‘GLIMMER OF HOPE’

U.S. Abstains as U.N. Security Council Passes Gaza Aid Resolution

It calls for a pause in hostilities to provide humanitarian corridors in Gaza.

The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution on Friday—with the United States and Russia abstaining from the vote—calling for “pauses” in hostilities between Israel and Hamas to allow essential aid to reach Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Deliberations were prolonged to avoid another veto from the U.S., reportedly over language on the “cessation of hostilities” and the establishment of “a monitoring mechanism in the Gaza Strip with the necessary personnel and equipment.” A U.S. official pointed out that the draft penned by the United Arab Emirates began with an order for “urgent cessation” of fighting. Russia proposed an amendment before the vote that would have reverted the resolution back to an “immediate cessation,” with Vassily Nebenzia, Russian Permanent Representative to the U.N., saying, the U.S. “resorted to their favored tactic of gross pressure, blackmail, twisting arms” to make the draft “extremely neutered.” Although U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield called the resolution “a glimmer of hope amongst a sea of unimaginable suffering,” she said the U.S. was “appalled” that the U.N. again couldn’t denounce the Oct. 7 attack.