US vetoes UN resolution demanding immediate cease-fire in Gaza

The United States stood up to dozens of nations and almost every other member of the United Nations Security Council and vetoed a resolution Friday that called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.

The vote in the 15-member council was 13-1, with the United Kingdom abstaining. The Biden administration has supported Israel's war to eradicate Hamas amid intensifying international pressure to condemn Israel for civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip. 

U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood called the resolution “imbalanced” and criticized the council after the vote for its failure to condemn Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel in which the terrorist group killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, or to acknowledge Israel’s right to defend itself. He declared that halting military action would allow Hamas to continue to rule Gaza and “only plant the seeds for the next war.”

“Hamas has no desire to see a durable peace, to see a two-state solution,” Wood said before the vote. “For that reason, while the United States strongly supports a durable peace, in which both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security, we do not support calls for an immediate cease-fire.”