Algeria seeks end to Rafah massacre with draft UN resolution

Algeria is seeking a firm United Nations action to force Israel to halt its aggression on Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, where more than a million Palestinians have sheltered from Israel’s brutal bombardments elsewhere.

Algeria’s Ambassador to the UN Amar Bendjama said late on Tuesday that his country will present a draft UN resolution to the Security Council calling for an end to “the killing” in Rafah.

Bendjama’s announcement came after a Council meeting focused on Israel’s Sunday massacre of Palestinians concentrated in a tent camp in Rafah.

Some 45 people were killed in the attack which left children disfigured and beheaded and prompted widespread international condemnations.

“It will be a short text, a decisive text, to stop the killing in Rafah,” said the ambassador after the Council meeting which had been requested by Algiers.

However, he would not say when the proposed draft resolution might be put to a vote in the Council.

Other senior diplomats in the UN urged immediate action to put an end to the onslaught in Gaza’s Rafah.

French ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said before the Council meeting that time had come for the international community to take action about Rafah.

This is a matter of life and death. This is a matter of emergency,” said De Riviere.

Chinese ambassador Fu Cong expressed hope that Algeria’s proposal could be put to vote this week.

“We hope that it could be done as quickly as possible because life is in the balance,” Fu said.

However, the United States, which has repeatedly barred the UN from taking action against Israel since the start of the war on Gaza in October, has indicated it would not change its policy toward Israel.

Washington says Israel's assault on Rafah has yet to breach red lines.

“... we’re waiting to see it and then we’ll react to it.” US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on Tuesday in reference to Algeria’s planned move.

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