UN Security Council demands immediate ceasefire in Gaza after US abstains
Item
1 of 5 Members of the United Nations Security Council stand in silence,
in honor of the victims of the Crocus City Hall concert venue Moscow
attack, on the day of a vote on a Gaza resolution that demands an
immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan leading to a permanent
sustainable ceasefire, and the immediate and unconditional release of
all hostages, at U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., March 25,
2024. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
[1/5]Members
of the United Nations Security Council stand in silence, in honor of
the victims of the Crocus City Hall concert venue Moscow attack, on the
day of a vote on a Gaza resolution that demands an immediate ceasefire
for the month of Ramadan leading to a permanent sustainable ceasefire,
and... Purchase Licensing Rights
UNITED
NATIONS, March 25 (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council on
Monday demanded an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian
militants Hamas and the immediate and unconditional release of all
hostages after the United States abstained from the vote.
The remaining 14 council members voted for the resolution, which was proposed by the 10 elected members of the body.
"The
Palestinian people has suffered greatly. This bloodbath has continued
for far too long. It is our obligation to put an end to this bloodbath,
before it is too late," Algeria's U.N. Ambassador Amar Bendjama told the
council after the vote.
Israeli
army radio reported shortly before the council meeting started that
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would cancel a planned
delegation to Washington if the U.S. did not veto the resolution.
Washington
had been averse to the word ceasefire earlier in the nearly
six-month-old war in the Gaza Strip and had used its veto power shield
U.S. ally Israel as it retaliated against Hamas for an Oct. 7 attack
that Israel says killed 1,200 people.
But amid growing global
pressure
for a truce in the war that has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians,
the U.S. abstained from the vote on Monday to allow the Security Council
to demand an immediate ceasefire for the month of Muslim fasting month
of Ramadan, which ends in two weeks.
The
resolution also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all
hostages. Israel says Hamas took 253 hostages during its Oct. 7 attack.
"The
United States support for these objectives is not simply rhetorical.
We're working around the clock to make them real on the ground through
diplomacy, because we know that it is only through diplomacy that we can
push this agenda forward," said U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda
Thomas-Greenfield.
"A
ceasefire can begin immediately with the release of the first hostage
and so we must put pressure on Hamas to do just that," she said.
Thomas-Greenfield
said the U.S. abstained from the vote because it did not agree with
everything in the resolution and the text did not include a condemnation
of Hamas.
The
Security Council resolution also "emphasizes the urgent need to expand
the flow of humanitarian assistance to and reinforce the protection of
civilians in the entire Gaza Strip and reiterates its demand for the
lifting of all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at
scale."
The
U.S. has vetoed three draft council resolutions on the war in Gaza. It
has also previously abstained twice, allowing the council to adopt
resolutions that aimed to boost aid to Gaza and called for extended
pauses in fighting.
Russia and China have also vetoed two U.S. drafted resolutions on the conflict - in October and on
Friday.
Reporting by Michelle Nichols, Editing by Franklin Paul