US vetoes UN resolution for ceasefire in Gaza strip

The United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip, accusing Council members of cynically rejecting efforts for a compromise.

The 15-member Security Council voted on a draft resolution proposed by the Council’s 10 non-permanent members. The resolution demanded an “immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire” and separately called for the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”

Only the United States opposed the resolution, using its veto as a permanent member of the Security Council.

The draft resolution, which received 14 votes in favor and one against, had already angered Israel in advance. The Israeli UN ambassador, Danny Danon, decried the text as “nothing but a betrayal” shortly before the vote, relying on Washington to block the resolution, which he said amounted to “abandoning” the hostages.

A senior US official, speaking to journalists before the vote on condition of anonymity, stated that the US would only support a resolution explicitly calling for the immediate release of hostages as part of any ceasefire.

“As we have stated many times before, we simply cannot support an unconditional ceasefire that does not require the immediate release of hostages,” the official said.

The 13-month Israeli military campaign in Gaza has claimed nearly 44,000 lives and displaced almost the entire population of the enclave.

Before the vote, the UK proposed changes to the resolution’s text to gain US support, but these changes were rejected, the U.S. official said.

Some of the 10 elected Council members seemed more interested in prompting a US veto than compromising on the resolution, the official noted, accusing Russia and China of encouraging these members.

“China continued to demand ‘harsher language,’ and Russia appears to be pulling strings with some (elected) members of the 10,” the official added.

Since the war began, the UN Security Council has struggled to reach a consensus, with most resolutions being blocked by vetoes from the US, Russia, or China.

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