As the Biden administration intensifies its diplomatic efforts to establish a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and sends Secretary of State Antony Blinken on his eighth mission to Israel on Monday, June 10, Washington has taken significant steps in recent days to gain the approval of the international community. On Monday, these efforts seem to have paid off: The UN Security Council adopted a resolution coordinated by the United States and based on the plan presented by Joe Biden on May 31, providing for an end to hostilities in three phases.

The resolution won 14 votes in favor, with Russia abstaining. The Council’s decision was immediately welcomed by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, which has yet to formally approve the plan to the negotiators. While the American president repeatedly states that the plan has “already been accepted by Israel,” and offered to Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fiercely denies that this text leads to an explicit end to the war, as Biden indicates, and repeats his desire to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed.

So the chief American diplomat came to defend the conditions of a ceasefire to Netanyahu and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant. But Israeli political divisions, amplified by Benny Gantz’s recent decision to leave the national unity government, could complicate Washington’s diplomatic efforts.

After the vote, Israeli UN representative Reut Shapir Ben-Naftaly reiterated that “the war will end” when Israeli “objectives,” including the release of hostages and the “destruction” of Hamas, are “fulfilled.”

‘An opportunity’

In particular, the resolution urges Israel and Hamas “to fully implement its terms without delay and without condition” and sets out the operational outlines of a three-phase plan. The first calls for the release of more hostages and a temporary pause in hostilities that will last as long as it takes to negotiate the second phase. This phase is focused on the release of all hostages, a “full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza” and “a permanent end to hostilities.” The third phase calls for reconstruction in Gaza.

It’s an “opportunity,” explained US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield. “Israel has agreed to a comprehensive deal. That is the deal now on the table, which is nearly identical to Hamas’ own proposals.” She went on to say that it had been approved by countries in the region, “including Algeria, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates,” as well as by the G7 and the 16 countries whose citizens are being held by Hamas.

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