Last week the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. That was seen as an outrage by many nations and even some of our allies supported it.

The vote in the 15-member council was 13-1, with the United Kingdom abstaining. The United States’ isolated stand reflected a growing fracture between Washington and some of its closest allies over Israel’s monthslong bombardment of Gaza. France and Japan were among those supporting the call for a cease-fire…

“What is the message we are sending Palestinians if we cannot unite behind a call to halt the relentless bombardment of Gaza?” United Arab Emirates deputy ambassador Mohamed Abushaha asked after the vote. “Indeed, what is the message we are sending civilians across the world who may find themselves in similar situations?”

U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood called the resolution “imbalanced” and criticized the council after the vote for its failure to condemn Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel in which the militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, or to acknowledge Israel’s right to defend itself. He declared that halting military action would allow Hamas to continue to rule Gaza and “only plant the seeds for the next war.”

Today the UN held a General Assembly vote on the same topic. This doesn’t have the same force as a Security Council vote but it also can’t be vetoed by a single member.

The United Nations General Assembly has voted to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in war-torn Gaza, in a rebuke to the United States which has repeatedly blocked ceasefire calls in the UN’s Security Council.

A majority of 153 nations voted for the ceasefire resolution in the General Assembly’s emergency special session Tuesday, while 10 voted against and 23 abstained…

In a break with its southern neighbor, Canada cast its vote in support of the resolution, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issuing a joint statement with the leaders of Australia and New Zealand in support of “urgent international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire.”

Several other allies abstained which is a hint that they are probably also on the verge of jumping ship.

The countries that joined the U.S. and Israel in rejecting the cease-fire resolution on Tuesday were Austria, the Czech Republic, Guatemala, Liberia, Micronesia, Paraguay and Papua New Guinea and Nauru. Among the countries that abstained were Britain, Hungary, South Sudan and Germany.

So at this point we’re nearly alone and after this vote pressure will only increase. Naturally, Hamas is happy about it.

Izzat Al-Rishq, a member of the Hamas Political Bureau, urged the international community to sustain pressure on what he called the occupying forces and called for compliance with the UN decision.

Maybe there’s an upside to this if Israel can demand a release of the remaining hostages in exchange for the ceasefire. But beyond that it’s hard to see how Israel has met its objective of destroying Hamas.

As Ed noted in the headlines there was a report in the Wall Street Journal today that Israel has recently started flooding the tunnels under Gaza. If that’s accurate, it’s probably a mistake they didn’t start sooner. It will take weeks to flood the tunnels and with this vote Israel probably doesn’t have weeks. The tunnels were always the priority in this fight. Leaving without destroying them would be a significant failure for Israel and a win for Hamas who could resume planning the next attack almost immediately.