Tag: united states

Russian navy fleet, including frigate, nuclear-powered sub, arrives in Cuba | Military News

US downplays deployment, which comes amid rising tensions over Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russia’s Admiral Gorshkov frigate and the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan, accompanied by a tug boat and a fuel ship, have arrived in Cuba for a five-day visit seen as a show of force by Moscow amid rising tension over its invasion of Ukraine.

Curious onlookers, fishermen and police gathered along the Malecon seafront boulevard in Havana to welcome the fleet as it entered the city’s harbour on Wednesday.

Cuba, a longtime ally of Russia, saluted the vessels’ arrival with a 21-gun salute, while Russian diplomats waved small Russian flags and took selfies against a backdrop of the harbour’s historic fortresses.

The four Russian vessels conducted “high-precision missile weapons” training in the Atlantic Ocean while on their way to Cuba. The submarine and frigate are equipped with Zircon hypersonic missiles, Kalibr cruise missiles and Onyx antiship missiles, the Russian Ministry of Defence said.

The unusual deployment of the Russian navy so close to the United States comes after Washington and some of Ukraine’s other Western allies allowed Kyiv to use their weapons on targets inside Russia amid a renewed Russian assault on northeastern Kharkiv and battle troop and ammunition shortages.

Havana lies just 160 kilometres (100 miles) from Key West in the southern state of Florida where the US has a naval air station.

“The warships are a reminder to Washington that it is unpleasant when an adversary meddles in your near abroad,” Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin America programme at the Washington, DC-based Wilson Center think tank, told The Associated Press news agency, referring to Western involvement in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“It also reminds Russia’s friends in the region, including US antagonists Cuba and Venezuela, that Moscow is on their side,” he said.

Russian marines stand guard on top of the Russian nuclear-powered submarine Kazan in Havana’s harbour [Yamil Lage/AFP]

Cuba said last week that the visit was standard practice by naval vessels from countries friendly to Havana and that the fleet was not carrying nuclear weapons.

The US, which has been monitoring the vessels, has also played down the deployment.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Wednesday that such naval exercises were routine.

“We have seen this kind of thing before, and we expect to see this kind of thing again, and I’m not going to read into it any particular motives,” Sullivan said.

He added that there was no evidence of Russia transferring any missiles to Cuba, but the US would remain vigilant.

‘Not October 1962’

The port call coincided with a meeting in Moscow between Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

During the meeting, Rodriguez expressed his government’s “rejection of the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] towards the Russian border,” which he said “led to the current conflict in Europe, and especially between Moscow and Kyiv”, according to a Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement.

He also called for “a diplomatic, constructive and realistic solution” to the conflict.

During the Cold War, Cuba was an important ally of the then Soviet Union, and when Moscow responded to a US missile deployment in Turkey by sending ballistic missiles to Cuba, the standoff brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

Since the Soviet Union collapsed, Cuba has maintained relations with Russia and the two countries have become closer since a 2022 meeting between Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Kazan in the harbour alongside the rescue and salvage tugboat Nikolay Chiker, top right, part of the Russian naval detachment visiting Cuba [Yamil Lage/AFP]

For Havana, the relationship is driven mainly by economic necessity as it grapples with shortages of everything from food and medicine to fuel. The US has maintained an economic and trade embargo on Cuba since 1960.

“This is not October 1962 again,” Javier Farje, an expert on Latin American politics, told Al Jazeera. “This is a different time. Cuba has become increasingly dependent on Russia because of the lack of economic development.”

Russia in March delivered 90,000 metric tonnes of Russian oil to Cuba to help alleviate shortages and has promised to help Havana in projects ranging from sugar production to infrastructure, renewable energy and tourism.

The Russian ships are expected to remain in Havana until June 17. US officials expect the Russian ships to remain in the region throughout the summer and possibly also stop in Venezuela.

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Former SpaceX workers file suit alleging harassment, wrongful termination | Technology

Eight former engineers accuse CEO Elon Musk of overseeing a ‘pervasively sexist culture’ at the rocket company.

