High on symbolism, potentially low on substancepublished at 21:07 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March

21:07 GMT 25 March

John Sudworth
North America correspondent

After months of geopolitical brinkmanship and squabbling over semantics among the Security Council's permanent members, it took the action of the 10 elected members to finally get a resolution passed.

Their proposal - calling both for an immediate ceasefire and the release of hostages - was put forward with diplomatic frustrations mounting over the deadlock. And it worked.

What made the difference, though, was the shifting stance of the US - choosing this time to abstain rather than wielding its veto, a sign of its growing rift with its staunch ally Israel over the way it's prosecuting the war.

The big question now is how much difference the resolution will make. Even leaving aside the debate about whether this resolution is binding, there are few options for enforcing it.

It is certainly high on symbolism, but may well prove to be low on substance.

Sam Hancock
Live reporter

We're going to close this page soon - but you'll be able to keep up to date with everything we've covered right here. Before then, here's a reminder of what's been happening:

• After almost six months of fighting, the UN Security Council today passed a resolution calling for an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza for the first time - after the US refrained from vetoing, instead abstaining
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted by cancelling an Israeli delegation visit to the White House, while Israel's permanent representative to the UN told Council members he was "disgusted"
• The White House said its abstention did not represent a shift in policy and was a result of the resolution's final wording not condemning Hamas's 7 October attack on Israel - but Netanyahu insisted it was "a clear retreat"
• The BBC's Jeremy Bowen explored the depth of the US-Israel rift - and what today might mean - here

• Humanitarian organisations welcomed the measure, saying it would give hope to those trapped in Gaza - as did the Palestinian representative at the UN, who said it was a "vote for humanity to prevail"

This coverage was written by Barbara Tasch, Bernd Debusmann, Nadine Yousif, Sophie Abdulla, Ece Goksedef, Ali Abbas Ahmadi and Gem O'Reilly. It was edited by Owen Amos and me.

Image source, Reuters

Back to the resolution - and the final bit of reaction we've got comes from Israel's own permanent representative to the UN, Gilad Erdan.

He strongly criticises the Security Council, saying it was "very quick" to condemn Friday’s attack on a concert hall in Russia - and asks why the same hasn't been done for Hamas's 7 October attack on Israel.

"Your demand for a ceasefire without conditioning it on the release of the hostages not only isn’t helpful, but it undermines the effort to secure their release," Erdan tells permanent and elected members.

He also says: "To this Council, Israeli blood is cheap. This is a travesty and I’m disgusted."

Image source, Getty Images

Stepping away from the Security Council's resolution momentarily, the UN's humanitarian chief has announced he's stepping down after three years in the role.

Martin Griffiths, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), has been pushing for more aid to reach Gaza since the early stages of the war.

In the last few weeks, he issued an unusually strong-worded statement, warning that an Israeli assault on Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city, could lead to a "slaughter". An Israeli invasion of the city, he said, would "leave an already fragile humanitarian operation at death's door".

In a post on X, Griffiths said the job role had been "the privilege of my life". He did not give a reason for why he was leaving.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Earlier, the UK's permanent representative to the UN, Barbara Woodward, called for the "implementation of the resolution to be immediate".

Since then, she's added that Britain "regrets that the resolution did not condemn the terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas on 7 October".

"Palestinians in Gaza are living through a humanitarian catastrophe. The situation will not improve until more aid can get in," she said. "The Council's message today is an important one and I reiterate we call for it to be implemented immediately."

The US has blamed its abstention on the fact the resolution failed to condemn Hamas - but White House national security spokesperson John Kirby added that it did "fairly reflect our view that a ceasefire and the release of hostages come together".

As well as UN officials, we've been hearing reaction from humanitarian groups who've long called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Save the Children says the Security Council resolution will have given more than one million children trapped in Gaza "the hope of a brief respite today".

"It needs to be implemented immediately and sustained definitively to protect children,” adds Xavier Joubert, the group's director in the occupied West Bank.

Meanwhile, the International Rescue Committee says a ceasefire is the "only way to ensure civilians are protected and is central to enabling the scale up of humanitarian assistance to safely reach those in desperate need".

It also urges Council members "to leverage all their influence to achieve an immediate cessation of hostilities and work towards a lasting ceasefire".

The UN Security Council's ceasefire resolution was approved by 14 of its 15 members, with one abstention - the US.

