US vetoes UN resolution for ceasefire in Gaza

The United States used its veto power against a draft UN Security Council resolution that requested an immediate ceasefire on humanitarian grounds in the Gaza Strip.

Thirteen of the 15 member states of the Council voted in favour of the draft resolution proposed by the United Arab Emirates against the United States' opposition and the United Kingdom's abstention from voting.

Deputy US delegate Robert Wood considered that the draft resolution was "detached from reality" and "will not advance matters on the ground."

UNRWA statement

The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, called for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire" in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli raids in two months left more than 17,400 people dead, according to the Hamas government. 

According to Lazzarini, more than a million people took refuge in UNRWA facilities in Gaza, "which were not spared from continuous bombing operations, even though they were supposed to be protected under international humanitarian law ." 

Lazzarini said on Friday, "During my 35 years of work in complex emergency contexts, I never thought I would write this letter, anticipating the death of my team and the collapse of the mandate I was supposed to respect." 

While UNRWA says it is no longer able to help all the displaced, Hamas called on it in a statement on Friday to "complete the issue of distributing flour and basic food supplies to citizens as quickly as possible and without delay, procrastination and procrastination.