By Said Amouri
JERUSALEM (AA) - Israel opposed an updated US-drafted resolution presented Thursday to the UN Security Council on a proposed prisoner exchange and cease-fire deal in the Gaza Strip that was recently outlined by President Joe Biden.
American media outlets reported that Washington presented to the Security Council on Thursday a revised version that was introduced Monday.
The official Israeli broadcaster, KAN, said Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan informed his American counterpart, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, of Israel's opposition to the draft resolution.
It reported that the latest version indicates a shift in the US stance toward Israel.
The revised version calls for Hamas and Israel to implement the proposal without delay or conditions, said the report.
In contrast, the earlier draft solely urged Hamas to accept the proposal.
Furthermore, the updated resolution asserts that the US rejects any attempt at demographic or territorial change in Gaza, as per the broadcaster’s report.
Biden said last week that Israel presented a three-phase deal that would end hostilities in Gaza and secure the release of hostages held in the coastal enclave. The plan includes a cease-fire, a hostage-prisoner exchange and the reconstruction of Gaza.
Contrary to Biden's proposal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he did not agree to end the war in the second phase of the proposal but to “discuss” that step under conditions laid out by Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu emphasized his insistence on not ending the war in Gaza until all of Israel’s objectives are achieved.
Hamas, on the other hand, indicated a willingness to “positively” engage with the proposal while noting that it is not “new,” as Biden suggested.
The group described the proposal as an Israeli objection to a proposal from Egyptian and Qatari mediators received by Hamas on May 5.
Hamas and Palestinian factions accepted that proposal on May 6, but Israel rejected it, claiming it did not meet its demands.
The group reiterated that it would not engage in any prisoner exchange agreement with Israel without a clear commitment to a permanent cease-fire and a complete withdrawal from Gaza.
Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas mediated by the US, Qatar, and Egypt have so far failed to agree on a permanent cease-fire.
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since a Hamas attack on Oct. 7 despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire
Some 36,600 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 83,000 others injured, according to local health authorities
Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio