The United States will not support UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip today at the Security Council, US Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Wood made clear today.

Wood threw cold water on expectations that the Council would today endorse this call for a permanent truce in a resolution introduced by the United Arab Emirates and which received the support of all Arab and Islamic countries, in addition to Russia, China and France. .

“We do not support the call for an immediate ceasefire.. This will only sow the seeds for the next war because Hamas does not want a lasting peace or a two-state solution,” Wood told the council.

Wood pointed out, echoing Israeli talking points, that “if Israel were to lay down its arms today, as some member states are asking, Hamas would continue to hold its hostages, women and children, old and young, many of whom would be subjected to inhumane and cruel treatment.”

Shortly before Wood’s speech, Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan had already radically opposed the truce and declared that “the true path to peace is to support Israel’s mission, and not to call for a ceasefire at all.”

The ambassador, who has distinguished himself in recent weeks with his aggressive speeches against various UN bodies, said that “the ceasefire means strengthening the control that Hamas has in the Gaza Strip; Moreover, the call for a ceasefire makes it clear that their deliberate atrocities are forgiven.” and that Hamas’s oppression of Gazans has received the green light from the international community.

In his speech, Erdan insisted on blaming Hamas for everything that happens in Gaza, and today he assured that its fighters have monopolized the meager humanitarian aid coming into the strip and that they have even shot at Gazan civilians who tried to gain access for this help.

He went so far as to assure, contrary to the claims of all aid agencies, that “in fact, Israel accepts all humanitarian aid to Gaza from any country that is willing to provide it,” but that this aid does not reach its true recipients.

Erdan’s message was addressed to the 15-member council hours before a vote on a new resolution introduced by the United Arab Emirates that calls for an unconditional ceasefire, although France’s UN ambassador Nicolas de la Riviere had already said so. He has already warned that it does not seem realistic that the text could be approved today, and Wood’s words suggest such a vote is doomed to fail.

The US has criticized its ally Israel for failing to take into account the protection of civilians in attacks in the Gaza Strip, without calling for a ceasefire.

Two months into the war, the Security Council voted on several other resolutions calling for an end to the war, with vetoes by the United States and Russia, and it was not until November 15 that it was able to agree on a call to end the war. pause.” “humanitarian” to deliver aid to the civilian population of Gaza.

However, the only truce declared in these two months (seven days) was not the result of this resolution, but rather indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas – mediated by Qatar and the United States – for the exchange of hostages in the hands of the Islamist group. Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.