Antony Blinken with Benjamin Netanyahu
On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to push a ceasefire that the UN Security Council later supported to end the Gaza Strip’s eight-month war.
“Blinken met with Netanyahu in Jerusalem, for around two hours to push diplomacy towards a ceasefire”, US officials stated, before the Security Council approved a US-drafted resolution endorsing the ceasefire plan.
The resolution passed with 14 votes in favor and Russia abstaining, welcomes President Joe Biden’s truce and hostage release proposal announced on May 31, and urges parties to fully implement its terms without delay and condition.
Blinken is on his ninth trip to the region since the war began on October 7, when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel.
The successful rescue operation on Saturday that freed four captives has given Netanyahu political momentum in Israel, despite the fact that it was deadly and destructive for Palestinians.
But a day later, Benny Gantz and other war cabinet resigned, dealing Netanyahu his first major political blow of the war.
Gantz, a former army chief, blasted Netanyahu for neglecting to define a post-war governance plan for Gaza, saying, “The Prime Minister is preventing us from a real victory”.
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