Israel faces Gaza ceasefire calls, US vows more arms

Israel faced another round of global pressure on Tuesday for a ceasefire in Gaza with a new UN vote and fresh Western diplomatic efforts, although the United States vowed to continue arming its ally.

The UN Security Council was set to convene Tuesday to weigh a call for a ceasefire in the besieged Palestinian territory, after a previous bid was vetoed by the United States.

UK Foreign Minister David Cameron was also due to meet French and Italian leaders to push for a "sustainable ceasefire" in the conflict, his office said.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas militants launched an unprecedented attack on October 7, killing around 1,140 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and abducting 250, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says Israel's military response has killed more than 19,400 people, mostly women and children.

The ministry said an Israeli strike killed at least 20 people on Tuesday in the southern city of Rafah, near the border with Egypt.

On a visit to Israel, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin vowed Monday to keep arming its ally, which Washington has already provided with billions of dollars in military aid.

"We'll continue to provide Israel with the equipment that you need to defend your country... including critical munitions, tactical vehicles and air defence systems," Austin said.

The United States vowed Monday it would continue to arm Israel in its campaign against Hamas, even as it called for more humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the devastated Gaza Strip.

Fighting raged on in the third month of the bloodiest-ever Gaza war, with the Hamas-run health ministry reporting another 110 people killed in strikes on the Jabalia camp near Gaza City.

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Visiting Israel, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said: "We must get more humanitarian assistance in to the nearly two million displaced people in Gaza and we must distribute that aid better."

He confirmed Washington was "Israel's greatest friend" and would continue to provide "critical munitions, tactical vehicles and air defence systems".

Austin added that his visit did not aim to "dictate timelines or terms" for the war.

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- 'Starvation as method' -

International alarm has mounted over the plight of 2.4 million Gazans enduring daily bombardment, food and water shortages and mass displacement.

Human Rights Watch charged that Israel "is using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare".

"Israeli forces are deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food and fuel, while wilfully impeding humanitarian assistance, apparently razing agricultural areas," the New York-based organisation said.

An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said "Human Rights Watch... has no moral basis to talk about what's going on in Gaza," charging that the group had ignored "the suffering and the human rights of Israelis".

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, earlier said he "would not be surprised if people start dying of hunger, or a combination of hunger, disease, weak immunity".

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Israel has approved aid deliveries into Gaza via its Kerem Shalom crossing, aside from the Rafah crossing with Egypt, and dozens of trucks entered through Kerem Shalom on Monday, an AFP journalist said.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on Monday that commercial trucks had entered Gaza, a first since the war began, joining UN-led deliveries.

It is "a critical step towards improving the lives of the Palestinian people in Gaza", Miller said.

At the Rafah crossing, many families gathered in the hopes of finally being allowed across to safety.

"We've been here for about a month," said Safa Fathi Hamad. "We are going to die, food is very limited and we have no protection."

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- 'Fight until the end' -

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday again vowed Israel would destroy Hamas, free the hostages and ensure Gaza would never again become "a centre for terrorism".

The army has reported 129 deaths in Gaza since it launched ground operations in late October.

Israel has accused Hamas of hiding among civilians and in tunnels underneath hospitals, schools, mosques and other civilian infrastructure.

The army released a report Sunday detailing part of a vast Hamas tunnel network, big enough to drive vehicles through, featuring rails, power lines, drainage systems and a communications network.

A Hamas official in Lebanon downplayed the Israeli discovery, saying that the tunnel had already served its purpose.

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Israel has faced mounting global pressure to either slow, suspend or stop hostilities.

That includes the families of the remaining 129 hostages believed held in Gaza, whose anger and fear intensified after Israeli forces mistakenly shot dead three hostages who had escaped their captors.

The trio waved white flags and used food leftovers to write a Hebrew-language message on a white sheet before they were shot, reports said.

Israelis protested Monday in central Tel Aviv, calling for swift action to release the remaining hostages.