Eight former SpaceX engineers have filed a lawsuit accusing the rocket company and its CEO Elon Musk of firing them for raising concerns about the treatment of female employees.

In a lawsuit filed in California on Wednesday, the former employees alleged that Musk personally ordered their termination after they circulated a letter within SpaceX raising concerns about the billionaire’s sexually charged comments on social media.

The lawsuit accuses Musk of overseeing a “pervasively sexist culture” and “‘Animal House’ environment”, with women evaluated on their bra size and bombarded with sexual banter.

The suit references a number of Musk’s comments on his social platform X, including a post telling former YouTube CEO Chad Hurley, “If you touch my wiener, you can have a horse”.

“SpaceX management knowingly permitted and fostered a work environment rife with sexual harassment,” Anne B Shaver, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement.

“To have been terminated for protesting SpaceX’s utter failure to take basic measures to prevent sexual harassment is patently retaliatory, wrong, and actionable.”

Paige Holland-Thielen, one of the plaintiffs, said in a statement released by her lawyers that the suit was an “important milestone in our quest for justice”.

“We hope that this lawsuit encourages our colleagues to stay strong and to keep fighting for a better workplace,” she said.

The former employees are seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages and an order prohibiting SpaceX from continuing to engage in unlawful conduct.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The former employees earlier filed a case with the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) accusing the company of violating US labour law.

The NLRB last month told a federal judge in Texas court that it would suspend its case against SpaceX in order to expedite a final ruling in a lawsuit by the company that claims the agency’s structure and procedures violate the US Constitution.

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Video shows Russian nuclear submarine sailing into Havana, Cuba | Politics

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The Russian nuclear-powered submarine Kazan sailed into the port of Havana, just 160 km from the United States, after conducting military drills.

Published On 12 Jun 2024

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Jerry West, basketball legend and the NBA’s logo silhouette, dead at 86 | Basketball News

West was one of the greatest players in NBA history, redefining the modern day shooting guard position in basketball.

Jerry West, an iconic 1960s star guard for the Los Angeles Lakers who inspired the NBA logo, died Wednesday at age 86, the Los Angeles Clippers announced.

West played for the Lakers from 1960 through 1974, winning his only NBA title in 1972, and was co-captain on the 1960 Rome Olympic US basketball gold medal squad.

In later years, West served as an executive on several NBA clubs, most recently the Clippers.

With impressive speed and quickness and a deft shooting touch, West was nicknamed “Mr Clutch” for his skilled shot-making under pressure.

In the 1969 NBA Finals against the archrival Boston Celtics, he received the Most Valuable Player award even though the Celtics beat the Lakers for the title.

West was a 14-time NBA All-Star and the league scoring champion in 1970. His jersey number, 44, was retired by the Lakers and he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980.

In 1969, the NBA created its current logo, which was the silhouette of West dribbling a basketball, an image inspired by a photograph of West taken during a game.

For his career, West averaged 27.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 6.7 assists a game.

Lakers’ Jerry West (14) is fouled as he tries to get around Houston Rockets’ John Vallely on December 27, 1971 [AP Photo]

West, who coached the Lakers from 1976 through 1979, would capture eight titles as an NBA executive, five with the Lakers in the 1980s “Showtime” era with Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

He also was an executive for NBA champions with the Lakers in 2000 and Golden State in 2015 and 2017, before leaving to join the Clippers.

Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry, left, talks with then-executive board member Jerry West during their NBA basketball media day in Oakland, USA in 2012 [Jeff Chiu/AP]

In 2022, West was recognised as a member of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team during the 71st NBA All-Star Game in Cleveland, Ohio.

From a basketball standpoint, West will be remembered as the player who redefined the talent standard for the original two-guard – or shooting guard – for the modern game.

The originality of his game and the beauty of his outside jump shot served as the prototype for shooting guards for decades to come, with NBA legends such as Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant citing West’s stylistic influence in their own games.

