Israel-Hamas war: U.S. vetoes U.N. Security Council ceasefire vote

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On Tuesday, the United States vetoed a vote by the United Nations Security Council to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The draft resolution brought forth by Algerian ambassador Amar Bendjama was approved by 13 countries, with the United Kingdom abstaining and the United States voting against. According to U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the reason for the veto was in part due to ongoing negotiations over the release of Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas. "Proceeding with the vote today was wishful and irresponsible. And so, while we cannot support a resolution that would put sensitive negotiations in jeopardy, we look forward to engaging on a text that we believe will address so many of the concerns we all share," she said.

Video Transcript

CAROLYN RODRIGUES-BIRKETT: Those against? Abstentions? The draft resolution has not been adopted, owing to the negative vote of a permanent member of the council.

LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Colleagues over the past few weeks, we have made incredibly clear that the resolution before the council would not achieve the goal of a sustainable peace and may in fact run counter to it. Proceeding with a vote today was wishful and irresponsible.

And so while we cannot support a resolution that would put sensitive negotiations in jeopardy, we look forward to engaging on a text that we believe will address so many of the concerns we all share, a text that can and should be adopted by the council so that we can have a temporary ceasefire as soon as practicable, based on the formula of all hostages being released.

This temporary ceasefire is critical to getting aid into the hands of Palestinian civilians who desperately, desperately need it. We should look towards this text so that we can finally, finally condemn Hamas for their horrific attacks on October 7 which set this conflict into motion so that we can empower Senior Coordinator Kaag and the United Nations, because her success is the UN's success.

And it is so very needed to ensure civilians get the aid that they need more efficiently and effectively, and just more, period. And so that ultimately, we can together help create a future in which Israelis and Palestinians live in states of their own side by side in peace.

We're committed to engaging constructively on our resolution with you all in the days to come to that end. And we will continue to tirelessly engage in direct diplomacy and negotiations on the ground. Thank you.