United States Vetoes UN Resolution Calling for Humanitarian Aid Access to Gaza
October 18, 2023
The United States has vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution on Wednesday that would have called for humanitarian pauses in the conflict between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants to allow humanitarian aid access to the Gaza Strip.
The Brazilian-drafted resolution was delayed twice in the past couple of days as the United States attempted to broker aid access to Gaza. Twelve members voted in favor of the draft text on Wednesday, while Russia and Britain abstained.
“We are on the ground doing the hard work of diplomacy,” said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, after the vote. “We believe we need to let that diplomacy play out.”
Thomas-Greenfield emphasized the importance of informed actions and direct diplomacy efforts in saving lives. She also expressed disappointment that the draft resolution made no mention of Israel’s rights of self-defense and blamed Hamas for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Washington has traditionally shielded its ally Israel from any Security Council action, prompting Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia to accuse the United States of hypocrisy and double standards.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to allow for the release of hostages and humanitarian aid access to Gaza.
The draft resolution also urged Israel to rescind its order for civilians and U.N. staff in Gaza to move to the south of the Palestinian enclave and condemned “the terrorist attacks by Hamas.”
Israel recently ordered almost half the population of Gaza, approximately 1.1 million people, to move south as it prepares for a ground offensive in retaliation for a deadly Hamas attack on Israeli civilians.
The conflict has put Gaza under siege and subjected it to intense bombardment. Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas after the group killed 1,400 people and seized hostages in an attack on October 7. Palestinian officials report that over 3,000 Palestinians have been killed.
The draft U.N. resolution condemned all violence against civilians, all acts of terrorism, and called for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Howard Goller and Deepa Babington
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