As the Israel-Hamas war entered its 64th day today, Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 17,400 people in Gaza, around 70% of them including women and children, and wounded more than 46,000 so far, according to Palestine’s health ministry reports. Here are the top 10 developments on this big story,
1) The US vetoed a United Nations resolution backed by almost all other Security Council members and dozens of other nations demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza. Supporters called it a terrible day and warned of more civilian deaths and destruction as the war goes into its third month.
2) The vote in the 15-member council was 13-1, with the United Kingdom abstaining. The United States’ isolated stand reflected a growing fracture between Washington and some of its closest allies over Israel’s monthslong bombardment of Gaza. France and Japan were among those supporting the call for a cease-fire.
3) UAE Deputy Ambassador Mohamed Abushaha said, “What is the message we are sending Palestinians if we cannot unite behind a call to halt the relentless bombardment of Gaza?”, AP reported.
4) The council called the emergency meeting to hear from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter for the first time, enabling a UN chief to raise threats he sees to international peace and security. He warned of a “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and urged the council to demand a humanitarian cease-fire.
5) The Biden administration has asked Congress to approve the sale of 45,000 shells for Israel’s Merkava tanks for use in its offensive against Hamas in Gaza, according to Reuters reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.
6) Israel has sharply increased strikes on the Gaza Strip since a seven-day-long truce ended a week ago, pounding the length of the Palestinian enclave and killing hundreds in a new, expanded phase of the war that Washington said veered from Israeli promises to do more to protect civilians.
7) Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday called for an immediate end to the war in Gaza and an international peace conference to work out a lasting political solution leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state, as per Reuters reports.
8) “I am with peaceful resistance. I am for negotiations based on an international peace conference and under international auspices that would lead to a solution that will be protected by world powers to establish a sovereign Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem,” he said.
9) Fighting escalated and the Palestinian death toll rose on Friday, with Israel pounding the enclave from north to south in an expanded phase of the two-month-old war against the Islamist group Hamas.
10) More strikes were reported on Friday in Khan Younis in the south, the Nusseirat camp in the center, and Gaza City in the north. On Friday evening, residents reported intensified Israeli tank fire in north Gaza, while health officials said at least 10 people were killed in an air strike on a house in Khan Younis.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Published: 09 Dec 2023, 06:27 AM IST