Israel expressed its "deeply appreciation" for the United States on Saturday after it vetoed a resolution condemning Israeli settlements on the UN.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "Israel deeply appreciates the decision by President Obama to veto the Security Council Resolution" in the evening, according to local news website Ynet.

Netanyahu stressed that "the only path to such a peace will come through direct negotiations and not through the decisions of international bodies" in a statement released by his office.

The United States, a permanent Security Council member, on Friday vetoed a UN draft resolution that condemned continued Israeli settlement activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and demanded Israel "immediately and completely cease" all such activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. The 14 other Council members voted in favor of the draft resolution, co- sponsored by more than 120 UN members.