By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israel’s Foreign Minister has condemned the U.S. decision to withhold a veto on a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for “an immediate ceasefire in Gaza,” saying it will make it more difficult to free hostages.
Israel Katz told local Army Radio it was “a moral and ethical mistake” by the U.S. as it led to Hamas’s rejection of Israeli terms for a truce and hostage deal in exchange for prisoners.
The U.S. move to abstain from the ceasefire vote prompted Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel a scheduled trip to the United States by two of his top advisers.
Hamas, deemed a terrorist organization by Israel, “is building on the fact that… there will be a ceasefire without it needing to pay a thing,” Katz stressed in comments monitored by Worthy News on Wednesday.
He said that the U.N. Security Council’s first ceasefire resolution on Gaza, “especially its Arabic language” version, is that “Hamas does not need to rush” into a deal.
Minister Katz clarified that Israel wouldn’t back down despite commentators saying the resolution is “legally binding.” The minister said the resolution would only make Israel increase military pressure “to prove” its commitment to releasing the hostages and taking down Hamas.
“In our view, there was a message, a no-good message, to anyone on Hamas’s side, that the U.S. does not support Israel as much, and so we need to prove, militarily, that we will stand by our goals,” he explained.
BIDEN FACING BACKLASH
U.S. President Joe Biden, who faces elections this year, had come under pressure from within his own Democratic Party to push for a ceasefire in Gaza amid a mounting death toll.
Israel says it has killed over 13,000 Hamas fighters since the start of the war and claims to have largely dismantled the group in northern Gaza.
The Hamas-run health ministry claims more than 32,000 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 74,000 wounded, but it doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.
The ministry says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead, a figure that has been impossible to verify in an enclave with virtually no press freedom.
Some 1,200 people were killed in Israel and another 253 people abducted when Hamas launched a surprise attack out of Gaza on October 7, triggering the war, Israeli authorities say. About 134 hostages were believed to be still held by Hamas, of whom dozens are presumed dead.
Despite the tensions with the U.S. over how to end the war, Katz said ties between Jerusalem and Washington “remain strong.”
He noted an upcoming meeting with U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and described President Biden’s position as the result of pressure from a “radical wing” within the Democratic Party.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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