By David Bernstrom and Simon Lewis (JO:)
(Reuters) – The United States on Wednesday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, prompting the Biden administration to once again call for international action aimed at halting Israel’s war with Hamas. Criticized for stopping.
The 15-member council voted on a resolution tabled by 10 non-permanent members calling for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in the 13-month-old conflict and separately demanded the release of hostages. had gone
Only the United States voted against, using its veto as a permanent member of the council to block the resolution.
Robert Wood, deputy US ambassador to the United Nations, said Washington had made it clear it would only support a resolution that explicitly called for the immediate release of hostages as part of a ceasefire.
He said that a lasting end to the war should be accompanied by the release of the hostages. These two immediate goals are intertwined. This resolution waived this requirement and therefore the United States could not support it.
Wood said the United States had tried to reach a compromise but the text of the proposed resolution would send a “dangerous message” to the Palestinian militant group Hamas that “there is no need to return to the negotiating table.”
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 44,000 people and displaced nearly the enclave’s entire population at least once. It was launched in response to an attack by Hamas-led militants that killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages in Israel on October 7, 2023.
Members roundly criticized the United States for blocking a resolution tabled by the council’s 10 elected members: Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Switzerland.
“It is deeply regrettable that the use of the veto has once again failed the Council to live up to its responsibility to maintain international peace and security,” Malta’s UN Ambassador Vanessa Frazier said of the failure to vote. Later said the text of the resolution was “by no means excessive.”
“It represented the bare minimum of what was needed to deal with the desperate situation on the ground,” he said.
Food security experts have warned that 2.3 million people in Gaza are facing famine.
US President Joe Biden, who leaves office on January 20, has offered strong diplomatic support to Israel and continued to provide weapons for the war, while a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas have tried unsuccessfully, in exchange for which the hostages will be released. from Israel.
After blocking earlier resolutions on Gaza, Washington abstained from a vote in March that would have allowed the passage of a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.
A senior US official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity before Wednesday’s vote, said Britain had offered new language that the US would have supported as a compromise, but elected members rejected it. did it
Some members were more interested in bringing about a U.S. veto than compromising on the resolution, the official said, accusing U.S. adversaries Russia and China of encouraging those members.
‘Green Light’
French Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said that the resolution rejected by the United States calls for the release of the hostages.
“France still has two hostages in Gaza, and we deeply regret that the Security Council could not address this demand,” he said.
China’s ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Kang, said that every time the United States has used its veto to protect Israel, the number of people killed in Gaza has continued to rise.
“And how many people have to die before they wake up from their sleep?” he asked.
“Insisting on a precondition for a cease-fire is tantamount to giving a green light to the continuation of the war and condoning continued casualties.”
Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, said before the vote that the text was not a resolution for peace but a “resolution of joy” by Hamas.
Denon said history will remember who stood with the hostages and who abandoned them. (This story has been refiled for separate hyperlinks in paragraph 7)
