Moscow, Sep 20 (IANS) Russia’s Foreign Ministry expressed regret that the United Nations Security Council remains unable to end the violence and humanitarian suffering in the Gaza Strip due to repeated vetoes by the United States.
“The UN Security Council’s inability to stop the fighting and bloodshed and end the suffering of civilians is therefore deeply regrettable and disappointing,” the ministry said in a statement published on its official website on Friday.
On Thursday, a group of non-permanent members of the Security Council attempted yet again to adopt a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the release of hostages, and access for humanitarian aid.
All council members voted in favour of the draft resolution except the United States, which used its veto for the seventh time since the escalation of the crisis, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Foreign Ministry reiterated that Russia’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains consistent. While condemning the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, Moscow said the incident “cannot and should not be used as a pretext for the collective punishment of Palestinian civilians or for fueling a broader war in the Middle East.”
Russia believes that achieving genuine peace and security in the region is impossible without a just settlement of the Palestinian issue and the fulfillment of the legitimate rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people, the ministry added.
Earlier on September 18, the United States had vetoed a UN Security Council draft resolution that would have demanded Israel immediately lift all restrictions on humanitarian access and delivery in Gaza.
The draft would have also called for an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and for the unconditional, dignified and immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas and other armed groups.
The draft, put forward by the 10 elected members of the Security Council, won 14 votes in favour among the 15-member council. The United States, a permanent member of the council, has veto power.
The US veto drew widespread criticism in the Security Council.
Algerian UN ambassador Amar Bendjama had said that the 14 council members who voted in favor of the draft resolution have acted with conscience, echoing the calls of the international public opinion.
“Again, this council failed — another scar of the conscience of humanity,” he had said, adding that it is a shame in the face of a genocide unfolding before open eyes.
“And at this moment, there can be no ambiguity. Each of us must choose either to act to stop the genocide, or to be counted among those who were complicit,” he said.
Somali UN ambassador Abukar Dahir Osman had depicted Thursday’s voting result as “a profound moral failure.”
He said the draft is grounded in the very language and spirit of the UN Charter, which all member states have vowed to uphold. The draft resolution demanded the bare minimum. Yet, time and again, the Security Council has been blocked from action.
Russian UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia had said that there will be no breakthrough on the Middle East question as long as Washington’s perception of the Gaza crisis remains unchanged, and as long as it views multilateral diplomacy at the United Nations as an obstacle rather than a critically important tool.
“The UN Security Council will remain a helpless witness to this catastrophe, paralyzed not by some inherent structural flaw, but by the will — or more accurately by the lack thereof — of one single delegation,” he had said.
On the US claim that the draft resolution, if adopted, would undermine diplomacy on the ground, Nebenzia had said the Israeli attack on Qatar, a major mediator of the Gaza conflict, bears evidence of Israel’s lack of interest in peace.
“That act was, essentially, an assault on the very idea of attaining an agreement. It discredited any assertions that Israel is allegedly ready to embrace diplomacy and reach a deal. Blaming Hamas for derailing the talks, as our American colleagues are persistently doing, is utterly absurd,” he had said.
British UN ambassador Barbara Woodward also regretted that the Security Council was unable to reach a consensus on the draft resolution.
“We need a ceasefire more than ever. And yet Israel’s reckless expansion of its military operation takes us further away from a deal which could bring the hostages home and end the suffering in Gaza,” she had said.
“We are witnessing an entirely man-made famine in Gaza and images of starving Palestinians killed, while desperately seeking scraps of food for their families,” she had said.
“We urge Israel’s government to end the bloodshed, which has already cost the lives of 65,000 Palestinians, and to immediately lift its restrictions on the entry of aid and allow the UN and humanitarian agencies to save lives.”
–IANS
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