'Israel cancels Washington visit after US allows UN Gaza ceasefire resolution to pass'

Tensions between the United States and Israel were exposed on Monday when Washington stood aside and allowed the UN Security Council to pass a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.The US decision to abstain on the vote prompted Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel a scheduled trip to the US by two of his top advisers, two Israeli officials said.The US had previously vetoed similar resolutions calling for a ceasefire. Its position evolved last week when on Friday, it put forward a ceasefire resolution tied tied to the release of hostages. That resolution fell when it was vetoed by Russia and China. The US abstention on Monday’s vote allowed the latest resolution to pass, when the other 14 members of the 15-strong council voted yes.The US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that while the latest resolution included edits requested by the US, Washington could not vote yes because it “did not agree with everything.”“A ceasefire could have come about months ago if Hamas had been willing to release hostages,” the ambassador said, calling on member states and the Security Council to demand that Hamas “accepts the deal on the table.”“Any ceasefire must come with the release of all hostages,” she added A visit canceled Israel’s national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Ron Dermer, a member of the war cabinet and close adviser to Netanyahu, had been scheduled to travel to Washington on Monday night to discuss the offensive and US alternatives, but the visit was canceled after the vote.National Security spokesman John Kirby offered a fuller response to Netanyahu’s decision to cancel the delegation, saying the US was disappointed by the decision to cancel the trip.“We’re very disappointed that they will not be coming to Washington, DC, to allow us to have a fulsome conversation with them about viable alternatives to going in on the ground in Rafah,” he said.State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller called the cancelation “surprising and unfortunate.”One US official told CNN that scrapping the visit was an overreaction that most likely reflects Netanyahu’s own domestic political concerns. Netanyahu did not communicate directly with Biden over the decision, and the President has no plans to phone Netanyahu to discuss the matter, the official said.Separately, Israel agreed to a US proposal on a prisoner-hostage deal, according to CNN analyst Barak Ravid’s reporting on the recent round of talks in Doha. The reported deal could see the release of around 700 Palestinian prisoners, among them 100 serving life sentences for killing Israeli nationals, in exchange for the release of 40 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

The resolution, put forward by the 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council, demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan, the immediate and unconditional release of hostages and “the urgent need to expand the flow” of aid into Gaza.