UN Security Council to vote today on Israel-Hamas conflict

(Patria) - The United Nations Security Council will vote on Wednesday on a resolution drafted by Brazil calling for humanitarian pauses in the conflict between Israel and Hamas to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

The Council is expected to then discuss, at the request of the United Arab Emirates and Russia, the explosion at a hospital in Gaza in which hundreds of people died on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour blamed Israel for the "massacre" at the hospital, calling for an immediate ceasefire. Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, issued a statement blaming the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group for the responsibility. Islamic Jihad denied the accusations.

The 15-member Council was originally scheduled to vote on the Brazilian draft on Monday, but it was postponed by 24 hours to allow more time for negotiations. The United States then requested a further postponement because President Joe Biden will visit Israel on Wednesday.

It was unclear whether the United States, with the help of the veto it traditionally uses to shield Israel from any Security Council action, would allow the resolution to pass. The draft text calls on Israel, without naming it, to reverse its order for Gaza civilians to relocate to the south of the enclave.

The Brazilian draft is essentially a more detailed version of a Russian text that failed to pass a vote on Monday, except that it explicitly condemns "Hamas terrorist attacks." Instead of calling for a ceasefire, it calls for humanitarian pauses in the conflict to allow aid delivery to Gaza.