The United States on Wednesday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza, drawing criticism of the Biden administration for once again blocking international action aimed at halting Israel's war with Hamas.
The 15-member council voted on a resolution put forward by 10 non-permanent members that called for an "immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire" in the 13-month conflict and separately demanded the release of hostages.
Only the US voted against, using its veto as a permanent council member to block the resolution.
Robert Wood, deputy US ambassador to the UN, said Washington had made clear it would only support a resolution that explicitly calls for the immediate release of hostages as part of a ceasefire.
"A durable end to the war must come with the release of the hostages. These two urgent goals are inextricably linked. This resolution abandoned that necessity, and for that reason, the United States could not support it," he said.
Wood said the US had sought compromise, but the text of the proposed resolution would have sent a "dangerous message" to Palestinian group Hamas that "there's no need to come back to the negotiating table."
The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, Majed Bamya, said Wednesday that there was "no justification" for Washington's veto of a Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
"There's no justification, no justification whatsoever for vetoing a resolution trying to stop atrocities," he said after the vote.
Hamas accused the US of being "directly responsible" for Israel's "genocidal war" in Gaza after the veto.
"Again, the US demonstrates that it is a direct partner in the aggression against our people, that it is a criminal, kills children and women and destroys civilian life in Gaza, and that it is directly responsible for the genocidal war and ethnic cleansing, just like the occupation (Israel)," Hamas said in a statement.
Israeli forces killed at least 33 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including a rescue worker, health officials said, as troops deepened an incursion along the territory's northern edge, bombarding a hospital and blowing up homes.
Members roundly criticised the US for blocking the resolution put forward by the council's 10 elected members: Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Switzerland.
"It is deeply regretted that due to the use of the veto this council has once again failed to uphold its responsibility to maintain international peace and security," Malta's UN Ambassador Vanessa Frazier said after the vote failed, adding that the text of the resolution "was by no means a maximalist one."
"It represented the bare minimum of what is needed to begin to address the desperate situation on the ground," she said. Food security experts have warned that famine is imminent among Gaza's 2.3 million people.
After blocking earlier resolutions on Gaza, Washington in March abstained from a vote that allowed a resolution to pass demanding an immediate ceasefire.
A senior US official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity ahead of Wednesday's vote, said Britain had put forward new language that the US would have supported as a compromise, but that was rejected by the elected members.
Some members were more interested in bringing about a US veto than compromising on the resolution, the official said, accusing US adversaries Russia and China of encouraging those members.
France's ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said the resolution rejected by the US "very firmly" required the release of hostages.
"France still has two hostages in Gaza, and we deeply regret that the Security Council was not able to formulate this demand," he said.
China's U.N. ambassador, Fu Cong, said each time the United States had exercised its veto to protect Israel, the number of people killed in Gaza had steadily risen.
"How many more people have to die before they wake up from their pretend slumber?" he asked.
"Insistence on setting a precondition for ceasefire is tantamount to giving the green light to continue the war and condoning the continued killing."
Agencies