Hamas on Monday welcomed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the ongoing war with Israel sparked by the Palestinian terror group’s massive attack on the south, saying it was ready to release hostages it abducted during the devastating assault.
The Palestinian Authority and Turkey also praised the development at the UN.
The war in Gaza erupted with Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air, and sea, killing 1,200 people. Terrorists also seized 253 hostages, mostly civilians and of all ages. Israel responded with a military campaign to topple Hamas’s Gaza regime and free the hostages, some 130 of whom are still in captivity.
Hamas thanked the UN Security Council for its resolution and called for “a permanent ceasefire that leads to the withdrawal of all Zionist forces from the Gaza Strip, and the return of the displaced to the homes from which they left.”
The UNSC resolution also demanded the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas. In a statement posted online, the terror group also said that it is willing “to engage in an immediate prisoner exchange process that leads to the release of prisoners on both sides,” a reference to Palestinian security prisoners held in Israeli jails that it is demanding as ransom for the hostages.
The resolution “demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire, and also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also called for the resolution to be swiftly implemented.
“The Security Council just approved a long-awaited resolution on Gaza, demanding an immediate ceasefire, and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages,” he wrote on X. “This resolution must be implemented. Failure would be unforgivable.”
It marked the first time that the Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza since the start of the war.Washington was averse to the word ceasefire earlier in the nearly six-month-old war in the Gaza Strip and used its veto power to block previous resolutions.
Qaramada Midoobay ayaa soo saaray qaraar ku baaqaya xabbad-joojin deg-deg ah oo Qasa laga sameeyo inta lagu jiro bisha barakaysan ee Soonqaad.
JQ. pic.twitter.com/X01Bgw0kZs
— Jibril Qoobey (@jibril_qoobey) March 25, 2024