Above photo: AA / Getty Images.
A ‘Green Light For War Criminal Netanyahu’.
Washington’s representative said a UNSC vote to end the genocidal war and deadly aid blockade would be ‘rewarding Hamas’s intransigence’.
Hamas condemned the US decision to veto a UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza on 4 June, labeling it a “green light” for Israel to continue its genocidal war against the strip.
“The US veto embodies the US administration’s blind bias towards the fascist occupation government and supports its crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip,” the Palestinian resistance movement said in a statement on Wednesday evening.
The decision is “a green light for the war criminal Netanyahu, wanted by the International Criminal Court, to continue his brutal war of extermination against innocent civilians, including children, women, and the elderly,” the statement added, stressing that it confirms Washington’s “full complicity in this ongoing crime.”
“The UN Security Council’s failure to halt the 20-month-long war of extermination, and its inability to break the siege and deliver food to the starving civilians in the Gaza Strip, raises fundamental questions about the role of international community institutions and the validity of international laws and conventions,” Hamas went on to say.
The US veto marked the fifth time Washington has blocked a vote about ending the war, coming as Israeli forces continue to commit massacres across the strip.
The UNSC resolution was sponsored by Algeria, Denmark, Greece, Guyana, Pakistan, Panama, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, and Somalia. It received 14 votes in favor, with the US being the only one to vote against.
The draft called for “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza” and a release of all the Israeli captives still held by Hamas and other resistance groups.
It also expressed concern over the “catastrophic humanitarian situation” caused by an Israeli blockade, which is resulting in the spread of famine across Gaza, calling for the “immediate and unconditional lifting of all restrictions” on the entry of humanitarian aid.
US representative Dorothy Shea called the resolution “unacceptable.”
“US opposition to this resolution should come as no surprise – it is unacceptable for what it does say, it is unacceptable for what it does not say, and it is unacceptable for the manner in which it has been advanced. The United States has been clear. We would not support any measure that fails to condemn Hamas and does not call for Hamas to disarm and leave Gaza.”
“We cannot allow the Security Council to award Hamas’s intransigence,” Shea added. “Any product that undermines our close ally Israel’s security is a nonstarter.”
Wednesday’s veto by the US was the fifth since Israel began its genocidal war against the Gaza Strip in October 2023, following Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. Last June, the US abstained from a vote, allowing a resolution to pass.
US envoy Steve Witkoff recently put forward a new “ceasefire” proposal that gives Israel the option to resume fighting following an exchange of captives.
Hamas did not reject the proposal, but requested amendments that would provide guarantees for a permanent cessation of hostilities and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
Witkoff said Hamas’s response is “totally unacceptable and only takes us backward.”
Israel’s new operation – dubbed Gideon’s Chariots – continues to kill dozens and displace thousands across Gaza on a daily basis.
As part of the operation, Tel Aviv plans to seize control of 75 percent of Gaza and displace its entire population. Israel’s plan would see Gaza’s over two million population confined to a mere 25 percent of the strip’s territory.