US vetoes UN Security Council resolution on immediate truce in Gaza
The United States on Friday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, as the Zionist regime continues its relentless bombardment of the besieged territory.
Thirteen members of the council voted in favor of the resolution, put forward by the United Arab Emirates, while Britain abstained.
Israeli Ambassador to the US Gilad Erdan thanked Washington “for standing firmly by our side,” insisting that a ceasefire will be possible “only with the return of all the hostages and the destruction of Hamas.”
It came after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter, in a rare move to formally warn the Security Council of the global threat from Israel’s devastating war on Gaza.
The situation in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory “may aggravate existing threats to the maintenance of international peace and security,” Guterres warned.
The US on October 18 vetoed a UN Security Council resolution put forward by Brazil that demanded humanitarian pauses in Gaza.
The Zionist regime waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas carried out a surprise retaliatory attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, into the occupied territories.
At least 17,177 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children, and more than 46,000 others wounded since the occupying entity waged the ongoing war on Gaza.