The UN says more than a half-million people are starving in Gaza because not enough food has entered the besieged territory as Israel keeps up its blistering campaign of airstrikes and ground operations for over 10 weeks.
ADVERTISEMENTThe UN Security Council passed a new resolution that calls for speeding up humanitarian aid deliveries into Gaza but without the original call for an “urgent suspension of hostilities” between Israel and Hamas.
The vote in the 15-member council was 13-0 with the United States and Russia abstaining. The vote followed a US veto of a Russian amendment that would have restored the call for a suspension of hostilities. That vote was 10 members in favour, the US against and four abstentions.
The revised text was negotiated during a week and a half of high-level diplomacy by the United States, and the United Arab Emirates on behalf of Arab nations and others.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said late Thursday that Washington, Israel’s closest ally, backed it. The US abstention avoided a second veto of a Gaza resolution following Hamas’ surprise 7 October attacks inside Israel.
The UN says more than a half-million people are starving in Gaza because not enough food has entered the besieged territory as Israel keeps up its blistering campaign of airstrikes and ground operations for over 10 weeks.
Palestinian officials said Friday that the death toll has now exceeded 20,000 — around 1% of the territory's prewar population. The Health Ministry in Gaza does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths.
Israel says more than 130 of its soldiers have died in its ground offensive after Hamas militants raided southern Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and taking about 240 hostages.