The United States continues to press Israel to do more to protect Palestinian civilians during a fierce attack on Hamas terrorists across Gaza, despite Washington vetoing a UN Security Council request for an immediate ceasefire.
Fighting intensified and the Palestinian death toll rose on Friday, with Israel pounding the area from north to south in an expanded phase of the two-month war against the Islamist group Hamas.
Condemning the “revolving humanitarian nightmare”, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres declared that no place in Gaza is safe for civilians, hours before the US vetoed a majority-backed Security Council resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.
The vote left Washington diplomatically isolated in the 15-member council.
Thirteen members voted in favor of the draft resolution submitted by the United Arab Emirates, while Britain abstained.
Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood told the council: “We do not support this resolution’s call for an unsustainable ceasefire that will only plant the seeds for the next war.”
Robert A. Wood, US Acting Representative for Special Political Affairs at the UN, at UN headquarters in New York City, on Dec. 8, 2023. REUTERS
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The United States and Israel oppose the ceasefire, saying it would only benefit Hamas, which Israel has vowed to destroy in response to the militants’ deadly cross-border rampage on October 7.
Washington instead supported “pauses” such as a seven-day cessation of hostilities that saw Hamas release several hostages and increase the flow of humanitarian aid.
The deal broke down on Dec. 1.
Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour told the ceremony the vote meant “millions of Palestinian lives hang in the balance.”
A person holds a banner during a protest outside the UN headquarters as members attend a meeting to address the humanitarian crisis amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas, in New York City, on Dec. 8, 2023. REUTERS
Ezzat El-Reshiq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, condemned the US veto as “inhumane.”
Israel’s UN ambassador Gilad Erdan said in a statement: “A ceasefire will be possible only with the return of all hostages and the destruction of Hamas.”
In Washington, the White House on Friday said more could be done by Israel to reduce civilian casualties and the US shared international concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
“We certainly all recognize more can be done to try to reduce civilian casualties,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
On Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken sharpened Washington’s language, saying it was imperative that Israel take steps to protect Gaza’s civilian population.
“And there is still a gap between…the intention to protect the public and the actual results we see on the ground,” he said at a press conference.
Describing the situation as “on the brink of destruction,” Guterres said the collapse of Gaza’s humanitarian system could result in a complete breakdown of public order.
Most of the people of Gaza are now homeless, hospitals are full and food is running out.
Debris is scattered amid an explosion during what the Israeli military said was an operation in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, in this screenshot taken from a video released on Dec. 8, 2023. via REUTERS IDF soldiers are seen fighting Hamas terrorists in Gaza . Israel Defense Forces
Residents and the Israeli army both reported intensifying fighting both in the north, where Israel previously said its forces had largely completed their work last month, and in the south where they launched new offensives this week.
DEATH TOLL
Gaza’s health ministry reported 350 people killed on Thursday, and on Friday it said the death toll from Israel’s campaign in Gaza had risen to 17,487.
More attacks were reported on Friday in Khan Younis in the south, Nusseirat camp in the center and Gaza City in the north.
On Friday evening, residents reported intensifying Israeli tank fire in northern Gaza, while health officials said at least 10 people were killed in an airstrike on a house in Khan Younis.
Israel’s military says 94 Israeli soldiers have been killed in fighting in Gaza since ground assaults on the densely populated enclave began in mid-October in retaliation for Hamas attacks in southern Israel in which the terrorists killed 1,200 people and took more than 240 hostages.
Body camera footage shows Israeli soldiers entering a damaged building during what the Israeli military says is an operation in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, in this screenshot taken from a video released Dec. 8, 2023. via REUTERS An explosion is seen over Gaza , seen from Israel on Dec. 8. 2023, on the Southern border, Israel. Getty Images
An Israeli commander, Brig. General Dan Goldfuss, said in a video message recorded in Khan Younis that his forces were fighting house to house and “shaft to shaft”, referring to the tunnel shaft. As he spoke, gunshots rang out in the background.
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Since Israel’s military campaign began, most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been driven from their homes, and residents say it is nearly impossible to find shelter.
Israel says it provides details on which areas are safe and blames Hamas for harming civilians because it operates among them, a charge the Islamist group denies.
Hamas reported the heaviest fighting with Israeli forces in the north in Shejaia, as well as in the south in Khan Younis, where Israeli forces arrived in the heart of the province’s second-largest city on Wednesday.
Israel’s chief military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israel had arrested more than 200 suspects from Gaza in the past 48 hours and dozens had been brought to Israel for questioning.
Reuters reporters in southern Gaza have seen the dead and wounded flood Nasser’s main hospital in Khan Younis, where there was no floor space on Friday for patients who arrived sprawled on blood-soaked tiles.
With fighting now raging in all directions, there is nowhere left to flee, said Yamen, sheltering in a school in central Gaza with his family.
“Inside the school it’s like outside: the feeling of being scared to death, the same agony of hunger,” he said.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
