Algeria on Tuesday circulated a proposed UN Security Council resolution that would demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and order Israel to halt its attack in the southern city of Rafah immediately, The Associated Press reported.
The draft resolution also demands that the ceasefire be respected by all parties. It also calls for the immediate release of all hostages taken during Hamas’ attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, according to AP.
Some diplomats said they hoped for a quick vote, even as early as Wednesday.
Algeria’s Ambassador to the UN, Amar Bendjama, announced on Tuesday that his country will present a draft UN resolution calling for an end to "the killing" in Rafah, AFP reported.
"It will be a short text, a decisive text, to stop the killing in Rafah," Bendjama told reporters, though he did not say when he hoped the resolution might be put to a vote.
"We hope that it could be done as quickly as possible because life is in the balance," said Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong, expressing hope for a vote this week.
Asked about the new Algerian draft resolution, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, "We're waiting to see it and then we'll react to it."
The comments followed a UN Security Council closed meeting, requested by Algeria, which dealt with Israel’s operation in Rafah.
"It's high time for this council to take action. This is a matter of life and death. This is a matter of emergency," the French ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said before the council meeting, according to AFP.
The meeting was called after an Israeli strike in Rafah on Sunday in which two senior Hamas terrorists were eliminated, but which Hamas claimed killed dozens of Gazans who fled their homes and were housed in a nearby tent.
On Monday, a US official said that Israel has told the Biden administration that it used a precision munition to hit the target in Rafah, but shrapnel from the explosion ignited a fuel tank nearby and started a fire that engulfed a camp for Gazans who fled their homes and led to dozens of deaths.
“We can’t confirm that but it’s what Israel shared with us,” the official said, “and we assume we will learn more once Israel completes its investigation.”
On Tuesday, the IDF released a recording of a conversation between two Gazans who said that the deadly blast on Sunday was in fact caused by a Hamas ammunition warehouse.