Israel-Palestine live: Biden urges Egypt, Qatar to press Hamas for hostage deal

South Africa has welcomed the adoption of the UN Security Council's resolution that demands an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, adding that the UN body is now responsible for the measure's enforcement.

"It is now the responsibility of the United Nations Security Council to ensure that there is compliance with the resolution, which is binding on the parties," South Africa's department of international relations said in a statement.

US presidential candidate Donald Trump said that Israel should "finish up" its war on Gaza, saying that it is losing international credibility.

"You have to finish up your war, you have to finish it up. You got to get it done," Trump said in an interview with Israel Hayom.

"You can't have this going on. And I will say Israel has to be very careful because you're losing a lot of the world, you're losing a lot of support."

John Kirby, a spokesperson for the White House, said that the US has not seen indications or a plan for an Israeli invasion of Rafah in the coming days.

"We haven't seen any indication that the Israelis are imminently getting ready to conduct a ground operation in Rafah," Kirby told reporters during a news briefing.

"There's no sense right now that this is about to happen in coming days," he said.

Reporting by Reuters

The US State Department said the Israeli decision not to come for scheduled talks with American officials was "surprising and unfortunate".

Israel cancelled the delegation's visit after the US abstained from a UN Security Council vote on a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, which allowed the vote to pass.

According to Reuters, a US official also told reporters that the Israeli decision is being considered an "overreaction", and that domestic political tensions in Israel were likely the reason for cancelling the trip.

The official added that President Joe Biden has no plans to call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the decision, and Netanyahu did not call Biden about it in advance.

Yoav Gallant said in a statement that Israel will not stop fighting in Gaza.

"We will operate against Hamas everywhere – including in places where we have not yet been," Gallant said.

The defence minister's statement comes as Israel cancelled its trip to Washington, which came in response to the passing of the UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The US abstained from the vote.

Gallant, however, is already in Washington and is meeting on Monday with US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

"We have no moral right to stop the war while there are still hostages held in Gaza," Gallant said.

Israel Katz, Israel's foreign minister, said in a post on X that the fighting in Gaza will continue until all hostages are returned home.

The post was published shortly after the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The US abstained from the vote.

The head of the Palestinian National Initiative, Mustafa Barghouti, issued a statement regarding the UN Security Council's passage of a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Barghouti said the resolution's passage was binding, and it was "a blow to Netanyahu and his extremist and aggressive government". He further said that international sanctions should be imposed on the Israeli prime minister, should he choose not to abide by the measure.

He added in his statement that the resolution was "unbalanced with regard to the prisoners because it did not explicitly refer to the need to release thousands of Palestinian prisoners".

However, Barghouti said that the resolution did stress the removal of "all Israeli obstacles to the arrival of humanitarian aid" to Gaza.

In a post on X, the Saudi foreign ministry said it welcomed the UN Security Council's ceasefire resolution, saying that it will lead to "a permanent and sustainable ceasefire and the release of all hostages".

US Senator Bernie Sanders welcomed the resolution passed by the UN Security Council calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The lawmaker said that now the US must work to honour it and get humanitarian aid into Gaza.

"The US must push all parties to honor this ceasefire and rush massive humanitarian aid into Gaza to feed starving people," Sanders said.

Hamas issued a statement welcoming the UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The armed Palestinian group said it "affirms readiness to engage in immediate prisoner swaps on both sides".

Reporting by Reuters

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin is still planning on meeting Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in Washington, the Pentagon said on Monday.

According to the Pentagon press secretary, Major General Pat Ryder, the meeting will cover the release of Israeli hostages and the need for more humanitarian aid to reach Gaza.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs applauded the UN Security Council "efforts to protect civilians subject to genocide".

In a statement, the ministry called on member states to implement the resolution immediately and emphasised the need to secure a permanent and sustainable ceasefire that extends beyond Ramadan and to increase the delivery of aid into Gaza.

They stressed that Monday's vote must be followed by practical steps and consequences for Israel to stop the aggression.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he is cancelling a high-level delegation to Washington after the US refrained from vetoing a draft UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

In a statement, the prime minister's office said that the decision was “a clear retreat from the consistent US position in the Security Council since the beginning of the war”, and one that “gives Hamas hope that international pressure will allow them to get a ceasefire without releasing our hostages”.

Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch, said that Israel  “needs to immediately respond” to the adoption of the UN Security Council resolution "by facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid, ending its starvation of Gaza’s population, and halting unlawful attacks".

In a statement, Charbonneau also demanded the release of all hostages and that the "US and other countries should use their leverage to end atrocities by suspending arms transfers to Israel”.

The US representative to the UN said that a ceasefire resolution brought to the UN Security Council has been delayed by Hamas.

“Certain key edits were ignored, including our request to add a condemnation of Hamas,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.

Thomas-Greenfield added that the release of the captives will increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The US abstained from voting on the draft resolution.

“We did not agree with everything with the resolution,” Thomas-Greenfield said.