Lanka signs UN resolution for Gaza ceasefire; US vetoes it

Sri Lanka joined 97 other nations in calling the United Nations Security Council on Friday to declare an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian territory of Gaza, but the United States vetoed the move despite an overwhelming 13 of the 15 Security Council members voting 'For' the resolution and the United Kingdom abstaining.

The Security Council move saw France, one of its permanent members, voting "for' an immediate ceasefire, along with two other permanent members, Russia and China.

Earlier, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked the rarely used Article 99 of the UN Charter, calling for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip due to what he said was the "severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza" and to avert a "humanitarian catastrophe".

The United Arab Emirate-sponsored resolution that was debated by the Security Council was co-sponsored by more than 97 other countries, including Sri Lanka. Supporters of the resolution decried the US veto that prevented a ceasefire in Gaza, where the death toll from Israel's military assault against the Palestine Hamas group has so far cost 17,500 lives, mostly women and children, injured tens of thousands, and displaced more than 1.8 million, or 80 percent, of the territory's 2.3 million people.

Among the countries that signed the resolution were several European nations, such as Belgium, Slovenia, Spain, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Poland, and Portugal.

From Asia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maldives, Pakistan, Laos, Singapore, Timor-Leste, Thailand and Vietnam signed the call for an immediate ceasefire.