Ikrame Imane Kouachi
February 18, 2024•Update: February 18, 2024
ALGIERS, Algeria
Algeria said Sunday that it has submitted a draft resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip amid a deadly Israeli offensive on the Palestinian enclave.
The state-run television said the draft will be put for a vote by the UN Security Council on Tuesday.
Algeria is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
The Algerian draft is opposed by the US, which wields the veto power on the council.
US delegate to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said Sunday that the Algerian draft resolution "will not be adopted,” hinting that Washington might use the veto to reject the draft.
According to US diplomatic sources who spoke to Anadolu, the Algerian draft calls for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza for humanitarian purposes based on last month’s interim order by the International Court of Justice, which obliges Israel to take measures to prevent acts of genocide in the territory.
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack. The ensuing Israeli attacks have killed nearly 29,000 people and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
*Writing by Ikram Kouachi
