US vetoes UN Security Council resolution on Gaza ceasefire

The United States on Wednesday vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution for a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza, accusing council members of cynically rejecting attempts at reaching a compromise.

The 15-member council voted on a resolution put forward by its 10 non-permanent members in a meeting that called for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” and separately demanded the release of hostages.

Only the US voted against it, using its veto as a permanent council member, to block the resolution. A senior US official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity ahead of the vote, had said the US would only support a resolution that explicitly calls for the immediate release of hostages as part of a ceasefire.

Israel’s 13-month campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 44,000 people and displaced nearly all the enclave’s population at least once. It was launched in response to an attack by Hamas-led fighters who killed 1,200 people and captured over 250 hostages in Israel on October 7, 2023. Ahead of the vote, Britain put forward new language that the US would have supported as a compromise, but that was rejected, the US official said. Some of the council’s 10 elected members were more interested in bringing about a US veto than compromising on the resolution, the official said, accusing Russia and China of encouraging those members.

Halt to hostilities now in Israel’s hands: Hezbollah

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem has said that his group had reviewed & given feedback on a US-drafted ceasefire proposal to end fighting with Israel, and a halt to hostilities was now in Israel’s hands. His comments aired a few hours after US envoy Amos Hochstein said he would head to Israel to try to close a deal on a truce, after two days of meetings with Lebanese officials.