NEW YORK—The United States vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution Wednesday night calling for an immediate end to Israel’s war of extermination in the Gaza Strip.
Fourteen of the 15 Security Council members voted in favor of the draft resolution, while the United States rejected it, according to the United Nations website.
The resolution was drafted by Algeria and submitted by the ten non-permanent members of the Council: Algeria, Pakistan, Panama, South Korea, Denmark, Slovenia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Guyana, and Greece.
The other five permanent members have veto power: the United States, Britain, France, Russia, and China. All except the United States voted in favor of the resolution.
The draft resolution calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and describes the humanitarian situation there as “catastrophic.”
It also calls for the immediate and unconditional lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and for its safe and unhindered distribution on a wide scale, including by the United Nations and humanitarian partners.
For 18 years, Israel has been besieging Gaza, leaving approximately 1.5 million Palestinians out of a population of approximately 2.4 million in the Strip homeless after the mass bombing and demolition campaigns that have characterized the war of extermination.
The draft resolution also calls for the immediate, unconditional, and dignified release of the Israeli hostages held by Palestinian factions in Gaza. According to Israel’s estimates, there are 58 hostages, 20 of whom are still alive.
Algerian Ambassador to the Security Council Amar Bendjama said the draft resolution represents “the collective will of the entire world and a message to the Palestinian people that you are not alone, and to the Israeli occupier that the world is watching them.”
The Algerian delegate stressed the need to remove the “shield of impunity.”
He continued, “Today’s vote reveals why the Israeli occupier continues its crimes; because it has never faced justice and has always felt protected, while the victims are buried without names, without headlines, without investigation, and without accountability.”
He stressed that the Security Council should have acted “to prevent the killing of Palestinian children from becoming a mere hobby, and should have acted to impose a ceasefire in Gaza so that starvation would not be legitimized as a weapon.”
Bendjama affirmed that his country will never stop coming to the Security Council on behalf of “the hungry who refuse to trade their dignity for bread under siege, the thirsty who are killed in search of clean water, and because Palestinians deserve to live in freedom and dignity.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Chargé d’Affaires to the United Nations, Dorothy Shea, said her country’s rejection of the draft resolution “should not come as a surprise.” Shea added, “We will not support any action that does not condemn Hamas. Any decision that undermines the security of our close ally, Israel, is completely unacceptable.”
In contrast, British Ambassador Barbara Woodward said her country voted in favor of the draft resolution because “the unbearable situation in Gaza must end.”
Woodward expressed Britain’s determination to work to end this war, secure the release of the hostages, and alleviate the catastrophic humanitarian situation for Palestinians in Gaza.
She added that the Israeli government’s decision to expand its military operation in Gaza and impose severe restrictions on aid is “unjustified, disproportionate, and counterproductive.”
Denouncing the current Israeli aid distribution mechanism, she said that “desperate Palestinians who wanted to feed their families” were being killed while trying to access aid, an “inhumane situation.”
Woodward supported the U.N. call for an immediate and independent investigation into these incidents and for the perpetrators to be held accountable.
She stressed the need for Israel to allow the United Nations and aid workers to do their work to save lives.
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