News - Middle East: Palestinian factions have blasted the US for exercising its veto power against a United Nations Security Council draft resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, saying the move once again exposes Washington’s complicity in the Israeli regime’s crimes against Palestinians.

The document described the situation in Gaza as “catastrophic” and demanded "an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” there, as well as the lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into the besieged territory.

During a UNSC meeting on Wednesday, the draft received 14 votes in favor, with the US casting the only vote against, the fifth time that the US blocked a Security Council truce resolution to end the brutal Israeli aggression against Gaza.

Ceasefire veto shows US ‘blind bias’ towards Israel

The Palestinian Hamas resistance group said the US veto demonstrates the American administration's “blind bias" in favor of the "fascist” Israeli regime.

The United States’ “arrogant stance” reflects its disregard for international law and complete rejection of efforts aimed at stopping the bloodshed in Gaza, it added.

“This American stance gives a green light to war criminal [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, to continue the brutal war of genocide against innocent civilians,” it stated. 

Speaking at the voting session, US Chargé d'affaires to the UN Dorothy Shea claimed that the “unacceptable” draft resolution would “embolden” Hamas. She also said that Washington would not support any measure that does not call for the resistance group to disarm and leave the Gaza Strip.

Hamas said Shea’s remarks represented Washington's policy of disinformation, along with its denial of the Palestinian people's legitimate right to resist the occupation.

It further called on the international community to press for an immediate halt to the Israeli genocide in Gaza and hold the occupation’s officials accountable for their war crimes.

“The failure of the UN Security Council to stop the war of genocide that has been ongoing for twenty months, and its inability to break the siege …, raises fundamental questions about the role of international community institutions and the effectiveness of international laws and charters that the occupation continues to violate day after day without any accountability or real action,” Hamas pointed out.

US ‘true partner’ of Israel in Gaza genocide

Similarly, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance group said the US veto of the Gaza ceasefire resolution clearly affirms that the US is sponsoring Israeli crimes.

The United States "is a true partner in the barbaric genocide and war crimes perpetrated by the occupation's army in the Gaza Strip,” it said in a statement.

Truce veto exposes US ‘hostility’ towards Palestinians

Meanwhile, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said the US veto should surprise no one as Washington supplies the most lethal weapons to the Israeli military.

The veto, it emphasized, serves as “new evidence of the direct [US] complicity” in the Israeli genocide in Gaza and American hostility towards the Palestinian people.

Israel launched its US-backed Gaza onslaught on October 7, 2023, after Hamas carried out a military operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

So far, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 54,607 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 125,341 others in the blockaded territory. 

Source: Press TV