UNITED NATIONS, December 9. /TASS/. The United States condemned thousands of Palestinian and Israeli civilians to death by vetoing a resolution calling for a ceasefire, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said.

"Our American colleagues have condemned thousands - if not tens of thousands - more civilians in Palestine and Israel, including women and children, to death, along with the UN workers who are trying to help them. History will assess what Washington has done," he noted.

"One can say many beautiful but empty words about democracy, human rights, peace, security, some rules and order, but today, we learned the true value of these words as two members of the UN Security Council preferred to remain complicit in Israel’s brutal massacre," the diplomat said.

"Here at the council, we have nothing left to do but triple efforts to develop a decision that would ease the suffering of civilians within the limited and toothless framework that Washington and London have left us with," he concluded.

Earlier, the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution submitted by the United Arab Emirates, which called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Thirteen out of the UN Security Council’s 15 members, including Russia and China, voted for the resolution, while the UK abstained. The resolution called for a ceasefire and the release of all hostages and urged the parties to the conflict to comply with international humanitarian law.