The USA threatened yesterday Saturday to exercise the right of veto for the third time which possess to prevent approval from the United Nations Security Council of a draft resolution calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” to be declared in the Gaza Strip, a text on which Algeria has requested a vote the day after tomorrow, Tuesday (February 20th).

After weeks of debate, Algeria, which took the initiative following a late-January ruling by the United Nations’ International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague that claimed Israel prevented “genocide” in the Gaza Strip, called for the text to be placed in vote the day after tomorrow, diplomatic sources told AFP.

The latest version of the text, obtained by AFP yesterday and on which Algeria is calling for a vote, “demands an immediate humanitarian cease-fire to be observed by all parties” while Israeli military operations in the Palestinian enclave in retaliation for the October 7 attack by Hamas have claimed the lives of at least 28,858 civilians, the vast majority of them civilians, according to the Palestinian Islamist movement’s health ministry.

The draft resolution rejects “the forced displacement of the Palestinian civilian population” and demands that this “violation of international law” cease immediately.

He also calls for the release of all hostages.

Like previous texts, met with outrage by Israel and the US, it does not condemn Hamas’ unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, which killed more than 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to a count AFP based on official Israeli data.

THE US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield criticized yesterday in a statement Algeria’s decision to put the text to a vote, repeating that it “goes against” the ongoing diplomatic negotiations to declare a new truce, which will allow the release of hostages.

“For that reason, the US will not support” a vote and “if we get to a vote on the current plan, it will not be adopted,” Ms. Thomas-Greenfield warned, implicitly threatening a veto.

In mid-October and then in early December, despite pressure from the international community in the face of the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, the US vetoed two draft resolutions calling for an immediate ceasefire.

The SA, deeply divided over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for years, has only been able to adopt two humanitarian texts on the issue since October 7th.

The latest, adopted in a vote held in late December — the US abstained — called for a “large-scale” distribution of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave. He had no substantial response.

Despite the risk of another US veto, days ago Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour insisted that the resolution be put to a vote again.

“We believe that it is now urgent for the Security Council to adopt a decision” that would demand that a “humanitarian cease-fire” be immediately declared in the enclave, said Mr. Mansour, judging that the Palestinian side appeared “more than generous in giving more time.”