The United States has vetoed a resolution at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) demanding an “immediate, unconditional and permanent” ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, as Israel’s bombardment of the Palestinian territory continues.
The US voted down the measure on Wednesday morning while the 14 other members of the council voted in favour.
While the resolution called for the release of captives held in Gaza, Washington had voiced opposition to its demand for an “unconditional” ceasefire.
“We made clear throughout negotiations that we could not support an unconditional ceasefire that failed to release the hostages,” Robert Wood, the deputy US envoy to the UN, said during the session in New York.
“A durable end to the war must come with the release of the hostages. These two urgent goals are inextricably linked. This resolution abandoned that necessity, and for that reason, the United States could not support it.”
This is the fourth time that US President Joe Biden’s administration has vetoed a resolution calling for an end to the war in Gaza since Israel’s military offensive began in October of last year.
To date, nearly 44,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, which has also plunged the coastal territory into a humanitarian crisis.
Biden – a staunch supporter of Israel – has faced widespread condemnation from rights advocates for his administration’s stance, including its refusal to condition its assistance to the top US ally amid the war.
The US provides Israel with at least $3.8bn in military aid annually, and the Biden administration has authorised $14bn in further assistance to the country since the conflict in Gaza began.
Beth Miller, political director at the US-based advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace, called the US veto on Wednesday “pathetic” and said the Biden administration’s legacy will be the genocide in Gaza.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon thanked the US for using its veto, saying the Biden administration was “standing on the side of morality and justice” by “refusing to abandon the hostages”.
“The text ignored the suffering of the 101 innocent hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza,” Danon said.
But Majed Bamya, the State of Palestine’s deputy UN envoy, stressed during Wednesday morning’s Security Council session that a ceasefire would allow all lives to be saved.
“This was true a year ago; this is even more true today. A ceasefire doesn’t resolve everything but it is the first step towards resolving anything,” Bamya said.
“The world should not grow accustomed to the death of Palestinians, to seeing Palestinian children starving, to seeing mothers carrying their children from one place to another, forcibly displaced,” he said.
“The fact we are Palestinians does not make that less shocking or less outrageous. Maybe for some we have the wrong nationality, the wrong faith, the wrong skin colour — but we are humans and we should be treated as such.”
Bamya added that the world is watching an “attempt to annihilate a nation” while the tools “designed to respond to these situations are not being used”.
“Are Palestinian lives not worth saving, or does Israel have a licence to kill? Can this council only adopt resolutions and then witness their blatant breach? This self-inflicted powerlessness has to stop.”
Amar Bendjama, Algeria’s UN envoy, also voiced frustration on Wednesday over the US blocking the resolution.
“There were significant concessions during negotiations, yet one member chose to block any action — any action — from this council,” Bendjama told the council.
“Today’s message is clear, to the Israeli occupying power first: ‘You may continue your genocide, you may continue your collective punishment of the Palestinian people with complete impunity. In this chamber, you enjoy immunity’.”