The United States on Tuesday they vetoed it on a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate and definitive humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The United States is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council (the others are China, France, Russia and the United Kingdom) and therefore has the so-called “right of veto”: that is, it can block any decision. It is the third time that they have vetoed resolutions calling for a ceasefire in the Strip: in addition to having vetoed, however, they have made their own proposal for a ceasefire, with different conditions.
The resolution was proposed by Algeria. The United Kingdom abstained from the vote, while the other 13 member countries of the Council voted in favour. According to the United States, asking for a ceasefire at this time would “put at risk” the negotiations started with the collaboration of Qatar and Egypt to end the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The war began after the violent attack by Hamas on Israeli territory last October 7, in which around 1,200 people were killed and around 240 kidnapped: since then Israel has bombed, besieged and invaded the Gaza Strip by land, killing at least 29 thousand people.
The draft resolution proposed by the United States provides for a provisional ceasefire “as soon as feasible” and sets as a further condition the release of all Israeli hostages still held by Hamas; it also proposes to eliminate the barriers that currently hinder the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip. It is currently unclear if and when the Security Council will vote on the US proposal.
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