A significant controversy brewed at the U.N. Security Council Wednesday as participating members voted on a resolution calling for a humanitarian pause in Gaza.

Brazil proposed a draft resolution condemning all violence against civilians, including the terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas against Israeli civilians.

The resolution called for a pause in the fighting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The United States was the lone country to vote against the resolution.

“The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 12 votes in favor and the U.S. against, with Russia and Britain abstaining,” the Associated Press reports.

U.S. ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield cited a desire to let ‘U.S. diplomacy’ play out first and criticized the resolution for not mentioning Israel’s right to self-defense.

BREAKING: The US just vetoed a Security Council call for a ‘humanitarian pause’ in Israel-Hamas war

NOTE: The draft resolution proposed by Brazil, which called for a humanitarian pause in Gaza, was vetoed by the United States at the UN Security Council. This veto has led to criticism of political gridlock within the organization. The resolution condemned the terror attacks in Israel by Hamas on October 7, urged the release of hostages, and called for compliance with international law to protect civilian lives in Gaza.

NOTE: Twelve out of 15 council members approved the draft, with the UK and Russia abstaining, and the US exercising its veto. The US ambassador cited a desire for more time for on-the-ground diplomacy and criticized the resolution for not mentioning Israel’s right to self-defense. Since the Hamas attacks, Israel has been conducting airstrikes in Gaza and has cut off essential supplies to the population there.

Here’s the 15-member U.N. Security Council vote:

INTERACTIVE US vetoes humanitarian pauses resolution Gaza Israel-1697696822

*Source – Al Jazeera*

The United States has veto power to prevent the U.N. Security Council from acting on a resolution.

The other permanent members, China, France, Russia, and United Kingdom, also possess the veto power.

WATCH:

The Associated Press reports:

Thomas-Greenfield said that Biden was in the region engaging in diplomacy hoping to protect civilians, secure the release of hostage and prevent the conflict from spreading. “We need to let that diplomacy play out,” she said.

She said the Security Council must speak out, but should be “informed by facts on the ground and support direct diplomacy efforts that can save lives — the council needs to get this right.”

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The American ambassador criticized the resolution for not saying anything about Israel’s right to self-defense following Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attacks that killed more than 1,400 people in Israel. Since then, the Gaza Health Ministry says nearly 3,500 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 12,000 wounded.

Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward also criticized the resolution’s failure to mention Israel’s right to self-defense.

Brazil, the current council president, plus France, China, the United Arab Emirates and several other council members expressed regret and disappointment at the U.S. veto.

“We abstained since the draft didn’t contain calls for ceasefire and condemnation of actions against Gaza civilians, containing at the same time condemnation of HAMAS actions. We share this condemnation but placing it in the humanitarian text blurrs the signal and makes it unbalanced. Our relevant amendments were not adopted,” said Dmitry Polyanskiy, First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN.

Al Jazeera added:

The Brazil-drafted text would have condemned violence against all civilians, but the US said that it did not do enough to underscore Israel’s right to self-defence. The US has typically exercised its Security Council veto to shield Israel from critical resolutions.

“The overwhelming majority of the council, 12 countries, supported that resolution and expressed disappointment after days of negotiations and a humanitarian situation that was rapidly escalating, that the council wasn’t able to come together and offer this view, this call for calm, this call for access for humanitarians,” Al Jazeera correspondent Kristen Saloomey reported from UN headquarters in New York City.

The vote came amid soaring tensions in the region, with crowds of protesters taking to the street in several countries after a deadly explosion at a hospital in Gaza on Tuesday drew widespread outrage.

Palestinian authorities said at least 471 people were killed in the blast that was caused by an Israeli air raid. Israel says the explosion was the result of a rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) armed group misfiring. The PIJ has rejected the allegation.

The United States has said an analysis of “overhead imagery, intercepts and open source information” showed that Israel was not behind the attack and that the US would continue to collect evidence.

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