The 15-member Security Council was expected to meet for a vote on a resolution sponsored by the United Arab Emirates that called for an urgent suspension of hostilities and to scale up humanitarian assistance in the strip, according to draft text provided by the UN.
The United States has opposed all recent resolutions proposed in the Security Council and General Assembly that have withheld condemning Hamas’s attack against Israel on October 07, which triggered the nearly 11-week war.
The US used its veto power in the Security Council on December 08 to kill a resolution calling for a humanitarian cease-fire, condemning the text as divorced from reality and for failing to condemn Hamas’s attack.
While resolutions passed in the General Assembly are statements for the record, Security Council resolutions are legally binding, although there’s few if any mechanisms of enforcement.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US was engaging constructively with colleagues on the Security Council on the text of the resolution.
“We would welcome a resolution that fully supports addressing the humanitarian needs of the people in Gaza but … the details of it very much do matter,” Miller said.
Draft text published by the United Nations calls for an urgent suspension of hostilities, so far holding back on calling for a direct cease-fire.
Selected text made public does not yet mention Hamas, but it demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and condemns all acts of terrorism.
