Israel-Hamas war: US will support an amended UN resolution aimed at increasing aid into Gaza
After nearly a week of intense negotiations and days of delayed votes, the United States says it will support calls to increase aid into Gaza. Follow updates. Warning: Graphic
After furious last-minute negotiations, the US ambassador to the United Nations said that they were ready to support a Security Council resolution that would call for more desperately needed aid to enter the Gaza Strip.
A vote on the measure, which had been repeatedly pushed off for days, was not expected until Friday local time at the earliest.Diplomatic wrangling at United Nations headquarters in Manhattan — which caused the vote to be postponed several times this week — has come against the backdrop of deteriorating conditions in Gaza and a mounting death toll.
The US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield who has been speaking at the Security Council in New York said: “I just want to share with you that we have worked hard and diligently over the course of the past week with the Emiratis, with others, with Egypt, to come up with a resolution that we can support.
“And we do have that resolution now. We’re ready to vote on it. And it’s a resolution that will bring humanitarian assistance to those in need.
“It will support the priority that Egypt has in ensuring that we put a mechanism on the ground that will support humanitarian assistance, and we’re ready to move forward.”
The text of the resolution, circulated after she spoke, dropped an earlier version’s call for the suspension of hostilities, instead calling for “urgent steps” to allow unhindered humanitarian access.
Before Ms Thomas-Greenfield’s statement, anger at the US had been growing among Security Council members, even among European allies, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record. S
When asked about whether the draft resolution has been watered down she said: “The draft resolution is not watered down. “The draft resolution is a very strong resolution that is fully supported by the Arab group that provides them what they feel is needed to get humanitarian assistance on the ground.”
The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has been dire for weeks, but the UN indicated on Wednesday that the enclave was reaching new depths of catastrophe, saying that almost every household was facing a severe lack of food and water.
The conditions in Gaza are the result of Israel’s near-total blockade since the fighting began on October 7, leading Human Rights Watch to level accusations on Monday that Israel was “using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.”
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‘BLOODBATH’: WHO DESCRIBES GRIM SCENES AT HOSPITAL
The sole remaining hospital in northern Gaza is “now minimally functional”, according to The World Health Organisation.
Aid workers who visited Al-Ahli and Al-Shifa hospitals during a rare humanitarian mission to deliver supplies said the system is “on its knees” and the emergency department inside one hospital is facing a “bloodbath”.
“They struggled to describe the immense impact recent attacks have had on these health facilities,” the World Health Organization director general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in a statement.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs took part in the mission.
At Al-Ahli, the aid workers found rows of dead bodies lined up outside the hospital, while severely injured civilians writhed in pain on the floor and the pews of the chapel inside of it.
Al-Ahli Arab Hospital is a “shell†of its former self due to lack of fuel, staff, supplies – @WHO/@UN mission to north #Gaza finds.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) December 20, 2023
WHO and UN partners undertook another high-risk joint mission today to Al-Ahli Arab and Al-Shifa hospitals in northern Gaza.
Our teams delivered… pic.twitter.com/tlSI3gbawA
In a video that Dr Ghebreyesus posted to social media, a member of the medical mission stands inside the chapel, with injured people and crucifixes on the wall visible behind him.
“There are patients here who have been injured for more than a month and have had no surgery; there are patients who have been operated on and are now getting post-operative infections because the hospital doesn’t have sufficient antibiotics,” the aid worker in the video Sean Casey said.
“They are suffering enormously here. This is a completely unacceptable situation.”
Al-Ahli Arab Hospital is a “shell†of its former self due to lack of fuel, staff, supplies – @WHO/@UN mission to north #Gaza finds.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) December 20, 2023
WHO and UN partners undertook another high-risk joint mission today to Al-Ahli Arab and Al-Shifa hospitals in northern Gaza.
Our teams delivered… pic.twitter.com/tlSI3gbawA
Dr Ghebreyesus said aid workers found a courtyard filled with bodies lined up in rows outside Al-Ahli because staff members were unable to leave the hospital to safely bury them.
They also encountered 80 injured people, including older people and young children, sheltering in the hospital’s chapel and orthopedics department, he added.
“They included a 10-year old girl who lost her leg and had no family left to care for her, and an older man awaiting surgery for a gun wound to the chest he may never get, whose entire family had been killed,” he said.
ISRAELI FORCES INVADE AMBULANCE
Israeli forces invaded the Palestinian Red Crescent Society’s ambulance center in Jabalia, northern Gaza on Thursday evening, according to PRCS.
