Gaza pounded anew ahead of UN truce vote
Israel hit Gaza with new airstrikes on Tuesday as world powers grappled with how to broker a ceasefire ahead of a United Nations Security Council vote.
The global organization sounded the alarm over the humanitarian situation in the besieged territory, warning that food shortages could lead to an “explosion” of preventable child deaths.
Four months of relentless fighting have flattened much of the Palestinian enclave, pushed 2.2 million people to the brink of famine and displaced three-quarters of the population, according to UN estimates.
“How many of us have to die ... to stop these crimes?” asked Ahmad Moghrabi, a Palestinian doctor in Khan Younis, southern Gaza’s main city. “Where is the humanity?”
Global powers trying to navigate a way out of the spiraling crisis have so far come up short, with a push for a UN ceasefire resolution later in the day facing an anticipated US veto.
After months of struggling for a united response, all European Union members except Hungary on Monday called for an “immediate humanitarian pause.”
They also urged Israel not to invade Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, where nearly 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering.
The city, the last untouched by Israeli ground troops, is also the main entry point for desperately needed relief supplies via neighboring Egypt.
Israel’s strikes on the city are hampering humanitarian operations, while the food supply is disrupted by regular border closures, said the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA.
The scarcity of food and water has left children and women across the Strip suffering a steep rise in malnutrition, the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) warned on Monday.
One in six children in northern Gaza are now acutely malnourished, Unicef said, a situation poised to “compound the already unbearable level of child deaths.”
Despite repeated calls to spare Rafah, Israel has set a Ramadan deadline for a ground incursion, should Hamas militants not free scores of Israelis held hostage since the October 7 attacks by then.
“If by Ramadan the hostages are not home, the fighting will continue everywhere to include the Rafah area,” said War Cabinet member Benny Gantz.
The Muslim holy month is expected to start around March 10.
Mass casualties feared
International mediators have been scrambling to avert the assault and its feared mass civilian casualties.
At the UN Security Council, two rivaling ceasefire proposals have been put forward.
The first, drafted by Algeria, demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and “unconditional release of all hostages.”
It met swift opposition from the United States, a key Israel backer, which tabled an alternative draft.
That text, seen by Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Monday, emphasizes “support for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza as soon as practicable.”
It also expresses concern for Rafah, warning that a major ground offensive “would result in further harm to civilians” and displacement.
A diplomatic source says this draft stands little chance of being adopted as written, and risks a Russian veto.
While Washington has pressed a truce-for-hostages deal, weeks of talks involving US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators have failed to reach an agreement.
Hamas has threatened to walk away from negotiations unless more aid gets into Gaza, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Hamas’ demands as “delusional.”
He vehemently opposed calls for negotiations to include recognition of a Palestinian state.
“We flat-out reject this,” he said in a video statement on Monday, saying it would “endanger the existence of the State of Israel.”
Over the weekend, Israeli protesters attempted to block aid trucks at the Egypt-Gaza border to escalate pressure for the release of hostages.
In Jerusalem, protesters marched to Netanyahu’s house, accusing him of abandoning the hostages.
“There is no other way to get these people back without a deal,” said protester Eli Osheroff.