A U.S.- sponsored resolution condemning the Palestinian Hamas movement for firing rockets at Israel failed to win enough votes for adoption at the United Nations (UN) on Thursday.
The proposed measure won 87 votes in the 193-nation General Assembly, falling short of the required two-thirds majority.
Ahead of the vote, US envoy Nikki Haley said the measure "would right a historic wrong" and "put the General Assembly on the side of truth and balance in the effort to achieve peace in the Middle East." She is set to step down from her post at the end of the year.
It was the first proposed resolution condemning Hamas to be presented to the assembly, which has been meeting since 1946.
Missiles are launched toward Israel, November 12, 2018. /VCG Photo
Hamas praised the outcome of the vote, describing it as a "slap" to President Donald Trump's administration which has taken a firm pro-Israeli stance in addressing the Middle East peace process.
"The failure of the American venture at the United Nations represents a slap to the US administration and confirmation of the legitimacy of the resistance," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zahri wrote on Twitter.
Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon lamented after the vote that a decision to condemn Hamas had been "hijacked" by procedural votes and hailed the "broad support from the world" for condemning Hamas.
The assembly also adopted by a wide margin of 156 to six with 12 abstentions a Palestinian-drafted measure, presented by Ireland, calling "for the achievement, without delay, of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East" based on UN resolutions.
Palestinians raise national flags and banners during a demonstration against an upcoming UN General Assembly vote on a US-drafted resolution condemning the Palestinian Hamas movement in the town of Rafah, December 6, 2018. /VCG Photo
The measure was voted against by the U.S., Israel, Australia, Liberia, Marshall Islands and Nauru.
The U.S. defeat at the General Assembly came as the Trump administration prepares to unveil long-awaited peace proposals, possibly in the first months of next year.
The Palestinians have severed ties with the Trump administration since the decision a year ago to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and declare the city Israel's capital.
The Palestinians see East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. International consensus has been that Jerusalem's status must be negotiated between the two sides.