WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): The United States has circulated for the first time a draft UN resolution calling for an “immediate” ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, as warnings grow of famine in besieged Gaza.

Washington had blocked previous Security Council texts using the word “immediate” but U.S. top diplomat Antony Blinken confirmed the shift in position on Wednesday, March 20.

A new version circulated by the U.S. and seen by AFP, the agency says, stressed “the need for an immediate and durable ceasefire” to protect civilians and allow aid into the territory.

No vote has been scheduled on the text but Blinken told Saudi media outlet Al Hadath on Wednesday, March 20, that support for the resolution would send a “strong message”.

The U.S. secretary of state, whose diplomatic push is running alongside mediation efforts in Qatar, will land in Israel on Friday. The Qatar talks were considering a Hamas proposal for a six-week ceasefire to allow hostages to be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and increased aid deliveries.

But a senior Hamas official based in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, said Israel’s response had been “largely negative” and called it “a step backwards”.

The U.S. and Israel are also engaged in a diplomatic tug-of-war over the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the last part of the territory still largely untouched by Israeli ground troops.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled to the city to escape fighting elsewhere, but Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted a ground incursion is the only way to finally root out Hamas.

U.S. officials said they supported Netanyahu’s goal but wanted Israel to try strategies short of a potentially catastrophic invasion of an area where around 1.5 million people are hemmed in by the Egyptian border.