US vetoes UN resolution calling for ceasefire in Gaza because of lack of connection to hostage release – Boston News, Weather, Sports

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States on Wednesday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the war in Gaza because it was not linked to an immediate release of hostages passed in October 2023 Hamas fighters were captured in Israel.

The council voted overwhelmingly in favor of the resolution — 14 of its 15 members voted “yes,” including U.S. allies Britain and France — but the veto failed.

U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood said the United States had worked for weeks to avoid vetoing the resolution introduced by the council’s 10 elected members and expressed regret that the compromise language was not accepted.

“We made it clear during negotiations that we cannot support an unconditional ceasefire that leads to the release of the hostages,” he said. “Hamas would have seen it as a vindication of its cynical strategy of hoping and praying that the international community forgets the fate of more than 100 hostages from more than 20 member states who have been held for 410 days.”

The resolution put to the vote “calls for an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire to be observed by all parties, and further reiterates their call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”

Palestinian Deputy U.N. Ambassador Majed Bamya’s emotional reaction to the veto reflected widespread anger and disappointment that the U.N.’s most powerful body had failed to call for an end to the more than 13-month war in which more than 43,000 people were killed, leaving most of the territory in ruins, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

The lack of a ceasefire allows the continuation of a “full-scale Israeli attack on the Palestinian people and land,” Bamya told the council. “A ceasefire will make it possible to save lives – all lives. That was the case a year ago. This is even more true today.”

Bamya highlighted the tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths and asked: “Do they have the right to kill, and the only right we have is to die?”

He told council members: “You are witnessing an attempt to destroy a nation, to destroy a nation.”

Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon responded that the resolution was “not a path to peace, but a roadmap for more terror, more suffering and more bloodshed.”

He thanked the United States, Israel’s closest ally, “for exercising its veto, for standing on the side of morality and justice, for refusing to abandon the hostages and their families.”

The reason for the council meeting and “the pain that people are suffering is because of Hamas,” Danon said, stressing that the only future for Gaza is without the Palestinian militant group.

In a statement, Hamas strongly condemned the veto, claiming that the United States had once again “shown its direct involvement in the aggression against our people by acting as accomplices in the killing of children and women and the complete destruction of civilian life in Gaza.” have acted”.

“We call on the US to end this clumsy hostile policy if it is truly aimed at ending wars and achieving security and stability in the region, as we have heard from the incoming administration,” Hamas added, referring to it on President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to end the war in Gaza.

The Security Council has adopted several resolutions on the Gaza Strip, including calling for a ceasefire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and calling for humanitarian access. The United States, as well as Russia and China, have rejected several previous resolutions on the war.

In June, the Council adopted its first resolution on a ceasefire plan to end the war between Israel and Hamas. That U.S.-backed resolution welcomed a ceasefire proposal announced by President Joe Biden, which Israel said the United States had accepted. She called on Hamas to accept the three-phase plan, but the war continues.

The Palestinian deputy ambassador shifted the blame to Israel, saying: “It is quite clear that Israel never had any intention of accepting a ceasefire and found every reason not to have a ceasefire.”

The 10 elected council members said in a statement read by Guyana’s U.N. Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett after the vote that they all supported the June resolution “with the expectation that a ceasefire agreement would have been quickly agreed and implemented.”

But months later, the ten elected members decided that a new resolution should go further and make a clear call for an unconditional ceasefire, not limited to a specific period.

Despite the U.S. veto, elected members emphasized that the war in Gaza must end immediately, hostages must be released immediately, humanitarian assistance must be provided throughout Gaza, and civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected.

“Our joint efforts to end hostilities will not cease,” they said.

Algerian U.N. Ambassador Amar Bendjama, the Arab representative on the council, said the message to Israel after the veto was: “You can continue your genocide.” You can continue your collective punishment of the Palestinian people with complete impunity. You enjoy immunity in this chamber.”

But he promised that elected members will soon return with an even stronger resolution under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter that is militarily enforceable – and they won’t stop until the council takes action.