Hamas strongly condemns the U.S. veto that blocked a proposed U.N. Security Council demand for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza, a senior Hamas official said late Friday in an official statement, saying the group considers Washington's move "unethical and inhumane."

"The U.S. obstruction of the issuance of a cease-fire resolution is a direct participation with the occupation in killing our people and committing more massacres and ethnic cleansing," said Ezzat El-Reshiq, a member of the group's political bureau.