US Vetoes UN resolution Calling For Ceasefire In Gaza While UK Abstain
The United States vetoed UN Security Council’s demand for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. 13 Security Council members voted in favour of the resolution where as US vetoed and UK abstained.
The call for the immediate ceasefire came after the Secretary General of UN, Antonio Guterres made a rare move by invoking Article 99 of UN Charter, to formally warn all members of Security Council about global threat the genocidal war will cause.
“While the US strongly supports a durable peace in which both Israel and Palestine can live in peace and security, we do not support calls for an immediate ceasefire. This would only plant the seeds for the next war, because Hamas has no desire to see durable peace, to see a two-state solution”, said deputy US ambassador to UN, Robert Wood, as quoted by Al Jazeera.
The Article 99 of the UN Charter gives the secretary general the provision to “bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security”.
Mr. Guterres said he invoked the Article 99 because, “we are at a breaking point, with high risk of the total collapse of the humanitarian support system in Gaza, with devastating consequences”.
A humanitarian nightmare is engulfing the people of Gaza.
I invoked Article 99 of the @UN charter, because we are at a breaking point, with a high risk of the total collapse of the humanitarian support system in Gaza, with devastating consequences.https://t.co/Qp1IVfwS2J
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) December 8, 2023
United States and Israel strongly hold on to the belief that a ceasefire will benefit Hamas. The US supports pauses in the brutal war, which enables the exchange of hostages and providing humanitarian aid to the crumbled Gaza Strip. One such pause of seven days ended on December 1st and ever since then, the Israeli shelling on the besieged enclave has only gotten worse, with more than 700 civilians killed within 24 hours.
The occupation force is reigning bombs from the air while a deadly ground invasion is going on with Netanyahu’s force detaining civilians in the name of “if” they are Hamas members. The arrested civilians were forced to undergo humiliating questioning where they were stripped of their clothes and hands tied.
Health Ministry of Gaza says more than 17, 480 Palestinians were killed in Israel’s genocidal bombarding in the tiny coastal enclave. UN said more than 80 percentage of the total population of Gaza Strip was displaced due to the heavy bombing.
On Friday, Antonio Guterres told the council, “there is no effective protection of civilians. The people of Gaza are being told to move like human pinballs – ricocheting between ever-smaller slivers of the south, without any of the basic for survival. But nowhere in Gaza is safe”.
