(Bloomberg) -- The US signaled it could support a resolution at the United Nations Security Council that would increase aid flowing to Gaza after drawn out negotiations had threatened to defeat the measure.
“We have worked hard and diligently over the course of the past week with the Emiratis, with others, with Egypt, to come up with a resolution that we can support,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said late Thursday in New York. “And we do have that resolution now. We're ready to vote on it.”
She gave few details on the proposal, but said it will “bring humanitarian assistance to those in need” and added that the US can support it “if the resolution is put forward as is.”
A vote could take place on Friday after being delayed numerous times this week.
The development comes amid rising pressure on Israel to scale back the conflict in Gaza, which began following Hamas's Oct. 7 assault on southern Israeli communities that killed 1,200 people.
More than 20,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Much of the Palestinian enclave has been flattened by Israeli airstrikes and the UN has said the humanitarian situation is dire.
“You've got people in Gaza today who are hungry, who can't eat,” UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said to Al Arabiya television channel on Thursday while in Egypt. “We really need to increase this aid. That's a lot of what this UN Security Council resolution is about.”
After strong opposition by the US to language calling specifically for a “cease-fire,” the latest draft refers to “creating the conditions for a sustained cessation of hostilities.”
The US has continued to back Israel's right to defend itself, vetoing a UN Security Council resolution earlier this month that called for a cease-fire. But President Joe Biden and his top officials have increasingly pressed Israel to change its approach to the war against Hamas, designated a terrorist group by the US and European Union.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel's campaign needs to shift from large-scale attacks to more precise operations to reduce the toll on Palestinian civilians.
Read More: Blinken Prods Israel to Shift to ‘Targeted Operations' in Gaza
Biden told donors at a fundraiser in Washington last week that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government risks losing international support by refusing to endorse a two-state solution for peace with the Palestinians. The American president also labeled elements of Israel's bombing campaign as “indiscriminate.”
Netanyahu has denied Israeli military operations are indiscriminate and said the war must continue until Hamas is destroyed as an organization.
(Updates with UK comments in seventh paragraph.)
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