Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cancelled a planned visit to Washington by a high-level delegation to protest over Monday’s UN Security Council decision calling for an immediate ceasefire.

The resolution passed 14-0 after the US decided not to use its veto power and instead abstained.

Mr Netanyahu accused the US of “retreating” from what he said had been a “principled position” by allowing the vote to pass without conditioning the ceasefire on the release of hostages held by Hamas.

The Israeli delegation was to present White House officials with plans for an expected ground invasion of the strategic Gaza town of Rafah, where more than one million Palestinian civilians have sought shelter from the war.