US urges ‘immediate’ ceasefire at UN
PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: The United States has circulated for the first time a draft united nations resolution calling for an “immediate” ceasefire in the israel-hamas war, as warnings of famine in the besieged gaza strip grow.
Washington had blocked previous Security Council texts using the word “immediate,” but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed the shift in position on Wednesday.
Blinken, who was to meet five of his Arab counterparts in Egypt on Thursday, stressed that any immediate truce must be linked to the release of hostages snatched by Hamas militants during their deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that set off the war.
The Israeli bombardment of Gaza continued overnight, with the Health Ministry in the Hamasrun territory saying at least 70 people had been killed, pushing the overall toll toward 32,000.
Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s biggest medical facility, has emerged as a major flashpoint after Israel accused Palestinian militants of hiding out there and launched a dayslong raid, which it said on Thursday had killed more than 140 fighters.
Hamas said the ongoing attack on Al-Shifa, which was crowded with patients and people seeking refuge, was a crime.
Gaza’s civilian infrastructure has largely collapsed, and UN agencies are warning that the territory’s 2.4 million people are on the brink of famine.
Strong message
The US has vetoed previous Security Council texts on the nearly six-month war, objecting even last month to the term “immediate” in a draft submitted by Algeria.
But a new version circulated by the US and seen by Agence France-Presse (AFP) stressed “the need for an immediate and durable ceasefire” to protect civilians and allow aid into the territory.
No vote has been scheduled on the text, but Blinken told Saudi media outlet Al Hadath on Wednesday that support for the resolution would send a “strong message.”
Blinken, whose diplomatic push is running alongside mediation efforts in Qatar, was set to land in Israel on Friday.
The Qatar talks were considering a Hamas proposal for a sixweek ceasefire to allow hostages to be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and increased aid deliveries.
But Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official based in Lebanon, said Israel’s response had been “largely negative” and called it “a step backward.”
The US and Israel are also engaged in a diplomatic tug-of-war over Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, the last part of the territory still largely untouched by Israeli ground troops.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled to the city to escape fighting elsewhere, but Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted a ground incursion is the only way to finally root out Hamas.
US officials said they supported Netanyahu’s goal but wanted Israel to try strategies short of a potentially catastrophic invasion of an area where about 1.5 million people are hemmed in by the Egyptian border.
Hospital assault
At Al-Shifa, the Israeli army said hundreds of suspects had been detained since the raid began on Monday, including “dozens of senior terrorists and those with key positions,” adding that “over 140 terrorists have been eliminated.”
Hamas accused Israeli troops of “crimes” at the hospital, including “executions of dozens of displaced persons, patients and staff.”
Tensions have also flared in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli troops and settlers have killed at least 437 Palestinians since the
war began.
The Israeli military killed four Palestinians during a predawn raid on a refugee camp near Tulkarem, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
As famine warnings grow, Cyprus prepared to hold an international conference on Thursday on its efforts to establish a “maritime corridor” to get desperately needed food into Gaza.
The Saudi government announced it would donate $40 million to the UN Relief and Works
Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which has been central to aid operations in Gaza.
Many of Israel’s allies suspended funding for the agency after Israel accused 12 of its 13,000 Gaza staff of taking part in the October 7 attacks. Several have since resumed their contributions.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini warned this week that “siege, hunger and diseases will soon become the main killer in Gaza.”