THE United Nations security council is set to vote on Tuesday on an Arab-backed resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, but the United States has already vowed to veto the move.

The draft resolution from Algeria, the Arab representative on the council, reiterates council demands that Israel and Hamas “scrupulously comply” with international law, especially the protection of civilians, and rejects the forced displacement of Palestinian civilians.

The text also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages taken by Hamas during their surprise October 7 attacks in southern Israel. 

Some 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken captive, with over 100 still believed to be held in Gaza.

The Gaza Health Ministry said the Palestinian death toll is now 29,092 since the start of the war, with more than two-thirds of those killed women and children.

More than 69,000 Palestinians have been wounded, overwhelming the territory’s hospitals, less than half of which are even partially functioning.

But US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said the US would veto the resolution.

She said in a statement that the White House has been working on a hostage deal for months that would bring at least a six-week period of calm “from which we could then take the time and the steps to build a more enduring peace.”

She said that while gaps remain, “the key elements are on the table,” and it remains the best opportunity to reunite hostages with their families and enable a prolonged pause in fighting which would allow life-saving aid to get to Palestinian civilians who desperately need it.

But on Sunday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brushed off any calls to halt the military offensive in Gaza, vowing to “finish the job.”

This came as a member of his three-member war cabinet, retired general Benny Gantz, threatened to invade the southern city of Rafah if remaining Israeli hostages are not freed by the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Mr Gantz told a conference of Jewish American leaders: “If by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue to the Rafah area.”

Ramadan is expected to begin on March 10.

The Arab Group chair this month, Tunisia’s ambassador to the UN, Tarek Ladeb, told reporters last Wednesday that some 1.5 million Palestinians who sought safety in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah face a “catastrophic scenario” if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu goes ahead with the military offensive in the area bordering Egypt.