Following Lebanon, U.S. envoy to Israel...Security Council fails to adopt ceasefire resolution in Gaza

[Anchor]
U.S. Special Envoy Amos Hochstein, who visited Lebanon for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, will meet Netanyahu in Israel to continue discussions on the ceasefire.

The U.N. Security Council's adoption of a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Israeli-Hamas war was also thwarted by the U.S. veto.

This is Washington correspondent Hong Sang-hee.

[Reporter]
U.S. President Joe Biden's Middle East envoy Amos Hochstein, who visited Lebanon to discuss a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, headed to Israel.

Speaking with Lebanese Parliament President Nabi Berry, who negotiated a ceasefire on behalf of the pro-Iranian militant group Hezbollah, Hochstein said further progress had been made.

[Amos Hochstein/U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East: Based on yesterday's meeting, further progress was made today. So I will move to Israel in a few hours and try to solve this problem if possible.]

However, Israel says Hezbollah must maintain "freedom of action" if it violates the ceasefire agreement and cannot give up military operations to exercise its right to self-defense.

Hezbollah chief Naim Qasem is also calling for a complete end to the invasion and the preservation of Lebanese sovereignty, saying Israel should not enter Lebanese territory whenever it wants.

Hochstein, who is scheduled to discuss a ceasefire with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, stressed that he will also work with the new administration of the United States, which will be replaced in January next year.

The U.N. Security Council failed to adopt a resolution to end the 13-month-old war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

The U.N. Security Council has pushed for a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militant Hamas, but the United States, a permanent member, has vetoed it.

It bolstered Israel's claim that the cease-fire demand did not include the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas.

[Robert Wood/U.N. Ambassador to the United States]: We cannot support an unconditional ceasefire without having failed to release hostages. This is because, as the UN Security Council has already called for, the end of the war must come with the release of hostages.]

In the failure to adopt the resolution, the 10 elected and permanent members of the Council, including our country, expressed deep regret.

[Vasily Nebenzia/Russian Ambassador to the United Nations] (The U.S. representative) said the resolution does not include provisions on the release of hostages. However, the resolution contains such provisions. The U.S. representative should have read the resolution before voting against it.]

More than 43,000 people have been killed so far in the Gaza war, which began with Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7 last year.

I'm Hong Sang-hee from Washington.