US faces backlash for vetoing UN resolution calling for ceasefire in Gaza

The United States is facing criticism from the Palestinian Authority that governs the West Bank as well as other global leaders and organizations after vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict, Time magazine reported on December 12.

The Security Council held an emergency meeting last weekend after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked Article 99, a rare move to force a vote on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, where 2 million people have been displaced. Health authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said 17,000 people had been killed in Israel’s campaign to crush Hamas militants after an October 7 attack that killed 1,200.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who leads the entity that US President Joe Biden says will likely govern Gaza and the West Bank after the conflict, said in a statement that the veto made the US complicit in “war crimes”.

Other ambassadors also criticized the US veto. China’s UN representative Zhang Jun noted the “double standards,” saying that tolerating continued fighting while “claiming to care about the lives and safety of people in Gaza” was self-contradictory.

“Our colleagues from the United States have literally put before our eyes the death sentence for thousands, if not tens of thousands of civilians in Palestine and Israel,” said Russia’s UN representative Dmitry Polyanskiy.

Meanwhile, Nicolas de Rivière, French Ambassador to the UN, stressed that by refusing to unite and commit to negotiations, the Security Council had failed in its mission and the situation in Gaza would only get worse. French President Emmanuel Macron had also previously called for a ceasefire.

For its part, Hamas said in a statement on Telegram that it strongly condemned the veto, adding that “we consider the US administration to be an accomplice in the murder of the Palestinian people through its political and military support to Israel to continue its destructive war on the Gaza Strip.”

A host of global organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders, have also condemned the veto, saying it would lead to further death, destruction and humanitarian catastrophe.

The United States vetoed a resolution calling for a ceasefire, put forward by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and backed by more than 90 member states at a meeting in New York City. The United States was the only vetoing country on the Security Council, with 13 members voting in favor, while Britain abstained.

Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert A. Wood told the Security Council that he voted against a “resolution that is unbalanced, divorced from reality and will not advance the ground in any concrete way.”

Mr. Robert A. Wood said the US still could not understand why the drafters of the resolution refused to include language condemning “the horrific terrorist attack by Hamas” and did not mention Israel's right to self-defense.

The US also proposed adding language on its role in diplomacy, increasing opportunities for humanitarian aid, encouraging the release of hostages, resuming a pause in fighting and laying the groundwork for peace, but Mr. Wood said “almost all of our recommendations were ignored.”

Earlier in the day, Ambassador Wood said the US wanted a two-state solution, but did not support an immediate ceasefire because “this would only sow the seeds for further war — because Hamas does not want a lasting peace, to implement a two-state solution.”

Israel is not a member of the UN Security Council. The Times of Israel reported that its ambassador to the UN said in a statement after the vote that “a ceasefire will only be possible when all hostages are returned and Hamas is defeated.”