US vetoes Gaza ceasefire call at UN, says no link to hostage release

The United States on Wednesday vetoed a UN resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in the war in Gaza because it is not linked to an immediate release of hostages taken captive by Hamas in Israel in October 2023.

The UN Security Council voted 14-1 in favour of the resolution sponsored by the 10 elected members on the 15-member council, but it was not adopted because of the US veto.

The resolution that was put to a vote “demands an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire to be respected by all parties, and further reiterates its demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”.

The Security Council in June had adopted its first resolution on a ceasefire plan aimed at ending the war between Israel and Hamas.

The US-sponsored resolution welcomed a cease-fire proposal announced by President Joe Biden that the United States said Israel had accepted. It called on the militant Palestinian group Hamas to accept the three-phase plan – but the war goes on.

With more than 43,000 Palestinians in Gaza killed, according to its health authority, the threat of famine, especially in the north, and no sign of an end to the war, the council’s 10 elected members decided to focus first on a ceasefire.