The standoff underscored the isolation of the United States on the world stage, with foreign diplomats making clear that if a compromise couldn’t be brokered soon, the resolution would be put up for a vote.
The United States has a long history in standing alone beside Israel in the United Nations. The Biden administration already twice vetoed Security Council resolutions related to the latest Israel-Gaza conflict despite its increasing concern about the death toll in Gaza and Israel’s prosecution of the war. U.S. officials are actively working with U.N. diplomats on a mechanism for aid delivery that Israel would not oppose, said officials.
If diplomats cannot find a solution before the council puts it to a vote, the Biden administration will have to decide whether to anger the vast majority of U.N. member states or Israel, its longtime Middle East ally.
“We have been working overnight hours, long hours,” the UAE ambassador to the United Nations, Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, told reporters after leaving a gridlocked meeting of the council. “We appreciate your patience with the council.”
The closed-door meeting ended without a vote as world powers agreed to reconvene on Thursday.
U.S. officials say a cease-fire would leave Hamas’s military capabilities intact and hand the group a victory. They also have concerns about establishing a U.N. mechanism for delivering aid into Gaza. At the moment, Israel inspects the small amount of humanitarian aid and fuel deliveries to Gaza that are making their way through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt and the Israel-controlled crossing Kerem Shalom.
The growing death toll, now nearing 20,000 — including thousands of women and children — according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, has spurred global calls for a cessation of hostilities and put U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield in an increasingly isolated position.
“Everyone in New York assumes that this comes down to a personal decision by Biden now,” said Richard Gowan, a U.N. expert at the International Crisis Group. “It is no secret that Linda Thomas-Greenfield would like a deal. But as Israel has been lobbying the White House for a veto, this ultimately comes down to Biden’s own instincts.”
A U.S. official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations, said the White House and the ambassador are both aligned in seeking a solution “where we are not vetoing.”
Hamas killed 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 240 hostage in its Oct. 7 surprise attack.
On Tuesday, U.N. diplomats eliminated the word “cease-fire” from a draft resolution sponsored by the UAE and instead demanded an “urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and for urgent steps toward a sustainable cessation of hostilities.”
But those modifications failed to win over the United States.
During a news conference on Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said his primary concern was that a U.N. resolution not “do anything that could actually hurt the delivery of humanitarian assistance.” He did not specify how current proposals would jeopardize that.
Inside the meeting room on Wednesday, envoys representing Russia and China argued that the council should put the resolution to a vote that would underscore Washington’s isolation, said two diplomats, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. But other members argued that it was more important to aim for a productive resolution that would pass.
“The overriding objective of this resolution was always to try and positively impact on the ground for the people who need it the most,” said Nusseibeh, the UAE diplomat.
In Gaza, fighting intensified in northern Jabalya city amid an almost total communication blackout on Wednesday, according to the Gaza Strip’s two main telecommunications companies. Most parts of the enclave have no remaining phone or internet services, severely limiting access to information and affecting emergency operations, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement.
The Israel Defense Forces said its Division 162 was engaged in “intensive combat” in Jabalya, and that it had “eliminated over hundreds of terrorists.” The IDF said it had taken “operational control” of the city and “dismantled the military capacity of the northern division of Gaza City.”
Munir al-Bursh, a director general of the Gaza Health Ministry, said that an intense Israeli bombardment had been ongoing for three days, and Israeli forces were “committing mass executions and extermination in northern Gaza.” In statements on social media, he said 46 people died, 110 were injured and tens remain under rubble as a result of the three-day offensive. He shared a photo showing bombardment nearing the medical center.
The Washington Post could not reach Bursh for comment.
