Israeli Foreign Minister Criticizes United States Decision Not To Veto UN DK Resolution

UN DK resolution vote on ceasefire in Gaza. (Twitter/@UN)

JAKARTA - Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the United States' decision not to veto UN Security Council resolutions calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza would harm Israel in negotiations to release hostages detained by terrorists in the Palestinian enclave.

Speaking to Army Radio, Katz drew a straight line between Hamas' refusal to Israel's terms for a ceasefire and a hostage-taking deal in exchange for the prisoners, with the US decision to allow the move to be passed, which he called "a moral and ethical error."

"Hamas builds the fact that there will be a ceasefire without having to pay anything," he said.

Foreign Minister Katz further said the relationship between Jerusalem and Washington remained strong, noted a forthcoming meeting with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and described President Joe Biden's position as a result of "radical wing" pressure within the Democratic party.

But he said the message conveyed in the resolution, especially the Arabic version, was "Hamas doesn't need to rush" to reach an agreement.

He said the result was that Israel needed to increase military pressure to prove its commitment to freeing the hostages and crushing Hamas.

"In our view, there is a message, a bad message, to anyone on the Hamas side, that the US doesn't really support Israel, so we need to prove, militarily, that we will stick to our goals."

It is known that the UN Security Council succeeded in agreeing on a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. The 2728 resolution proposed by the 10 non-permanent member states of the UN Security Council (Aljazar, Ecuador, Guyana Japan, South Korea, Malta, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Switzerland), received support from 14 countries, with Uncle Sam's country choosing abstain.

Foreign Minister Katz previously wrote on X that his country would not comply with the resolution.

"The Israeli state will not hold a ceasefire. We will destroy Hamas and continue to fight until the last hostages return home," Katz said, quoted by CNN.

This resolution was agreed upon after the council failed to agree on three previous draft resolutions due to veto by the permanent member state of the council.

"This resolution must be implemented. Failure cannot be forgiven," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote on social media.