(Photo : Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images)
People mourn as they receive the dead bodies of victims of an Israeli strike on March 25, 2024 in Rafah, Gaza.

The United Nations Security Council on Monday demanded an immediate cease-fire in Gaza during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The resolution also demands the release of all Israeli hostages taken captive during Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, the Associated Press reported.

The vote passed on Monday morning after the United States abstained.

Before the vote, Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan told the council, "For Israel, every civilian death is a tragedy. For Hamas, civilian deaths is a strategy and, sadly, you are playing right into their hands as they predicted."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a delegation's planned visit to Washington by a high-level delegation to protest the vote.

Netanyahu claimed the U.S. was "retreating" by not vetoing the measure.

Monday's vote came after Russia, China and Algeria voted against a U.S.-sponsored resolution Friday that would have supported "an immediate and sustained cease-fire" in the Israeli-Hamas conflict.

Council members had disagreed over elements of the draft, and some highlighted what the United Nations called "glaring exclusions" despite having raised multiple concerns with the US during negotiations.

Ambassadors largely supported swift action to bring food and lifesaving aid at scale into Gaza, where a UN-backed report raised alarms about famine as Israel continues to block and slow shipments.

After the vote, the U.S. State Department issued a statement explaining it did not make a policy change by not vetoing the measure.

"We reiterate the need to accelerate and sustain the provision of humanitarian assistance through all available routes - land, sea, and air. We continue to discuss with partners a pathway to the establishment of a Palestinian state with real security guarantees for Israel to establish long-term peace and security," the statement read.