New York, In a significant move at the United Nations, the United States exercised its veto power, blocking a UN resolution backed by the majority of Security Council members and several nations. The resolution, proposed by the United Arab Emirates, called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.
While thirteen nations voted in favor of the resolution, Britain chose to abstain. The US Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood, argued that halting military action would allow Hamas to persist in ruling and could “only plant the seeds for the next war.” Wood criticized the UN for failing to condemn Hamas attacks in Israel and acknowledge Israel’s right to defend itself.
“Although the United States strongly supports a durable peace, we do not support this resolution’s call for an unsustainable ceasefire that will only plant the seeds for the next war,” stated Wood.
Wood deemed the resolution “divorced from reality” and insisted that it “would not have moved the needle forward on the ground.”
Israel’s UN Ambassador, Gilad Erdan, reiterated after the vote that a ceasefire would only be possible with the return of all hostages and the destruction of Hamas. The majority of nations supported an immediate halt to Israeli bombardment in Gaza.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of a global threat from the two-month-long war, stating, “There is no effective protection of civilians. The people of Gaza are being told to move like human pinballs – ricocheting between ever-smaller slivers of the south, without any of the basics for survival. But nowhere in Gaza is safe.”
Hamas condemned the US veto, calling it “unethical and inhumane,” accusing the US of participating directly in killing people and committing massacres and ethnic cleansing.
