UN Security Council to vote on Gaza ceasefire call
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The UN Security Council meets on Gaza Friday under acute pressure from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and will vote on urging an immediate ceasefire after weeks of ruinous war.
Even though the civilian death toll in the Palestinian territory is mounting and living conditions are described as catastrophic amid Israel's bombardment, the outcome of the session is up in the air.
In a letter to the council on Wednesday, Guterres took the extraordinary step of invoking the UN charter's Article 99, which states that the secretary-general may bring to the attention of the council "any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security."
No one in his job had done this in decades.
Gaza is the new Holocaust. pic.twitter.com/iXxME0CxBd
— Khalissee (@Kahlissee) December 7, 2023
Guterres wrote: "Amid constant bombardment by the Israel Defense Forces, and without shelter or the essentials to survive, I expect public order to completely break down soon due to the desperate conditions, rendering even limited humanitarian assistance impossible."
He called for a "humanitarian ceasefire" to prevent "a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians" and the entire Middle East.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric expressed hope that the council will heed Guterres' urgent appeal.
Dujarric said that since Wednesday the UN chief has spoken with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and their counterparts from several other countries.
💔🇵🇸 Palestinians gather in front of the United Nations headquarters in Gaza, as a result of the starvation war waged by the ISRAELI occupation.https://t.co/uHIaO9nEFl
— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) December 7, 2023
- 'Catastrophic' -
Israel has been pressing for the destruction of Hamas over the October 7 attack, when militants broke through Gaza's border, killing around 1,200 people and seizing hostages, 138 of whom remain captive, according to Israeli figures.
The bloodiest ever war between Israel and Hamas is now in its third month, with the death toll in Gaza soaring above 17,000, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Israel's relentless bombardment and shelling has reduced much of Gaza to rubble.
Israel is severely restricting the entry of food, water, fuel and medicine, and 1.8 million people (80 percent of Gaza's population) have been forced to leave home to escape Israeli attacks.
After Guterres sent his urgent letter, the United Arab Emirates prepared a draft resolution that will be put to a vote on Friday, said the delegation from Ecuador, which chairs the council this month and thus decides on scheduling issues.
Israeli forces detain paramedics at gun point preventing them from saving lives in Gaza…🇵🇸💔 pic.twitter.com/KQ55RlY8N8
— Pelham (@Resist_05) December 8, 2023
The latest version of this document seen Thursday by AFP calls the humanitarian situation in Gaza "catastrophic" and "demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire."
The short text also calls for protection of civilians, the immediate and unconditional release of all the hostages Hamas is still holding, and humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip.
But the outcome of a vote is not clear -- four earlier drafts presented since the war broke out were rejected by the Security Council.
The council finally managed to speak out on the war in mid-November as it approved a resolution calling for "humanitarian pauses and corridors" in Gaza -- not a ceasefire.
The United States, Israel's most powerful ally, which vetoed one of the earlier draft resolutions and rejects the idea of a ceasefire, has said a new resolution from the council at this stage would not be "useful."
"Our position hasn't changed," said the deputy US ambassador, Robert Wood.
"We again think that the best thing that we can do, all of us, for the situation on the ground, is to let the quiet behind-the-scene diplomacy that is going continue," Wood said.
"You will all be held accountable!"A grieving Palestinian mother sends a message to Arab and Muslim rulers, and this mother is right, we bear witness to these atrocities,on the day of Judgement how will they answer to God.💔🇵🇸ðŸ˜#Gaza pic.twitter.com/ygeV2qaXMw
— Zeeshan Akram PTI (@shaani092) December 8, 2023
Agnes Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International, said "the US and all other members of the UN Security Council have a clear obligation under international law to prevent atrocities."
"There can be no justification for continuing to block meaningful action by the UN Security Council to stop massive civilian bloodshed, the complete collapse of the humanitarian system, and even worse horrors resulting from the breakdown of public order and massive displacement," she added.
The Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, said "we sincerely hope that the Security Council will adopt that resolution and will listen to brave, courageous, principled position of the secretary-general."
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Wednesday said Guterres' tenure was "a danger to world peace" after he invoked Article 99.
