The United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution on Friday to boost humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Thirteen countries voted in favor; the US and Russia abstained.

The resolution was proposed by the United Arab Emirates. Delegates had spent the entire week unable to agree on the wording and put off a vote four times.

The final draft calls for "unhindered" humanitarian access. In line with US demands, it excludes the word "ceasefire." Instead, it calls for creating "conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities."

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield had rushed to Washington to discuss with President Joe Biden amendments to the original draft. She said it took "many, many long nights of negotiating" to get the text right.

She added that the council has provided "a glimmer of hope" but also that she is "appalled" it does not condemn Hamas militants for their attacks on October 7.

Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia criticized the US for wording that he and other members have called "ambiguous." He said Washington is playing an "extremely underhanded game" of forcing into the text an "essential license" for Israel to kill Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Thousands of trucks carrying aid are stalled at the Gaza border while tens of thousands of civilians are suffering through what the UN calls "catastrophic levels" of hunger. Officials are reiterating the need for an immediate ceasefire.