NBA Legend Jerry West talks to LA Lakers player LeBron James during the 71st NBA All-Star Game as part of 2022 NBA All-Star Weekend on February 20, 2022, in Cleveland, Ohio [Bart Young/NBAE/Getty Images via AFP]

 

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Can Trump rein in his own base on abortion? | US Election 2024

With the presidential campaign well under way in the United States, abortion rights are shaping up to be one of the defining issues of the 2024 election. President Joe Biden has placed it at the top of his electoral agenda, seeking to rally progressive and women voters. Polls have consistently shown a majority of Americans support abortion remaining legal while a number of legislative initiatives to pass abortion bans in Republican-dominated states have failed.

That has caused former President Donald Trump to rethink his own campaign strategy on the issue. Fearing he may alienate moderate voters, he has significantly toned down his rhetoric on abortion rights, recently indicating that he would not sign a national abortion ban.

This is not the first time Trump has flip-flopped on a key issue of public interest. He did so during the COVID-19 pandemic when he dressed his endorsement of vaccines in caveats about “personal freedoms” to please his support base. But this time, this strategy may backfire.

To be clear, Trump doesn’t substantively care about abortion rights. He seems to have gone from being “very pro-choice” in 1999 to being “pro-life” in 2011 to advocating legal punishment for women who had abortions during his 2016 campaign.

However, Trump does care about winning, or more precisely about being perceived as a winner. That is why as recently as last year, he was taking credit for “killing” Roe v Wade, the landmark case that guaranteed abortion rights until the Supreme Court overturned it in 2022.

“After 50 years of failure with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v Wade, much to the ‘shock’ of everyone,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform last year, adding: “Without me the pro Life movement would have just kept losing.”

The problem that Trump now has is that the MAGA crowd sit far to the right of him on the issue of abortion and he does not seem able to rein them in. In fact, moderating his rhetoric on abortion may alienate some of his supporters, especially the white conservative evangelical base.

For evangelicals, the fight against abortion has been the centrepiece of their unspoken bargain with Trump: We’ll ignore your many moral and legal failings as long as you push forward our agenda. They may perceive Trump’s moderation of rhetoric as a betrayal of this bargain at a time when they have built momentum towards eliminating all legal abortions in Republican-controlled states.

Trump might try to hold onto these voters with other issues, such as LGBTQ rights, exaggerated narratives about urban crime and so on. But those may not be enough.

Already Trump is feeling the heat from conservatives. In April, Republicans in the Arizona State Legislature blocked a Democrat-led effort to repeal an 1864 law banning abortion, defying Trump, who had said the ban “went too far”. Days later, former Vice President Mike Pence, a devout Christian, criticised his former boss in a New York Times opinion piece, accusing him of “retreating” on the abortion issue, displaying “weakness” and “leading other Republicans astray” by encouraging moderation.

In early May, moderate Republicans in Arizona joined Democrats to repeal the 1864 law, but conservatives continued to defend abortion bans.

The eagerness of state-level Republicans to restrict abortion and their recalcitrance against calls for moderation, even from fellow Republicans, create a challenge for Trump. So he may change strategy and avoid confronting abortion hardliners.

This seems to be in play already. Trump was recently scheduled to virtually address supporters at an event hosted by the Danbury Institute, an ultraconservative organisation that seeks to completely ban abortion, which it considers “child sacrifice”. However, instead of doing a speech, his campaign sent a two-minute recorded message to be played to the audience in which he made one passing reference to protecting “innocent life” but otherwise sidestepped the issue of abortion entirely.

As much as he tries, Trump will be unable to avoid an issue that is mobilising voters against the Republican Party, especially as the Biden campaign has already started to hang the abortion albatross around his neck.

The topic will almost certainly come up in one or both of the debates the two candidates have agreed to have, and a number of states like Florida will have abortion measures on the ballot in November.

Trump may also try to sell his supporters the idea that it’s politically expedient to moderate, at least until after the election. But many of his most fervent anti-abortion supporters are eager to capitalise on the successes they have had during and after his first term in office.

