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Ceasefire resolutions send a ‘clear message’: Denmark ambassador
Christina Markus Lassen, Denmark’s ambassador to the UN, has presented the latest Gaza ceasefire draft resolution at the UN Security Council.
“So colleagues, let this resolution send a clear message, a message that the Security Council is not turning its back on starving civilians, on the hostages and the demand for a ceasefire,” she said.
“Let it say that we support humanitarian workers and health personnel struggling against impossible odds – that when a war is livestreamed around the world, daily and in graphic details, we have the decency to act. That international law matters, that humanitarian principles matter, that the principles of humanity in this UN Charter guide us.”
US vetoes ceasefire resolution
The US is the sole country to vote against today’s ceasefire resolution. Because it is a permanent member of the council, the vote means the resolution has been scuttled.
The US representative said the resolution “fails to condemn Hamas or recognise Israel’s right to defend itself, and it wrongly legitimises the false narratives benefiting Hamas, which have sadly found currency in this council”.
The US, a close ally of Israel, has repeatedly voted down UN Security Council resolutions on a ceasefire.
Algerian ambassador to UN says ‘we will not give up’
Amar Bendjama has been responding to the US vetoing the latest resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
“Forgive us, in particular in Gaza, where fire consumes, where rubber suffocates, forgive us, because this council could not save your children,” Bendjama said.
“Because Israel is shielded, because it is immune. Immune, not by international law, but by the bias of this international system,” he said.
“Israel kills every day and nothing happens. Israel starves a people and nothing happens. Israel bombs hospitals, schools, shelters and nothing happens. Israel attacks a mediator and steps on diplomacy, and nothing happened.
“And with every act, every act unpunished, humanity itself is diminished.”
