China: US Veto of Gaza Ceasefire Resolution is Hypocrisy

By Staff, Agencies

The US decision to veto a UN Security Council resolution calling for a truce between the “Israeli” entity and the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas is hypocritical, Zhang Jun, China’s ambassador to the organization, has said.

On Friday, the US was the only country to vote against a resolution sponsored by the United Arab Emirates and endorsed by more than 90 other nations, which called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” and the “immediate and unconditional release of hostages” captured by Hamas; 13 UN Security Council members supported the document, with the UK abstaining.

Explaining the veto, Robert Wood, Washington’s deputy UN ambassador, called the document “divorced from reality.” He added that contrary to the US’ advice, saying that an unconditional ceasefire would allow the group to simply repeat the assault at a later date.

He also claimed that the document failed to “encourage a resumption of humanitarian pauses,” stressing that “every innocent Palestinian life lost is a tragedy.”

Commenting on the vote, Zhang expressed “great disappointment and regret” that the US stonewalled the resolution, arguing that the justification for the move was “feeble.” He noted that “condoning the continuation of fighting while claiming to care about the lives and safety of the people in Gaza and the humanitarian needs there is self-contradictory.”

Since the start of the conflict, the US has blocked several UN resolutions sponsored by various countries calling for a ceasefire. In mid-November, the UN Security Council adopted a document calling for “humanitarian pauses” in hostilities. It was supported by 12 votes, with Russia, the US, and UK abstaining.

The “Israeli” entity waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group carried out the surprise Operation al-Aqsa Flood against the occupying entity in response to the “Israeli” regime’s atrocities against Palestinians.

More than 17,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children, and at least 46,000 others injured since the onset of the current US-backed war on Gaza.