Trump may, therefore, find it difficult to contain the political forces that he has unleashed, a reality that could end up costing him and his anti-abortion supporters victory in November.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

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G7 meets in Italy: What’s on the table? | News

EXPLAINER

From frozen Russian assets to growing West-China tensions, leading advanced economies have thorny issues to tackle.

Bari, Italy – Leaders of advanced economies are gearing up for the annual Group of Seven (G7) meeting in Italy in a year marked by wars – in Europe and the Middle East – and growing competition between the West and China.

The heads of state of what is often branded as a “like-minded”, exclusive and Western-oriented club are going to discuss thorny global challenges in the picturesque region of Apulia, which sits on the Adriatic Sea.

This will be the 50th G7 Summit — a three-day event from June 13 to 15 at Borgo Egnazia, a luxury resort.

Who’s coming?

The G7 countries are the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Britain – so the leaders of each country will be there. They will also be joined by the chiefs of the European Council and the European Commission.

The G7 host also has the discretion to invite guests from other countries for extended sessions. It’s a practice that the grouping has increasingly turned to, as it has tried to present itself as a voice of more than just the wealthy West. But while the number of guests is usually small, Italy has invited a record number of leaders — from Pope Francis and Jordan’s King Abdullah II to the leaders of Ukraine, India, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Algeria, Tunisia and Mauritania.

In addition, the secretary-general of the United Nations and heads of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the African Development Bank, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will be present.

What’s on the agenda?

  • On June 13, discussions will kick off at 11am (09:00 GMT) with a session on Africa, climate change and development.
  • This will be followed by a session on the Middle East, where Israel’s war on Gaza is expected to dominate discussions.
  • A lunch break follows — visiting leaders might want to try Apulia’s famous le orecchiette pasta while they’re in the region. Right after lunch, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to arrive for two sessions on Ukraine.
  • On June 14, key topics of discussion will include migration, Asia Pacific and economic security. Sessions on artificial intelligence, energy and the Mediterranean are also on the agenda. At 6:45pm (16:45 GMT) there will be the closing session with the adoption of the G7 Summit Communique.
  • On June 15, the host, Italy, will hold a news conference.

What should you keep your eyes on?

  • An Italian source told Al Jazeera that G7 and EU countries are hoping to announce an agreement over a $50bn loan for Ukraine which would be guaranteed by profits accrued on Russian assets frozen in the West soon after Moscow invaded its neighbour in 2022. Such an agreement, the source said, would send a strong message of unity to Kyiv.
  • There are no expectations of any strong reprimand for Israel’s brutal bombardment of Gaza. The G7 is expected to back US President Joe Biden’s three-phase ceasefire proposal, which the UN Security Council endorsed on Sunday, and on the demand for the return of all captives currently held in Gaza.
  • Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, stronger than ever after major gains in the European Parliament election over the weekend, is expected to expand her foreign policy’s crown jewel, the so-called Mattei Plan by trying to secure buy-in from the broader G7. The project aims to position Italy as a major energy hub between Europe and the African continent. Its big promise is to help boost growth in Africa and in turn curb immigration to Europe. “Italy’s priority is Africa and to show that G7 is advancing its outreach towards the continent although there won’t be many new initiatives due to scarce resources,” Ettore Greco, vice president of the Rome-based think tank Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), said. 
  • China will also be discussed. A government source told Al Jazeera that the US is strongly pushing Western allies to include in the final statement the group’s concern over China’s industrial overcapacity – when firms produce more than the demand, driving down prices.
A drone view shows Borgo Egnazia resort, the venue where the G7 Summit is scheduled to take place from June 13 to 15, about 55km (34 miles) from Bari, southern Italy [Alessandro Garofalo/Reuters]

Is the G7 more than a talk shop?

Yet, for all the weighty subjects on the agenda, the G7 Summit is not a place where agreements are sealed or treaties adopted. It’s rather an informal platform where a handful of major advanced economies discuss issues, traditionally related to global governance and finance, to then produce a final joint statement. That document indicates the direction the group’s members intend to follow while crafting future policies, while offering the rest of the world a window into their priorities.

