The United States on Wednesday vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza, drawing criticism of the Biden administration for once again blocking international action aimed at halting Israel’s war with Hamas.
The 15-member council voted on a resolution put forward by 10 non-permanent members that called for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in the 13-month conflict and separately demanded the release of hostages.
Only the US voted against, using its veto as a permanent council member to block the resolution.
Robert Wood, deputy US ambassador to the UN, said Washington had made clear it would only support a resolution that explicitly calls for the immediate release of hostages as part of a ceasefire.
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Mr Wood said the US had sought compromise, but the text of the proposed resolution would have sent a “dangerous message” to Palestinian militant group Hamas that “there’s no need to come back to the negotiating table”.
Israel’s war in Gaza has killed nearly 44,000 people and displaced nearly all the enclave’s population at least once. It was launched in response to an attack by Hamas-led fighters who killed 1,200 people and captured more than 250 hostages in Israel on October 7th, 2023.
Members roundly criticised the US for blocking the resolution put forward by the council’s 10 elected members: Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Switzerland.
“It is deeply regretted that due to the use of the veto this council has once again failed to uphold its responsibility to maintain international peace and security,” Malta’s UN Ambassador Vanessa Frazier said after the vote failed, adding that the text of the resolution “was by no means a maximalist one”.
“It represented the bare minimum of what is needed to begin to address the desperate situation on the ground,” she said.
Food security experts have warned that famine is imminent among Gaza’s 2.3 million people. US president Joe Biden, who leaves office on January 20th, has offered Israel strong diplomatic backing and continued to provide arms for the war, while trying unsuccessfully to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that would see hostages released in exchange for Palestinians held by Israel.
After blocking earlier resolutions on Gaza, Washington in March abstained from a vote that allowed a resolution to pass demanding an immediate ceasefire.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli forces killed at least 15 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including a rescue worker, health officials said, as tanks deepened their incursion in the area and blew up homes, according to residents.
Medics said at least 12 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a house in the area of Jabalia, in northern Gaza, earlier on Wednesday. They said at least 10 people remained missing as rescue operations continued. Another man was killed in tank shelling nearby, they said.
In the Sabra suburb of Gaza City, the Palestinian civil emergency said an Israeli air strike targeted one of their teams during a rescue operation, killing one staff and wounding three others.
The death raised the number of civil emergency service members killed since October 7th last year to 87, it said.
There was no immediate Israeli comment on the two incidents.
Adding to the challenges facing the healthcare system in north Gaza areas, the civil emergency service said their vehicles were hardly operational because of shortages of fuel and equipment, citing Israel's continued refusal to allow them to bring the needed supplies.
In Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, medics said one man was killed and others wounded in an Israeli air strike on the eastern territory of the city.
Residents in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, and Beit Hanoun, where the army has operated since early last month, said forces blew up dozens of houses in the three areas, adding to fears Israel was seeking to clear residents to create a buffer zone, something Israel denies.
Israel said it sent forces into the two towns and refugee camp to fight Hamas militants launching attacks and to prevent them from regrouping. It said it had killed hundreds of them since October 5th.
Hamas and the Islamic Jihad armed wing claimed they killed many Israeli soldiers in anti-tank and mortar fire as well as ambushes by explosive devices during the same period.
Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of three medical facilities barely operational in the north of the enclave, said the hospital came under Israeli fire on Tuesday.
“The healthcare system is still operating under extremely harsh conditions. Following the arrest of 45 members of the medical and surgical staff and the denial of entry to a replacement team, we are now losing wounded patients daily who could have survived if resources were available,” said Mr Abu Safiya.
“Unfortunately, food and water are not allowed to enter, and not even a single ambulance is permitted access to the north. Yesterday, the hospital was bombed across all its departments without warning, as we were trying to save an injured person in the intensive care unit,” he added.
Speaking during a visit to Gaza on Tuesday, Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that Hamas would not rule the Palestinian enclave after the war had ended and that Israel had destroyed the Islamist group’s military capabilities.
Mr Netanyahu also said Israel had not given up trying to locate the 101 remaining hostages believed to be still in the enclave and he offered a $5 million (€4.7 million) reward for the return of each one.
Qatar, a key ceasefire mediator alongside Egypt, said it had informed Hamas and Israel it would stall its mediation efforts unless the two warring parties showed “willingness and seriousness” to reach a deal.
Hamas wants a deal that ends the war, while Mr Netanyahu vowed the war can only end once Hamas is eradicated. – Reuters
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