The United States on Friday vetoed a Security Council resolution calling for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire" in Gaza, despite pressure from the secretary-general who denounced the "collective punishment" inflicted on the Palestinians.
The draft resolution, which received 13 votes in favour, one against (United States) and one abstention (United Kingdom), was prepared by the United Arab Emirates after Antonio Guterres on Wednesday invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter, allowing the secretary-general to draw the Council's attention to an issue that "could endanger the maintenance of international peace and security".
But the Americans, Israel's allies, who on Friday vetoed for the 35th time since 1970 a resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian issue (out of 39 in total), reiterated on Friday their hostility to a ceasefire.
"We do not support a resolution that calls for an unsustainable ceasefire that will simply plant the seeds of the next war," Deputy U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood said, also denouncing the "moral failure" of the absence of the October 7 Hamas attacks in the condemnation text.
100 countries signatories to the call
Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said that "the true path to peace is only to support Israel's mission, absolutely not a call for a ceasefire."
The draft resolution, supported by nearly 100 countries, demanded "an immediate humanitarian ceasefire," the release of hostages and humanitarian access.
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"As the crisis in Gaza worsens and threatens to spread, it (the Council) is failing to live up to the fundamental mission entrusted to it by the Charter," French Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said. This disappointment was shared by many members of the Council.
"Our American colleagues have sentenced thousands, if not tens of thousands, of Palestinian and Israeli civilians, including women and children, to death before our eyes," said Russian Deputy Ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy.
Risk of breakdown of law and order in Gaza
On Friday morning, Guterres justified his invocation of Article 99 by reiterating the risk of a "total collapse of law and order" in the Gaza Strip. "I unreservedly condemn" the Hamas attacks on October 7, but "the violence perpetrated by Hamas can in no way justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people," he said.
"While Hamas' indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel and the use of civilians as human shields are violations of the laws of war, such behavior does not absolve Israel of its own violations," Guterres said.
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After the unprecedented attack on Israel on 7 October by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which Israeli authorities said killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, Israel imposed a "complete siege" and heavily shelled the Gaza Strip, reducing large areas to rubble.
Food, water, fuel and medicine are trickling in, while about 1.9 million people, or 85 percent of the population, have been forced to leave their homes since the start of hostilities, which have killed more than 17,000 people, according to Hamas' health ministry.
Since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas, this is the fifth draft resolution rejected by the Council, which has been largely divided for years on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
Four projects had already been rejected in the weeks following 7 October, due to a lack of sufficient votes, or because of Russian, Chinese or American vetoes. The Council finally broke its silence in mid-November, managing to adopt a resolution that called for "humanitarian pauses and corridors" in the Gaza Strip, not a "ceasefire" or even a "truce."