UNITED NATIONS  -  After days of intense negotiations and many delays, the U.N. Security Council adopted a watered-down resolution Friday calling for boosting aid deliv­eries to traumatized civilians in war-torn Gaza but without the original call for an “urgent suspension of hostili­ties” between Israel and Hamas. The vote in the 15-member Council on the revised UAE-drafted resolution was 13 votes in favour to none against. The US and Russia abstained for en­tirely different reasons. 

It followed a U.S. veto of a Russian amendment that would have restored the call for a suspension of hostili­ties. That vote was 10 members in fa­vour, the U.S. against and four absten­tions. The resolution, among other elements, demanded immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humani­tarian assistance at scale directly to the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip. 

The revised text was negotiated during a week of diplomacy by the United States, the United Arab Emir­ates on behalf of Arab nations and oth­ers. The agreement came amid global outrage over a rising Gaza death toll in 11 weeks of Israeli bombardments and a worsening humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave.

Council members met behind closed doors on Thursday to discuss a revised draft resolution, then delayed the vote so they could consult their capitals on the significant changes, aimed at avoiding a U.S. veto. A new text with a few minor revisions was circulated Friday morning.

The vote, initially scheduled for Monday, has been delayed every day since then.Rather than watered down, US Ambassador Linda Thom­as-Greenfield described the resolu­tion as “strong” and said it “is fully supported by the Arab group that provides them what they feel is needed to get humanitarian assis­tance on the ground.”

But it was devoid of its key pro­vision with teeth — a call for “the urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered human­itarian access, and for urgent steps towards a sustainable cessation of hostilities.” Instead, it calls “for ur­gent steps to immediately allow safe and unhindered humanitarian ac­cess, and also for creating the con­ditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.” The steps are not de­fined, but diplomats said if adopted this would mark the council’s first reference to stopping fighting. In his remarks, Russian Ambassador Ne­benzia recalled the amendment pro­posed by his delegation and said that the vote on it was a moment of truth.

He expressed regret that the Secu­rity Council did not find the courage to support at least the minimum call for an end to the violence in Gaza, and it instead signed up for a “li­cense to kill” Palestinian civilians.

“This is a tragic moment for the Council, not a moment of triumph for multilateral diplomacy, but rath­er one of gross unprincipled black­mail and open scorn on the part of Washington for the suffering of Pal­estinians and the hopes of the glob­al community,” he said.