The United Nations Security Council adopted Friday a resolution to boost humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip that stopped short of a call for a ceasefire after a week of vote delays and intense negotiations to avoid a United States veto.
The resolution calls for urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered, and expanded humanitarian access and to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.
Amid global outrage over a rising Gaza death toll in 11 weeks of war between Israel and Hamas and a worsening humanitarian crisis in Palestine, the U.S. abstained to allow the 15-member council to adopt a resolution drafted by the United Arab Emirates.
The remaining council members voted for the resolution except for Russia, which also abstained, having favored an initial draft that called for "an urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities" to allow aid access.
The U.S. and Israel oppose a ceasefire, believing it would only benefit Hamas.
Washington, however, supports pauses in fighting to protect civilians and free hostages taken by Hamas.
"We believe that the resolution begins to unblock life saving aid, whose denial has condemned more than half a million people in Gaza to famine," UAE U.N. Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh told the council after the vote.
Following high-level negotiations to win over Washington, the resolution no longer dilutes Israel's control over all aid deliveries to 2.3 million people in Gaza.
Israel monitors the limited aid deliveries to Gaza via the Rafah crossing from Egypt and the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing.
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