UNITED NATIONS, March 24: The Palestinians called for a new UN Security Council resolution on Wednesday that would condemn Israel's killing of top Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin which the United States would as usual veto.

Mr Yassin, the quadriplegic founder and spiritual leader of Hamas, died on Monday in an Israeli helicopter missile strike outside a mosque in Gaza. The action has been unequivocally condemned around the world except the Bush administration.

However, after more than three hours of public council debate late on Tuesday, the council seemed unlikely to adopted a resolution which would condemn Israel as the US has expressed serious reservations and would cast its veto.

Algeria, the Arab member of the council, is conducting negotiations on behalf of the Palestinians and Islamic nations to come up with a consensus language in a resolution which could be acceptable to the Americans and Israelis.

"Our goal is to have action taken by the Security Council now in the right way," said Nasser al-Kidwa, the Chief Palestinian observer at the UN, adding that he was not aiming for a veto from the United States.