WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israel and Hamas ignored the U.N. Security Council call for a cease-fire.
The Security Council issued a resolution Thursday calling for an immediate cease-fire and for an end to weapons smuggling into the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s Cabinet met Friday and decided to ignore the resolution. "The State of Israel has never agreed that any outside body would determine its right to defend the security of its citizens," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office said in a statement. The Israel Defense Forces "will continue operations in order to defend Israeli citizens and will carry out the missions with which it has been assigned in the operation, " it said.
Hamas is ignoring the resolution, media reported.
The United States attempted to prevent such a resolution, which is binding under international law, but failed in its bid to instead issue a non-binding statement. Arab states had insisted on a resolution.
The United States abstained, and the resolution passed 14-0. The United States did not exercise its power, as one of the five permanent members of the council, to veto the resolution.
Israeli officials have already said they do not regard the U.N. proceedings as serious and are instead focused on talks in Cairo aiming at an outcome similar in outline to the parameters of the Security Council resolution: a total cease-fire, an end to arms smuggling and the opening of commercial passages in and out of the strip.
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