The U.S. vetoed a resolution put forward by Algeria in the UN Security Council calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. U.S. officials claimed that voting on the resolution today would be irresponsible and put sensitive negotiations in peril. We’d like to remind the U.S. that more than 28,000 people have been killed, almost 2 million people have been forcibly displaced, 2.2 million people are at imminent risk of famine, and there are reports of a major Israeli offensive in Rafah.
The U.S. proposal for a temporary ceasefire ‘as soon as practical’ is insufficient to addressing this crisis that worsens by the minute. One in 25 Gazans has been injured or killed since October, and that figure will only worsen as disease and hunger continue to set in.
What’s irresponsible is failing to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. What’s perilous is to continue funding military efforts that clearly violate international law.
ENDS
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Niranjali Amerasinghe, Executive Director of ActionAid USA, is available for interview.
About ActionAid
ActionAid is a global federation working with more than 41 million people living in more than 71 of the world’s poorest countries. We want to see a just, fair, and sustainable world, in which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity, and freedom from poverty and oppression. We work to achieve social justice and gender equality and to eradicate poverty.