The United States has exercised its veto power to block a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the ongoing war between Israel and Palestine’s Gaza.
Despite support from 13 Security Council members, a draft resolution proposed by the United Arab Emirates on Friday faced a U.S. veto, with the United Kingdom abstaining.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter to formally warn the 15-member council of a global threat from the two-month-long war that has killed 17,847 Palestinians in Gaza in 55 days.
The U.S., “while expressing a commitment to a lasting peace for both Israel and Palestine, rejected calls for an immediate ceasefire, arguing that it could lead to future conflicts as Hamas lacks interest in a durable peace and a two-state solution.”
Israel has bombarded Gaza from the air, imposed a siege and launched a ground offensive. Vast areas of the territory have been reduced to a wasteland.
According to UN, about 80 percent of the population has been displaced, facing shortages of food, fuel, water and medicine, along with the threat of disease.
“There is no effective protection of civilians,” Guterres told the council earlier on Friday.
“The people of Gaza are being told to move like human pinballs – ricocheting between ever-smaller slivers of the south, without any of the basics for survival. But nowhere in Gaza is safe.”
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Israeli forces killed six Palestinians on Friday, the Health Ministry reported.