December 22, 2023

NEW YORK — The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution Friday to ramp up international humanitarian aid to Gaza, after days of negotiations amid a push from the U.S. to tone down the language.

Both the U.S. and Russia ultimately abstained from the vote, allowing the resolution to pass with unanimous support from the rest of the Security Council, which includes the United Kingdom, China and France as permanent members.

The vote on the resolution, penned by the United Arab Emirates, was delayed for four days in hopes of avoiding a U.S. veto. In the end, a week of tense negotiations yielded text that the U.S. had said Thursday night it would not vote down. Language that originally called for a cease-fire was changed instead to call for “urgent steps” to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza and “create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.”

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