February
23, 2024
As
a United Nations agency halted aid deliveries in northern Gaza, where acute
malnourishment is rampant among children, citing a “breakdown of social order”
fueled by Israel’s bombardment of and blockade on the enclave, the United
States for a third time on Tuesday vetoed a cease-fire resolution at the U.N.
Security Council—saying it was an inopportune time to demand that Israel end
its massacre of Palestinians.
U.S.
Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the cease-fire resolution,
proposed by Algeria, would “negatively impact” negotiations for a truce that
are ongoing.
Amar
Bendjama, Algeria’s ambassador to the U.N., said the U.S. ambassador’s lone
vote against the resolution “implies an endorsement of the brutal violence and
collective punishment inflicted upon” Palestinians in Gaza.
Thirteen
countries supported the resolution, while the U.K.—which has veto power, like
the U.S., China, France, and Russia—abstained from voting.
The
vote marked the third time the U.S. has vetoed a cease-fire resolution at the
U.N. Security Council (UNSC). Meanwhile, the Biden administration has approved
weapons transfers to Israel without the oversight of the U.S. Congress since
the assault began in October, and has vehemently defended the bombardment as
being focused on defeating Hamas, even as Israel has killed more than 29,000
Palestinians including more than 11,500 children.
“We
should ask ourselves: How many innocent lives must be sacrificed before the
council deems it necessary to call for a cease-fire?” said Bendjama.
“Palestinian lives matter. Each one of us decides where to stand in this tragic
chapter of history.”
As
the U.S. rejected the cease-fire resolution, Al Jazeera reported on the chaos
that has erupted in northern Gaza as Israel has blocked aid trucks from
reaching starving civilians there.
The
World Food Program (WFP) said Tuesday it was pausing deliveries after crowds of
desperate people overwhelmed aid workers.
As
Al Jazeera reported, children collected flour that spilled from an aid truck in
Gaza City, before Israeli forces began firing on the crowd.
“We
want to feed our children just like everyone else,” one Palestinian man told Al
Jazeera, “so we went to get some flour. But then we were shot at, shells were
fired, and tanks advanced at us.”
The
WFP and the U.N. Children’s Fund said Monday that starvation is particularly
severe in northern Gaza, with 1 in 6 children under age two—more than
15%—acutely malnourished. An estimated 3% of children under two are
experiencing a severe form of wasting—being underweight for their age and
height.
In
December, 15 agencies including the WFP warned that northern Gaza is at risk
for a famine by May unless conditions significantly improve.
The
United States’ veto of Algeria’s resolution on Tuesday, said Bendjama, should
be understood as “approval of starvation as a means of war against hundreds of
thousands of Palestinians.”
The
U.S. proposed its own resolution calling for a “temporary cease-fire as soon as
practicable,” and warning Israel not to conduct an expected ground operation in
Rafah, where more than 1.5 million people—most of whom have been forcibly
displaced from other parts of Gaza—are now sheltering.
The
Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein to the U.N. called on the U.N. General
Assembly (UNGA) to take action to protect Palestinians.
Under
Section A of Resolution 377A of the U.N. Charter, also known as “Uniting for
Peace,” the UNGA can convene an emergency meeting and make recommendations for
collective measures, if members of the UNSC can’t reach an agreement and fail
to exercise their “primary responsibility for the maintenance of international
peace and security.”
Hossam
Baghat, executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights,
suggested the U.S. veto should trigger “mass resignations of U.S. diplomats and
public servants from the State Department and across the administration.”
Al
Jazeera reported that Palestinians in Gaza expressed anger over the United
States’ latest veto.
“There
is a great deal of pessimism and frustration. Palestinians no longer trust the
international community, as we have been hearing from locals here in Gaza,”
correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum reported from Rafah. “During the Security
Council meeting there have been more attacks on the ground here in Gaza. People
here are completely frustrated.”
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