UN passes resolution calling for immediate ceasefire in Gaza as US abstains

The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for the first time since the conflict began after the United States took the rare decision to withhold its veto on the issue.

The resolution, which was backed by 14 nations, demands an immediate cease-fire during the month of Ramadan and the release of all hostages held by Hamas.

The decision to abstain from the vote represents a major shift in US policy, which has used its permanent member status on the Security Council to veto three previous resolutions demanding a cease-fire in Gaza.

The move follows months of increasing pressure on president Joe Biden’s administration from within his own party, as well as from international allies, to do more to pressure its close ally Israel to limit its offensive in Gaza as the death toll passes 32,000 and more than one million people in the besieged territory are on the brink of famine.

It is likely to further raise tensions between the US and Israel, who have been engaged in a public rift over Israeli plans to invade the Gazan city of Rafah.

The abstention provoked an immediate response from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who cancelled a planned visit to Washington DC by a high-level delegation in protest and accused the US of “retreating” from what he said had been a “principled position”.

The two allies had already been at odds over the plan to attack Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians are now sheltering after being displaced from elsewhere in Gaza. Responding to US opposition to the plan to attack the city last week, Mr Netanyahu said the operation would happen with or without US support.

“I hope to do that with the support of the United States, but