We've brought you reaction from some UN representatives already, but here's what they had to say inside the room:

Israel has responded to the move by accusing the US of "abandoning its policy in the UN" and cancelling a trip to the White House this week.

We're still listening in to the press briefing at the White House, where national security spokesperson John Kirby is talking to reporters hours after the UN passed a resolution calling for an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza for the first time since the war began.

He says the US is "perplexed" by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to cancel the visit of an Israeli delegation to the White House this week after the US abstained.

"It's a non-binding resolution, so there is no impact at all on Israel and its ability to go after Hamas," Kirby says, reiterating that it does not change the US's policy on the conflict.

Netanyahu's office "seems to be indicating through public statements that we somehow changed here, we haven't - and we get to decide what our policy is," Kirby adds.

Asked what this does to the relationship between Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden, Kirby says Israel remains a "close ally and a friend" of the US.

Image source, Reuters

John Kirby repeats that the US's decision to abstain from the UN ceasefire resolution "does not represent a shift in our policy".

Expanding on remarks he made earlier, he tells reporters at the White House: "We have been very clear, we have been very consistent in our support for a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal. That's how the hostage deal is structured, and the resolution acknowledges the ongoing talks."

He adds the US abstained because the resolution's final text did not condemn Hamas, but adds it does "fairly reflect our view that a ceasefire and the release of hostages come together".

Kirby says scheduled meetings between Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant and US national security advisor Jake Sullivan will continue as planned. "We look forward to making it clear to the defence minister that the United States continues to stand with Israel as they fight Hamas".

A briefing with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and national security spokesperson John Kirby has just started at the White House.

We're watching it live and will bring you key lines on what they have to say.

Mark Lyall-Grant, the UK's former Permanent Representative to the UN, says today marks a "significant shift" in the US position on the war in Gaza.

Lyall-Grant outlined that although it demands the unconditional release of hostages, the difference with this resolution is that their release is "not directly linked to the call for an immediate ceasefire".

"Israel is now under an obligation, essentially, to stop its military campaign for the next 15 days until at least the end of Ramadan," he tells BBC Radio 4's PM programme.

"Legally, this resolution is binding on the state of Israel. But it's actually not binding on Hamas, because Hamas is not a country and therefore it has a slightly different legal capacity."

He adds that there is no alternative for Israel "if they're going to stick with international law".

Despite this, Lyall-Grant explains that the UN cannot impose sanctions against Israel if it ignores the resolution.

This shows the depth of the US-Israel riftpublished at 17:46 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March

17:46 GMT 25 March

Jeremy Bowen
International Editor

For weeks, President Joe Biden and his senior officials have indicated that they’re losing patience with the way that Israel is fighting the war in Gaza.

The decision not to block the ceasefire resolution removes, for now, diplomatic protection from Israel at the UN Security Council - and shows the depth of the rift that has opened up with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He condemned the US - saying the decision not to use the veto harms the war effort and attempts to free the hostages taken by Hamas on 7 October last year.

After the vote, the American ambassador to the Security Council called the resolution non-binding. Usually Security Council resolutions are considered to carry the force of law.

President Biden wants the hostages out as well as the destruction of Hamas as a military force.

But from the very start of the war, he’s been telling Israel to respect international humanitarian law - which includes an obligation to protect civilians.

The Israelis deny they block humanitarian aid - but the Americans can see the evidence that Gaza is on the brink of famine, with children dying of hunger a few miles from ample stores of food in Israel and Egypt.

The US-Israel alliance is deep but at times it is highly dysfunctional. Crises happen when Israel defies the wishes of American presidents, and what they see as US interests.

This isn’t the first time that Benjamin Netanyahu has infuriated the men in the White House - he’s done so regularly since he first became Israel’s prime minister in 1996.

But no crisis in the long US-Israel alliance has been as serious as the one that’s developed in almost six months of the Gaza war.

This was the moment Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian representative at the UN, addressed the UN Security Council after the resolution was approved.

Image source, Reuters

If you're just joining us, or need a recap, the UN Security Council has, for the first time, passed a resolution calling for an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza.

