14 council members vote for resolution, US abstains n Resolution calls for release of all hostages n Netanyahu says failure of US to veto the resolution a ‘clear retreat’ from its previous position n Cancels Israeli delegation’s visit to Washington n Hamas says ready for immediate prisoner swaps on both sides.

UNITED NATIONS  -  The United Nations Security Council ad­opted a resolution on Monday demanding an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Pal­estinian fighting group Hamas and the release of all hostages after the United States abstained from the vote.

The remaining 14 council members voted for the resolution, which was proposed by the 10 elected members of the body. There was a round of applause in the council chamber after the vote.

“The Palestinian people have suffered greatly. This bloodbath has continued for far too long. It is our obli­gation to put an end to this bloodbath before it is too late,” Algeria’s UN Ambassador Amar Bendjama told the council after the vote.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the failure of the US to veto the resolution was a “clear retreat” from its previous po­sition and would hurt Israel’s war efforts and bid to release more than 130 hostages still held by Hamas.

“Our vote does not, and I repeat that does not represent a shift in our policy,” White House spokesperson John Kir­by told reporters. “Noth­ing has changed about our policy. Nothing.” Fol­lowing the UN vote, Ne­tanyahu canceled a visit to Washington by a high-level delegation that was due to discuss a planned Israe­li military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where some 1.5 million peo­ple have sought shelter. Washington had been averse to the word ceasefire ear­lier in the nearly six-month-old war in the Gaza Strip and had used its veto power shield ally Israel as it retaliated against Hamas for an Oct. 7 attack that Israel says killed 1,200 people. But as famine looms in Gaza and amid growing global pressure for a truce in the war that Palestinian health authorities say has killed some 32,000 people, the US abstained on Monday to allow the Se­curity Council to demand an immediate ceasefire for the Muslim fasting month of Ramazan, which ends in two weeks. Hamas welcomed the Security Council resolution, saying in a statement that it ‘affirms readiness to engage in im­mediate prisoner swaps on both sides’. US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thom­as-Greenfield said the US fully support­ed “some of the critical objectives in this nonbinding resolution,” but added that Washington did not agree with ev­erything in the text, which also did not condemn Hamas. “We believe it was important for the council to speak out and make clear that any ceasefire must come with the release of all hostages,” she told the council after the vote. “A ceasefire can begin immediately with the release of the first hostage and so we must put pressure on Hamas to do just that.” The resolution demands the immediate and unconditional re­lease of all hostages. Israel says Hamas took 253 hostages during its Oct. 7 at­tack. “It was the Hamas massacre that started this war,” Israel’s UN Ambassa­dor Gilad Erdan said. “The resolution just voted upon makes it seem as if the war started by itself ... Israel did not start this war, nor did Israel want this war.” The resolution also “emphasiz­es the urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian assistance to and rein­force the protection of civilians in the entire Gaza Strip and reiterates its de­mand for the lifting of all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale.” UN Secretary-General Anto­nio Guterres urged Israel on Monday to lift all obstacles to aid into Gaza and al­low convoys of the UN Palestinian ref­ugee agency UNRWA into the north of the coastal enclave. Famine is imminent and likely to occur by May in northern Gaza and could spread across the en­clave by July, according to a UN-backed report by a global authority on food se­curity released last week. The US has vetoed three draft council resolutions on the war in Gaza. It has also previous­ly abstained twice, allowing the coun­cil to adopt resolutions that aimed to boost aid to Gaza and called for extend­ed pauses in fighting. Russia and China have also vetoed two US drafted resolu­tions on the conflict - in October and on Friday. “This must be a turning point,” an emotional Palestinian UN envoy Ri­yad Mansour told the Security Council after the vote on Monday. “This must lead to saving lives on the ground.”