US vetoes UN demand for ceasefire, aid access in Gaza

UNITED NATIONS: The United States vetoed on Thursday a draft United Nations Security Council resolution that would have demanded an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and demand that Israel lift all restrictions on the delivery of aid in to the Palestinian enclave.

The text, drafted by the elected 10 members of the 15-member council, would also have demanded the immediate, dignified and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups.

It received 14 votes in favor. It was the sixth time the U.S. had cast a veto in the Security Council over the nearly two-year war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas.

Earlier, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry concluded this week, that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. Israel dismissed the findings as biased and based on unverified evidence.

WHAT DID THE U.N. INQUIRY IN GAZA FIND?

After 23 months of interviews with victims, witnesses and doctors and analysis of open source documents and satellite imagery, the panel concluded “the Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces have had and continue to have the genocidal intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip”. The state of Israel is responsible for “the failure to prevent genocide, the commission of genocide and the failure to punish genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” it found.

The commission says Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces have committed four of the five genocidal acts: “namely killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinians in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent births.”
The U.N. report comes after the leading genocide scholars’ association and human rights groups reached the same conclusion.

WHAT DOES THE INQUIRY CITE AS EVIDENCE?

It cites widespread killings, the blocking of aid, forced displacement and the destruction of health care facilities including a fertility clinic as evidence.

The commission also cited statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials as “direct evidence of genocidal intent.”

Among them were the leader’s letter to Israeli soldiers in November 2023 comparing the Gaza operation to what the commission describes as a “holy war of total annihilation” in the Hebrew Bible. It also cited comments by the former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, in October 2023 announcing a complete siege of Gaza and stating that Israel was fighting “human animals” as well as President Isaac Herzog who said on October 14, 2023 that “an entire nation” is responsible.

Herzog condemned the report’s findings saying his words were misinterpreted. Netanyahu and Gallant did not respond to requests for comment.