Her husband was killed in the war, and she cries because she can't find food for her children. She blames Hamas for dragging Gaza's people into the war. The people of Gaza are dying of hunger and on the brink of a genuine humanitarian catastrophe. pic.twitter.com/ECcVFR8xoN
— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) December 7, 2023
Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer killed
The Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, one of the leaders of a young generation of authors in Gaza who chose to write in English to tell their stories, was killed in an Israeli strike, his friends said overnight Thursday.
"My heart is broken, my friend and colleague Refaat Alareer was killed with his family a few minutes ago," wrote his friend, the Gazan poet Mosab Abu Toha, on Facebook. "I don't want to believe this. We both loved to pick strawberries together."
Alareer had said a few days after Israel began its ground offensive in October that he refused to leave northern Gaza, the epicentre of the fighting at the time. "Refaat's assassination is tragic, painful and outrageous. It is a huge loss," his friend Ahmed Alnaouq wrote on X.
Professor Refaat Alareer was killed by Israeli forces, his friend announced on Thursday.
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) December 7, 2023
Alareer was a co-founder of the ‘We Are Not Numbers’ project, a professor at the Islamic University of Gaza, and one of Gaza's most prominent writers, poets & activists pic.twitter.com/ukagacSLRN
The Literary Hub website also paid tribute to him, while author and journalist Ramzy Baroud wrote on X: "Rest in peace Refaat Alareer. We will continue to be guided by your wisdom, today and for eternity."
Alareer, a professor of English literature at the Islamic University of Gaza, where he taught Shakespeare among other subjects, was also one of the co-founders of the "We are not numbers" project, which pairs authors from Gaza with mentors abroad who help them write stories in English about their experiences.
The project edited the book "Gaza Writes Back", chronicles of life in Gaza by young Palestinian authors, and published "Gaza Unsilenced".
We are devastated by Israel's murder of our dear colleague, friend and mentor Dr. Refaat Alareer (@itranslate123). Throughout this genocide, Refaat never stopped writing, supporting his students and bringing Gaza's voice to the world. We will make sure it continues to be heard. pic.twitter.com/IZUdIJBkf5
— Electronic Intifada (@intifada) December 7, 2023
Israel presses ahead with attacks
Israel pressed on with its offensive in and around Gaza's main cities on Friday, more than two months after Hamas's deadly attack sparked a war that has claimed thousands of lives and left the Palestinian territory in ruins.
The death toll in Gaza has soared above 17,000, mostly women and children, the Hamas-run health ministry said, and vast areas of the besieged territory have been reduced to a rubble-strewn wasteland of bombed-out and bullet-scarred buildings.
Early Friday, the health ministry reported another 40 dead in strikes near Gaza City, and "dozens" more in Jabalia and Khan Yunis.
Israeli forces have encircled major urban centres as they seek to destroy Hamas over its unprecedented attack on October 7, when militants broke through Gaza's militarised border to kill around 1,200 people and seize hostages, 138 of whom remain captive, according to Israeli figures.
In a Thursday phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Joe Biden "emphasised the critical need to protect civilians and to separate the civilian population from Hamas", the White House said in a statement.
https://twitter.com/TrueStands/status/1732887640498729195
Biden also called for "corridors that allow people to move safely from defined areas of hostilities".
Backed by air power, tanks and armoured bulldozers, Israeli troops are fighting in Khan Yunis, the biggest city in southern Gaza, as well as in Gaza City and Jabalia district in the north.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said troops had closed in on the Khan Yunis home of Hamas's Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, 61, vowing "it is only a matter of time until we find him".
Israeli television stations aired footage Thursday of tens of blindfolded Palestinian men wearing only underwear, guarded by Israeli soldiers in Gaza, setting off strong reactions on social media.
"We are investigating to see who is linked to Hamas and who is not," Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said at a press conference.
London-based news outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said one of its journalists was among them.
THEY KILLED THIS DEAR SWEET OLD LADY
— Sadia Saeed (@SadiaSa55) December 7, 2023
An Israeli sniper SHOT AND KILLED this dear elder named Hadia Nassar right in front of her house.#أبوعبيدة#Gaza_Genocide#Gaza#GazaHolocaust#Israel pic.twitter.com/lfZntFXWBV
- 'We are dead already' -
The fighting has pushed Gazans south, turning Rafah near the Egyptian border into a vast camp for many of the 1.9 million displaced by the conflict -- 80 percent of Gaza's population.
