A Monday United Nations resolution, largely dictated by America, demands a two-week cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war start immediately while all 134 Israeli hostages are released. America abstained from voting on the resolution, and even as Hamas refuses to accept a cease-fire, the Biden administration is putting increasing pressures on Israel to end major military operations in Gaza, as the rift between the countries widens. 

As members of the UN Security Council rose in applause following the 14 votes in favor of the resolution and America’s abstention, Prime Minister Netanyahu canceled a government delegation’s trip to Washington that was scheduled for Monday. The Israeli government sees the American engagement at the UN as a new phase in President Biden’s pressure to wind down the Gaza war. 

The Israeli delegation was to be led by Mr. Netanyahu’s close adviser, Ron Dermer. It had been invited by the White House to lean on the Israeli government to cancel a plan for a major operation at Rafah, Hamas’s last major stronghold. Four Hamas battalions and the terrorist organization’s leadership are holed-up there.

Israel is yet to commence the evacuation of more than a million Gazans from the Rafah area. It is therefore unlikely to start its assault in the next two weeks. And as Hamas is yet to accept a deal for releasing even some of the hostages, let alone all of them, the council’s resolution is unlikely to make much difference on the ground in Gaza or Israel.   

The CIA chief, William Burns, returned to Washington from Doha over the weekend after Israeli negotiators there reportedly agreed to a deal for a temporary cease-fire and freeing 40 hostages and hundreds of terrorists in Israeli prison. Perhaps encouraged by America’s pressure on Israel, Hamas keeps amassing new demands. 

“Releasing prisoners may have been the main Hamas demand a few months ago,” an Israeli activist who is known to occasionally speak with Hamas officials, Gershon Baskin, told Israel’s Channel 11 news Monday. “Now their top demand is to end the war and for a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.”  

The UN Security Council resolution demands a cease-fire lasting until the April 9 end of Ramadan, in tandem with the release of all hostages. The two-operational-paragraph resolution was initially proposed by France in the name of the 10 elected members of the council. Yet, American diplomats leaned on the sponsors to change the text. 

The council “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 as well as ensuring humanitarian access to address their medical and other humanitarian needs,” the resolution reads. 

While the American mission at the UN exerted pressure on council members, including a last-minute word change to “lasting” from “permanent” cease-fire, administration officials and Washington lawmakers intensified the pressure on Israel to avoid a Rafah operation. 

Vice President Harris told ABC News Sunday that she has “studied the map” of Gaza and concluded that Rafah refugees have no place to go. She declined to exclude the possibility of “consequences” if Israel fails to heed the administration’s dictate to avoid a Rafah invasion, such as denial of arms to the IDF. On CNN, meanwhile, Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez insisted that Israel is committing “genocide” at Gaza. 

Her allegation — that Israel is deliberately starving Gazans and therefore is guilty of genocide — is fast taking hold around the world. It started when South Africa officially demanded that the International Court of Justice declare Israel in violation of its obligations under the anti-genocide convention.

Despite Jordan’s peace treaty with Israel, its foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, announced on Friday that the Kingdom supports the South African ICJ motion. “The Israeli aggression on Gaza and its continued committing of war crimes against the Palestinian people and violating international law with impunity are responsible for the rising tensions witnessed in the region,” Mr. Safadi said.  

Israel is facilitating the entry of hundreds of aid trucks a day into the Strip, and the IDF takes caution to avoid hitting civilians as it conducts its war against Hamas’s armed men. Yet, a group of Democratic American legislators, known as the “Squad,” insists that Israel is committing genocide. Election-year pressure from the party’s leftist base has moved Mr. Biden away from full support of Israel.

Separately, President Trump also seems to be calling for ending the war. “The world is turning on Israel, and that’s not a good thing,” he told the Israel Hayom newspaper in an interview published Monday. And so, he added, “you have to finish your war” and move toward peace.