UNITED NATIONS, March 22. /TASS/. Russia and China have vetoed a US-initiated UN Security Council draft resolution on the Middle East conflict, which notes the need for an immediate ceasefire but doesn’t explicitly call for it, a TASS correspondent reported.

According to the correspondent, eleven out of the 15 members of the Security Council, namely the United Kingdom, Malta, Mozambique, South Korea, Slovenia, the United States, Sierra Leone, France, Switzerland, Ecuador, and Japan, supported the resolution. Along with Russia and China, the draft was voted down by Algeria. Guyana abstained.

The resolution points to the need for an immediate and lasting ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and support international diplomatic efforts towards the ceasefire and hostages release. It rejects any actions that might reduce the Gaza Strip’s area, including by means of establishing any buffer zones, condemns calls for displacing the Palestinian civilians, and rejects any attempts at demographic or territorial changes in the enclave. Apart from that, the resolution demands that Hamas and other armed groups immediately provide humanitarian access to the hostages still held in the Gaza Strip.

Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky said earlier that the UN Security Council resolution must contain either a demand or a call for a ceasefire rather than merely note the need for it.

Ahead of the voting, Russian Permanent Representative Vasily Nebenzya called on UN Security Council member nations not to support the US-initiated document, saying that another draft had been submitted by several non-permanent members. He said he called for supporting this other draft because it unequivocally calls for a ceasefire and unconditional release of hostages.