US fails to win UN condemnation of Hamas militants in Gaza

A US-sponsored draft resolution that for the first time would have condemned the militant Islamic group Hamas, which controls Gaza, failed to win the required two-thirds majority in the UN General Assembly.

Before Thursday's vote, the 193-member world body had narrowly voted to require a two-thirds majority which Arab nations pressed for rather than a simple majority which the United States urged.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley told the assembly before the vote that it could make history and unconditionally speak out against Hamas which she called "one of the most obvious and grotesque cases of terrorism in the world."