UN Security Council eyes another Gaza resolution, after several failed attempts
The US wants to tone down language on a cessation of hostilities, diplomats said. The draft text, seen by Reuters, currently “calls for an urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access”.
UN officials and aid agencies warn of a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza – mass starvation and disease – with the majority of the coastal Palestinian enclave’s 2.3 million people driven from their homes during the two-month long conflict.
A council resolution needs at least nine votes in favour and no vetoes by the US, France, China, Britain or Russia.
Israel finds major Hamas tunnel near Gaza border
The United States and Israel oppose a ceasefire because they believe it would only benefit Hamas. Washington instead supports pauses in fighting to protect civilians and allow the release of hostages taken by Hamas in a deadly October 7 attack on Israel.
Israel has bombarded Gaza from the air, imposed a siege and launched a ground offensive in retaliation for the October 7 attack that Israel says killed 1,200 people and saw 240 people taken hostage. Around 19,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health officials.
A seven-day pause – during which Hamas released some hostages, some Palestinians were freed from Israeli jails and there was an increase in aid to Gaza – ended on December 1.
Limited humanitarian aid and fuel deliveries have crossed into Gaza via the Rafah crossing from Egypt, subjected to monitoring by Israel, but UN officials and aid workers say it comes nowhere near to satisfying the most basic needs of Gazans.
The draft resolution aims to set up UN monitoring in Gaza of aid delivered via land, sea or aid by countries who are not parties to the conflict. The UN would notify the Palestinian Authority and Israel of those aid deliveries.
On Sunday the Israel-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza opened for aid trucks for the first time since the outbreak of war, officials said, in a move to double the amount of food and medicine reaching Gaza.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse