US vetoes UN draft resolution to protect Palestinians

The United States vetoed Friday an Arab-backed UN draft resolution calling for measures to protect the Palestinians but failed to win backing for its own text condemning Hamas for the violence in Gaza.

More than 120 Palestinians have been killed and thousands wounded by Israeli forces during weeks-long peaceful protests in the besieged Gaza Strip near the fence with Israel. Among the victims have been medical professionals and journalists.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley declared that "it is now completely clear that the UN is hopelessly biased against Israel," saying council members were "willing to blame Israel, but unwilling to blame Hamas."

Ten countries, including Russia and France, voted in favour of the Kuwait-sponsored resolution on Friday.

Four others - Britain Poland, the Netherlands, and Ethiopia - abstained, while the US, a major ally of Israel, was the only country to vote against it.

It was the second time that Haley has resorted to US veto power to block a UN measure on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In a statement later Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian Liberation Organization executive committee member, said the US had once again demonstrated its "blind loyalty to Israel and tried to absolve it of any wrongdoing despite its egregious violations, deliberate massacres and willful killings and war crimes.

"With its veto, the United States is once again attempting to justify the lawlessness and cruelty of Israel’s military occupation, while providing Israel with legal and political cover to pursue its assault on the Palestinian people and on international law and international humanitarian law."

In December, Haley vetoed a draft resolution that rejected President Donald Trump´s decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem after all 14 other council members supported it.