GAZA CITY, Palestine

The Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, denounced a UN Security Council resolution Friday that urged expanded humanitarian access but did not include a demand for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. 

Hamas described the resolution as "an insufficient step and doesn't meet the requirements of the catastrophic state caused by the (Israeli) terrorist military machine in Gaza."

It also noted in a statement that the resolution “did not include an international decision to stop the genocidal war by the (Israeli) terrorist occupation on our Palestinian people in Gaza."

The statement accused the US of emptying the resolution of its essence and defying "the will of the international community and the United Nations General Assembly in stopping the (Israeli) aggression against our defenseless Palestinian people."

The Security Council passed the resolution Friday that called for "urgent steps" to immediately allow "safe, unhindered, and expanded" humanitarian access to Gaza amid the ongoing Israeli offensive on the enclave.

Since Oct. 7, the Israeli army has been waging a destructive war on Gaza, resulting in at least 20,057 deaths and 53,320 injuries, most of them children and women. It has caused immense damage to infrastructure and an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” according to Palestinian and international sources.  

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar