New York - The UN Security Council on Thursday adopted a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza "leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces."
The 15-nation council approved the resolution with 14 voting in favour; however, the United States abstained.
The council took the move after Arab and Western foreign ministers agreed on an amended version of a Britain-drafted resolution.
It came on the 13th day of Israeli military assaults on Gaza in which more than 700 Palestinians have died.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country holds the Security Council presidency for January, chaired the open council meeting, at which UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband were present.
After the vote, Mr Ban said that his trip to the Middle East next week will help to promote the ceasefire.
In the resolution, the council stressed that "the Gaza Strip constitutes an integral part of the territory occupied in 1967 and will be a part of the Palestine State."
Mr Kouchner, speaking in his capacity as the French foreign minister, said that the resolution "is the only viable way" to achieve peace in the Middle East.
Ms Rice, in explaining her vote, said that despite the abstention, the United States supports the text of the resolution.
The United States is a close ally of Israel, which launched air strikes on 27 December 2008 to retaliate for the firing of rockets into southern Israel by Hamas militants.
The resolution also "calls for the unimpeded provision and distribution throughout Gaza of humanitarian assistance, including food, fuel and medicines."
The Security Council "welcomes the initiative aimed at creating and opening humanitarian corridors and other mechanisms for the sustained delivery of humanitarian aid," the resolution stated.
The Security Council "condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism."
The Security Council "calls upon member states to intensify efforts to provide arrangements and guarantees in Gaza in order to sustain a durable ceasefire and calm, including to prevent illicit trafficking in arms and ammunition and to ensure the sustained reopening of the crossing points on the basis of the 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access between the Palestinian Authority and Israel," the resolution stated.
However, despite the Security Council's call for ceasefire on Thursday, Israel continued its assault on the Gaza Strip on Friday with fresh air strikes on several locations, leaving behind a trail of destruction and casualties.
The air strikes mainly focused on residential areas and according to eyewitnesses, an F-16 attack caused the death of six members of a single family at the Jabaliya refugee camp.
Other operations in numerous locations in the Gaza Strip led to more casualties due to the Israeli brutal onslaught.
On Thursday night, a Palestinian photographer was killed as a result of an air-strike attack on the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City.
He was identified as Ihab Al-Wahidi who was the personal photographer for President Mahmoud Abbas.
The attack resulted in the death of Mr Al-Wahidi's wife, his mother, as well as several other innocent civilians.
Meanwhile, Israel tanks and troops withdrew from the outskirts of Qarara town south of the Gaza Strip, after executing an incursion Thursday night. Six, mostly women and elders, were killed in the incursion.
