Russia and China veto first resolution where the US called for a ceasefire in Gaza

Russia and China This Friday they vetoed the first resolution of the Security Council of the UN in which USA called for an immediate ceasefire in Loopafter almost six months of war that has cost the lives of 32,000 people.

The resolution was also rejected by Algeria, while Guyana abstained and the other eleven countries voted in favor.

Nine favorable votes are enough to approve a resolution, but the negative votes of two countries with the right to veto (in this case Russia and China) prevented its approval.

It is the fourth time that a resolution in this sense has been vetoed by a member state; on the three previous occasions it was the United States that vetoed it, arguing in those cases that it did not recognize Israel’s right to defend itself and in fact allowed rearmament and reorganization of Hamas.

The resolution rejected today, which had been negotiated for a month and required at least six drafts, was rejected for its ambiguous vocabulary, since, in the words of the Russian ambassador, Vasili Nebenzia, prior to the vote, he considered that it did not clearly call for a ceasefire. , but was limited to considering “an immediate and sustained ceasefire is imperative to protect civilians on both sides.”

Nebenzia said the resolution presented by the US was “a hypocritical initiative designed to disorient the international community”regretted that Russian proposals to amend the text have been systematically rejected by Washington and also considered that the text voted on today “It is in fact the green light for Israel to carry out a military operation in Rafah.”

As for the Algerian ambassador, Amar Bendjama, he said that his rejection not only represented his country, but “the entire Arab world,” and affirmed that the text of the US resolution. “It does not convey a clear message of peace, but rather tacitly allows civilian casualties to continue and lacks safeguards for future escalation.” of the conflict.

The Chinese ambassador, Zhang Jun, also considered “ambiguous” the text voted on today, because “does not clearly call for a ceasefire” and because “it deviates from the consensus of the members of the Council and is far from the expectations of the international community”in addition to containing conditions for that ceasefire.

Another resolution with clearer language on the ceasefire is currently being negotiated in parallel in the Security Council, and while Russia and China have said they will support that other resolution, it remains to be seen what the United States’ attitude will be. who could veto it.

At the same time, the United States is sponsoring other indirect negotiations in Doha (Qatar) between Hamas and Israel with a view to an exchange of prisoners between the two parties and an eventual truce.

Also yesterday the European Union called for a “immediate humanitarian pause” that “leads to a sustainable ceasefire”, first common position in this sense in the European club, where Israel has solid allies such as Germany and Holland.

All this political and diplomatic activity has intensified after a dramatic UN report was released on Monday stating that 1.1 million Gazans were about to enter “catastrophic food insecurity”the most serious degree of famine.

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