US Blocks UN Bid for Gaza Ceasefire
Members at the UN Security Council Chambers meet to deliberate on the situation in the Middle East (Image Source- United Nations Organisation)
The United States has vetoed a draft resolution of the United Nations Security Council concerning the Israel-Hamas conflict. The resolution stressed an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages by the Hamas militant group. The 15-member Security Council held a vote on the resolution tabled by the United Arab Emirates. Thirteen council members favoured the resolution, while the United Kingdom refrained from it.
As per the reports, Robert Wood, the US deputy representative to the UN, said, “Unfortunately, nearly all of our recommendations were ignored. The result of this rushed process was an imbalanced resolution that was divorced from reality and that would not move the needle forward on the ground in any concrete way. And so, we regretfully could not support it…. While the US strongly supports a durable peace in which both Israel and Palestine can live in peace and security, we do not support calls for an immediate ceasefire. This would only plant the seeds for the next war because Hamas has no desire to see a durable peace, to see a two-state solution.” Wood also mentioned that it was “a serious moral failure” on the part of UNSC (United Nations Security Council) not to condemn Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, including sexual violence and other evils. He stressed that the UNSC decision depicts “a fundamental disconnect between the discussions that we have been having in this Chamber and the realities on the ground.”
Robert Wood representing the United States in the United Nations Security Council (Image Source- Reuters)
UN Director of Human Rights Watch, Louis Charbonneau, is of the view that the US used its veto power to prevent the Security Council from making major calls to de-escalate the Israel-Hamas conflict.
This resolution was adopted after the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked a rare Article 99 of the UN Charter, thereby urging the Security Council for an immediate ceasefire in the region to prevent the humanitarian catastrophe in the Middle East. This article is an independent tool that permits the UN chief to have a meeting with the Security Council on matters threatening international peace and security.
This has drawn wide criticism, with many terming Washington’s actions to be merciless in the face of the Israeli bloodbath.
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