US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield casts a veto vote during a UN Security Council meeting on the Israel-Hamas war, at UN Headquarters in New York City on February 20, 2024.
(Angela Weiss/AFP)
The United States has vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, provoking criticisms of Washington.
“We cannot support a resolution that would put sensitive negotiations in jeopardy,” Washington’s ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Tuesday, referring to talks to free hostages in Gaza.
The vote on the resolution came as Israel prepares to move into the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, where some 1.4 million people have fled, as part of its mission to destroy the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
The resolution drafted by Algeria also demanded the release of all hostages taken by Hamas in an attack on 7 October, but the text did not condemn that assault which left about 1,160 people dead in southern Israel, mostly civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse tally of official Israeli figures.
Washington had circulated its own, alternative draft resolution ahead of the vote. Unlike past US efforts, that version does feature the word “ceasefire” — but with no call for it to be enacted immediately.
It supports a “temporary ceasefire in Gaza as soon as practicable, based on the formula of all hostages being released.”
Algeria’s envoy Amar Bendjama said “the draft resolution would have sent a strong message to Palestinians... unfortunately the Security Council failed once again.”
“Examine your conscience, how will history judge you,” Bendjama said.
Meanwhile, medicines sent into Gaza under a deal mediated by Qatar and France have reached hostages held by Hamas, Doha said on Tuesday.
The Gulf state’s foreign ministry spokesperson said Qatar had “received confirmation from the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) regarding the receipt of a shipment of medicines and the commencement of their delivery to beneficiaries among the hostages.”
A shipment of humanitarian aid and medicines for civilians were allowed into the Gaza Strip “in exchange for delivering the medicines needed by hostages,” said Majed Al-Ansari in a statement to the official Qatar News Agency.
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