US blocks UN Security Council demand for humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza

Thirteen Security Council members voted in favour of a brief draft resolution, put forward by the United Arab Emirates, while Britain abstained

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends a United Nations Security Council meeting about his invoking Article 99 of the United Nations charter to address the humanitarian crisis in the midst of conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas at the UN headquarters in New York City. Picture: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

A resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza has failed to pass at the UN after the US blocked it.

Ahead of the vote, the UN Secretary-General had urged the Security Council to spare “no effort” to push for an immediate halt in violence, "for the protection of civilians and the urgent delivery of lifesaving aid”.