It is the news many have been hoping for, and the UN is hoping that this will lead to a sustained ceasefire.
The United Nations Security Council has passed a resolution that demands a ceasefire in Gaza for the rest of Ramadan.
The Muslim holy month began on 10 March and is set to finish on 9 April - meaning the council is calling for a two-week ceasefire, though the draft said the pause in fighting should lead “to a permanent sustainable ceasefire”.
The US abstained from the vote, with the 14 other council members - including Russia, China and the UK - voting in favour.
The resolution also demanded the immediate, unconditional release of all hostages and “emphasises the urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian assistance to and reinforce the protection of civilians in the entire Gaza Strip and reiterates its demand for the lifting of all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale.”
Israel’s Channel 12 reported after the vote that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a planned visit to Washington by a delegation as the US did not veto the proposal.
On Friday, Russia and China vetoed a US-sponsored resolution that would have supported “an immediate and sustained ceasefire” in the Israeli-Hamas conflict.
The council had adopted two resolutions on the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza since the start of the war but Friday’s proposal marked the first time the US has backed a resolution containing the word “ceasefire” - reflecting a toughening of the Biden administration’s stance towards Israel.
But the White House said after the vote that the US’s abstention “does not represent a shift in policy” and that the resolution “did not have language the US deems essential”.
The US had vetoed three previous resolutions demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, the most recent a measure backed by the 22-nation Arab Group at the UN on 20 February.
After today’s vote, the UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said on social media that the resolution “must be implemented”, adding: “Failure would be unforgivable.”
More than 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed during the fighting, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The agency does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says women and children make up two thirds of the dead.
Gaza also faces a dire humanitarian emergency, and a UN-backed report published last week said “famine is imminent” in northern Gaza and that escalation of the war could push half of the territory’s 2.3 million people to the brink of starvation.