With Hamas balking at the “bridging” proposal that Washington is pushing and which Israel accepted, the U.N. Security Council must throw its unified weight behind the deal and hold terror feet to the fire, the U.S. envoy told the global body on Thursday.
“As members of this council, we must speak with one voice, and we must use our leverage to press Hamas to accept the bridging proposal which includes massive and immediate benefits for the Palestinians in Gaza and incorporates a number of Hamas’s earlier demands,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told the Security Council.
“Colleagues, this is a decisive moment. It’s a decisive moment for ceasefire talks and for the region, and so, every member of this council should continue to send strong messages to other actors in the region to avoid actions that would move us away from finalizing this deal,” Thomas Greenfield said.
“At the same time, the United Nations and humanitarian agencies need to accelerate planning so that they can surge assistance into Gaza in the event of a ceasefire, while we all continue to press for increased humanitarian assistance now,” she added.
The U.S. envoy also told the council that Israel must “speed up clearances and remove restrictions” for aid to enter Gaza, protect Palestinians in Judea and Samaria from what she called “violent settlers” and release taxes to the Palestinian Authority.
“The suicide bombing in Tel Aviv on Aug. 18, which Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed, was a stark reminder of Israel’s very real security concerns,” the U.S. envoy said. “The United States unequivocally condemns this attack, as it does all acts of terrorism, and calls on the Security Council to do the same.”
She also called for Hamas to release the hostages in Gaza immediately.
