\n

\u201cFinally, finally, the Security Council is shouldering its responsibility,\u201d said Algeria\u2019s ambassador to the U.N., Amar Bendjama, the only Arab member of the Council. \u201cIt is finally responding to the calls of the international community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel immediately criticized the United States for allowing the resolution to pass. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel\u2019s office called the move \u201ca retreat from the consistent American position since the beginning of the war,\u201d and said the U.S. abstention \u201charms the war effort as well as the effort to liberate the hostages.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, Mr. Netanyahu said he would not send an Israeli delegation to Washington to hold high-level talks with U.S. officials on a planned operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah \u2014 a public rebuke to President Biden, who had asked for the meetings.<\/p>\n

A State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, called that decision \u201ca bit surprising and unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The United States did not vote for the resolution because it did not condemn Hamas\u2019s Oct. 7 assault on Israel and because of other concerns about the wording, he said at a briefing in Washington. But other aspects of the resolution \u201cwere consistent with our long-term position \u2014 most importantly, that there should be a cease-fire and that there should be a release of hostages, which is what we understood also to be the government of Israel\u2019s position.\u201d<\/p>\n