Tel Aviv, MINA – Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Monday that Tel Aviv will not cease fire in the Gaza Strip despite a UN Security Council resolution.
“The State of Israel will not cease fire. We will destroy Hamas, and will continue to fight until the return of all hostages to home,” Katz said in a statement on his X account as quoted by Anadolu Agency.
The UN Security Council on Monday passed a resolution demanding a cease-fire in Gaza during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which already began on March 11 and is set to end on April 9.
As many as 14 countries voted in favor of the resolution, presented by 10 elected members of the Council, while the US abstained from voting.
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Israel’s envoy to the UN Gilad Erdan, for his part, claimed that the UN resolution “undermines the efforts to secure” the Israeli hostages’ release from Gaza.
The resolution called for an “immediate cease-fire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a lasting sustainable cease-fire.”
It also demanded the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as ensuring humanitarian access to address their medical and other humanitarian needs.”
Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Palestinian territory since October 7, 2023. More than 32,333 Palestinians have since been killed and over 74,694 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
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The Israeli war, now in its 171st day, has pushed 85 per cent of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 percent cent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN. (T/RE1/P2)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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