The UN Security Council on Friday failed to adopt a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. The move was vetoed by permanent member and Israel ally the United States as the Hamas-Israel war rages on with no respite for Gaza's population.
While the United Kingdom abstained from the vote, the rest of the 13 temporary and permanent members of the 15-member council supported the resolution, namely France, China, Russia as well as Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.
Speaking after the vote, Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood said the resolution was “rushed” and “unrealistic.”
“The result of this rushed process was an imbalanced resolution that was divorced from reality that would not move the needle forward on the ground in any concrete way. And so we regretfully could not support it,” he told the council. He also criticized the text's failure to condemn Hamas over its attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
