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US Ambassador to UN Explains Veto of Resolution Calling for Humanitarian Ceasefire in Gaza

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  February 21, 2024 9:30 AM

The United States was the sole veto of an Algerian proposal at the UN Security Council that called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. 

Algeria’s representative to the U.N., Amar Bendjama, criticized the U.S., arguing that "voting against it implies an endorsement of the brutal violence and collective punishment inflicted upon them.”  

But Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, explained the veto in a statement. 

“For weeks, we have made it incredibly clear that the resolution before the council would not achieve the goal of a sustainable peace and may in fact run counter to it,” she said. “Proceeding with a vote today was wishful and irresponsible." 

Instead, the U.S. is circulating draft text of a competing resolution that calls for a temporary humanitarian ceasefire and the release of hostages. 

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“And so while we cannot support a resolution that would put sensitive negotiations in jeopardy, we look forward to engaging on a text that we believe will address so many of the concerns we all share, a text that can and should be adopted by the council so that we can have a temporary ceasefire as soon as practical, based on the formula of all hostages being released,” she said.

"This temporary ceasefire is critical to getting aid into the hands of Palestinian civilians who desperately, desperately need it," Thomas-Greenfield added. "We should look towards this text so that we can finally, finally, condemn Hamas for their horrific attacks on October 7, which set this conflict into motion; so that we can empower Senior Coordinator Kaag and the United Nations, because her success, is the UN’s success; and it is so very needed to ensure civilians get the aid that they need, more efficiently and effectively, and just more, period. And so that, ultimately, we can together help create a future in which Israelis and Palestinians live in states of their own, side by side, in peace."