The US has vetoed a UN security council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for the third time, arguing that it would undermine negotiations over a hostage deal.
The US was the lone vote against a ceasefire resolution put forward on Tuesday by Algeria.
Washington was widely lambasted for using its veto again at a time when nearly 30,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 2 million people are under threat of famine.
“A vote in favour of this draft resolution is a support for the Palestinians right to life,” the Algerian envoy to the UN, Amar Bendjama, told the council. “Conversely, voting against it implies an endorsement of the brutal violence and collective punishment inflicted upon them.”