"Two months on the road, moving from one place to another. These are the hardest two months we have experienced in our lives," said Abdallah Abu Daqqa, displaced from Khan Yunis to Rafah.
Air strikes have followed them.
Eight more hit Rafah overnight. AFP journalists saw around 20 corpses in white body bags, including a child, at its Nasser hospital, while men gathered nearby to pray.
The mass civilian casualties in the conflict have sparked global concern, heightened by dire shortages caused by an Israeli siege that has seen only limited access for food, water, fuel and medicines.
https://twitter.com/RupaniGarcon/status/1732954923720146963
Israel has approved a "minimal" increase in fuel supplies to prevent a "humanitarian collapse and the outbreak of epidemics", and called on the international community to "increase its capabilities" to distribute aid.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said there were "promising signs" Israel may open the southern Kerem Shalom crossing to aid deliveries.
But Hamas has declared a "state of famine" in northern Gaza, saying no aid has arrived there since December 1.
And Israeli rights group B'Tselem said the "minuscule amount of aid" allowed into the territory was "tantamount to deliberately starving the population".
"We are dying here, without even the need for rockets and bomb strikes. We are dead already, dead from hunger, dead from displacement," said Abdelkader al-Haddad, a Gaza City resident now in Rafah.
Gaza now💔 Israeli beats and assault Palestinian women and we’re all just watching..ðŸ˜ðŸ‡µðŸ‡¸ðŸ’”#Gaza
— Zeeshan Akram PTI (@shaani092) December 8, 2023
pic.twitter.com/LjlIq7umcD
- Intense fighting -
The Netanyahu government has responded angrily to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoking the rarely used Article 99 of the world body's charter, calling on the Security Council to push for a ceasefire.
The Security Council will hold an emergency at 1500 GMT Friday to discuss the crisis.
The fighting in Gaza has killed 89 Israeli soldiers so far, including Gal -- the son of war cabinet minister Gadi Eisenkot -- on Thursday.
In a Thursday briefing, the Israeli military said troops had "killed Hamas terrorists and struck dozens of terror targets" in Khan Yunis, and raided a military compound of Hamas's Central Jabalia Battalion.
Hamas released footage of its fighters firing AK-47 assault rifles and grenade launchers from abandoned buildings in what it said was Gaza City, and said it was battling Israeli troops "on all axes of the incursion into the Gaza Strip".
The militant group said it had destroyed two dozen military vehicles in Khan Yunis and Beit Lahia in the territory's north, and its rockets continue to target Israel, though they have been intercepted by air defences.
https://twitter.com/Bernadotte22/status/1732940412803789112
- Lebanon tensions -
Israelis remained deeply traumatised by the horror of the Hamas attack and fearful for the fate of hostages as they headed into the Jewish festival of lights, Hanukkah, from Thursday evening.
One of the worst-hit sites on October 7, the Supernova music festival, was recreated in a Tel Aviv exhibition hall to remember those killed and abducted by Hamas, complete with victims' tents and recovered belongings.
"My brother Idan Dor, 25, was murdered at this festival and it took eight days for us to be told he was dead," said Daniela Dor-Levin.
"He loved to dance, he had just started his life. He wanted peace."
Meanwhile on Thursday, an anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon killed a civilian in Israel, the Israeli army said.
Day 63 | The conditions of the displaced Gazans in Rafah, in light of the ongoing aggression on the Strip. pic.twitter.com/4HdygNpLkA
— TIMES OF GAZA (@Timesofgaza) December 8, 2023
There have been near-daily exchanges across the UN-patrolled Israel-Lebanon border, mainly involving Lebanon's Hezbollah which, like Hamas, is backed by Iran.
Netanyahu warned Hezbollah that if it "chooses to start a global war, then it will turn Beirut and South Lebanon... into Gaza and Khan Yunis with its own hands".
An investigation by Agence France-Presse into an October 13 strike in southern Lebanon that killed a Reuters journalist and injured six others, including two from AFP, concluded that it involved a tank shell only used by the Israeli army in this region.