Tel Aviv, 25 March 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cancelled the planned trip of an Israeli delegation to the United States after the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for an "immediate ceasefire" in the Gaza war, his office said on Monday.

Israel's minister for strategic affairs, Ron Dermer, and national security advisor, Zachi Hanegbi, were supposed to fly to the US on Monday to meet with high-ranking US government officials.

The US planned to present the Israelis with alternatives to an Israeli military assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which is packing with hundreds of thousands of refugees who fled airstrikes and fighting elsewhere in Gaza.

The US and other Israeli allies have warned against an attack on Rafah, but Netanyahu has so far pledged to push forward with the offensive regardless of international condemnation.

Another topic of the talks would have been Washington's proposals for an expansion of humanitarian aid for the suffering population in the Gaza Strip.

The US, which holds a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and veto power, abstained from the vote, paving the way for the resolution. The 14 other members of the Security Council voted in favour.

The US, a close ally and supporter of Israel, has used its power to block three previous UN resolutions demanding a ceasefire. But that changed on Monday.

The resolution expresses "deep concern about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip."

It is also demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by the militant Palestinian Hamas organization.