The US has declared it is ready to support a UN Security Council resolution intended to boost the flow of humanitarian supplies into Gaza after a week of negotiations and substantial amendments, including the removal of a call for an “urgent suspension of hostilities”, writes The Guardian.

A vote on the resolution was postponed for a fourth day in a row until Friday, after negotiations late into the evening, but the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said the US and Arab states had come up with an amended version Washington could support.

“We’re ready to vote on it. And it’s a resolution that will bring humanitarian assistance to those in need. It will support the priority that Egypt has in ensuring that we put a mechanism on the ground that will support humanitarian assistance, and we’re ready to move forward”, - said Thomas-Greenfield.

It was not clear whether other council members, particularly Russia, would accept the changes. A postponement of a vote until Friday was agreed to allow UN missions to consult their capitals.

In a draft of the amended resolution seen by the Guardian, a call for an “urgent suspension of hostilities” to allow humanitarian relief, has been removed, and replaced with an appeal for “urgent steps to immediately allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and also for creating the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities”.

A section calling for the UN secretary general to set up a mechanism that would “exclusively” be responsible for monitoring aid shipments has been amended to call for the appointment of a “senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator” with responsibility for “facilitating, coordinating, monitoring, and verifying in Gaza, as appropriate, the humanitarian nature of all humanitarian relief consignments”.