Complicit in brutal massacre: Russia slams US after it vetoes UN ceasefire resolution in Gaza

MOSCOW: Russia criticized the United States after it vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, CNN reported. Russia's UN Ambassador accused the US of authorizing a ground offensive in Gaza by Israel. In a statement to the council, Russia's diplomat accused Washington of being "complicit in Israel's brutal massacre."

"Our American colleagues have condemned thousands - if not tens of thousands - more civilians in Palestine and Israel, including women and children, to death, along with the UN workers who are trying to help them," said the Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky.

The United States and Israel oppose a ceasefire, saying it would benefit Hamas. Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas in response to the militants' deadly Oct. 7 cross-border rampage. The United States was the only country to vote against a resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.

"One can say many beautiful but empty words about democracy, human rights, peace, security, some rules and order, but today, we learned the true value of these words as two members of the UN Security Council preferred to remain complicit in Israel's brutal massacre," the diplomat also said, in an apparent allusion to the US and the UK, which abstained from voting. Russia and 13 other countries voted in favour of the draft resolution on Gaza, which demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of hostages, and humanitarian access to the strip, according to CNN.

Russia has time and again vetoed UN Security Council draft resolutions calling for the end of its on-going attack on Ukraine. Friday's vote followed mounting international pressure for an end to the fighting in Gaza and more aid for the enclave, where the UN has said the humanitarian support system is on the edge of collapse. After the vote, the US said the resolution was "divorced from reality," and "would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat" the attacks it committed against Israel on October 7.

The United Arab Emirates, which tabled the resolution, criticised the council's inability to demand a ceasefire, asking: "What is the message we are sending Palestinians if we cannot unite behind a call to halt the relentless bombardment of Gaza?"

China too expressed its "great disappointment and regret" that the US vetoed the draft, with its UN ambassador saying "any negative attitude" toward a ceasefire was "untenable" and justification against it "remains feeble." "It needs to be pointed out that condoning the continuation of fighting while claiming to care about the lives and safety of the people in Gaza and the humanitarian needs there is self-contradictory," CNN quoted Ambassador Zhang Jun as saying.

"All this shows once again what double standard is," he added. France said it did "not see any contradiction in the fight against terrorism and the protection of civilians," and added that with a lack of unity in the council, the crisis in Gaza is "getting worse and... runs the risk of extending," CNN reported.