France proposes Israel-Gaza ceasefire resolution at UN
Call made together with Egypt and Jordan; China is supportive of efforts to end crisis
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Palestinian protesters confronting Israeli troops at Hawara checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday. The UN Security Council has failed to adopt a simple declaration on the conflict, with the United States, a staunch Israel ally, having rejected three prior statement drafts proposed by China, Norway and Tunisia which called for an end to the fighting.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
GAZA/JERUSALEM • France has proposed a UN Security Council resolution, in coordination with Egypt and Jordan, calling for a truce in the Israel-Gaza conflict.
French President Emmanuel Macron and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is in Paris for summits on Africa, agreed on the resolution in a video conference with Jordan's King Abdullah II, the French President's office said on Tuesday.
"The three countries agreed on three simple elements: The shooting must stop, the time has come for a ceasefire and the UN Security Council must take up the issue," said the Elysee Palace.
France, which has been calling for a rapid ceasefire for several days, said it supports mediation led by Egypt.
Mr Macron had on Monday underlined the importance of Egyptian mediation after talks in Paris with Mr Sisi, a key ally and defence client of France despite rights activists' concerns over Cairo's rights record.
The UN Security Council has failed to adopt a simple declaration on the conflict with the United States, a staunch Israel ally, having rejected three prior statement drafts proposed by China, Norway and Tunisia which called for an end to the fighting.
China's UN ambassador Zhang Jun said that during a closed-door meeting, members "heard the proposal made by our French colleague in the Council and for China, definitely, we are supportive to all efforts facilitating the ending of the crisis and the coming back of peace in the Middle East".
An Israeli military source said the country is assessing whether conditions are right to halt its air campaign against Palestinian militants in Gaza but is preparing for "more days" of strikes if necessary.
"We are looking at when is the right moment for a ceasefire," said the source yesterday. Israel was evaluating whether its objective of degrading the fighting capacity of Gaza's Hamas rulers had been achieved, the person said.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces pounded Gaza with air strikes and Hamas militants renewed cross-border rocket attacks yesterday, pressing on with a conflict that has caused widespread destruction in the Palestinian enclave and threatened cities deep inside Israel.
Gaza medical officials say 219 people have been killed since the fighting flared on May 10 and Israeli authorities put the death toll in Israel at 12.
Regional and US-led diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire have intensified but so far failed.
In a 25-minute attack overnight, Israel bombarded targets including what its military said were tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip used by Hamas, the Islamist group that governs Gaza.
Nearly 450 buildings in densely populated Gaza have been destroyed or badly damaged, including six hospitals and nine primary-care health centres, and more than 52,000 Palestinians have been displaced, the UN humanitarian agency said.
The damage has left large craters and piles of rubble across the coastal enclave and deepened long-running concerns about living conditions in Gaza.
"Whoever wants to learn about the humanity of the (Israelis) should come to the Gaza Strip and look at the houses that got destroyed on top of those who lived in them," said university lecturer Ahmed al-Astal, standing by the rubble of his house in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
He said there had been no warning before his home was destroyed in an air strike before dawn.
Israel, which blames the latest hostilities on Hamas, says it issues warnings to evacuate buildings that are to be fired on and that it attacks only what it regards as military targets.
An Israeli military spokesman said that, with an estimated 12,000 missiles and mortar bombs left in the Islamist group's Gaza arsenal, "they still have enough rockets to fire". Some 50 rockets were fired overnight from Gaza, the Israeli military said.
Sirens sounded in the coastal city of Ashdod, south of Tel Aviv, and in communities closer to the Gaza border, sending people scurrying to shelters. There were no reports of damage or injuries but days of rocket fire have unsettled many Israelis.
Hamas began firing rockets nine days ago in retaliation for what it said were Israeli rights abuses against Palestinians in Jerusalem during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The rocket attacks followed clashes between Israeli security police and worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and amid a court case by Israeli settlers to evict Palestinians from a neighbourhood in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
