The UN Security Council will vote on a resolution from the US calling for an “immediate and sustained ceasefire” in Gaza at a meeting at the body’s New York headquarters today.
Although the US has been Israel’s closest ally – vetoing three previous resolutions calling for a ceasefire – it now says, according to news agencies, that an “immediate and sustained ceasefire” was “imperative” adding that unequivocal support should be given to the hostage negotiations in support of that end.
The shift in tone and phrasing is being seen by some as a response to the growing catastrophe in Gaza with the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying this week that: “A hundred percent of the population of Gaza is experiencing severe levels of acute food insecurity. We cannot, we must not, allow that to continue.”
The UN resolution comes as European leaders separately met in Brussels to discuss a call from the member block for a ceasefire.
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, yesterday said that “what’s happening today in Gaza is the failure of humanity. It is not a humanitarian crisis. It is the failure of humanity.”
He said the cause was “not an earthquake, is not a flood. It’s bombing” – and called for Israel to “respect the civilian population and allow aid into Gaza.”
“There is an airport an hour’s drive from where we are parachuting aid, but it is closed. We are building a port, even though there is already a port in Gaza. But it’s closed. And the land borders are open so little that supplies are not coming in,” he said.
Israel and the US are increasingly at odds Tel Aviv’s insistence that it will launch a ground assault in Rafah, where some 1.5 million Palestinians are effectively trapped with many having fled there after Israel’s military operations entered northern Gaza.
Blinken said yesterday that: “A major military operation in Rafah would be a mistake, something we don’t support. And, it’s also not necessary to deal with Hamas, which is necessary”.
However, Israeli leader, Benjamin Netanyahu has said: “we are determined to complete the elimination of these battalions in Rafah, and there’s no way to do that except by going in on the ground”.
Israel’s war on Gaza was prompted by deadly incursion by Hamas militants in southern Israel on October 7, in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed – and during which, a UN report says, there are grounds to believe that Hamas committed rape and sexual abuse, with further evidence indicating that hostages kidnapped by Hamas that day were subject to rape in captivity.
Five months later, more than 30,000 people have been killed by the Israeli bombardment and military actions, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
The UN says that one in three children under the age of two in northern Gaza were suffering from acute malnutrition due to the impacts of the war and restrictions on aid delivery.
Xavier Joubert, Country Director for Save the Children in Palestine said that children are “famine’s first victims and are already dying in Gaza because of malnutrition”.
Families in Gaza are surviving by consuming wheat, hay and animal food, the relief organisation said, warning that famine is “just weeks away” in northern Gaza, with many indicators of mass starvation “already exceeded”.
Yesterday, UK Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, shared his “enormous frustration” that British aid for the people of Gaza had been stuck at the border for almost three weeks.
A UN satellite analysis found that 35% of Gaza Strip’s buildings have been destroyed or damaged in the bombardment – representing 88,868 structures, among which 31,198 structures have been identified as destroyed, 16,908 severely damaged, and 40,762 moderately damaged.
“This represents an increase of nearly 20,000 damaged structures compared to the previous assessment realized in January 2024,” the report said.
UN Satellite Analysis Reveals 35% of Gaza Buildings Damaged or Destroyed in Israel-Hamas Conflict#Gaza #Gazafamine #IsraelHamasConflicthttps://t.co/nf6LbEUe0S
— GeetaPillai (@GeetaaPillai) March 21, 2024
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How can the UN demand a ceasefire without making it conditional to all the hostages and bodies being first returned to Israel?
would that include the Palestinian one’s or just the Jews? and literally every resolution has called for the unconditional release of them(just the Jewish hostages)…the US has vetoed every single one because they didn’t like the wording…in the meantime more innocent people are being bombed and starved more journalists are being killed and more aid workers,Doctors and aid seekers are being targeted.you seriously believe Israel are demolishing Gaza and the west bank,ripping up the roads and the graves looking for dead hostages?you think if the hostages die they will bother going to bury them in the grave of a Palestinian ?lol
if you believe this then you believe they are putting more effort in looking for dead Israelis than live ones they can get back…..maddening especially for their families who want them alive…a dead parent,sibling,partner or child is not what they want…
oh and I bet you think it was positively humanitarian for Israel to let 70 children they orphaned to leave Gaza right?
This is just because Biden needs to win in Ohio to win the election. They have a very big Palestinian population! Biden is sending bombs and billions to destroy Gaza at the same time!
Thats the thing about having a boss doing the wrongs, they dont care what you say if they are determined to do something bad. Israel is boss of the usa. Its interesting that in alot of states in the usa, if you say anything bad about israel, you go to court but its ok to say something bad about the usa. Weird that.
forgot to report anything recently?Like I don’t know the 7 WCK staff that Israel murdered after delivering aid that was brought by sea?all except the driver were from the international community…you know with their precision weapons and moral strikes….
John must be utterly thrilled right now,along with the rest of the Arab haters…this is the most sickening thing I have ever seen in my life and that includes the HSE letting my own child die…
he was born 2 months premature,the Doctor said he was small but strong,then he got sick and they misdiagnosed him and did not treat him for the right thing,he suffered but not as much as starving as he was tube fed and he died with dignity in my arms in safety,with people who loved him…people who weren’t trying to take his life in a callous way…I felt as bad for his Doctors and Nurses as I did for me in that moment,I had never seen looks on peoples faces like that…they were prepared for this from the start as by the time he got to Dublin Childrens hospital I was told I had the sickest child in Ireland from a man in dinosaur feet lol,hard to forget a man telling you your child has a survival rate of 10/% wearing dino slippers…if only they gave him anti biotics before he got there…or lets say in the case of Gaza,food..
something so simple yet effective ….I can’t stand seeing this and anyone defending it….it’s beyond who is right or wrong,defence or revenge…this is devastation
oh yes,they have to get worse before they get better is apparently something we train medical staff in…so basically saying well they arent sick enough yet they could be more sick….that isn’t treatment mind