US ducks Gaza ceasefire call
Updated on 09 January 2009
United Nations Security Council votes for immediate ceasefire in Gaza but US abstention may embolden Israel.
The United Nations has demanded an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The US abstained from the Security Council vote but says it backs the text of the resolution which also calls for a full withdrawal by Israel.
The vote followed days of intense haggling with foreign ministers from Arab nations pressing France, Britain and the US to go along with a resolution rather than a more diluted president's statement.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the move.
However, Israel's foreign minister Tzipi Livni refused to rule out further strikes.
Explaining her country's decision to abstain, US secretary of state Condeleezza Rice said:
"The United States thought it important to see the outcomes of the Egyptian mediation efforts in order to see what this resolution might have been supporting."
Meanwhile, foreign secretary David Miliband welcomed the resolution.
He said: "The UN has served its purpose of speaking loudly and clearly and authoritatively and unequivocally.
"But we all have further responsibility.
"Responsibility for the parties on the ground, responsibility for the regional states ... responsibility for the whole international community because this crisis in the Middle East affects us all."
'The United States thought it important to see the outcomes of the Egyptian mediation efforts.'Condeleezza Rice
The UN resolution came as the Israeli airstrikes and artillery assaults continued. In one of the latest attacks, six Palestinians from the same family were killed when their house was shelled.
The fighting has now killed more than 750 Palestinians and at least 14 Israelis.
Earlier, a UN aid agency suspended operations in the Gaza Strip because of the risk posed to its workers by Israeli forces.
Earlier, two Palestinian forklift workers were killed by Israeli shelling as a convoy for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) approached the Erez crossing with Israel.
On Tuesday, three UNRWA-run schools in Gaza were hit by Israeli fire, killing more than 45 Palestinians who had been taking shelter from the violence.
Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross has said Israel is breaking international law by blocking emergency teams in Gaza from helping wounded Palestinians.
Workers for the organisation found four starving children sitting next to their dead mothers and other corpses in a house bombed by Israel.
The ICRC said: "They were too weak to stand up on their own. One man was also found alive, too weak to stand up. In all there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses."
Pierre Wettach, ICRC chief for Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, said: "This is a shocking incident. The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation but did not assist the wounded.
"Neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestinian Red Crescent to assist the wounded."
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