US-backed UN Gaza ceasefire resolution defeated by Russia and China veto
Russia and China vetoed the US-backed resolution as Washington hardens its diplomatic stance on Israel amid a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, US Correspondent Dan Rivers reports
The US-backed Gaza resolution calling for "an immediate and sustained ceasefire" in the Israel-Hamas war has been vetoed by Russia and China.
The countries used their veto as permanent members of UN Security Council. The resolution, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an Israeli-Hamas hostage release, had been expected to pass.
The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 11 members in favour, three against and one abstention.
A key issue was the unusual language that said the Security Council “determines the imperative of an immediate and sustained cease-fire.” The phrasing was not a straightforward “demand” or “call” to halt hostilities.
Before the vote, Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow supports an immediate ceasefire, but he criticised the diluted language, which he called philosophical wording that does not belong in a UN resolution.
Mr Nebenzia accused US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield of “misleading the international community” for “politicised" reasons.
The international community repeatedly warned there is a desperate need to get aid into Gaza as more than two million Palestinians are on the brink of famine.
An Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report published this week found the levels of hunger and starvation in Gaza are the highest ever recorded on the IPC scale and that since December the number of people in the country who are facing levels of hunger has nearly doubled.
In video given to ITV News by UNICEF, filmed by the UN children's charity in Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, several starving babies are visible struggling to survive.
This is the same hospital where several babies and children have already died from dehydration and malnutrition in the past few weeks following a five month siege of Gaza by Israel, cutting water, food and fuel.
Despite widespread hunger growing in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to move the military offensive to the southern city of Rafah, where some 1.3 million displaced Palestinians have sought safety.
Mr Netanyahu says it's a Hamas stronghold.
While the resolution would have been officially binding under international law, it would not have ended the fighting or led to the release of hostages.
But it would have added pressure on Israel as its closest ally falls more in line with global demands for a ceasefire at a time of rising tensions between the US and Israeli governments.
The Security Council had already adopted two resolutions on the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza, but none calling for a ceasefire.
Russia and China vetoed a US-sponsored resolution in late October calling for pauses in the fighting to deliver aid, protection of civilians, and a halt to arming Hamas, saying it didn’t reflect global calls for a ceasefire.
It comes as Mr Blinken, America’s top diplomat, is on his sixth urgent mission to the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war.
He described the veto as "cynical" and said the US "wanted to show a sense of urgency to the international community about getting a ceasefire tied to the release of hostages.
Watch: Footage provided to ITV News by UNICEF shows children faring under dire conditions in Kamal Adwan hospital
Hopes for a cease in fighting were dashed by Mr Netanyahu, who rebuffed calls to halt plans for a ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
In Gaza, the Health Ministry raised the death toll in the territory on Thursday to nearly 32,000 Palestinians. The agency does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.
Mr Netanyahu said on Friday that he told Mr Blinken that a ground offensive is the only way to destroy Hamas.
"I said we have no way to defeat Hamas without entering Rafah and destroying the remaining battalions there," he said.
"I told him that I hope we will do this with the support of the United States, but if necessary, we will do it alone."
Reacting to the vote, Xavier Joubert from Save the Children said: "Once again, children in Gaza have been abandoned by the people whose responsibility it is to protect them.
"Once again, the international community has failed to perform its most basic duty. Children will continue to be killed, maimed, struck down by preventable diseases, and face starvation because of this failure today.
"It has been 157 days since the UN Security Council first failed to adopt a ceasefire resolution. In that time, at least 12,597 children have been killed in Gaza, with thousands more likely trapped under the rubble.
"How many thousands more need to die before the world acts?"
Israel faces mounting pressure to streamline the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip, to open more land crossings and to come to a ceasefire agreement.
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