first step toward achieving a comprehensive solution.”


Israel military official says ‘preparing response’ to Iran attack

Updated 58 min 26 sec ago
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Israel military official says ‘preparing response’ to Iran attack

  • He did not elaborate on the nature or timing of the response

JERUSALEM: An Israeli official told AFP on Saturday that the military is “preparing a response” to the Iranian missile barrage that targeted Israel earlier this week.
“The IDF (Israeli military) is preparing a response to the unprecedented and unlawful Iranian attack on Israeli civilians and Israel,” the military official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.
He did not elaborate on the nature or timing of the response.
Israel’s left-leaning newspaper Haaretz, quoting the military, reported that the military’s response will be “significant.”
“The IDF is preparing for a significant strike in Iran following this week’s missile attack from Tehran,” the newspaper reported.
“The military does not rule out the possibility that Iran may launch missiles at Israeli territory again after the Israeli attack,” it added.
On October 1, Iran launched around 200 missiles at Israel, its second direct attack on the country in less than six months.
Most of the missiles were intercepted by Israel’s aerial defense system, while some hit military bases but did not cause major damage or casualties.
Iran said the missiles were launched to avenge the assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah who was killed by an Israeli air strike in the Lebanese capital on September 27.
Iran’s missile attack was also in response to the death of the former political head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran on July 31.
Both Iran and Hamas blame Israel for Haniyeh’s killing. Israel has not commented on his death.


Iran FM renews call for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefires on Syria visit

Updated 05 October 2024
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Iran FM renews call for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefires on Syria visit

  • Syria’s Assad says Iran’s attack on Israel taught it ‘lesson’
  • Araghchi’s visit to Damascus is his first since he took office in August

DAMASCUS: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi renewed his call for ceasefires in both Gaza and Lebanon on Saturday as he held talks with his country’s Syrian ally.
“The most important issue today is the ceasefire, especially in Lebanon and in Gaza,” he told reporters.
“There are initiatives in this regard, there have been consultations that we hope will be successful.”

Syrian President Bashar Assad said Iran’s second-ever missile attack on Israel this week was a “lesson” for Israel.
The missile attack on Tuesday evening, just days after Israel killed the leader of Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, was “a strong response and taught the Zionist entity a lesson,” Assad was quoted as saying as Araghchi visited Damascus.
Araghchi’s visit to Damascus, his first since he took office in August, comes almost a year after Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel, triggering war in Gaza.
The conflict has also drawn in Iran’s Lebanese ally, Hezbollah and on September 23 Israel sharply intensified its campaign against the militant group.
“The purpose of my trip to Damascus is to continue consultations regarding the developments in the region,” Araghchi said.
His meetings in the Syrian capital follow a visit to Beirut Friday during which he voiced support for a truce in Lebanon acceptable to Hezbollah “simultaneously with a ceasefire in Gaza.”
Araghchi traveled to Damascus by air after Lebanon said an Israeli air strike on Friday severed the main international highway linking the two countries.
Israel said its strike was aimed at preventing the flow of weapons to Hezbollah from neighboring Syria.
Iran has been a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad throughout the civil war that erupted in 2011 following the suppression of anti-government protests.


Israel issues first Gaza evacuation warning in weeks

Updated 05 October 2024
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Israel issues first Gaza evacuation warning in weeks

  • The evacuation call is the first in weeks for Gaza as the Israeli military has largely shifted its focus to fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon
  • Palestinians living in areas near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza have been warned to evacuate

GAZA: The Israeli army warned residents to evacuate part of central Gaza on Saturday, saying the military was preparing to use “great force” against Hamas fighters in the area.
The evacuation call is the first in weeks for Gaza as the Israeli military has largely shifted its focus to fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“Hamas and the terrorist organizations continue their terrorist activities within your area and, as a result, the IDF (military) will act with great force against these elements,” the evacuation order posted by the Israeli army said, with an attached map listing the blocks to be evacuated.
Palestinians living in areas near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza have been warned to evacuate under the latest order posted on X.
Israel has destroyed large swathes of Gaza since Hamas’s October 7 attack last year, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly pledging to secure total victory over the militants.
A year later, the confirmed death toll from the Hamas attack — including hostages killed in captivity — has reached 1,205 on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants abducted 251 hostages during the attack, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military has said are dead.
In Gaza, nearly all of its 2.4 million residents have been displaced at least once.
At least 41,825 people have been killed, most of them women or children, according to the territory’s health ministry. The United Nations has acknowledged the figures as reliable.
The Israeli military has often returned to areas where it has previously conducted operations in response to reports of resurgent Hamas activity.


Emirates bans pagers, walkie-talkies onboard after Lebanon blasts

Updated 05 October 2024
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Emirates bans pagers, walkie-talkies onboard after Lebanon blasts

  • mirates said that “such items found in passengers’ hand luggage or checked baggage will be confiscated by Dubai Police.”

Dubai: Dubai-based airline Emirates has banned pagers and walkie-talkies onboard its planes following sabotage attacks in Lebanon, and extended flight cancelations for Middle East destinations due to regional escalation.
“All Passengers traveling on flights to, from or via Dubai are prohibited from transporting pagers and walkie-talkies in checked or cabin baggage,” the carrier said, weeks after a wave of exploding communication devices used by the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, which blamed Israel for the attacks.
In a statement posted on its website on Friday, Emirates said that “such items found in passengers’ hand luggage or checked baggage will be confiscated by Dubai Police.”
The blasts last month killed at least 37 people and wounded nearly 3,000 across Lebanon.
Emirates, the Middle East’s biggest airline,also announced that its Iraq and Iran routes will remain suspended until Tuesday.
The cancelations were first announced in the wake of a major Iranian attack on Israel this week that saw missiles flying over Iraq and Iran.
Emirates said its flights to Jordan, which were also suspended, would resume on Sunday.
Flights to and from Lebanon will remain suspended until October 15, Emirates said, as Israel steps up attacks on the country, including parts of the capital near its only airport.
Several other carriers have also put some services to and from Beirut and other Middle East airports on hold.


Roadside bomb wounds four in Iraq’s Kirkuk

Updated 05 October 2024
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Roadside bomb wounds four in Iraq’s Kirkuk

Baghdad: A roadside bomb wounded four people in the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk on Saturday, police sources said.
The bomb targeted a commercial district in the city center. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Earlier in the week, four Iraqi soldiers were killed and three others injured in an ambush on an army convoy southwest of Kirkuk, which Daesh militants claimed responsibility for.
Despite the group’s defeat in 2017, remnants continue to conduct hit-and-run attacks against government forces.