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The UN Security Council holds a vote for a Brazilian-drafted resolution that calls for humanitarian pauses in Gaza, at the UN headquarters in New York, October 18, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]
By Fiona Sim
In the past two weeks since the escalation in Gaza began, the United States has vetoed two resolutions at the United Nations Security Council: the first, a resolution led by permanent member Russia calling for a humanitarian ceasefire and the second, a resolution led by non-permanent member Brazil calling for a humanitarian pause.
U.S. President Joe Biden's recent post on X: "As hard as it is, we cannot give up on peace," alongside other comments regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict suggest that the United States is invested in an end to the ongoing war on Gaza and seeking peaceful resolution in the so-called Middle East. However, the Biden administration's actions paint a very different picture.
The latest resolution led by Brazil refrained from an explicit call for a ceasefire – which was cited as one of the U.S.'s reasons why it vetoed Russia's initial resolution – in favor of a humanitarian pause to allow aid and supplies into Gaza.
As of the time the draft resolution was tabled, Israel had instigated a "total siege" strategy on Gaza, cutting off the electricity supply and blocking food, water, fuel, and other key supplies from entering the area. Though Israel has restricted food, fuel, and water going into Gaza as part of an ongoing blockade since 2005, it has never been to this extent.
With Gazan hospitals already overwhelmed by the number of injured patients and evacuees using them as a safe space for shelter, the complete blockade of fuel and medical supplies is a matter of life or death. Despite this, the United States' veto was enacted because the resolution did not mention Israel's right to self-defense. China described this as "nothing short of unbelievable" as the U.S. had not expressed any dissent during negotiations. It is hard to believe that peace is at the top of the United States' priority list if it chooses to use its veto power on the basis of political semantics over its geopolitical ally at the expense of all victims of the war.
The very evening of the rejected resolution, airstrikes hit Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City and killed over 500. An Israeli government official's post on X suggested that "Israeli Air Force struck a Hamas terrorist base inside a hospital in Gaza" but these statements were deleted quickly after, and Israel's official narrative was that it denies all responsibility.
Destroyed buildings after Israeli airstrikes in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, October 22, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]
United Nations Chief Antonio Guterres has since condemned Israel's collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza as unjustified by Hamas' attacks and called for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire."
This resolution deadlock at the UN comes at a critical period of major loss of human life and the mass displacement of a million Gazans. The death toll of 1,400 in Israel – most of which occurred during the October 7th surprise intervention by Hamas – has been surpassed by a threefold number in Palestine at 4,700. This figure includes almost 2,000 children according to the Palestinian Health Ministry and continues to climb as Israeli forces continue their bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
The truth is, the United States has not shown tangible steps to act as a mediator and resolve the conflict. Biden's recent trip to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resulted in a pledge to ask the U.S. Congress for an "unprecedented support package for Israel's defense" which was issued to the tune of $74 billion to Israel and Ukraine. The majority will be military aid with some set aside for humanitarian purposes.
With President Biden's own words in Tel Aviv: "As long as the United States stands – and we will stand forever – we will not let you ever be alone," the United States has made its allegiances clear. It is no wonder that no senior U.S. officials attended the Cairo Peace Summit. The U.S.'s funding of arms to Israel speaks to a nation looking to advance rather than de-escalate the Israel-Hamas conflict. A country that commits to prolonging war rather than committing to finding ways to end or prevent it seems in direct contradiction to the country of freedom and democracy the United States continually promotes itself to be.
It seems Biden's own administration knows this too. Josh Paul, U.S. State Department official in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs publicly resigned over moral disagreements "concerning [the U.S.'s] continued lethal assistance to Israel." The American people appear to have similar sentiments. Thousands of people are peacefully protesting across the United States in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Some would argue that Biden's plea to Netanyahu to allow conditional aid into the country has worked as twenty aid trucks were finally allowed to cross into Gaza on Saturday 21 October. According to UNICEF, part of the convoy carried 44,000 bottles of drinking water – a day's supply for 22,000 people in a besieged strip of land that is home to 2 million Palestinians. It seems like a drop in the ocean in the context of the severe water crisis in Gaza. Humanitarian organizations have warned of deadly waterborne diseases such as cholera that will spread if Israel continues its siege.
For every resolution the United States vetoes, a million children in Gaza live another day at risk of starvation, dehydration, and death by airstrike, while 50,000 expectant mothers go without critical maternity care.
As the United States moves to draft its own UN Security Council resolution, the world waits with bated breath for the day that America ends a war instead of starting or colluding in another one.
Fiona Sim, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is a London-based freelance political commentator and public sector worker.
