The United States on Tuesday vetoed for the third time a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, saying it would undermine ongoing U.S.-led negotiations for a six-week pause in fighting If Hamas enters, undermined would publish more Over 100 remaining Israeli hostages in exchange for imprisoned Palestinians and additional humanitarian aid for civilians.
The resolution, introduced by Algeria on behalf of the Arab group of U.N. members, would “send the wrong message to Hamas,” said U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and “would actually give it something it asked for without it from.” to ask them to give something back.”
Instead, Thomas-Greenfield urged council members to support an alternative U.S. resolution, still in draft form, demanding that Israel – along with agreeing to a “temporary ceasefire as soon as possible” – agree to the release of hostages – to refrain from a major offensive in Rafah and take “immediate action” to allow the unhindered flow of humanitarian aid into the enclave through additional land and sea access points.
So far, the US's direct appeals to Israel on all of these points have met with little positive response, at least from the public. President Biden, under pressure at home and abroad to use U.S. influence more effectively, has become increasingly outspoken, calling Israeli military tactics “excessive,” even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he would first bow to international demands after a total victory over Hamas has been achieved.
The United States stood alone in resisting calls for an immediate ceasefire and demanding more time for negotiations. With the exception of Britain, which abstained, the remaining 15 members of the Council voted in favor of the Algerian resolution, which also called for the release of all hostages.
In speeches both angry and sad, ambassadors from nation after nation made it clear that they had had enough.
“The loss of life and the humanitarian situation in Gaza are unbearable and Israeli operations must cease,” French Ambassador Nicolas de Rivière said after voting for the resolution.
“It is not that there is no overarching consensus in the Security Council, but rather it is the exercise of the veto by the United States that has suppressed the consensus in the council,” China's envoy Zhang Jun said.
The veto was a “strong example of double standards,” said Egyptian Ambassador Osama Mahmoud Abdel Khalek Mahmoud, whose government, along with Qatar and the United States, is part of the hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas. Mahmoud expressed “disappointment and frustration with the US blockade.”
Far from hindering discussion of a hostage release, he said, the defeated resolution would have created “conditions conducive to its success.”
The negotiations themselves, initially expected to move quickly after a proposed “framework” was presented to Israel and Hamas nearly three weeks ago, did not go well. “We have made good progress [the] “In the last few weeks … but the last few days have not gone as expected,” Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.
If an agreement can be reached on outstanding issues “in the next few days,” “I believe we can reach an agreement very soon,” he said. … But the last few days aren’t really promising.”
On Tuesday, the Biden administration dispatched one of its biggest guns on the issue — Brett McGurk, National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East — to Cairo and Tel Aviv “specifically to see if we can enforce this hostage deal,” council spokesman John said Kirby reporter at the White House. “We are in a very sensitive time right now as these discussions are ongoing.”
The United States is seeking to extend an earlier, week-long pause in the Israel-Gaza war in November that led to the release of 105 hostages – women and children – captured by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel . This attack killed approximately 1,200 Israelis and resulted in massive military retaliation.
The new framework provides for a six-week cessation of hostilities. The proposed U.S. resolution for the first time mentioned a “ceasefire,” albeit a temporary one that Biden administration officials hope will last long enough to lead to something more permanent.
An administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy, called the U.S. draft resolution a “positive vision” that would place demands on both Israel and Hamas and a firm commitment to a long-term and lasting solution included peace and the reconstruction of Gaza. Thomas-Greenfield invited other governments to consult on the document but gave no indication of when it might be put up for a vote.
US, Arab nations plan post-war Gaza, timeline for Palestinian state
Israel's ongoing operations in Gaza have left nearly 30,000 dead, according to Gaza health authorities. Hundreds of thousands of civilians fled to the south of the Gaza Strip as Israel began its air and ground assault in the north, but estimates suggest up to 300,000 people remain there. While aid deliveries have been difficult throughout the enclave, few have managed to arrive in the northern Gaza Strip due to ongoing fighting, destroyed roads and Israeli denial of passage.
After its trucks were ambushed by civilian looters, the World Food Program said on Tuesday it was suspending what it described as “life-saving” aid deliveries to the north due to security concerns amid “unprecedented desperation” across the Gaza Strip.
Israel has repeatedly said that sufficient aid has been provided and accused UNRWA, the UN agency that is the main distributor of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, of colluding with Hamas and allowing it to siphon aid. “UNRWA is a terrorist organization,” Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan told the Security Council on Tuesday. “In Gaza, Hamas is the UN and the UN is Hamas.”
Many of those who fled the destruction in the north are now crowded into tents, makeshift shelters and on the streets of Rafah on the Egyptian border after Israel shifted the focus of its offensive to the southern city of Khan Younis, searching for alleged Hamas leaders who had sought refuge in a network of tunnels.
“Absolutely nothing has changed in our desire to eliminate the threat from Hamas,” Kirby said. “We do not believe that the Hamas leadership here should get away scot-free after the events of October 7.”
However, he reiterated Biden's warning to Israel not to attack Rafah without a “credible and actionable plan” to protect civilians. “We do not support major operations in Rafah that do not adequately address the safety of these millions of people seeking refuge,” he said. “I'm not aware at this point that there is a credible plan for this.” Kirby said McGurk would repeat that message when he arrives in Israel on Thursday.
Netanyahu said calling off or delaying a Rafah offensive would be tantamount to asking Israel to “lose the war” against Hamas. On Tuesday, he reiterated that Israel would not change course.
“We are determined to continue the war until we achieve all of its objectives,” Netanyahu said. “There is no pressure, no one who can change that.”
Israel has indicated that a Rafah offensive would take place before the start of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting, on March 10.
This has become the crucial deadline for completing a hostage deal. Israel called Hamas's counterproposal to release 1,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons “insane.” The negotiating framework called for the release of three prisoners for each hostage – the same conditions as the November recess.
Officials have indicated that humanitarian assistance is currently the biggest problem. Hamas demanded that at least 500 trucks enter the Gaza Strip every day. Negotiators fear that unless new routes are opened, it will be difficult to get above the current level of 200 on a good day.