• The resolution - which was approved by 14 of the 15 UN Security Council's members - passed after the US abstained, instead of vetoing

• Immediately after the measure was announced, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled an Israeli delegation's visit to the White House this week - accusing the US of a position shift
• White House spokesman John Kirby insisted it didn't show a shift in policy. He added the US was "very disappointed" with Israel cancelling its trip, but would continue to hold talks with its ally
• Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian representative to the UN, said it had taken "over 100,000 Palestinians killed and maimed ... for this council to finally demand an immediate ceasefire" - and that it was a "vote for humanity to prevail"

A sign of huge US frustration at how Israel is conducting the campaignpublished at 17:18 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March

17:18 GMT 25 March

Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

The vote at the United Nations is a key diplomatic development. For the first time in this war, the Security Council is calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Crucially, it marks a shift in the US position: the Americans did not veto the resolution, as they had done on three earlier occasions.

This is another sign of the huge frustration of the Biden administration with the way Israel has been conducting its campaign, which has faced intense international criticism.

Unsurprisingly, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately criticised the US after the vote, saying the abstention was a clear departure from the American position, as the resolution did not condition the ceasefire with the release of hostages still being held in Gaza.

Netanyahu cancelled the trip of an Israeli delegation to Washington, intended to explain to American officials the plans of the military for an offensive into the southern city of Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians have been sheltering after being forced to leave other parts of the territory.

The US and other countries, as well as the UN and aid organisations, say any incursion will lead to a humanitarian disaster.

Netanyahu, however, has vowed to go ahead, with or without American support, saying this is the only way to defeat Hamas.

Image source, Reuters

Soon after the UN Security Council resolution was passed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the US of a "clear retreat" from its previous position.

Here's the full statement from Netanyahu's office, just published on X:, external

"The United States has abandoned its policy in the UN today. Just a few days ago, it supported a Security Council resolution that linked a call for a ceasefire to the release of hostages.

"China and Russia vetoed that resolution partly because they opposed a ceasefire that was linked to the release of hostages. Yet today, Russia and China joined Algeria and others in supporting the new resolution precisely because it had no such linkage.

"Regrettably, the United States did not veto the new resolution, which calls for a ceasefire that is not contingent on the release of hostages. This constitutes a clear departure from the consistent US position in the Security Council since the beginning of the war.

"Today’s resolution gives Hamas hope that international pressure will force Israel to accept a ceasefire without the release of our hostages, thus harming both the war effort and the effort to release the hostages.

As we've been reporting, Israel has cancelled a planned visit by a delegation to the US this week.

But Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who's already in Washington, will continue to hold meetings.

From the US side, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin "is still planning to meet with Minister Gallant" on Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said.

Speaking in Washington after the UN Security Council vote, Gallant said: "We have no moral right to stop the war in Gaza until we return all the hostages to their homes."

Image source, EPA

UN Security Council resolution 2728 comes after almost six months of fighting in the Gaza Strip:

• On 7 October, Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people, and taking 253 into Gaza as hostages
• The Israeli military launched a full-scale retaliation, with its operation killing more than 32,300 Palestinians, and injuring more than 74,600 others, according to the Hamas-run health ministry's data, which the World Health Organization regards as credible

• Last week, a UN-backed food security assessment warned that 1.1 million people in Gaza were struggling with catastrophic hunger and starvation

• Meanwhile, US-backed mediation by Qatar and Egypt has so far failed to secure agreement on a ceasefire - but talks continue

For a detailed look at how life has changed in Gaza, read this.

Image source, Reuters

The Palestinian representative to the UN, Riyad Mansour, has welcomed today's resolution - but says it is overdue.

"It has taken six months, over 100,000 Palestinians killed and maimed, two million displaced, and famine, for this council to finally demand an immediate ceasefire," Mansour tells the UN.

He says the draft resolution was a “vote for humanity to prevail, for life to prevail".

"The Palestinians in Gaza pleaded and appealed, shouted, cried, cursed, prayed, defied the odds to survive time and time again. And yet continued to face death, destruction and displacement, depravation and disease. And an occupation-made famine.

“Their ordeal must come to an end, and it must come to an immediate end now."

Image source, Getty Images

As we reported earlier, today's resolution was drafted by the 10 elected members of the United Nations Security Council - that is, the non-permanent members, which currently include Malta.

Vanessa Frazier, Malta’s Ambassador to the United Nations, says the resolution is “critical to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza” - and must be “immediately and unconditionally implemented by all parties”, with all hostages released.