UN Security Council passes resolution demanding ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Gaza as US withholds veto
The United Nations Security Council passes a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, after the United States withholds its veto and abstains from the vote.
The remaining 14 council members vote for the resolution, which was proposed by the 10 elected members of the body.
This is the first time that the Security Council has passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza since the start of the war.
Washington had been averse to the word ceasefire earlier in the nearly six-month-old war in the Gaza Strip and had used its veto power to block previous resolutions.
The resolution “demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire, and also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”
One hundred and thirty hostages are still held by terror groups in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which saw thousands of terrorists burst into Israel, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping another 253, mostly civilians, many amid horrific acts of brutality.
The Security Council resolution also “emphasizes the urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian assistance to and reinforce the protection of civilians in the entire Gaza Strip and reiterates its demand for the lifting of all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale.”
The vote comes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to cancel a planned delegation to Washington if the US did not veto the resolution.
The resolution’s cosponsors — Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Switzerland — sought to include the phrase “permanent sustainable ceasefire” into that line, but the US rejected the term and the final text uses the phrase “lasting sustainable ceasefire.”
The US had previously vetoed three resolutions calling for an immediate ceasefire which made no mention of the hostage talks.
The acknowledgment of those negotiations, while not directly linking them to the demanded ceasefire, appeared to be the compromise struck by Security Council members.
The US had also previously abstained twice, allowing the council to adopt resolutions that aimed to boost aid to Gaza and called for extended pauses in fighting.
Russia and China had also vetoed two US-drafted resolutions on the conflict – in October and on Friday.
A US resolution voted down by the council on Friday directly tied the Gaza ceasefire it demanded with the talks being brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the US.
