The U.N. Security Council is set to vote Wednesday on a new draft resolution urging a cease-fire in Gaza as part of ongoing efforts to end Israel's genocidal war in the Palestinian territory.
The draft, however, could be blocked by the United States, Israel's main ally.
The latest draft of the resolution demands "an immediate, unconditional and permanent cease-fire" in the war and "the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages."
The wording has angered Israel and raised fears of a U.S. veto.
Israeli ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon has called the text "shameful," adding: "We cannot allow the U.N. to tie the hands of the State of Israel from protecting its citizens, and we will not stop fighting until we return all the kidnapped men and women home."
"For us, it has to be a linkage between a cease-fire and the release of hostages," said Robert Wood, the deputy U.S. ambassador. "It has been our principel position from the beginning and it still remains."
The war was triggered by the Hamas incursion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, causing 1,206 deaths, according to Israeli official figures.
Israel's genocidal war, in comparison, has killed 43,972 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gazan Health Ministry.
Of 251 hostages seized during the Oct. 7 incursion, 97 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Almost all of Gaza's 2.4 million people have been displaced by the war, which has caused a humanitarian catastrophe.
Gaza 'will haunt'
Since the beginning of the war, the Security Council has struggled to speak with one voice as the United States used its veto power several times, although Russia and China have as well.
The few resolutions that the United States did allow to pass by abstaining stopped short of calling for an unconditional and permanent cease-fire.
In March, the council called for a temporary cease-fire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but Israel and Hamas ignored this appeal.
In June, the council pledged support for a multi-stage U.S. cease-fire and hostage release plan that went nowhere.
Some diplomats have expressed hope that following Donald Trump's election win on Nov. 5, President Joe Biden might be more flexible in the few weeks he has left in power.
They imagined a possible repeat of events in December 2016 when then-president Barack Obama was finishing his second term and the council passed a resolution calling for a halt to Israeli settlement building in the occupied territories, a first since 1979.
The United States refrained from using its veto in this case, a break from traditional U.S. support for Israel on the sensitive issue of settlements.
The draft being voted on Wednesday also calls for "safe and unhindered entry of humanitarian assistance at scale," including in besieged northern Gaza, and denounces any attempt to starve the Palestinians.
The Palestinian delegation at the U.N. has suggested this text does not go far enough.
"Gaza's fate will haunt the world for generations to come," Ambassador Riyad Mansour warned.
He said the only course of action for the council is to call for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire under Chapter 7 of the U.N. charter.
That chapter allows the council to take steps to enforce its resolutions, such as sanctions, but the latest text makes no reference to this option.