The UN Security Council is scheduled to vote on a fresh draft resolution calling for an immediate truce in Gaza later today. This draft is expected to demand an immediate ceasefire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Earlier, Russia and China on Friday had vetoed a document submitted by the US, calling it political in nature, and saying that it did not clearified opposition to Israel’s long-threatened ground operation in Rafah.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at a news conference in Amman, Jordan, today that the resolution does not relate a cease-fire to the release of Israeli detainees held in Gaza. This was one of the reasons that the prior proposal was vetoed.
Since the October 7 strikes, the UNSC has been divided on the Israel-Hamas war, passing only two of eight resolutions, both of which dealt primarily with humanitarian help to the devastated Gaza Strip.