Lara Villalón Istanbul

Istanbul

Updated Friday, March 22, 2024-15:34

  • Contention The US urges the UN for an immediate truce in Gaza to prevent the expansion of the Israeli offensive

Russia and China vetoed this Friday in the UN Security Council the proposal presented by the US that called for

an "immediate" ceasefire in the Gaza Strip

, in the face of growing international pressure over the humanitarian situation after almost six months of war. The document stressed "the imperative of an immediate and sustained ceasefire" and required - although it did not directly link it to the truce - the release of all Hamas

hostages

.

In addition to the negative votes of Russia and China - countries with veto rights in this UN body - Algeria also rejected the proposal and Guyana abstained, while eleven countries voted in favor of its approval.

After the vote, the US ambassador to the UN,

Linda Thomas-Greenfield

, accused Beijing and Moscow of putting "politics before progress." "Russia and China simply did not want to vote for a resolution drafted by the United States because they would rather see us fail than see this council succeed," she told the Council.

For now, the Security Council had only managed to approve

two resolutions focused on the humanitarian situation in the enclave

, but none that called for a ceasefire. Russia and China had vetoed a US proposal at the end of October to pause the conflict with the aim of increasing the entry of humanitarian aid to the enclave, devastated by the fighting and the

Israeli blockade on the entry of trucks with food and basic goods

. These two countries, with the power to veto the resolutions, claimed that they did not reflect the "global calls" for a truce. For its part, Washington also vetoed three resolutions demanding a ceasefire, the most recent a proposal backed by Arab countries, which thirteen of the fifteen members of the Security Council approved.

This Friday's vote coincided with the visit to Israel of the US Secretary of State,

Antony Blinken

, who presented to the Israeli authorities the conclusions of several meetings with ministers from Arab countries to achieve a cessation of hostilities and greater delivery of humanitarian aid. to the Strip. Hours before the meeting, Blinken stressed the need for "an immediate and sustained ceasefire with the release of hostages" and reiterated Washington's rejection of the expansion of the Israeli offensive in the city of

Rafah

, bordering Egypt and hosting more than a million Palestinians displaced from other parts of the territory. "There is no place for the many civilians gathering in Rafah to go to safety. For those who would inevitably stay (in Rafah), it would be a humanitarian disaster," he told reporters.

The resolution includes American concern for "the safety and well-being of the more than 1.5 million civilians now sheltering in Rafah" and warned that entry into this territory "would cause further harm to civilians and their displacement, including potentially to neighboring countries". The document also rejects the

resettlement of civilians to other countries

, alluding to the fears of Egypt, which is concerned that an increase in hostilities could lead to the entry of thousands of refugees into its territory. Washington emphasizes the expansion of the conflict, due to

existing tensions on the border between Lebanon and Israel and in the Red Sea

, between the Israeli army and armed groups allied with Hamas and Iran. In this sense, the resolution "highlights the importance of avoiding collateral effects in the region, including along the Blue Line", referring to the southern territory of Lebanon, where peacekeepers have been deployed since 2006 and where they also operate, the armed wing of the Shiite

Hezbollah

party , which has been fighting the Israeli army since October for its offensive in the Gaza Strip.

The US proposal coincides with increased international calls to end the conflict, which has left

more than 31,000

Palestinians dead, thousands displaced and left more than a million civilians at risk of famine. On Thursday night the EU joined the truce demands with a statement calling for an "immediate humanitarian pause leading to a sustainable ceasefire" and the release of hostages held by Hamas. At the same time, the intelligence chiefs of the United States and Israel met again in Doha - which has mediated the conflict since October - to

move towards a truce

in the enclave.