PRCS added that Israeli forces arrested the crews and paramedics and took them to an unknown location while children and women remain trapped inside the center.
PRCS went on to urge the international community to demand the release of its staff members and to ensure their protection amid Israel’s attacks on Gaza.
🚨Occupation forces invaded the PRCS ambulance center 🚑 in #Jabalia, north of the #Gaza Strip, this evening. 🛑They arrested the crews and paramedics, taking them to an unknown location. âš ï¸Children and women are still trapped inside the center.
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 21, 2023
📢We call on the international…
SANDERS SAYS NOT TO PROVIDE MONEY TO RIGHT-WING EXTREMIST
US senator Bernie Sanders has called on the US to not provide “another USD$10 billion to the right-wing extremist [Benjamin] Netanyahu government to continue their war against the Palestinian people”.
In an address to the US senate, Sanders said:“The Netanyahu government is continuing its military approach which is both immoral and in violation of international law…The United States must end our complicity in those actions and to do so, we must make two critical changes in our policy.
“First, while it is appropriate to support defensive systems like Iron Dome to protect Israeli civilians against incoming rockets, it would be irresponsible to provide an additional $10.1 billion in military aid beyond those defensive systems as contained in the proposed supplemental foreign aid package.
“Second the United States should support efforts at the UN security council to end the bloodshed.”
The situation in Gaza is a humanitarian disaster. The U.S. must not provide another $10 billion to the right-wing extremist Netanyahu government to continue their war against the Palestinian people which has already killed thousands of innocent men, women, and children. pic.twitter.com/Px2YEz7hEC
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) December 21, 2023
MORE THAN 4000 FRENCH NATIONALS FIGHTING WITH IDF
It has been reported that 4185 soldiers from France are serving in the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, according to leading French radio station Europe 1.
Thomas Portes from the left-wing political party La France Insoumise (LFI) wrote on X that he sent a letter to Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti requesting an investigation into the French citizens’ actions.
Portes — who said he also plans to appeal to the Public Prosecutor’s Office — said it is “unacceptable” for French citizens to be taking part in war crimes committed by the Israeli army in Gaza and the West Bank.
Similar concerns have been voiced by other organisations, including the Association France Palestine Solidarite, which issued a statement urging accountability for French nationals involved in war crimes.
J'ai officiellement adressé un courrier au ministre de la Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti pour lui demander d'utiliser son pouvoir d'instruction afin que des enquêtes soient ouvertes concernant les 4000 français présents sur le front à #Gaza au sein de l'armée israélienne. En cas de… pic.twitter.com/gR7yV1KcO1
— Thomas Portes (@Portes_Thomas) December 20, 2023
ISRAEL ‘DOOMED TO FAIL’: HAMAS
Hamas said Israel’s objective to eliminate the militant group in Gaza was “doomed to fail”, more than two months into war triggered by attacks on Israel.
Abu Obeida, spokesman for Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, also said in an audio recording that any further release of hostages held in Gaza depended on a “cessation of hostilities”.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel has relentlessly bombarded Gaza and sent in ground troops in an offensive that has killed at least 20,000 people. That figure doesn’t include those stuck under the rubble and the tens of thousands injured who will die from no medical help.
HIGHEST DEATH TOLL OF JOURNALISTS
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has accused the Israeli military of targeting journalists and their families in Gaza amid the highest death toll of media workers in any recent conflict.
The New York-based CPJ said at least 68 journalists and other media workers had been killed in Gaza, Israel and southern Lebanon since the Hamas cross-border attack on 7 October and subsequent Israeli assault.
“More journalists have been killed in the first 10 weeks of the Israel-Gaza war than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year,” it said.
“CPJ is particularly concerned about an apparent pattern of targeting of journalists and their families by the Israeli military. In at least one case, a journalist was killed while clearly wearing press insignia in a location where no fighting was taking place. In at least two other cases, journalists reported receiving threats from Israeli officials and Israel Defense Forces officers before their family members were killed.”
The CPJ called for Israel to “end the longstanding pattern of impunity in cases of journalists killed by the IDF”.
61 of the journalists killed were Palestinian and three were Lebanese.
HAMAS REJECTS CEASEFIRE
Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad said they won’t exchange hostages for a ceasefire as Israel would continue after securing their release.