As the world’s economic power centres have moved from the West towards Asia and emerging economies more broadly, the group’s significance has shrunk. Back in the 1970s, its members’ economies represented about 70 percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP). But as the 2008 global financial crisis hit and alternative groupings emerged – from the G20 to a recently expanded BRICS – the G7’s relevance shifted from being the most powerful economic club to a group of like-minded industrialised countries. 

This is the first G7 Summit since the expansion of the BRICS — a group whose leading members include China and Russia — last year served as a pointer to the mounting disillusionment in the so-called Global South over the West’s policies.

“A diplomatic win for the Italian government is to have a G7 that clearly communicates that the club is united and unbreakable in the face of geopolitical threats from Russia and China,” said Tristen Naylor, a fellow in international relations at the London School of Economics.

“And to demonstrate that this is more than just paying lip service to the idea of broader engagement,” he added.

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Johnson & Johnson to pay $700m to settle claims it misled consumers | Health

Pharmaceutical giant’s payout settles allegations it misled consumers about safety of its talcum-based powder products.

Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $700m to settle lawsuits in the United States that accused the pharmaceutical giant of deceiving customers about the safety of its talcum-based powder products.

J&J’s payout resolves an investigation by more than 40 US states into the marketing of baby powder and other talc-based products that contained traces of cancer-causing asbestos.

“Targeting communities with cosmetic products that contain dangerous substances is not just illegal, it is very cruel,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement on Tuesday.

“No amount of money can undo the pain caused by Johnson & Johnson’s talc-laced products, but today families can rest assured that the company is being held accountable for the harm it caused, and its dangerous products will no longer be on shelves in New York. Those that prey on our communities, hurt their health, and violate our laws will be met with the full force of my office.”

Under the settlement terms, the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based multinational will permanently halt the manufacturing, marketing and sale of all body products containing talcum powder.

J&J, which removed its talc-based powders from North American shelves in 2020 and halted their sale globally last year, did not admit wrongdoing and has maintained that its products do not cause cancer.

The settlement does not resolve tens of thousands of lawsuits filed by consumers who allege that its products gave them cancer.

Last month, the firm said it would move forward with a $6.475bn settlement to resolve 99.75 percent of the pending lawsuits in the US.

Investigations by The New York Times and the Reuters news agency found that J&J executives for decades concealed concerns that their baby powder products might contain asbestos.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2020 did not find a statistical link between using powder in the genital area and ovarian cancer in women.

However, researchers cautioned that the study, which involved data from 250,000 women in the US, may not have been large enough to detect a potential small increase in risk.

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US lifts ban on sending weapons to Ukraine’s controversial Azov brigade | Russia-Ukraine war News

Washington says ‘no evidence’ of abuses in unit, which was originally set up as a volunteer force in 2014.

The United States has lifted a ban on providing weapons and training to the Azov brigade, a controversial Ukrainian military unit that played a central role in the 2022 defence of the southeastern city of Mariupol.

The US State Department said in a statement on Tuesday that there had been a “thorough review” of the current Azov brigade and “no evidence” of human rights violations had been found.

Washington stressed the current unit was different from the volunteer militia that was set up in 2014, drawing fighters from far-right circles and criticism for some of its tactics. The US had banned the regiment from using its weapons, citing the neo-Nazi ideology of some of its founders.

“This is a new page in the history of our brigade,” Azov said of the US decision in a statement on social media. “Obtaining Western weapons and training from the United States will not only increase the combat ability of Azov, but most importantly, contribute to the preservation of the lives and the health of personnel.”

The Azov brigade, which was absorbed into Ukraine’s National Guard as the 12th Special Forces Brigade, is among the country’s most effective and popular fighting units and its current members reject accusations of extremism and any ties with far-right movements. Washington said that the original militia had been “disbanded in 2015” and a State Department spokesman also noted Azov’s “heroic role” in the 2022 battle for Mariupol.

The lifting of the ban is likely to bolster the brigade’s fighting capacity at a challenging time during the war against Russia’s invasion, with Ukraine struggling amid persistent shortages of ammunition and personnel.

