UNSC approves resolution backing hostage deal in 14-0 vote, Hamas agrees to work with mediators

The United Nations Security Council approved a resolution backing US President Joe Biden’s three-phase hostage deal in a 14-0 vote, with Russia abstaining, as Hamas said it was ready to work with mediators to reach an agreement.

“Today we voted for peace,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the UNSC after the vote at UN headquarters in New York.

“Hamas can now see that the international community is united behind a deal that will save lives and help Palestinian civilians in Gaza start to rebuild and heal,” she said.

Hamas welcomed on Monday a UN Security Council resolution stating that it was ready to cooperate with mediators over implementing the principles of the plan, even though it has yet to formally accept the deal first unveiled on May 31.

The text laid out the principles of the three stages of the agreement. During the first phase, which would last six weeks, there would be 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.”

There would be an exchange of Palestinian security prisoners and terrorists held in Israeli jails as well as 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.”

Gaza aid and reconstruction plan

Humanitarian assistance would be distributed throughout the Gaza Strip “to all Palestinian civilians who need it, including housing units delivered by the international community,” according to the resolution.

During phase 2, there would be “upon agreement of the parties, 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, according to the resolution would see “the start of a major multi-year reconstruction plan for Gaza and the return of the remains of any deceased hostages still in Gaza to their families.”

Separately the resolution said that the UNSC “rejects any attempt at demographic or territorial change in the Gaza Strip, including any actions that reduce the territory of Gaza.”

It also reiterated the UNSC’s “unwavering commitment to the vision of the two-state solution where two democratic States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders, consistent with international law and relevant UN resolutions, and in this regard stresses the importance of unifying the Gaza Strip with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority.”

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