“Some people are looking for a small pause — a pause here and there for one week, two weeks, three weeks,” Hamad told Al Jazeera. “But we want to stop the aggression [completely].”
“Because I think Israel will take the card of the hostages, and after that they will start a new round of mass killing and massacres against our people. I think we will not play this game.”
ISRAEL GAINS ‘FULL CONTROL’ OVER GAZA FLASHPOINT
A Gaza City flashpoint that saw some of the fiercest fighting has been captured in a major victory for Israel’s ground offensive against Hamas.
The Israeli Defence Force announced full “operational control” over the Shejaiya area it says has completely dismantled Hamas’s “core capabilities” in the neighbourhood.
Troops from the IDF’s 36th Division would continue operations to destroy any remaining terror infrastructure, with dozens of tunnel shafts and weapons caches found across the neighbourhood’s homes, schools and medical facilities.
The 99th Division, meanwhile, “eliminated hundreds of terrorists” in the Bakshi area before expanding operations through the Gaza capital.
MORE EVACUATIONS FOR MAJOR GAZA CITY
Israel has ordered more evacuations in southern Gaza’s main city as diplomats pressed on with efforts to secure a pause in the war that Hamas says has claimed 20,000 lives.
The United Nations said Israel had issued evacuation orders on Wednesday for large areas of Khan Yunis, where more than 140,000 displaced people were sheltering.
Israel told civilians to leave the north of the besieged Palestinian territory at the beginning of the conflict, urging them to seek safety in southern areas.
But as places for people to go continued to shrink, international outrage has mounted over the rising death toll.
The Hamas government’s media office in the Gaza Strip said Wednesday at least 20,000 people had been killed in the Palestinian territory since the war with Israel began.
It said 8,000 children and 6,200 women were among the dead.
UN relief chief Martin Griffiths deemed it a “tragic and shameful milestone”. In the southern city of Rafah, where fireballs and smoke rose after explosions on Wednesday, residents expressed hope that truce talks would succeed.
GUARDS SUSPECTED OF ASSAULTING AND KILLING SECURITY PRISONER
At least 19 Israeli prison guards are under investigation on suspicion of involvement in the death of a security prisoner at Ketziot Prison, in southern Israel, last month.
Signs of severe violence were found on the body of 38-year-old Thaer Abu Asab after he was allegedly beaten to death in his cell by a group of guards.
He died of his wounds within hours of the beating.
As part of the investigation, 19 guards were detained for questioning on suspicion of assault and causing injury. A gag order, which has only just expired, had been in place following the incident.
‘FIGHTING TERROR DOES NOT MEAN FLATTEN GAZA’
France’s president Emmanuel Macron has said that fighting “terrorism” does not mean to “flatten Gaza or attack civilian populations indiscriminately”.
In an interview with France 5 broadcaster, Mr Macron said: “We cannot let the idea take root that an efficient fight against terrorism implies to flatten Gaza or attack civilian populations indiscriminately.”
He urged Israel to “stop this response because it is not appropriate, because all lives are worth the same and we defend them.
While he acknowledged “Israel’s right to defend itself and fight terror”, the French leader called for the protection of civilians and “a truce leading to a humanitarian ceasefire”.
TEMPORARY TRUCE REJECTED BY HAMAS
Hamas has rejected an Israeli proposal for a week-long truce in exchange for the release of dozens of hostages.
The head of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh told intelligence officials in Cairo that the group would not discuss releasing Israeli hostages until a ceasefire in Gaza first goes into effect, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Egyptian officials.
The official said that Egypt “offered a proposal for another humanitarian truce” but that Hamas rejected the idea of a “temporary solution” to the war.
“Talks will continue, the Egyptians are optimistic about the possibility of a breakthrough in the coming days, but they are convinced that the situation is difficult, and the negotiations will be difficult and long,” the official said.
The news outlet reports Hamas rejected an offer by Israel to pause its ground and air operations in Gaza for a week and allow further humanitarian aid to enter the territory, in return for freeing 40 hostages, including all the remaining women and children abducted during the October 7 attacks.
Hamas also said that Israel must free all of its thousands of Palestinian prisoners — many of whom have been detained unlawfully — in return for the over 100 hostages remaining in Gaza.
Meanwhile, French president Emmanuel Macron saying fighting “terrorism” does not mean to “flatten Gaza or attack civilian populations indiscriminately”.
