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The United Nations Security Council on Monday afternoon adopted a U.S. draft resolution urging Hamas to accept the latest cease-fire and hostage release deal.
Fourteen members of the council voted in favor of the measure and only one — Russia — elected to abstain. Russia is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council with veto power over resolutions.
Nate Evans, spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the United Nations, noted in a statement ahead of the vote that the deal would enable a pause in fighting, the freeing of a number of hostages and an immediate surge in humanitarian assistance, among other things.
«Israel has accepted this proposal and the Security Council has an opportunity to speak with one voice and call on Hamas to do the same,» his statement continued. «Doing so would help save lives and the suffering of civilians in Gaza as well as the hostages and their families. Council Members should not let this opportunity to pass by and must speak with one voice in support of this deal.»
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield made a similar case just before the vote, saying that every day the war goes on, «needless suffering continues.
