Netanyahu to cancel Israeli delegation to US over UN Gaza vote
Security Council demands ceasefire, release of hostages
Jerusalem – Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will not send a delegation as planned to Washington if the US does not veto a UN Security Council proposal calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, Israeli news media reported yesterday.
A high-level delegation is due to travel to Washington to discuss a planned Israeli military operation in the southern
Gaza city of Rafah.
There was no immediate comment or confirmation from Netanyahu’s office on the report, which was carried by numerous Israeli media outlets yesterday.
Parliamentary opposition leader
Yair Lapid accused Netanyahu of trying to divert attention away from a rift in his coalition over a military conscription bill at the expense of ties with the US.
The US has vetoed three draft council resolutions on the war in Gaza. It has also previously abstained twice, allowing the council to adopt resolutions that aimed to boost aid to Gaza and called for extended pauses in fighting.
Russia and China have also vetoed two US drafted resolutions on the conflict – in October and on Friday.
The UN Security Council yesterday demanded an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the immediate release of all hostages after the US abstained from the vote.
Washington had been averse to the word ceasefire earlier in the nearly six-month-old war in the Gaza Strip and had used its veto power to shield US ally Israel as it retaliated against Hamas for an October 7 attack.
But amid growing global pressure for a truce in the war that has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, the US abstained from the vote yesterday to allow the Security Council to demand an immediate ceasefire for the month of Muslim fasting Ramadan, which ends in two weeks.
It also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.