The US has vetoed a UN motion calling for an “immediate” ceasefire in Gaza, despite being the lone security council member to vote against it.
The resolution, introduced by the council’s 10 non-permanent members, was backed by 14 of its 15 member states, including the UK, France and Russia.
"US opposition to this resolution should come as no surprise," Dorothy Shea, the acting US envoy, told the council on Wednesday. "It is unacceptable for what it does say. It is unacceptable for what it does not say, and it is unacceptable for the manner in which it has been advanced."
"The United States has been clear," she added. "We would not support any measure that fails to condemn Hamas and does not call for Hamas to disarm and leave Gaza."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the resolution "would’ve only served to advance the interests of Hamas terrorists, while undermining diplomatic efforts".
Rubio echoed Shea's earlier remarks, stating that any UN measure "should clearly condemn Hamas and call for them to disarm and leave Gaza," and adding that "the US will continue to stand with Israel".
As a permanent member of the council, the US wields veto power over any resolutions. China, France, Russia and the United Kingdom are the other four permanent members.
The non-permanent members, who advanced the resolution, are Algeria, Denmark, Greece, Guyana, Pakistan, Panama, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Somalia.
"In recent months, Hamas has rejected numerous ceasefire proposals, including one over the weekend that would provide a pathway to end this conflict and release the remaining 58 hostages," Shea told the council. "We cannot allow the Security Council to reward Hamas’s intransigence."
She added that the terrorist group is the one that "continues to threaten Israelis and puts Palestinian civilians in Gaza in harm’s way every day, using them as human shields". Hamas has "brutally suppressed those brave enough to challenge its despotic rule," she said.
"It is inexplicable that many members of this council still refuse to acknowledge that Hamas could end this conflict tomorrow by surrendering and laying down its arms," she said. "It is unconscionable that the United Nations still has not labelled and sanctioned Hamas as a terrorist organisation.
"In addition to refusing, once again, to condemn Hamas for the cowardly and evil acts that set this brutal conflict into motion, this resolution contains other serious defects," she added.
Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the UN, stated: "The resolution voted on was a gift to Hamas and risked emboldening terrorism.”
"You chose appeasement and submission. You chose a road that does not lead to peace. Only to more terror," he told the members of the council, with the exception of Washington.
"Instead of confronting the truth, some on this council attempted to bury it. Instead of applying pressure where it belongs—on Hamas—you have applied it on the country actively working to bring its people home," Danon said.
The vote was "not diplomacy," he said. "That is surrender, and it sends a clear message to Hamas: Reject every deal, and the international community will still reward you. Hold innocent civilians hostage, and the UN will still give you legitimacy. Continue the war, and the pressure will still fall on Israel, not on the terrorists who started this war."
Danon thanked Washington for its veto and "for standing on the right side, for standing on the side of truth, justice and moral clarity" and "for refusing to abandon the hostages and for refusing to legitimise the lies of this resolution."
The UK mission to the UN stated that it voted in favour of the resolution due to the aid situation in Gaza, with humanitarian assistance provided by a private company at distribution sites within IDF-controlled areas.
"Israel's new system is not working. Palestinians have been killed as they try to reach the very few aid sites that Israel has permitted," it claimed. "It is inhumane. Israel must let the United Nations save lives."
Israel insists that sufficient aid is reaching the territory and has suggested that reports of recent violence at distribution centres may be the work of Hamas gunmen.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar thanked US President Donald Trump and his administration for "standing shoulder to shoulder" with the Jewish state in rejecting the resolution, arguing that it emboldens the Hamas terrorist group and undermines American attempts to secure a hostage agreement.
