The UN Security Council adopted a resolution yesterday demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The US abstained from the vote, sparking a spat with its ally Israel.
The remaining 14 council members voted for the resolution, which was proposed by the 10 elected members of the body. There was a round of applause in the council chamber after the vote.
“This resolution must be implemented. Failure would be unforgivable,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres posted on social media.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the failure of the US to veto the resolution was a ‘clear retreat’ from its previous position and would hurt Israel’s war efforts and bid to release more than 130 hostages still held by Hamas.
“Our vote does not, and I repeat that does not represent a shift in our policy,” White House spokesperson John Kirby said. “Nothing has changed about our policy. Nothing.”
Following the UN vote, Netanyahu cancelled a visit to Washington by a high-level delegation that was due to discuss a planned Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than 1.5 million Palestinians have sought shelter.
The US was perplexed by Israel’s decision and considered it an overreaction, said a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Washington had been averse to the word ceasefire earlier in the nearly six-month-old war in the Gaza Strip and had used its veto power to shield ally Israel as it retaliated against Hamas.
But as famine looms in Gaza and amid growing global pressure for a truce in the war that Palestinian health authorities say has killed more than 32,000 people, the US abstained to allow the Security Council to demand an immediate ceasefire for Ramadan.
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