The United States will submit a draft UN Security Council resolution urging "an immediate ceasefire" in Gaza linked to the release of the hostages held by Hamas, AFP reported Thursday.
The US resolution, which will be put to vote on Friday, "will unequivocally support ongoing diplomatic efforts aimed at securing an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as part of a hostage deal," Nate Evans, spokesman for US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said in a statement.
The measure "is an opportunity for the Council to speak with one voice to support the diplomacy happening on the ground and pressure Hamas to accept the deal on the table," Evans added.
The US last month vetoed a draft resolution, put forward by Algeria, demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
Since blocking the Algerian draft resolution, US officials have been negotiating an alternative text focusing on support for diplomatic efforts on the ground for a six-week truce in exchange for the release of hostages.
According to diplomatic sources, this text had little chance of gaining the Council's approval and a new version was circulated to Security Council members on Wednesday.
An alternative draft resolution is also under discussion and could also be put to a vote on Friday, according to a diplomatic source.
The new resolution "demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire for the month of Ramadan," according to the text seen by AFP.
In mid-December, the Security Council approved a resolution calling for a temporary truce in Gaza to allow increased aid into the Strip and the immediate release of hostages who were kidnapped during Hamas' October 7 in southern Israel.
Earlier that month, the Security Council attempted a vote on a resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, but the US vetoed the proposal.
In mid-October, a Russian-drafted UN Security Council resolution, that would have called for a humanitarian ceasefire in the war in Gaza, failed to pass after it did not achieve the minimum nine votes needed in the 15-member body.
The text was controversial because, while it referred to Israel and the Palestinian Arabs, it did not directly name Hamas, whose terrorists murdered at least 1,200 people in Israel on October 7.
In late October, Russia and China vetoed a US-drafted UN Security Council resolution on the war between Israel and Hamas.