Israeli ambassador to the UN thanks the United States, Palestinian ambassador deplores a “sad day”
By rejecting the immediate ceasefire in Gaza this Friday, the United States, Israel’s ally, vetoed a United Nations (UN) resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian issue for the 35th time since 1970 (out of 39 in total).
“We do not support a resolution that calls for an unsustainable ceasefire that will simply plant the seeds of the next war”justified the deputy American ambassador Robert Wood, also denouncing the“moral failure” of the absence in the text of condemnation of the Hamas attacks of October 7.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, thanked the United States for “stay firmly by our side”believing that a ceasefire would only be possible through “destruction of Hamas”.
“It is a sad day in the history of the Security Council”, conversely lamented the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour. But “we will not give up”, he added.
The draft resolution, supported by nearly 100 countries, demanded “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire”the release of hostages and humanitarian access. “As the crisis in Gaza deepens and threatens to spread, [le Conseil] does not live up to the fundamental mission entrusted to it by the Charter”declared French Ambassador Nicolas de Rivière.
“Our American colleagues have before our eyes sentenced thousands and even tens of thousands of additional Palestinian and Israeli civilians to death”added the deputy Russian ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky.
Despite the Council’s vote, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “remains committed to pushing for a humanitarian ceasefire”, its spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told Agence France-Presse (AFP). Mr. Guterres had on Friday morning strongly called on the Council to act to avoid “total collapse of public order” in the Gaza Strip.
“I condemn without reservation” the Hamas attacks of October 7, but “the violence perpetrated by Hamas can in no way justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people”did he declare. “While Hamas’s indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel and use of civilians as human shields are violations of the laws of war, such behavior does not absolve Israel of its own violations.”insisted Antonio Guterres.