The war between Israel and Hamas has continued since October 7 (file photo)
The United States on Tuesday vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as Israel continues to bombard the territory as concerns grow over a growing humanitarian crisis.
Global powers have tried unsuccessfully to extricate themselves from the escalating crisis, with mediators pushing for a ceasefire so far in vain and the United Nations putting forward two competing ceasefire proposals.
On Tuesday, Washington rejected the first proposal drafted by Algeria, which called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the “unconditional” release of all hostages kidnapped in the October 7 attack.
Washington’s ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, called the vote “wishful and irresponsible” and said it would put “sensitive negotiations at risk.”
Washington has tabled an alternative draft resolution on Gaza as U.S. President Joe Biden faces growing pressure to reduce support for Israel.
The text, seen by AFP, stressed “support for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza as soon as possible” and expressed concerns about Rafah.
According to diplomatic sources, the draft has little chance of being adopted in its current form and is likely to be vetoed by Russia.
Israel’s health ministry said a total of 103 Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours as Israel continued to carry out air strikes and ground fighting in Gaza amid a diplomatic power struggle.
The United Nations has repeatedly warned of the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, warning that food shortages could lead to a “surge” in preventable child deaths.
“Where is the humanity?”
While deliveries of much-needed food to the hard-hit north had just resumed, the U.N. Food Program said on Tuesday that the program had been halted after “facing complete chaos and violence due to a breakdown in social order.”
The World Food Program said on Tuesday that deliveries had resumed on Sunday, but its fleet was subject to gunfire, violence, looting, people trying to climb onto vans and a truck driver being beaten.
WFP acknowledged that halting deliveries meant the situation “will worsen further, with more people at risk of dying from hunger”.
More than four months of relentless fighting has leveled much of the coastal area, pushing 2.2 million people to the brink of famine and displacing three-quarters of the population, according to United Nations estimates.
Unicef warned on Monday that shortages of food and safe water have led to a sharp rise in malnutrition, with one in six children in northern Gaza now severely malnourished.
“How many people do we have to die… to stop these crimes?” said Ahmed Mograbi, a Palestinian doctor in Khan Younis, the main city in southern Gaza.
“Where’s the humanity?”
call for suspension
After months of struggling for a coherent response, all EU member states except Hungary called on Monday for an “immediate suspension of humanitarian operations.”
They also urged Israel not to invade Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, where some 1.4 million Palestinians have taken refuge, many living in makeshift tents.
The city is the last untouched by Israeli ground forces and the main entry point for much-needed relief supplies via neighboring Egypt.
Israel says the offensive is crucial to destroying Hamas.
The war began when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Oct. 7 that killed about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli data.
According to Israel, Hamas agents have also taken approximately 250 hostages, 130 of whom remain in Gaza and 30 of whom are presumed dead.
Israel’s retaliatory actions have killed at least 29,195 people, mostly women and children, according to the latest statistics from the territory’s health ministry.
For weeks, Israel has focused its military operations on Khan Younis, the hometown of Hamas regional leader Yahya Sinwar, the alleged mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack.
The military said troops continued “intense operations” in the city on Tuesday and “killed dozens of terrorists over the past day.”
“Death from starvation or bombing”
On Tuesday, the World Health Organization said it had transferred 32 patients out of the city’s Al-Nasser Hospital. Israeli forces raided the hospital last week after days of fighting around the medical facility.
Seven patients have died in besieged hospitals since Friday due to a lack of oxygen caused by a power outage, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
The Israeli army denies any patient deaths since the army began operations.
The World Health Organization said it was concerned for patients and staff still inside the hospital and warned that the damage to the hospital, its main facility in southern Gaza, was a “huge blow”.
Witnesses said the Zeitun neighborhood in southern Gaza City was also heavily bombed.
“We don’t know where to go – everything is being bombed,” said resident Abdullah Al-Qadi, 67.
Further south, in Zaveda, Ayman Abu Shammali said his wife and daughter were killed in an Israeli missile attack.
“People are dying of hunger in the north and here we are dying of bombing,” he said.
Israel has rejected repeated calls, including from its closest ally the United States, to spare Rafah.
It warned that it would continue its offensive during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, including in the city, unless all Israeli hostages still held in Gaza were released before the start of Ramadan on March 10 or 11.
The Palestinian group said Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh arrived in Cairo at the same time for talks with Egyptian officials, days after mediators said prospects for a truce were uncertain despite last week’s meetings with Israeli and Hamas negotiators. Already dim.
The lack of progress in securing the release of more Israeli hostages has fueled Israeli protests over the government’s handling of the war.
“We urgently call on all decision-makers in Israel and around the world to engage in negotiations and bring them home immediately,” Ofori Bibas said. His sister-in-law Shiri and her two young children remain imprisoned in Gaza.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
