US Ambassador Robert Wood Center raises a hand to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution on November 20 in New York City demanding a ceasefire in Gaza
US vetoes UN resolution demanding a cease-fire in Gaza because there’s no link to a hostage release
UNITED NATIONS — The United States vetoed a U.N. resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the war in Gaza on Wednesday because it is not linked to an immediate release of hostages taken captive by Hamas in Israel in October 2023.
The U.N. Security Council voted 14-1 in favor of the resolution sponsored by the 10 elected members on the 15-member council, but it was not adopted because of the U.S. veto.
The resolution that was put to a vote “demands an immediate, unconditional and permanent cease-fire to be respected by all parties, and further reiterates its demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”
The resolution had been sponsored by the 10 elected members on the 15-member council. Unlike the five permanent members – the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France – the elected members have no veto power.
The Security Council in June had adopted its first resolution on a cease-fire plan aimed at ending the war between Israel and Hamas. The U.S.-sponsored resolution welcomed a cease-fire proposal announced by President Joe Biden that the United States said Israel had accepted. It called on the militant Palestinian group Hamas to accept the three-phase plan – but the war goes on.
Hamas accuses the US of direct responsibility the war
The Palestinian militant group Hamas said Wednesday the United States bears responsibility for the vast destruction and suffering in Gaza, after the U.S. vetoed a U.N. resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
Hamas said the U.S. provides diplomatic cover for Israel’s war in Gaza, which has left much of the territory in ruins and forced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million to flee, often multiple times.
“The US is directly responsible, like the (Israeli) occupation, in the genocidal war and ethnic cleansing against our people,” the group said in a statement.
Hamas ignited the war in Gaza when its fighters stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1139 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 people. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed almost 44,000 Palestinians, more than 70% of them women and children, according to the UN and local health authorities.
AP