Thirteen council members voted in favor of the Algerian-drafted text, while Britain abstained.
It was the third such U.S. veto since the start of the current fighting on October 7.
“A vote in favor of this draft resolution is in support of the Palestinians right to life. Conversely, voting against it implies an endorsement of the brutal violence and collective punishment inflicted upon them,” Algeria’s UN Ambassador Amar Bendjama told the council before the vote.
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield signaled on Saturday that the U.S. would veto the draft resolution
over concerns it could jeopardize talks between the U.S., Egypt, Israel and Qatar that seek to broker a pause in the war and the release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“Any action this council takes right now should help, not hinder these sensitive, and ongoing negotiations. And we believe that the resolution on the table right now would, in fact, negatively impact those negotiations,” Thomas-Greenfield told the council ahead of the vote.
“Demanding an immediate, unconditional ceasefire without an agreement requiring Hamas to release the hostages will not bring about a durable peace. Instead, it could extend the fighting between Hamas and Israel,” she said.
The United States has since proposed a rival draft resolution calling for a temporary ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and
opposing a major ground offensive by its ally Israel in Rafah.
The U.S. draft resolution would see the Security Council “underscore its support for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza as soon as practicable,
based on the formula of all hostages being released, and calls for lifting all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale.”
