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Palestinians slam US veto of UN resolution for Gaza ceasefire as 'disastrous'

Saturday, 09 December 2023 8:38 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 09 December 2023 3:37 PM ]

US Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations, Robert Wood, speaks during a UN Security Council after the vote about a ceasefire in Gaza at UN headquarters in New York, the United States, on December 8, 2023. (Photo by AFP)

Palestinian officials have censured the United States over using its power of veto alone to veto a UN Security Council resolution urging an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, describing the move as “disastrous” and “a disgrace”.

The Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement slammed the US for sinking the UN ceasefire call, stating that the measure clearly shows Washington’s direct complicity in the Israeli carnage against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Izzat al-Risheq, a member of the group’s political bureau, said in a statement that the United States’ veto of the resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza is “unethical and inhumane.”

“Washington’s decision to scuttle the draft resolution points to its active and direct participation with the occupying Israeli regime in the ongoing massacre of our people, and committing more massacres and ethnic cleansing,” Risheq noted.

US blocks UN Security Council demand for ceasefire in Israel’s genocidal war

The United States has vetoed a UN Security Council demand for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Separately, Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour slammed the UN Security Council’s failure to adopt a UN resolution calling for Gaza ceasefire as “beyond regrettable” and “disastrous.”

“Instead of allowing this council to uphold its mandate by finally making a clear call, after two months, that atrocities must end, the war criminals are given more time to perpetuate their crimes. How can this be justified? How can anyone justify the slaughter of an entire people?” he said.

Mansour reiterated his call for a ceasefire, saying “every further day means lives lost, people killed at an unprecedented pace in modern history.”

The draft resolution proposed by the United Arab Emirates received support from thirteen members of the Security Council, with Britain choosing to abstain.

The voting took place after UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday officially alerted the 15-member council about the international risks posed by the Israeli war on Gaza.

The US and Israel oppose a ceasefire because they believe it would only benefit Hamas.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the territory’s Palestinian resistance movements waged the surprise Operation al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

The Israeli aggression has so far killed at least 17,487 Palestinians, most of them women and children. More than 46,000 people have been wounded as well.

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