US is engaging in high-level diplomacy to avoid vetoing a UN resolution on critical aid for Gaza

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States, key allies and Arab nations are engaging in high-level diplomacy in hopes of avoiding another U.S. veto of a new U.N. resolution on desperately needed aid to Gaza ahead of a long-delayed vote now scheduled for Thursday morning. The U.S. has been struggling to change the text’s references to a cessation of hostilities in the Israel-Hamas war but the key sticking point is the inspection of aid trucks into Gaza to ensure they are only carrying humanitarian goods. The current draft calls for the U.N. to take over inspections from Israel. U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters on Wednesday that “we’re negotiating right now at the U.N. the contours of a resolution that we may be able to agree to.”