Macron has repeatedly criticised Israel’s execution of its military campaign in Gaza, warning earlier this month that its stated objective of the elimination of Hamas could take a decade and stoke “the resentment of all public opinion in the region”.
It comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed there will be no ceasefire in Gaza until the “elimination” of Hamas, dashing hopes of a renewed truce being sought by Hamas and the United Nations.
“We won’t stop fighting until we’ve achieved all the objectives we’ve set ourselves: the elimination of Hamas, the release of our hostages and the end of the threat from Gaza,” Mr Netanyahu said in a statement.
‘URGENT’ INVESTIGATION IN DEATHS OF PALESTINIANS IN JAIL
Amnesty International has called for an urgent investigation into Israel’s “enforced disappearance” of Palestinian detainees from Gaza, after reports of deaths in military detention centres.
Hundreds of Palestinians are being held in detention centres in southern Israel, having been arrested in military operations across Gaza since war erupted on October.
“The Israeli military must urgently disclose the fate and whereabouts of everyone that it has detained since 7 October,” Amnesty’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, Heba Morayef, said in a statement.
“Israeli forces must specify the grounds of arrest for those detained and make every effort to provide families of those in its custody with information, particularly in light of the telecommunications blackouts that have cut off Gazans.”
Agence France-Presse also reports that Amnesty demanded an investigation into the “inhumane treatment and enforced disappearance” of the detainees from Gaza.
The Israeli army said on Tuesday said it was investigating the deaths of detainees arrested in Gaza. It did not provide details regarding how many detainees had died or the circumstances of their deaths.
On Tuesday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that “several of them have died” in these detention facilities. The prisoners died at the Sde Teiman base near the city of Beersheva, it said.
The detainees held at that facility were “blindfolded and handcuffed for most of the day and the lights are on at the facility throughout the night”, the report said.
LIST OF GAZA WAR MASTERMINDS
An NGO says it submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor a list of 40 Israeli commanding officers who allegedly planned and executed the war on Gaza.
The non-profit said the ICC prosecutor should investigate as suspects for war crimes and crimes against humanity the senior Israeli commanders identified by Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN).
DAWN submitted the information in response to the prosecutor’s November 17 call for parties to present to his office information relevant to its investigation team’s ongoing probe into violations of the Rome Statute in Palestine, including the current war in Gaza.
“These 40 [military] commanders who have been responsible for planning, ordering, and executing Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment, wanton destruction, and mass killing of civilians in Gaza should be prime suspects in any ICC investigation,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, DAWN’s executive director.
“While Israel has done its best to conceal the identities of many of its officers, they should be put on notice that they face individual criminal liability for the crimes underway in Gaza.”
GAZA CONFLICT ‘STAIN ON OUR COLLECTIVE CONSCIENCE’
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths made his statement on X, calling the latest death toll in Gaza a “shameful milestone”.
“Such a brutal conflict has been allowed to continue and for this long – despite the widespread condemnation, the physical and mental toll and the massive destruction – is an indelible stain on our collective conscience,” he wrote.
Earlier, we reported that the Gaza Media Office said at least 20,000 Palestinians had died in Gaza since October 7.
That such a brutal conflict has been allowed to continue and for this long – despite the widespread condemnation, the physical and mental toll and the massive destruction – is an indelible stain on our collective conscience. pic.twitter.com/M7awX8b8nC
— Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) December 20, 2023
ISRAEL HITS HEZBOLLAH COMMAND CENTER IN LEBANON
The IDF says fighter jets struck a Hezbollah command centre in southern Lebanon in response to repeated attacks on the border.
Meanwhile, four rockets were fired from Syria at the Golan Heights, setting off sirens in Mas’ade and Ein Quiniyye.
The IDF says it shelled the source of the fire and targeted a Syrian Army position in response.
TRUCE TALKS ‘VERY SERIOUS’: WHITE HOUSE
Negotiations to secure another truce and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza war are “very serious”, the White House said.
“These are very serious discussions and negotiations and we hope that they lead somewhere,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters aboard Air Force One.
HOUTHIS WARN THEY WILL HIT BACK AT US
Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels, who have launched missiles and drones at cargo ships in the Red Sea, warned they would strike back if attacked by US forces.
“If the Americans intend to escalate further, get more involved and commit foolishness by targeting our country … we will target them,” said rebel leader Abdel-Malek al-Huthi.
“We will make American battleships, American interests and American navigation a target for our missiles and drones,” he said in a speech broadcast on the rebel’s Al-Masirah television
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