Russia, China veto US-backed UN resolution on Gaza cease-fire

WASHINGTON —  Russia and China used their veto power at the UN Security Council on Friday to block a resolution drafted by the United States advocating an “immediate cease-fire” to allow more aid into the Gaza Strip.

The resolution marked a shift in rhetoric from the United States, which has exercised its veto at the Security Council three times since Oct. 7 to shield its ally Israel from resolutions calling for a cease-fire. Most recently, it vetoed on Feb. 20 an Algerian-sponsored text that it said would jeopardize the ongoing negotiations to free the remaining hostages who were taken during Hamas’ cross-border attack. 

The latest resolution was backed by 11 of the council’s 15 members, with Russia, China and Algeria voting against and Guyana abstaining. Speaking after the vote, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield accused permanent members Russia and China of being “petty.”

“Russia and China simply did not want to vote for a resolution that was penned by the United States because it would rather see us fail than to see this council succeed,” Thomas-Greenfield told the UN body.

The US text backed an “immediate and sustained cease-fire” and a hostage deal to free the remaining captives. It also rejected any effort to “reduce” the territory of Gaza or forcibly displace its civilians and demanded the “lifting of all barriers” on humanitarian assistance entering the Palestinian enclave.

Russia’s UN ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, accused the United States of a performing “hypocritical spectacle” by not demanding a cease-fire in its resolution, only describing one as an “imperative.”

“We will no longer tolerate pointless resolutions which do not contain a call for a cease-fire which lead us to nowhere,” Nebenzya said before the vote. 

The vote came as Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Tel Aviv with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli war cabinet as part of the administration’s efforts to secure a cease-fire and stave off an Israeli military offensive in Rafah. 

Following their meeting, Netanyahu said he told Blinken defeating Hamas would require invading Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza sheltering more than half of the territory’s population.

“I told him that I hope we will do it with the support of the US, but if we have to, we will do it alone," Netanyahu said in a statement.

An Israeli delegation is traveling to Washington early next week to consult with the administration on Israel’s expected invasion of the crowded border city and plans for evacuating its civilian population.

The war has killed nearly 32,000 people, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The UN has warned that famine is imminent in northern Gaza, and the entire Palestinian enclave is facing crisis levels of food security.

This is a breaking story and has been updated since first publication.