Azov soldiers played a key part in the defence of Mariupol, holding out for weeks in the Black Sea port city’s vast steel works despite being low on ammunition and under relentless attack from Russian forces.

The city fell to Russia in May 2022, but Azov’s soldiers have been hailed as heroes, becoming a symbol of Ukrainian resistance in the face of Russian aggression. Each week, there are rallies calling for the release of hundreds of Azov POWs who remain in Russian captivity.

Moscow has repeatedly portrayed the Azov as a Nazi group and accused it of atrocities, but has provided little evidence to support its allegations. It designated the unit a terrorist group in 2022.

“Such a sudden change in Washington’s position shows that it will do anything to suppress Russia… even flirting with neo-Nazis,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

The brigade grew out of a group called the Azov Battalion, one of many volunteer regiments established to fight Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Years before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Human Rights Watch raised concerns about Azov, writing that credible allegations of egregious abuses had been made against its fighters.

Since its first commander left in October 2014, Azov has been “cleansing itself” of undesirable elements, according to its website. It has also tried to recast its public image to that of an effective and skilful fighting force, and has shunned connections with controversial figures.

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Hunter Biden convicted on felony charges in gun case | Joe Biden

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President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, has been found guilty of three felony charges against him related to the purchase of a handgun in 2018. He is the first child of a sitting US president to be convicted of a crime.

Published On 11 Jun 2024

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Will Israel accept the new UN Gaza ceasefire resolution? | Israel-Palestine conflict News

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) endorsed a United States-backed ceasefire resolution on Monday in the latest diplomatic effort to end eight months of Israel’s devastating military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

The resolution, which calls for a comprehensive three-phase ceasefire deal, was adopted by 14 members of the UNSC, with abstention from Russia.

US President Joe Biden unveiled the peace proposal on May 31. Before that, the Biden administration had faced criticism for blocking at least three UNSC resolutions to end the war that has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians and injured about 85,000.

As well as extending diplomatic cover to its closest ally in the Middle East, Washington has also supplied arms and financial aid to Israel, which has been accused of violating international laws.

The US abstained from the last UNSC resolution, which called for a truce, passed in March.

But hours after Monday’s vote, Israel carried out deadly attacks across the Palestinian enclave, raising questions about whether the latest resolution will lead to a permanent ceasefire. A closer look at the resolution tells us more:

What is the UNSC Gaza ceasefire resolution?

It divides the ceasefire into three phases:

  • Phase one entails six weeks of negotiations and the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. “An immediate, full and complete ceasefire” would come into force during this phase. Additionally, Palestinian civilians would be able to return to their homes across Gaza, including the north. This phase would also focus on humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians in need. Moreover, Israeli forces would withdraw from the “populated areas” of Gaza. If the negotiations exceed the six-week period, the ceasefire would continue.
  • Phase two calls for a permanent end to hostilities, the release of any remaining captives and a “full withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza.
  • Phase three would involve the reconstruction of Gaza over multiple years and the return of the remains of any deceased captives still in Gaza.

The resolution rejects any demographic or territorial change in Gaza, “including any actions that reduce the territory” of Palestine. A previous draft of the revolution specified that this included “buffer zones” in Gaza, but the language was amended. Palestinians and activists have expressed fears that Israel is planning to expel Palestinians from Gaza, similar to what happened during the Nakba in the late 1940s during the creation of Israel.

What have Hamas and Israel said about the resolution?

The Palestinian group welcomed the resolution, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday.

“The US administration is facing a real test to carry out its commitments in compelling the occupation to immediately end the war in an implementation of the UN Security Council resolution,” he said.

Hamas leaders want a permanent end to the war, something that Israel has rejected, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisting that Israel will only end the war once it “destroys” Hamas  and frees the remaining captives.

Israel’s representative to the UN, Reut Shapir Ben-Naftaly, said the war would not end until Hamas’s capabilities were “dismantled”, raising questions about whether Israel would honour the latest resolution.

Without such a commitment, the resolution would be “very problematic for Hamas,” Hasan Barari, an international affairs professor at Qatar University, told Al Jazeera. “Will Israelis agree to this and will they accept a permanent ceasefire?”

