UN Security Council urges immediate increase in Gaza aid but refrains from calling for a ceasefire

The UN Security Council passed a resolution on Friday that stressed the need for a quick increase in humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing war between the terror organization Hamas and Israel.

The United Nations resolution text “calls for urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered and expanded humanitarian access and to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.”

However, the new resolution refrained from calling for an immediate ceasefire, likely due to fears that Washington would veto an unbalanced resolution.

While Washington accepted the resolution’s final language, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield criticized the UN Security Council (UNSC) for its failure to clearly condemn Hamas for the atrocities committed against Israeli civilians on Oct. 7.

“Why is it so hard to condemn Hamas for slaughtering young people at a concert, for butchering families alive, for the reports of widespread sexual violence? I will never understand why some council members have remained silent in the face of such evil,” Thomas-Greenfield stated.

Some UNSC members, such as Russia, have embraced a pro-Hamas position that seeks to save the Islamist terrorist organization by forcing Israel to end its military operations inside the Gaza Strip. Washington and Jerusalem are both opposed to calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, as it would not eliminate Hamas, the terror group that continues to be a threat to both Israeli and Gazan civilians.

Israel’s Deputy Ambassador to the UN Jonathan Miller emphasized that the Jewish state has both a right and duty to defend its citizens against terror forces such as Hamas.

“Israel not only has a right but an obligation to guarantee its security. This is why our mission to eliminate Hamas’s capabilities has not changed, and this is why security inspections of aid will not change. Israel will not permit the regrouping and rearming of Hamas, as the trustees of October 7 can never be allowed to repeat themselves,” Miller stated.

Earlier in December, the Biden administration vetoed a UNSC resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire, while failing to condemn the Hamas invasion and attack on Israel's southern border communities.

At the time, U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood blasted the resolution as “divorced from reality.”

“This Council’s failure to condemn Hamas’ October 7th terrorist attacks – including its acts of sexual violence and other unthinkable evils – is a serious moral failure. And it underscores the fundamental disconnect between the discussions that we have been having in this Chamber and the realities on the ground,” Wood said.

Israeli leaders have stressed Hamas is the enemy in this war, not Gaza’s civilian population. Israel has also supported increased humanitarian aid to Gaza, as long as it is not abused and confiscated by Hamas. In the past week, has opened the Kerem Shalom border crossing to ease the congestion of trucks bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog recently criticized the United Nations for failing to secure the inflow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

“Today, it is possible to provide three times the amount of humanitarian aid to Gaza if the UN – instead of complaining all day – would do its job,” Herzog said.

“Unfortunately, due to the utter failure of the UN in its work with other partners in the region, they have been unable to bring in more than 125 trucks [of aid] a day,” Herzog concluded.