Hamas's military wing released footage it claimed showed three of those still held captive. The video featured three bearded men sitting on chairs at an undisclosed location and asking to be released.

Qatar, which helped mediate a week-long truce and hostage-prisoner exchange last month, has said there are "ongoing diplomatic efforts to renew the humanitarian pause".

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US news platform Axios on Monday reported that Mossad chief David Barnea, CIA director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met in Warsaw.

As the war rages on, special concern has focused on hospitals, most of which no longer function, and several of which have been the scenes of major fighting.

The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement: "As hostilities continue and health needs increase, it is critical that... hospitals across the Gaza Strip are urgently restored."

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the UN agency was "appalled by the effective destruction" of northern Gaza's Kamal Adwan hospital.

Outside the hospital, the muddy ground scarred by tank and bulldozer tracks, Abu Mohammed stood crying as he searched for his son.

"I don't know how I will find him," he said, pointing to the debris.

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UNSC postpones new ceasefire vote

Prolonged negotiations have led the UN Security Council to postpone to Tuesday a vote on a resolution that had sought a new ceasefire in Gaza, diplomatic sources said, as Washington exhibits growing impatience with key ally Israel.

The United Arab Emirates, which had introduced the latest text, requested that the vote set for 5:00 pm (2200 GMT) Monday be postponed to allow for complex negotiations to continue, and is now expected to be rescheduled for Tuesday, the sources told AFP.

That draft had called for an "urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities" in Gaza to allow "safe and unhindered humanitarian access" in the besieged Palestinian territory.

The vote delay suggests UN diplomats have been unable yet to find common ground.

Ten days ago On December 8, despite unprecedented pressure from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the United States blocked a Security Council resolution that would have called for a "humanitarian ceasefire" in the battered Palestinian territory, where Israel continues its deadly strikes in retaliation for Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack.

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But in the General Assembly, the 193-member United Nations voted overwhelmingly for a ceasefire, with 153 in favor -- exceeding the 140 or so countries that have routinely backed resolutions condemning Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Bolstered by such broad international support last Tuesday, Arab countries prepared the upcoming Security Council resolution, although its fate remains uncertain.

In addition to a ceasefire, that draft, seen by AFP, affirms support for a two-state solution in the region and "stresses the importance of unifying the Gaza Strip with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority."

The draft does not explicitly name Hamas, though it does call for the "immediate and unconditional release of all hostages" and condemns "all violence and hostilities against civilians, and all acts of terrorism."

- 'Protect civilians' -

Israel and the United States have expressed disapproval of earlier drafts that did not mention Hamas. In Washington, President Joe Biden's administration declined to say how it viewed the latest text.

"We are always trying to get to a place where there's language that we agree with, that other Security Council members agree with," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

"But right now we're in the middle of the negotiation process. I wouldn't want to speculate."

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In an earlier briefing in Israel, Tal Heinrich, spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, said: "A ceasefire that leaves Hamas in power with impunity and with the desire and capability to repeat October 7 again and again and again is simply unacceptable."

The Security Council has faced international opprobrium for passing only one resolution on Gaza since the start of the war, in which the 15-member body called for "humanitarian pauses" -- after several other resolutions were rejected.

Two texts were vetoed by Washington.

Biden recently warned Israel was at risk of losing international support due to its "indiscriminate" bombing of Gaza.

"The United States should now back those words by acting at the United Nations Security Council to pressure Israel, as well as Palestinian armed groups, to comply with international humanitarian law and protect civilians," said Louis Charbonneau, the UN director at Human Rights Watch.

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On Monday Amnesty International head Agnes Callamard also urged council members to adopt the resolution, warning on X that "any use of their veto power will translate into more killings, starvation, sufferings."

Security Council resolutions are binding, but are often ignored by countries involved.

According to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, 19,453 people, mostly civilians and children, have died since the Israeli bombardment began in Gaza in retaliation for Hamas's October 7 attack.

The attack by Hamas left 1,139 people dead in Israel, also mostly civilians, and saw some 250 people kidnapped, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

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