The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has demanded an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas and the immediate, unconditional release of all hostages after the United States abstained from the vote.
The remaining 14 council members voted for the resolution, which was proposed by the 10 elected members of the body.
Algeria’s UN Ambassador Amar Bendjama told the council after the vote that the Palestinian people had “suffered greatly”.
“This bloodbath has continued for far too long. It is our obligation to put an end to this bloodbath, before it is too late,” Mr Bendjama said.
Washington had been averse to the word ceasefire earlier in the nearly six-month-old war in the Gaza Strip.
It had used its veto power to shield its ally as it retaliated against Hamas for an October 7 attack that Israel says killed 1,200 people.
But amid growing global pressure for a truce in the war that has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, the US abstained from the vote on Monday to allow the Security Council to demand an immediate ceasefire for the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which ends in two weeks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in response to the US’s decision to abstain he would not send a delegation as planned to Washington.
A statement from Mr Netanyahu’s office said that Washington’s failure to veto the proposal was a “clear retreat” from its previous position, and would hurt war efforts against Hamas in Gaza as well as efforts to release over 130 hostages.
“In light of the change in the American position, Prime Minister Netanyahu decided the delegation would not leave,” his office said.
The high-level delegation was due to travel to Washington to discuss a planned Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
The resolution also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. Israel says Hamas took 253 hostages during its October 7 attack.
Although the resolution is considered binding on member states, Israel can choose not to comply with the ceasefire order, and could then face possible sanctions by the UNSC.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that America’s support for these objectives was “not simply rhetorical”.
“We’re working around the clock to make them real on the ground through diplomacy, because we know that it is only through diplomacy that we can push this agenda forward,” Ms Thomas-Greenfield said.
“A ceasefire can begin immediately with the release of the first hostage and so we must put pressure on Hamas to do just that.”
She said the US abstained from the vote because it did not agree with everything in the resolution and the text did not include a condemnation of Hamas.
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 US has vetoed three draft council resolutions on the war in Gaza. It has 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 have also vetoed two US drafted resolutions on the conflict — in October and on Friday.
Reuters/ABC