The US rejects the proposal for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza at the United Nations Security Council. The US veto blocked a draft resolution - which saw 13 votes in favor and the United Kingdom abstention - deemed too "unbalanced" to receive the American approval.
A truce hoped for and deemed necessary by the UN, given that the situation in the Strip is "close to the point of no return, with civil order collapsing" . Humanitarian aid is struggling to arrive, humanitarian convoys are looted and UN vehicles are stoned.
Last night the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, released a video showing the body of an Israeli soldier who died, according to Palestinian militiamen, following a failed raid to free him attempted this morning by Israeli forces. The film, which lasts just under two minutes, shows in the first part the kidnapped soldier speaking in the room, unharmed: «My name is Saar Baruch, I'm 24 years old and I'm from Kibbutz Beeri. Since October 7th I have been hostage in Gaza. I want to go home,” he says. Then the images continue with what Hamas says are the consequences of the attempted raid: pools of blood on the floor and on the steps of some stairs, together with bullet casings and the disorder and destruction resulting from the firefight. The images end unequivocally with the corpse of the Israeli soldier.
The US ambassador to the UN Robert Wood explained that the veto came due to the lack of condemnation of Hamas and the explicit reference to Israel's right to defense in the text : "We were forced to vote against", he said, underlining the USA "supports a lasting peace, but a truce now would only sow the seeds for the next war ".
«I thank the United States and President Biden for standing firmly with us today and for demonstrating their leadership and values. On this holiday of Hanukkah, a little light has dispelled much of the darkness,” Israeli UN ambassador Gilad Erdan wrote in X.
"The brutality perpetrated by Hamas - reiterated the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, relaunching the proposal for a humanitarian truce - will never be able to justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people" .
(Unioneonline/L)