The Ecuadorian ambassador José Javier De la Gasca Lopez Domínguez, who chairs the most powerful UN body, announced this on Wednesday in New York. The US had previously asked for more time to reach a compromise. The other council members are trying to dissuade the Israel ally from adopting a veto.
The text put forward by the United Arab Emirates calls for a suspension of violence in the Gaza Strip, which Israel rejects. A ceasefire should make more humanitarian aid deliveries possible for over a million Palestinians in need.
Talks with Egypt?
A diplomatic source told the German Press Agency that US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, at a closed-door council meeting, cited American talks with Egypt that might bring a breakthrough.
According to reports, leading US diplomats are prepared to abstain following negotiators made a lot of concessions to the United States during the deliberations. But US President Joe Biden made the decision to veto following a conversation with his UN ambassador. According to information from US diplomatic circles to the German Press Agency, Thomas-Greenfield traveled to Washington on Tuesday evening for a previously planned dinner.
The humanitarian situation is dramatic
The humanitarian situation of the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip is dramatic. “After ten weeks of the crisis in Gaza, half of the population is now hungry and has little access to food, water and shelter,” the World Food Program (WFP) recently announced. According to diplomats, the White House was particularly bothered by the review of aid supplies by the United Nations as envisaged in the draft resolution – Israel itself wants to have control over imports into the Gaza Strip.
