US Vetoes United Nations Security Council Resolution on Gaza

On Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) held a vote for a Brazilian-drafted resolution that calls for humanitarian pauses in Gaza at the UN headquarters in New York.

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The Brazilian-drafted resolution won the support of 12 of the 15 members of the Security Council. The United States, which has veto power, was the only council member that voted against it. Britain and Russia abstained.

Before voting on the Brazilian draft, the UNSC voted separately on two amendments to the Brazilian draft submitted by Russia. Wednesday's failure by the Security Council was the second in a row to adopt a resolution on Gaza.

On Monday, the UNSC failed to adopt a Russian-drafted resolution that would have called for a humanitarian cease-fire. The draft resolution failed to win enough votes in favor for adoption. 

The Russian amendments - on a call for an end to indiscriminate attacks on civilians and a call for a durable humanitarian cease-fire, instead of humanitarian pauses contained in the Brazilian text - were unable to pass as there was not enough support by UNSC members. The U.S. was the only council member that voted against the Russian amendments.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed the United Nations, Western countries, and the media for the Gazan crisis, which "risks spreading to our entire region."

He mentioned that efforts to resolve the problems have been hampered by measures such as the United States sending an aircraft carrier to the region, cutting off humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people, and collective punishment of the people of Gaza.

"The UNSC, increasingly ineffective, once again failed to fulfill its responsibility. Western countries, so passionate about human rights and freedoms, only added fuel to the fire," denounced Erdogan, who highlighted that mainstream media "whitewashes human carnage with biased and hypocritical publications.