The text of the resolution presented by Algeria received 13 votes in favor at the UN Security Council in New York, one abstention from Great Britain and one no from the USA. The text called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” that must be “respected by all parties.” It also included the release of all hostages, but did not condemn the Islamist Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7.
“We cannot support a resolution that would jeopardize the sensitive negotiations,” said Washington’s UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield. She campaigned for an alternative resolution drawn up by the USA. Among other things, it advocates a “temporary ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip “as soon as this is feasible.” According to information from diplomatic circles, the text has no chance of being accepted in its current form.
Hamas criticized the US veto as a “green light” for Israel to carry out more “massacres” in the Gaza Strip. In addition to the UN veto powers Russia and China, US allies such as France also clearly criticized the veto.
The vote in the UN Security Council came at a time when Israel is preparing an operation in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip in the fight against Hamas. In Rafah on the border with Egypt, around 1.4 million Palestinians have sought refuge from the fighting. A number of countries, including Israel’s closest ally the USA, are therefore calling for the offensive to be abandoned.
The war between Israel and Hamas was triggered by the Islamist Palestinian organization’s attack on Israel four and a half months ago. Fighters from Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the EU and the USA, invaded Israel at the time and committed atrocities there, mainly against civilians. According to Israeli information, around 1,160 people were killed and around 250 hostages were taken to the Gaza Strip.
In response to the Hamas attack, Israel has stated that its goal is to destroy Hamas. According to Hamas’ latest figures, which cannot be independently verified, more than 29,100 people were killed in the massive military operation in the Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday night, more than a hundred people were killed in the Gaza Strip, said the Ministry of Health, which is controlled by the radical Islamic Hamas. The attacks were particularly aimed at the southern city of Chan Yunis, as a journalist from the AFP news agency reported.
The situation of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip continues to deteriorate. The World Food Program (WFP) said it had again interrupted aid deliveries to northern Gaza following shootings and looting – despite widespread hunger.
A WFP convoy was “faced with complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order,” it said. The teams reported an “unprecedented level of desperation”. The WFP only resumed deliveries on Sunday after a three-week break.
Several UN organizations also raised the alarm about the situation of children in the Gaza Strip. Increasing malnutrition and the rapid spread of disease could lead to a massive increase in deaths, said the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN children’s fund Unicef and the WFP. “The Gaza Strip is on the verge of an explosion in preventable child deaths that would worsen the already intolerable levels of child mortality in the Gaza Strip,” said UNICEF representative Ted Chaiban.
