The U.N. Security Council called for an "immediate" and "durable" cease-fire in Gaza in a resolution Thursday night even as fighting between Israel and Hamas raged with early Friday morning airstrikes killing seven Palestinians. The vote was 14-0, with the United States abstaining. According to the AP, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. "fully supports" the resolution but abstained "to see the outcomes of the Egyptian mediation" with Israel and Hamas, also aimed at achieving a cease-fire.
Israel and Hamas were not parties to the vote. But the text of the resolution was hammered out by the United States and by Arab nations that have ties to Hamas and the Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories.
As the Security Council took action late Thursday in New York, it was early Friday in Gaza and violence continued unabated as an Israeli airstrike flattened a five-story building in northern Gaza, killing at least seven people, including an infant, Hamas security officials said. It was one of more than 30 targets struck before dawn by Israeli warplanes.
The Security Council resolution "stresses the urgency of and calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza." It voiced "grave concern" at the escalating violence and the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and emphasized the need to open all border crossings and achieve a lasting solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
It also calls on U.N. member states "to intensify efforts to provide arrangements and guarantees in Gaza in order to sustain a durable cease-fire and calm, including to prevent illicit trafficking in arms and ammunition and to ensure the sustained re-opening" of border crossings.
In addition, the resolution "condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians," calls for "unimpeded" humanitarian access to Gaza, and welcomes the initiative to open "humanitarian corridors."
At least 24 Palestinians were killed in Gaza on Thursday, including three elderly people fleeing their home. Three Israeli soldiers were killed in combat Thursday, raising the number of soldiers killed in the conflict to 10, including one who died in a mortar strike before the ground invasion began.
