Ezzat el-Reshiq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said late on Friday the movement strongly condemns the US veto that blocked a UAE-drafted UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, adding that the Palestinian Resistance group considers Washington's decision "unethical and inhumane."

"The U.S. obstruction of the issuance of a ceasefire resolution is a direct participation with the occupation in killing our people and committing more massacres and ethnic cleansing," El-Reshiq pointed out.

Thirteen Security Council members voted in favor of the draft resolution while Britain abstained. Justifying her country's decision, UK ambassador to the UN, Barbara Woodward, said Britain cannot vote in favor of a draft resolution that does not condemn what she described as "the atrocities Hamas committed against innocent Israeli civilians" on October 7, in reference to Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.

The vote came after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked the UN charter’s Article 99 for it on Wednesday. 

On his part, Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, considered that it was “disastrous” that the United States vetoed the resolution.

“This is a turning point in history, and it is beyond regrettable. It is disastrous that the Security Council was again prevented from rising to this moment to uphold its clear responsibilities in the face of this grave crisis, threatening human lives and threatening regional and international peace and security,” Mansour said after the vote.

“This is a terrible day for the Security Council. We reject this result, and will continue resorting to every legitimate avenue to stop these abhorrent atrocities, including resuming the emergency session of the General Assembly,” he stressed.

Deputy US Ambassador to the United Nations, Robert Wood, said the draft resolution was "divorced from reality" and "would have not moved the needle forward on the ground."

Hiding behind the US support, the Israeli occupation's ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said that he thanked Washington and US President Joe Biden for vetoing the resolution.

I thank the United States and President Biden for standing firmly by our side, today and showing their leadership and values. On this Hanukkah holiday, a little of the light dispelled a lot of the darkness.

It is shocking that while Hamas is firing rockets at Israel from…

— Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) December 8, 2023

"I thank the United States and President Biden for standing firmly by our side, today and showing their leadership and values," he posted on X.

After the US vetoed the draft resolution, Human Rights Watch UN director, Louis Charbonneau, took to X to point out that "by continuing to provide Israel with weapons and diplomatic cover as it commits atrocities, including collectively punishing the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza, the US risks complicity in war crimes."

.@hrw: By continuing to provide Israel with weapons and diplomatic cover as it commits atrocities, including collectively punishing the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza, the US risks complicity in war crimes. pic.twitter.com/YpbggNjd3y

— louis charbonneau (@loucharbon) December 8, 2023

Russia’s deputy UN envoy Dmitry Polyanskiy indicated that by blocking a call for a ceasefire, the United States signed a death sentence for thousands.

"It would be no exaggeration to say that today will become one of the darkest days in the history of the Middle East," Polyanskiy expressed during a UNSC meeting on the situation in Gaza.

"Once again cynically blocking a call for a ceasefire in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone, our colleagues from the USA have literally before our eyes issued a death sentence to thousands if not tens of thousands more civilians," he added.

Reposting a video of scenes from a massacre that Israeli occupation forces committed in a UN school that sheltered displaced Gazans in Beit Hanoun, Gaza, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on X that "the power of the veto in the United Nations cannot be used to allow this."

El terror esta aquí. No se puede usar el poder del veto en Naciones Unidas para pemitir esto. El espíritu que llevó a los nazis al tribunal de Nuremberg debe renacer.

Para que en nuestra América brille la democracia y la paz, América no puede permitir el genocidio en ningún… https://t.co/1hVeUzR6VR

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) December 8, 2023

"For democracy and peace to shine in our America [continent], the US cannot allow genocide anywhere in the world," he pointed out.

The vote came after the Palestinian Health Ministry revealed that the death toll from the Israeli aggression on Gaza has risen to 17,487 martyrs, over 70% of which are children and women, with 56,400 citizens injured with various injuries since the launch of the aggression on October 7.

The Ministry added that in the past hours of Friday, over 300 Palestinians were martyred and 600 others injured due to the Israeli bombing of various areas of the Gaza Strip.

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