The vote – initially postponed from Monday and then pushed back to Tuesday and then Wednesday – is now expected on Thursday morning, said Ecuador’s UN Ambassador José Javier De La Gasca López-Domínguez, the current Security Council president.
Israel-Gaza war: US engaging in high-level diplomacy to avoid vetoing UN resolution on critical aid
- The US wants to change the text’s references to a cessation of hostilities in the war. The current draft proposes a UN role, an idea Israel is likely to oppose
- On December 8, the US vetoed a resolution, backed by almost all other council members and dozens of nations, demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire
- The US has been struggling to change the text’s references to a cessation of hostilities in the Israel-Gaza war.
- Another sticking point is the inspection of aid trucks into Gaza to ensure they are only carrying humanitarian goods.
- The current draft proposes a UN role, an idea Israel is likely to oppose.
Everyone wants to see a resolution that has impact and that is implementable on the ground
Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which sponsored the Arab-backed resolution, said earlier that high-level discussions are under way to try to reach agreement on a text that can be adopted.
“Everyone wants to see a resolution that has impact and that is implementable on the ground,” she told reporters after the 15 council members held closed consultations early on Wednesday afternoon and agreed to the delay.
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- A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomacy, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken would speak with his Egyptian and UAE counterparts to try to reach a consensus either late on Wednesday or early Thursday.
- As part of the US push at the UN, Blinken spoke on Wednesday with the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom and stressed the need for urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza, “the imperative of minimising civilian casualties,” and preventing further escalation of the conflict and “underscored the US commitment to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
Nusseibeh said the UAE is optimistic, but if the negotiations yield no results by Thursday “then we will assess in the council to proceed … to a vote on the resolution.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said Gaza faces “a humanitarian catastrophe” and that a total collapse of the humanitarian support system would lead to “a complete breakdown of public order and increased pressure for mass displacement into Egypt.”
- The UN food agency reported last week that 56% of Gaza’s households are experiencing “severe levels of hunger,” up from 38 per cent two weeks earlier.
The draft on the table on Monday morning called for an “urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities,” but this language was watered down in a new version that was to be put to a vote on Wednesday.
- That draft also calls for Guterres to quickly establish a mechanism for exclusive UN monitoring of aid deliveries to Gaza – bypassing the current Israeli inspection of aid entering the strip.
- A council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions were private, said the US and Egypt are engaging directly to ensure any aid monitoring mechanism can work for everyone.
- condemnation of Hamas’ deadly October 7 incursion into southern Israel that sparked the latest war and
- Israel’s right to self-defense.
In its first unified action on November 15, with the US abstaining, the Security Council adopted a resolution calling for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses” in the fighting, unhindered aid deliveries to civilians and the unconditional release of all hostages.
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