The US has defied calls from its Arab allies and the UN secretary-general to support an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, telling the Security Council that doing so would only plant the seeds of the next war.

The US once again vetoed a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire late on Friday, despite Antonio Guterres’ dramatic warning that the political order was collapsing and the risk of a mass exodus in Egypt was growing, with still unclear consequences for the rest of the country. area. The vote in the 15-member council was 13-1 with the UK abstaining.

Robert Wood, who represented the US at the Security Council, said the US would not abandon its goal of removing Hamas, explaining that America wanted to “break the cycle of unrelenting violence so that history does not keep repeating itself.” He argued that a ceasefire now “will only plant the seeds for the next war because Hamas does not wish to see a lasting peace. Our goal should not be to stop war for today, but to stop war forever.”

The US veto came late at night in one of the most dramatic days at the Security Council in years. The US vetoed, for the 35th time since 1970, a resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian issue (out of 39 in total), reiterating its opposition to a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. “We do not support calls for an immediate cease-fire” which “will sow the seeds of the next war,” argued US Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood, also deploring the absence in the text of condemnation of the attacks launched by Hamas on Israeli soil on the 7 October.

Hamas condemned the veto

Hamas, for its part, strongly condemned the veto, calling it “immoral and inhumane.”

“The obstruction by the US of issuing a decision that called for a cease-fire” is equivalent to “direct cooperation in the massacre of our people by the occupation, in the commission of more massacres and ethnic cleansing”, emphasizes Izat el Resik, a member of the political bureau of Hamas, in the text released by the Palestinian Islamist movement.

Pressure for a ceasefire

At the same time, pressure for a ceasefire continues. Before the vote in the Security Council, the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres had justified the triggering of Article 99 by highlighting once again the risk of a “total breakdown of public order” in the Gaza Strip.

“I unreservedly condemn” the attacks launched by Hamas on October 7, but “the crimes of Hamas can in no way justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” he stressed. “If Hamas’ indiscriminate firing of rockets at Israel and the use of civilians as human shields constitute violations of the law of war, this conduct does not absolve Israel of (responsibilities for) its own violations,” Guterres noted.

“By continuing to provide weapons and diplomatic protection to Israel that commits atrocities (…) the US risks becoming complicit in war crimes,” commented Louis Charbonneau of E (Human Rights Watch).

Pressure for a ceasefire is intensifying following the release of videos and photos of hostages in Gaza being held by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in their underwear.