Hamas said in a statement, “We welcome today’s call by the UN Security Council for an immediate ceasefire, and we stress the necessity of reaching a permanent ceasefire that leads to the withdrawal of all Zionist forces from the Gaza Strip, and the return of the displaced to the homes from which they left.”
She added, “We also confirm our readiness to engage in an immediate prisoner exchange process that leads to the release of prisoners on both sides.”
Hamas called on the Security Council to pressure the occupation to adhere to the ceasefire and stop the war of genocide and ethnic cleansing against our people.
On Monday, the UN Security Council approved its resolution calling for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, and the United States abstained from voting after obstructing previous attempts to issue a resolution by resorting to the veto.
The resolution, which was supported by 14 members and one abstention, “demands an immediate ceasefire during the month of Ramadan,” which began two weeks ago, provided that it “leads to a permanent ceasefire,” and “demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”
The United States did not veto the resolution and abstained from voting, making it the first ceasefire resolution adopted by the Council after four previous failures.
The final failure of the draft resolution was last Friday, when China and Russia used their veto power against the American proposal. The disagreement was over the American insistence on linking the call for a ceasefire to the hostage deal and condemning Hamas.
The Gaza Strip has been living for more than five months under a barrage of fire, artillery shelling, and air strikes that turned its buildings into rubble and forced its residents to flee to the south, especially to the city of Rafah on the closed border with Egypt.
The war also caused a humanitarian catastrophe and pushed the population to the brink of famine.
The war broke out following an unprecedented attack carried out by Hamas on July 7, which according to Israeli figures killed 1,160 people, most of them civilians. About 250 people were also kidnapped at that time, 130 of whom are still hostage in Gaza, and 33 of them are believed to have died.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced on Monday that the death toll had risen to 32,333 dead and 74,694 wounded, most of them children and women, in the Strip after five and a half months of war.
