A plan was put forward to end the war in Gaza by calling for an instant end to the fighting and the release of the hostages who were taken on October 7th.
That being said, Russia and China have just blocked this measure. Over 30,000 people have died in this war, and the US has been pushing for months for resolutions that include an instant end to the fighting, which Israel refuses to accept. Russia, China, and Algeria voted against the proposal that was put forward in a recent vote by the UN Security Council.
Another resolution with plans for an unconditional truce has been talked about as something that could be voted on. However, the U.S. has said that it would veto such a resolution. Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, didn’t seem to care what the US thought and went on to say that they would push further into Rafah. The war has pushed many Palestinians to leave their homes, and Rafah is their last chance to find safety.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US envoy, talked about why she thinks the two countries vetoed the measure. Linda said, “Russia and China were against the resolution because they couldn’t stand by the parts of it that condemned Hamas.”
This is what she said next: “They didn’t want to vote for a resolution written by the US because they would rather see us fail than this council succeed.”
Israel’s Prime Minister said that he knew the need to keep civilians safe, but that they had to get into Rafah. It was his words, “We can’t beat Hamas until we go into Rafah and kill the last of their battalions.” I told him I hoped the US would help us do this, but if they didn’t, we would do it on our own.
