The United States vetoed a resolution promoted by Brazil at the UN Security Councilcalling for “humanitarian pauses” in the war between Israel and Hamas to allow humanitarian aid to be sent to the Gaza Strip.

The vote had been postponed twice in the previous days as the US tried to broker humanitarian aid access to Gaza. Twelve Council members voted in favor of the proposal, while Russia and Britain abstained.

Washington, by tradition, protects Israel, its close ally, from Security Council resolutions it considers to be against it.

Earlier, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had called for a ceasefire to enable the release of the hostages and advance aid to Gaza.

The draft resolution called on Israel (without naming the country) to withdraw its order for civilians and UN staff in Gaza to move south, while condemning “terrorist attacks by Hamas”. It also condemned all forms of violence and hostilities against civilians and all acts of terrorism, while calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages.

The US representative to the UN said Washington was disappointed because the text made no mention of Israel’s right to self-defense and added that Hamas was responsible for the severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza.