The United States has put forward for the first time a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that called for an "immediate cease-fire" in the Gaza Strip.
Washington had blocked previous Security Council texts using the word "immediate" but U.S. top diplomat Antony Blinken confirmed the shift in position Wednesday.
Blinken confirmed the development to Saudi media, during a visit to the country to discuss a truce in the Israel-besieged Palestinian territory.
"Well, in fact, we actually have a resolution that we put forward right now that's before the United Nations Security Council that does call for an immediate cease-fire tied to the release of hostages, and we hope very much that countries will support that," Blinken said.
"I think that would send a strong message, a strong signal," he told Saudi media outlet Al Hadath on Wednesday evening.
He met Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and then held talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman soon after landing in the kingdom Wednesday on the first leg of a regional tour, before heading off to Cairo, then Israel. This is his sixth trip to the Middle East since Israel launched its brutal war on Oct. 7.
Blinken, who will meet five Arab foreign ministers in Egypt on Thursday, stressed any immediate truce must be linked to the release of hostages snatched by Palestinian resistance groups.
The United States, Israel's main backer, has previously used its U.N. Security Council veto to block the world body from calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Palestinian territory.
"Of course, we stand with Israel and its right to defend itself ... but at the same time, it's imperative that the civilians who are in harm's way and who are suffering so terribly – that we focus on them, that we make them a priority, protecting the civilians, getting them humanitarian assistance," Blinken said.
Since blocking an Algerian draft resolution calling for an "immediate humanitarian cease-fire" in Gaza at the end of February, U.S. 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 Wednesday.
The amended draft, seen by AFP, stresses "the need for an immediate and durable ceasefire to protect civilians on all sides, enable the delivery of essential humanitarian aid, and alleviate suffering ... in conjunction with the release of hostages still held."
No vote has yet been scheduled on this text.
Blinken's latest tour runs parallel with talks in Qatar, where mediators met for a third day Wednesday in a renewed effort to secure a cease-fire but with little indication of an imminent agreement.
The plan being discussed in Qatar would temporarily halt the fighting as hostages are exchanged for Palestinian prisoners and the delivery of relief supplies is stepped up.
"It's getting closer. I think the gaps are narrowing, and I think an agreement is very much possible," Blinken said of the mediation in Doha.
"We worked very hard with Qatar, with Egypt and with Israel to put a strong proposal on the table ... Hamas wouldn't accept it," he claimed.
"They came back with other requests, other demands. The negotiators are working on that right now."
Israel's bloodiest-ever Gaza war broke out after the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Hamas members also seized about 250 hostages, of whom Israel believes 130 remain in Gaza, including 33 who are presumed dead.
Israel's military has since waged a brutal war on Gaza that has killed almost 32,000 people, most of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
