Gaza: still no ceasefire this Friday...

 

France to work on new UN Gaza ceasefire resolution after Russian and Chinese veto, says Macron

France will work on a new UN resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza following the Russian and Chinese veto against a resolution proposed by the US, French president Emmanuel Macron said on Friday, reports Reuters.

“Following Russia’s and China’s veto a few minutes ago, we are going to resume work on the basis of the French draft resolution in the security council and work with our American, European and Arab partners to reach an agreement,” Macron said at end of a EU leaders’ summit in Brussels.

France’s foreign ministry said on Thursday it had started drafting a resolution with diplomats, saying they would put a draft forward if the US resolution did not pass.

- Reuters 

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French President Emmanuel Macron vowed on Friday to keep pressing for a Gaza ceasefire call at the UN Security Council, moments after China and Russia vetoed a US-backed draft resolution.

French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking immediately after the vetoes, said France would keep pushing an alternative resolution for a ceasefire.

"The Security Council must call for an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian access," Macron told reporters in Brussels, at the end of the European summit.

He promised to resume work based on an alternative French resolution "along with our US, European and Arab partners to reach an agreement".

Russia and China on Friday vetoed a US-sponsored UN resolution calling for “an immediate and sustained ceasefire” in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

France’s foreign ministry had said on Thursday it had started drafting a resolution with diplomats, saying they would put a draft forward if the US resolution did not pass.

The Security Council may later Friday consider another resolution with a more explicit call for an immediate ceasefire.

Vetoes

The US resolution aimed to protect civilians and enable humanitarian aid to be delivered to more than two million hungry Palestinians.

It was the first of its kind to come from Washington, with a demand for a immediate ceasefire.

According to the Associated Press (AP), the vote in the 15-member security council was 11 members in favour, three against and one abstention.

Before the vote, Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow 

supports an immediate ceasefire, but he questioned the language in the resolution and accused the US secretary of state Antony Blinken and US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield of “misleading the international community” for “politicised” reasons, AP added.

Pressure

Moscow also accused Washington of a "hypocritical spectacle" that does not pressure Israel.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday for talks aimed at ensuring more aid flows into Gaza, amid increasingly tense relations between the two allies over the six-month-old war.

The US ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the vetoes would jeopardise the ongoing talks for the release of hostages.

Speaking before the vote on the US draft, she had said, "by adopting the resolution before us, we can put pressure on Hamas to accept the deal on the table."

 (with newswires)