Updated 03.16 | Published 01.59
The UN Security Council was unable to agree on a resolution on the war in Gaza on Thursday. The vote has been postponed for another day, according to diplomatic sources.
However, the US says it is ready to support a draft that is now on the negotiating table.
A vote is now scheduled for Friday, sources told AFP.
It is the fourth time the vote has been postponed, it was originally supposed to be held on Monday. Intensive negotiations have been going on in the UN Security Council since then.
The United States, which in connection with the negotiations opposed several previous proposals, says it is ready to accept a draft that was on the negotiating table on Thursday evening.
– If the resolution is presented as it is, then we can support it, US UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters, without going into details about what it would contain in that case.
She denies, however, that the draft resolution, which was originally presented under the leadership of the United Arab Emirates, has been watered down during the course of the negotiations.
– The draft resolution is a very strong resolution that is fully supported by the Arab group, she says.
The United States, which is one of five permanent members of the Security Council, has a veto, which it has used in previous votes on a resolution.
Resolutions of the UN Security Council are considered binding. This means that all member states must obey immediately, which in practice is not always followed.
The UN General Assembly last week called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”. Sweden is one of 153 out of 193 member states that voted yes to the non-binding resolution. It was in turn criticized by the United States for not mentioning terrorist-labeled Hamas.