The United States vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution Wednesday that called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The U.S. was the only country that voted against the resolution, and it did so because the wording of it did not make the ceasefire contingent upon the release of the roughly 100 Israeli hostages whom Hamas kidnapped over a year ago. Seven Americans are believed to be held by Hamas.
The resolution did call for the release of hostages held in Gaza, but the U.S. opposed the demand for an “unconditional ceasefire that failed to release the hostages,” Robert Wood, the deputy U.S. envoy to the U.N., said during the session in New York. “These two urgent goals are inextricably linked. This resolution abandoned that necessity.”
“A durable end to the war must come with the release of the hostages,” he added. “These two urgent goals are inextricably linked. This resolution abandoned that necessity, and for that reason, the United States could not support it.”
This is the fourth time the administration has vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an end to the war. It has cited similar concerns with previous resolutions. The one resolution the U.S. backed that called for “an immediate and sustained ceasefire” was vetoed by China and Russia.
The Biden administration has continued to support Israel diplomatically and militarily despite international criticism. The administration has repeatedly urged Israel to use more discernment in its operations to safeguard Palestinian civilians.
Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack ignited the war. Thousands of Hamas fighters overpowered the border fence and poured into southern Israel, where they proceeded to kill about 1,200 people and kidnap 250 others. Israel, reeling from the worst terrorist attack in the country’s history, launched a military campaign in Gaza to remove Hamas from power and eliminate its infrastructure to carry out a repeat attack, which Hamas officials said they hoped to carry out.
Over the last year, Israeli forces have carried out a massive aerial bombardment campaign and a ground invasion throughout the Gaza Strip. Nearly the entire population of about 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza has been displaced multiple times, and they are facing dire humanitarian conditions with limited food, clean water, and medical supplies.
Israeli forces have killed most of Hamas’s senior leaders in Gaza and some of the ones who reside outside the strip. Israel’s military is believed to have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians over the course of the war, about half of whom were terrorists and the other half were civilians. Hamas intentionally embeds itself within and underneath civilian infrastructure, such as hospitals and religious centers.
The Biden administration has repeatedly sought to get Israel and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire deal to allow for Palestinians to get desperately needed humanitarian aid and the release of the roughly 100 Israeli hostages whom Hamas has held for more than a year now. However, the U.S., which has operated as a mediator with Egypt and Qatar, has been unsuccessful in those efforts over the last year.
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Israel and Hamas briefly agreed to a weeklong pause in late November 2023, but Hamas has not released any hostages since then.
World leaders have repeatedly tried to get both sides to agree to a deal to end the conflict, including via the U.N. Security Council, but with little success to date.