Watan-The Government Media Office in Gaza on Thursday morning urged the international community to take “immediate and effective” action outside the framework of the “paralyzed” UN Security Council to stop what it described as Israel’s “brutal aggression” against Palestinians.
This statement followed the U.S. use of its veto power to block a Security Council resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, despite 14 of the 15 members voting in favor.
In its statement, the Gaza media office strongly condemned the U.S. veto against the resolution — drafted by Algeria and backed by the ten non-permanent members of the Council — which called for an “immediate and permanent ceasefire” and for unimpeded humanitarian access to the besieged territory facing a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe and ongoing genocide by Israeli forces.
The statement highlighted that, with full U.S. backing, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023 — through killing, starvation, destruction, and displacement — in open defiance of international calls and legally binding orders from the International Court of Justice to halt these acts.
The ongoing atrocities have resulted in around 180,000 Palestinian casualties (dead and wounded), the majority of whom are women and children, in addition to over 11,000 missing persons and hundreds of thousands of displaced people facing famine.
Describing the U.S. veto as “disgraceful,” the statement called it “another moral stain on the United States’ record” and an expression of full alignment with the Israeli killing machine — a direct political endorsement of war crimes committed against Palestinian civilians, particularly women, children, the sick, and the elderly.
Acting U.S. Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea attempted to justify the veto, saying:
“We will not support any resolution that fails to condemn Hamas… any resolution that undermines the security of our close ally Israel is completely unacceptable.”
The Gaza Media Office dismissed these justifications as “an attempt to legitimize genocide, endorse aggression, and justify collective starvation and destruction.”
It emphasized that the U.S. position constitutes a flagrant violation of international norms and humanitarian law, defying the United Nations Charter and principles of justice.
The statement further asserted that the U.S. veto represents direct complicity in the ongoing genocide, contributing to the obstruction of international efforts to end the assault and rescue over 2.4 million besieged Palestinians in Gaza, who are being denied food, water, and medicine amid relentless bombing and hunger.
For 18 years, Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza, and the war has left nearly 1.5 million Palestinians homeless due to widespread destruction of housing.
Conversely, the Gaza Media Office praised the countries that supported the resolution and called on the international community, the UN, and rights organizations to take urgent action outside the constraints of the veto-bound Security Council.
It called for efforts to:
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Save innocent lives in Gaza,
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Enforce an immediate and total ceasefire,
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Ensure the safe and adequate flow of humanitarian aid,
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And hold Israel accountable for crimes against civilians.
This veto follows a similar one by Washington in November, where it opposed a ceasefire resolution on the grounds that it didn’t explicitly demand the release of Israeli hostages.
Israel claims that 58 of its citizens remain captive in Gaza, including 20 still alive. Meanwhile, over 10,400 Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons, facing torture, starvation, and medical neglect, which has reportedly led to multiple deaths, according to both Palestinian and Israeli human rights reports.
Of the 15 members of the UN Security Council, only five — the U.S., UK, France, Russia, and China — hold veto power. The current ten non-permanent members are: Algeria, Pakistan, Panama, South Korea, Denmark, Slovenia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Guyana, and Greece.
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