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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 withheld its veto.
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 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 increasing pressure on president Joe Biden’s administration from within his own party, as well as from international allies, for the US to do more to pressure Israel to limit its offensive in Gaza as the death toll reached 32,000 and more than one million people in the besieged territory are on the brink of famine.
The US has blocked three previous UN Security Council resolutions calling for an immediate ceasefire, including one last month backed by Arab states for which it was the only country on the 15-member council to issue its veto. Since 1945, the US has vetoed 89 Security Council resolutions in total — more than half of those have been resolutions critical of Israel.
Nonetheless, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters following the vote: “Our vote does not — and I repeat, does not — represent a shift in our policy.”
“We’ve been clear … we’ve been consistent in our support for a ceasefire as part of a hostage deal … we wanted to get to a place where we could support that resolution,” he said before adding that the US could not support it because it did not include “key language that we think is essential” such as a condemnation of Hamas.
It comes just days after the Security Council failed to pass a US-submitted resolution that declared the “imperative” of an “immediate and sustained ceasefire,” but did not make it a legally binding demand.
