The United States laid out details of the three-phase hostage deal it is promoting in an expanded version of a Security Council resolution, which could come to a vote as early as Monday.
“It is important that the United Nations Security Council speak with one voice on this,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington on Thursday.
“We have this rare opportunity to reach an immediate ceasefire that ultimately could lead to an end to this war. And so we want to see the Security Council act. We want to see it act as soon as possible,” he said.
He dismissed the significance of reports that Israel could be opposed to elements of the text, explaining there are often back-and-forth discussions with UNSC members and concerned nations before a text comes to the UNSC floor for a vote.
Israel not a UNSC member
Israel is not a member of the UNSC, but its acceptance of the resolution is important to the US. Jerusalem, in turn, wants to back the resolution and has highlighted the US elements of the text it would like to see changed.
The latest draft welcomes “the new ceasefire proposal,” which US President Joe Biden first laid out in a speech in Washington on Friday, May 31.
The resolution clarifies that the deal “is acceptable to Israel,” “calls upon Hamas to also accept it,” and “urges both parties to fully implement its terms without delay and without condition.”
The US is pushing for the backing of the 15-member Security Council for the deal as part of an intense diplomatic initiative to draw wide international support for the deal.
It explained in the resolution that the hostage proposal would enable the following outcomes spread over three phases, which would see the return of the remaining 124 hostages and an end to the Gaza war.
Biden in his speech, spoke of the first phase, which would last six weeks. It would see a lull in the fighting and the return of what has been termed the humanitarian hostages, these being the women, elderly, ill, and infirmed.
The UNSC text described phase one as “a 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.”
It would also include the “withdrawal of Israeli forces from populated areas in Gaza, the return of Palestinian civilians to their homes in Gaza, as well as the safe and effective distribution of humanitarian assistance at scale throughout the Gaza Strip to all Palestinian civilians who need it.”
Phase two, “upon agreement of the parties,” would see “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.”
Lastly, phase three 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.”
The resolution also deals with two elements outside the scope of the proposal that relate to a two-state resolution to the conflict.
The resolution, “rejects any attempt at demographic or territorial change in the Gaza Strip, including actions that reduce the territory of Gaza, such as through the permanent establishment officially or unofficially of so-called buffer zones.”
It also, “Reiterates its unwavering commitment to achieving the vision of a negotiated 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.”