U.S. vetoes United Nations resolution demanding cease-fire in Gaza

U.S. vetoes U.N. resolution demanding a cease-fire in Gaza because there’s no link to hostage release

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sits at a long table.

By Edith M. Lederer

Nov. 20, 2024 9:18 AM PT

UNITED NATIONS — The United States on Wednesday vetoed a U.N. resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the war in Gaza because it did not require an immediate release of hostages taken captive by Hamas in Israel in October 2023.

The U.N. Security Council voted 14-1 in favor of the resolution sponsored by the 10 elected members on the 15-member council, but it was not adopted because of the U.S. veto.

The resolution that was put to a vote “demands an immediate, unconditional and permanent cease-fire to be respected by all parties, and further reiterates its demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”

U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood said the United States worked for weeks to avoid a veto and expressed regret that compromise language was not accepted.

“We made clear throughout negotiations we could not support an unconditional cease-fire that failed to release the hostages,” he said. “Hamas would have seen it as a vindication of its cynical strategy to hope and pray the international community forgets about the fate of more than 100 hostages from more than 20 member states who have been held for 410 days.”

The Security Council in June had adopted its first resolution on a cease-fire plan aimed at ending the war between Israel and Hamas. The U.S.-sponsored resolution welcomed a cease-fire proposal announced by President Biden that the United States said Israel had accepted, and it called on the militant Palestinian group Hamas to accept the plan — but the war goes on. That plan included a cease-fire, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and a surge in aid into Gaza.

With more than 43,000 Palestinians in Gaza killed, according to its health authority, the threat of famine, especially in the north, and no sign of an end to the war, the council’s 10 elected members decided to focus first on a cease-fire.

Guyana’s U.N. ambassador, Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett, introduced the resolution on behalf of the elected members, saying, “It was prompted by the council’s deep concern over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, including what was unfolding in North Gaza, and the need for an urgent response to that situation.”

She stressed the resolution’s demand for immediate access for humanitarian aid deliveries throughout Gaza, and the Security Council’s primary responsibility to uphold international peace and security and its demands for an immediate cease-fire, and for the release of hostages.

Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Danny Danon, told reporters shortly before the council meeting that the resolution was “nothing short of outrage — a betrayal of the 101 innocent hostages still held by Hamas.” Its adoption, he said, would “send a message that terrorists can act with impunity.”

Algeria’s U.N. Ambassador Amar Bendjama, the Arab representative and an elected member of the council, was sharply critical of the U.S. vote and the council’s failure to take action.

“Today’s message is clear to the Israeli occupying power: First you may continue your genocide. You may continue your collective punishment of the Palestinian people with complete impunity. In this chamber, you enjoy immunity,” he said.

Bendjama called the resolution’s defeat a missed opportunity that will have “devastating consequences for the international order.” But he vowed that the elected members will return soon with an even stronger resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which is militarily enforceable — and they will not stop until the council takes action.

Lederer writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report from Washington.