New UN Gaza truce vote postponed till Monday
A vote at the UN Security Council on a new text calling for an “immediate” ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war was postponed to Monday, diplomatic sources told AFP, after a separate, US-lead draft resolution was vetoed.
The United States, Israel’s main ally and military backer, had put forward a resolution mentioning “the imperative of an immediate and sustained ceasefire” and condemning the October 7 attack by Hamas.
Russia and China on Friday vetoed that resolution, which had stopped short of explicitly demanding that Israel immediately end its campaign in Gaza.
More than 1,160 people, mostly civilians, died on October 7 when militants infiltrated Israel in the country’s deadliest attack, according to Israeli official figures.
Israel has vowed to eradicate Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. More than 32,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in the retaliatory campaign, according to the Gaza health ministry, and the United Nations has warned of imminent famine in the territory.
Blinken warns Israel
On Friday, US secretary of state Antony Blinken warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel risked further global isolation if it attacks the Palestinian city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
Blinken met one-on-one with Netanyahu during a peace mission to the Middle East.
“We share Israel’s goal of defeating Hamas...though, a major military ground operation in Rafah is not the way to do it,” Blinken told reporters in Tel Aviv.
“It risks killing more civilians, it risks wreaking greater havoc with the provision of humanitarian assistance, it risks further isolating Israel
around the world and jeopardising its long-term security and standing,” Blinken added.
Netanyahu said earlier that Israel would go it alone if Washington remained opposed to plans to push into Rafah against the territory’s southern border fence, where more than a million Gazans have taken refuge in makeshift shelters.
The Israeli leader said he told Blinken that he appreciated US support in its fight against Hamas and that Israel recognises it needs to protect civilians.
However, while Israel has talked about destroying Hamas entirely in the past, it is unclear how they would be able to do so and experts doubt that is even possible.
Israel claims Rafah is the last bastion for Hamas militants, and that it has a plan to evacuate civilians before an attack, though it has not shared one publicly nor with close ally Washington.
The US, Israel’s closest ally, provides billions of dollars a year in military aid and regularly uses its diplomatic clout to protect Israeli interests.
The new Security Council ceasefire text was meant to go to a vote on Saturday, but was pushed back to allow further discussions of the draft, the diplomatic
sources said.
They support an alternative text that Washington says is not strong enough in pushing Hamas toward ongoing diplomacy. Hamas last week released its own ceasefire and hostageprisoner exchange proposal. France was also said to be working on an alternative resolution. The Security Council was due to vote again on Saturday.
In a statement, Hamas said it appreciated the veto by Russia and China, “who rejected the American project biased towards aggression against our people”.
US strikes Houthi sites
The US military said on Friday it had struck three underground storage facilities used by Yemen’s Houthis, as the Iranbacked rebels continue to launch attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
US forces “conducted self-defense strikes against three Houthi underground storage facilities in Iranian-backed Huthi terrorist-controlled areas of Yemen,” Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.
The Huthis began attacking ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea in November, a campaign they say is intended to signal solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.