The deadlock at the UN Security Council over a call to suspend hostilities to allow aid into Gaza is due to enter its third day.
Once again, the vote which was first expected to take place on Monday, was pushed back. It is now scheduled for today but will only go ahead if there is agreement from Council members.
The resolution would demand that Israel and Hamas facilitate land, sea and air deliveries of aid into Gaza and ask the United Nations to monitor humanitarian assistance entering the enclave.
However the sticking point remains wording on ceasing hostilities.
The original text called for an "urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access."
But that was amended on Monday evening to accommodate US objections.
The latest wording calls for "an urgent suspension of hostilities" and "urgent steps towards a sustainable cessation of hostilities."
But the new wording also failed to win the support of US diplomats.
The United States, which previously vetoed two Security Council resolutions on the conflict, has said it would not support a ceasefire while Hamas was still in charge of Gaza.
Speaking at the Security Council, US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood said that "Hamas must not be allowed to control Gaza, for the sake of Israeli and Palestinian safety alike, and that Israel has the right to protect its people from terrorism."
Other council diplomats working on the resolution are reluctant to risk another US veto.
The United Arab Emirates, which drafted the text, is a non-permanent member of the Security Council.
The UAE’s Ambassador to the UN, Lana Nusseibeh, told reporters at UN headquarters in New York that the resolution was "humanitarian in nature" and that their priority was to reach an agreement on a text that had "real impact on the ground and the devastating humanitarian situation in Gaza."
Earlier, the council heard from the UN's Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, who said that the delivery of humanitarian aid continued to face "insurmountable challenges."
"As the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza rages on, 2023 ends as one of the deadliest in the history of this conflict," he told council members.
The attacks by Hamas on 7 October killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities, and a further 240 people were taken hostage.
Nearly 20,000 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory bombardment of Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health authorities.
The United Nations estimates more than two million people have been displaced in the conflict in Gaza.
