US vetoes UN resolution demanding Gaza cease-fire
The U.S. on Wednesday voted against a United Nations Security Council resolution that demanded an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, citing the lack of a path for releasing hostages held by Hamas as the reason.
The U.S. was the only nation in the 15-member Security Council to vote against the resolution but was able to veto it because of permanent member status.
Robert Wood, the U.S. alternate representative for special political affairs at the UN, said after the vote that the resolution would have vindicated Hamas, and he called attention to the roughly 100 hostages still held by the Palestinian militant group.
"We will not forget them," he said.
Wood added that the U.S. "will continue to pursue a diplomatic solution that brings peace, security and freedom to Palestinians in Gaza," and faulted Hamas for abandoning a cease-fire and hostage release deal with Israel.
"Some members of this council don't seem to want to confront the reality that today, it is not Israel standing in the way of a ceasefire and hostage release deal, it is Hamas," he said, accusing some councilmembers of failing to reach a consensus on a more favorable resolution.
The proposal, put forward by the Security Council's 10 elected members — a coalition led currently by Guyana — called for an immediate, unconditional and permanent cease-fire and demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Guyana's UN representative, said the resolution "responded to critical issues" in Gaza, where more than 43,000 Palestinians have died amid the more than 13-month war and many are struggling to access basic food and necessities.
"Many have said that the ongoing annihilation of the Palestinian people is a major stain on our collective human conscience," she said. "Today the council had the opportunity to begin erasing that stain by demanding an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire.
"But despite our best efforts and the almost universal support to go in that direction, the council was again hamstrung by a veto," Rodrigues-Birkett added.
The resolution is the 12th one put in front of the council, with only four adopted, since the war broke out between Israel and Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, when the Palestinian militant group invaded southern Israel and killed some 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages.
The Biden administration has continued to support Israel, diplomatically and with weapons, despite international pressure to end the war and even after the U.S. acknowledged Israeli officials have more to do to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The support has also continued after the presidential election, in which Vice President Harris lost to President-elect Trump.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also faced internal discord over his war stance. Earlier this month, he fired his defense minister who had argued that Israel achieved many of its war aims against Hamas and could live with a hostage release and cease-fire deal.
Netanyahu has been accused of prolonging the war for his own political survival, and he has close relations with Trump, who may give Israel more leeway in the war.
Majed Bamya, deputy permanent observer of the State of Palestine to the UN, said the resolution was calling for "an unconditional end to massacres."
"And that is always worth supporting," he said. "We call on all states and all peoples to stand for life, for freedom, and for peace."
Israel's representative to the UN, Danny Danon, claimed members of the security council "betrayed their own principles' by backing the resolution, which he argued would enable Hamas to carry out more violence.
"The resolution brought before this chamber was not a path to peace, it was a roadmap to more terror, more suffering and more bloodshed," Danon said. "Many of you attempted to pass this injustice."