Algeria indicated on Tuesday, May 28, that it wanted to present to the members of the UN Security Council a draft resolution demanding an end to the Israeli offensive.
After an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday, May 28, Algerian Ambassador Amar Bendjama announced that his country would circulate to the other members of the Council a “short text, a clear text, to stop the massacre in Rafah.
In this draft resolution, the Council highlights the decisions of the International Court of Justice and “decides that Israel, the powerful occupier, must immediately stop its military offensive and any other action in Rafah .” It also demands “an immediate ceasefire respected by all parties” and “the unconditional release of all hostages”.
On Monday, May 27, Algeria called for an emergency meeting of the Council, the day after an Israeli strike in Rafah which set fire to tents occupied by Palestinians in a displaced persons camp. This strike left 45 dead and 249 injured, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
The Council struggles to speak with one voice
The Civil Defense of the Gaza Strip announced on Tuesday, May 28, the death of 21 people in another Israeli strike on a camp for displaced people in the south of the Palestinian territory. The Algerian ambassador did not specify when he hoped to put the draft resolution to a vote.
“It is high time for this Council to act and adopt a new resolution,” argued French Ambassador Nicolas de Rivière, highlighting a “question of life and death.” Since the unprecedented attack by Hamas against Israel on October 7 and the start of Israeli reprisals in the Gaza Strip, the Security Council has struggled to speak with one voice.
After two resolutions mainly focused on humanitarian aid, he finally demanded at the end of March an “immediate ceasefire”, a call previously blocked several times by the United States, and allies of Israel, which this time had abstained. Asked about the Algerian draft text, American Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said she was waiting to see it. “And then we will react to it.”
