US rejects a request from the UN Security Council for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza

The US rejected a UN Security Council resolution in Gaza that called for an emergency humanitarian truce between Israel and Hamas, further separating Washington diplomatically as it stands up for its partner.

The resolution, put out by the United Arab Emirates, garnered the backing of almost ninety member nations. The UK did not vote in favor of the resolution, although 13 other UNSC members did.

“What is the message we are sending Palestinians if we cannot unite behind a call to halt the relentless bombardment of Gaza?” Reuters news agency described Mohamed Abushahab, the deputy UAE ambassador to the UN, as asking the council.

Israel and the United States reject a ceasefire because they believe it would benefit Hamas exclusively. Washington, on the other hand, supports military cease-fires that protect civilians and allow the release of captives taken hostage by Hamas during the horrific October 7 assault on Israel.

Following the attack on October 7, Israel began an incursion against Hamas in Gaza. (Source image: Reuters)

The draft resolution, according to US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood, was a hurried and unbalanced document “that was divorced from reality, that would not move the needle forward on the ground in any concrete way.”

According to Reuters, Wood said, “We do not support this resolution’s call for an unsustainable ceasefire that will only plant the seeds for the next war.”

Following an approximately 1,200-person attack on southern Israel on October 7, most of whom were civilians, Israel started an airborne ground incursion against Hamas in Gaza. Most of the 2.3 million residents of the Palestinian enclave were compelled to flee their houses due to Israel’s bombing.