The United States has blocked a resolution to cease fighting in Gaza at the United Nations Security Council – the fourth time it has used its veto power during the ongoing conflict to protect its ally, Israel.
14 out of 15 Council members voted in favor of the draft, which called for the Gaza war “to end immediately, unconditionally and permanently and for all remaining hostages to be released immediately and unconditionally”.
The US Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood, said the document had “abandoned” the need for there to be “a link between the ceasefire and the release of the hostages”.
Critics of the veto have largely blamed the US, with France saying it “deeply regrets” the move.
The UNSC is made up of five permanent members with veto power – and 10 elected members.
The group proposed a draft resolution and “rejected any attempts to starve the Palestinians”.
The vote was held as the UN warned that Palestinians “face diminishing conditions of survival” in the northern Gaza Strip besieged by Israeli forces because almost no help has been delivered in 40 days.
Earlier this month, a study supported by the UN revealed that there is a high probability that famine will strike in the northern areas of Gaza.
Israel’s military said its six-week offensive aims to regroup Hamas fighters, and to facilitate evacuations and hospital deliveries.
Ambassador Wood said passing the resolution would send a “dangerous message” to Hamas, the militant group fighting Israel, that “there is no need to go back to the negotiating table”.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said the decision was “not a path to peace, it was a road map to more fear, more suffering and more bloodshed”.
“Many of you tried to pass this injustice. We thank the United States for using its veto,” he added.
Meanwhile, Hamas has accused the US of being “directly responsible” for Israel’s “war of genocide” in Gaza.
In response to the veto, the Chinese ambassador said that people cannot help but ask: “Are the lives of Palestinians meaningless?”
France said international humanitarian law was being violated and the only response should have been an immediate and permanent suspension.
The UK has said it wants to end the war, end the suffering in Gaza and secure the immediate release of all hostages.
But the harshest criticism of the US came from outside the Council’s doors.
Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) UN director, Louis Charbonneau, accused Washington of “again” using its veto power “to ensure impunity for Israel as its forces continue to commit crimes against Palestinians in Gaza”.
Israel refuses to be sued.
The current war broke out after Hamas gunmen crossed the border and attacked Israeli communities, killing about 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures, and 251 entering Gaza as hostages.
More than 43,920 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the area.
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