The United States vetoed a widely backed UN resolution that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for the state of Palestine.

The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 12 in favour, the United States opposed and two abstentions.

The resolution would have recommended that the 193-member General Assembly, where there are no vetoes, approve Palestine becoming the 194th member of the United Nations.

Some 140 countries have already recognised the state of Palestine, so its admission would have been approved.

Before the vote, US deputy state department spokesman Vedant Patel said the United States has “been very clear consistently that premature actions in New York — even with the best intentions — will not achieve statehood for the Palestinian people”.

US deputy ambassador Robert Wood said that Palestinian membership “needs to be the outcome of the negotiation between Israel and the Palestinians”.

It “is something that would flow from the result of those negotiations”.

This is the second Palestinian attempt for full membership and it comes as the war in Gaza has put the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at centre stage.