Pressure on US increases after veto of UN call for ceasefire in Gaza
The United States, diplomatically isolated after casting the sole vote against a United Nations resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, came under increasing criticism on Saturday from a number of governments, human rights groups and aid agencies who warned of catastrophic consequences for citizens. in the war-torn area.
Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, which Washington and others have pitched as a potential governing body for post-war Gaza, said Friday’s veto was “a sign of shame that will haunt the United States for many years to come.” He called the United States “aggressive and unethical.”
Nicolas de Rivière, France’s ambassador to the United Nations, called for a “new immediate and lasting humanitarian ceasefire” and, without naming his ally the United States, lamented that the Security Council had “failed again.”
“We see no contradiction between the fight against terrorism and the protection of civilians,” he said.
Diplomatic tensions arose when the Israeli army bombed the Gaza Strip from the air, on the ground and at sea on Saturday.
The United States has supported Israel as criticism of the war in Gaza has increased, but senior officials in the Biden administration have also shown apparent growing impatience over the massive casualties inflicted on the people of Gaza. More than 15,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its retaliatory war in response to the Oct. 7 killing of 1,200 Israelis by Hamas and other groups.
One of the strongest warnings came from Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, who said Israel faces a “strategic defeat” if Palestinian civilians are not better protected.
At the same time, the United States continues to send weapons and ammunition to Israel. Two U.S. officials told The New York Times on Saturday that the State Department pushed through a government sale of 13,000 tank munitions, worth more than $106 million, to Israel, bypassing a congressional review process that is typically required for arms sales to foreigners. nation.
The Defense Department confirmed in an online post that Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken had used an emergency declaration late Friday to expedite the sale.
The use of the procedure to bypass Congress appears to show that administration officials are aware of growing anger among American lawmakers and ordinary citizens over Israel’s use of American weapons in its war in Gaza.
Israel’s ground invasion, which began in northern Gaza in October, has moved south in the past week as intense fighting, often at close range, has spread across the area. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled northern Gaza for the south, and there are now few places for Gazans to go.
Humanitarian aid groups warned on Saturday that thousands of children in the area were at risk of starving to death. Save the Children, a British charity, said it had documented at least 7,685 children under the age of five who were so malnourished that they required “urgent medical treatment to prevent death.”
In addition to the lack of food, the United Nations has repeatedly warned of the risk of epidemics in Gaza, amid conditions that Philippe Lazzarini, the director of the UN agency assisting Palestinians, has described as “unsustainable.”
In a summary of the circumstances posted on social media on Friday, Mr Lazzarini depicted increasingly dystopian scenes across Gaza, with 700 people using one toilet, tens of thousands of Gazans sleeping in the open – on the streets and in courtyards – and dozens of women giving birth every day in makeshift refugee camps.
The United Nations estimated this month that there were 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza and 180 were giving birth every day.
According to the United Nations, not a single bakery has been open in northern Gaza for more than a month and most families cannot bake bread at home because flour is either unavailable or sold at high prices. Save the Children said one of its employees in Gaza reported that bags of flour were being sold for $140 each.
Mr Lazzarini said that the UN humanitarian aid system in the area is the main channel for aid to the 2.2. million residents of Gaza, was “on the verge of collapse.”
More than 130 of his staff have been killed in Israeli bombings, he said, and 70 percent have been displaced.
“In my 35 years of working in complex emergency situations, I have never written such a letter predicting the murder of my staff and the collapse of the mandate I am supposed to fulfill,” he said.
With its veto at the UN Security Council on Friday, the United States sided with Israel’s claim that ending the war before Hamas is dismantled and removed from power would cause the conflict to erupt again. Thirteen of the fifteen Council members voted in favor of the ceasefire, and Britain abstained.
The resolution was introduced by the United Arab Emirates, and senior United Nations officials warned that without a halt to fighting, it was virtually impossible to get enough aid to the Palestinians in Gaza.
Had the resolution been adopted by the Security Council, it would have been legally binding and violations could have carried penalties, including sanctions. But the passage may not have had an immediate, practical effect on the fighting, as Israel has indicated it would ignore such resolutions. But if the United States had supported the resolution, it would have sent Israel a strong message from its most powerful ally.
Saudi Arabia and other Arab governments have repeatedly called for a ceasefire, arguing that a continued Israeli military campaign would not only kill thousands of Palestinians but also damage security in Israel and the Middle East, drawing anger and would fuel extremism.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said Friday in Washington it was said that “leverage has failed because it has not been applied.” He again called for a ceasefire and said: “There is sufficient influence in the international community – there is sufficient influence in the established institutions of international peace and stability – including the United Nations Security Council, to achieve this goal reaches.”
“We’re seeing a position where ceasefires are somehow considered a dirty word, and I honestly can’t understand that,” he added in an interview with “PBS NewsHour” on Friday.
Russia, which has been accused of war crimes in its Ukrainian aggression, said the United States was “complicit in Israel’s brutal massacre,” while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for UN Security Council reform and asked: “Is this justice ?”
Some of the strongest criticism of the US veto came from aid groups.
“By vetoing this resolution, the US stands alone in casting its vote against humanity,” said Avril Benoit, executive director of Doctors Without Borders in the United States. said in a statement on Friday. “The US veto makes the country complicit in the massacre in Gaza.”
Reporting was contributed by Liam Stack, Talya Minsberg, Hwaida Saad, Victoria Kim, Matt Surman, Aaron Bokserman And Richard Perez-Peña.