The resolution’s text says Israel has accepted Biden’s May 31 ceasefire proposal and “calls upon Hamas to also accept it”.

“It is implied in all statements coming from the American administration that the initiative is an Israeli one. There was coordination between the White House and the Israeli government over the draft resolution,” Barari said.

But Israeli leaders have lambasted Biden’s peace plan endorsed by the UN. Israeli website Ynetnews reported that the resolution’s wording does not reflect the deal Israel agreed on, which involved Hamas no longer governing Gaza. The website, quoting an unnamed senior Israeli official, said the resolution restricts Israeli freedom of action.

How did countries vote on the Gaza ceasefire resolution?

Fourteen of the 15 UNSC members voted in favour of the resolution, including all 10 non-permanent members – Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Switzerland.

The permanent members – the US, the United Kingdom, Russia, China and France – can veto any resolution. Russia helped the resolution through 14-0 by refraining from exercising its veto power.

The representative of Algeria said, “To us, Palestinian lives matter.”

The Switzerland representative echoed the sentiment, bringing up the Palestinian lives lost during Israel’s assault on Nuseirat last week. At least 274 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli raid on the refugee camp to free four captives.

“The catastrophic humanitarian situation is indescribable,” the representative of Japan said.

The UK representative asserted the importance of a rapid increase in humanitarian aid.

Why did Russia abstain?

Russia abstained saying the wording of the resolution lacked “clarity” and that Moscow was not kept “in the loop”.

Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, questioned the exact terms Israel had agreed to.

“The council should not agree to any agreement that has vague parameters,” he said, without elaborating.

What was China’s stand on the resolution?

While the representative of China said the draft was “ambiguous” in some places, he voted in favour, voicing concern for the rampant deaths of Gaza’s civilians.

He added that China will work towards bringing Israel and Palestine “back to the right track” of the two-state solution.

The international community, including Israel’s main backer the US, support two independent states living side by side for Palestinians and Israelis. But Israel has continued to build Jewish-only settlements on Palestinian lands, which is the biggest obstacle to peace. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has boasted of stalling the Oslo Accords, which called for a freeze on settlements, considered illegal under international laws.

How is this resolution different from previous UN resolutions on Gaza?

This resolution features a “permanent ceasefire” as opposed to the previous ones, which called for pauses in fighting.

Additionally, previous resolutions have also not emphasised the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

The last resolution, which passed on March 25, saw a last-minute change – from “permanent” ceasefire to the vaguer “lasting and sustainable ceasefire” – upon the request of the US, which communicated that the word “permanent” could jeopardise the vote result, Al Jazeera Arabic’s Rami Ayari posted on X.

The March resolution was put forth by non-permanent UNSC members and called for the cessation of hostilities during the month of Ramadan, of which two weeks were remaining when the resolution passed with 14 votes in favour after the US abstained.

Following the March resolution, Algeria’s ambassador had said it would end “the bloodbath”, but since then more than 5,000 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds of houses left in ruins.

Is a ‘permanent ceasefire’ possible?

The resolution urges Israel and Hamas to take the steps needed for the implementation of a “permanent ceasefire”.

“The problem here is that the implementation of such a resolution depends on the agreement of Hamas and Israel. At the moment, I think that none of them is saying they accept it fully,” Barari said.

Hamas wants a “permanent ceasefire”, while Israel wants the destruction of Hamas as a condition for stopping the war.

“In any case, the political crisis is that Netanyahu has absolutely refused to enter a deal where he commits to ending the war,” said Mairav Zonszein, a senior Israeli analyst with the International Crisis Group (ICG).

From the International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor seeking arrest warrants for Israeli leaders to the international community rendering Israel’s military offence in Gaza genocidal, this war has hurt the reputation of Israel which many Israelis are concerned about, Zonszein explained.

She said she does not think the US has put enough pressure on Israel or used conditions and aid to make Israel change its behaviour.

“Israel can not wage wars without US aid and support.”

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