Israel's foreign minister says UN ceasefire vote helps Hamas

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that the UN Security Council's demand for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza has strengthened the Palestinian militant Hamas movement and prompted it to reject a US compromise proposal on a new hostage deal.

Katz, speaking to Israeli Army Radio, said he was disappointed that the United States had not vetoed the resolution.

"We expect friends to strengthen us in these difficult times and not weaken us against Hamas and all the other enemies," Katz said. The US should veto "any decision that does not strongly condemn the terrible massacre and sexual crimes committed by Hamas against babies, women, girls and the elderly" on October 7, he added.

In a resolution binding under international law, the UN Security Council called for an "immediate ceasefire" in the Gaza Strip on Monday for the first time since the start of the war. In addition, the most powerful body of the United Nations is demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas.

Prior to this, Israeli negotiators had accepted a compromise proposal from US mediators in the Qatari capital Doha and hoped Hamas would agree.

Following the UN Security Council's decision, however, Hamas announced that it was insisting on its demand for a comprehensive ceasefire, including a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

This proves that the resolution has played into the hands of Hamas, said Katz. He said the Islamist terrorist organization was counting on Israel being stopped by the international community without Hamas having to make any concessions. The decision led to a hardening of the Hamas position on releasing hostages, he added.

"The vote yesterday was a mistake, morally and practically," said Katz. Hamas had "received the message that it doesn't have to hurry, there is another way."

However, Israel will continue its military operation in the Gaza Strip unperturbed, including the offensive in the city of Rafah in the south of the coastal strip, Katz asserted.

The US government rejected the Israeli claim that the Security Council's demand for an immediate ceasefire damaged the negotiations over the release of hostages.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that the charge that Hamas rejected the latest proposal in the hostage negotiations because of the UN resolution was "inaccurate in almost every respect and... unfair to the hostages and their families."

"I can tell you that that response was prepared before the UN Security Council vote, not after it," Miller said in a press briefing in Washington on Tuesday, adding that the account of Hamas' response circulating in the public domain was incorrect.

Miller said that the US government would not "engage in rhetorical distractions on this issue," but would continue its efforts to secure the release of the hostages.

The humanitarian situation in northern Gaza is considered to be particularly dire more than five months into fighting between Israel and Hamas, triggered by the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7 in which some 1,200 people were killed.

Aid convoys reach the area infrequently because Israel keeps northern border crossings with Gaza shut.

More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in the coastal area in Israeli bombings and military operations since October 7, the majority of them women and children.