Russia, China, France and the UK all voted in favour of ‘immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire’

The US again vetoes a UN security council resolution calling for an 'immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire' between Israel and Hamas. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

The United States has vetoed a United Nations security council resolution calling for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza while the 14 remaining countries on the council voted in favour.

The vetoed resolution also called the situation in Gaza “catastrophic”, and demanded the “immediate and unconditional lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and its safe and unhindered distribution at scale, including by the UN and humanitarian partners”.

It was the fifth time that the US has vetoed a security council draft ceasefire resolution in order to protect Israel. Washington vetoed a similar resolution in November, under the Biden administration, on the grounds that the ceasefire demand was not directly linked to the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas.

The text was co-sponsored by Algeria, Denmark, Greece, Guyana, Pakistan, Panama, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Somalia. Russia, China, France and the UK also voted in favour.

“The council was prevented from shouldering its responsibility, despite the fact that most of us seem to be converging on one view,” said France’s ambassador to the UN, Jerome Bonnafont.

“Today, the United States sent a strong message by vetoing a counterproductive UN Security Council resolution on Gaza targeting Israel,” the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said in a statement after the vote.

He said Washington would not support any text that “draws a false equivalence between Israel and Hamas, or disregards Israel’s right to defend itself.

“The United States will continue to stand with Israel at the UN.”

Israel also welcomed the US veto.

“I thank @POTUS and the US administration for standing shoulder to shoulder with Israel and vetoing this one-sided resolution in the UN Security Council,” wrote Gideon Saar, Israel’s minister of foreign affairs. “The proposed resolution only strengthens Hamas and undermines American efforts to achieve a hostage deal.”

The UK supported the resolution. In a statement, its ambassador, Barbara Woodward, called Israel’s new aid system “inhumane” and said that Israel “needs to end its restrictions on aid now”.

“This Israeli government’s decisions to expand its military operations in Gaza and severely restrict aid are unjustifiable, disproportionate and counterproductive,” she said. “And the UK completely opposes them.”

Other security council members criticised the US for the veto. Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN said the failed resolution would “remain not only a moral stain on the conscience of this council, but a fateful moment of political application that will reverberate for generations”.

China’s ambassador to the UN, Fu Cong, said: “Today’s vote result once again exposes that the root cause of the council’s inability to quell the conflict in Gaza is the repeated obstruction by the US.”

The resolution was put up for a vote as the UN and aid agencies have warned of famine conditions in Gaza after a protracted embargo on aid and the shambolic rollout of a US- and Israeli-backed scheme called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

“The world is watching, day after day, horrifying scenes of Palestinians being shot, wounded or killed in Gaza while simply trying to eat,” said the UN relief chief, Tom Fletcher, on Wednesday.

The GHF, which has murky political backing and funding, announced that its distribution centres in Gaza would remain closed for a second day on Thursday morning. At least 27 people were killed and hundreds injured on Tuesday by Israeli fire as they waited for food at a GHF distribution point.

Woodward, the UK permanent representative to the UN, voiced support for a UN call for “an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable”.

“Israel needs to end its restrictions on aid now: let the UN and humanitarians do their job to save lives, reduce suffering and maintain dignity,” she said.