Israel-Hamas war live: UN security council to vote on Gaza ceasefire | Israel-Hamas war

December 8, 2023 Stan

UN security council to meet Friday and vote on Gaza ceasefire

The UN security council is to meet under acute pressure from Secretary-General António Guterres and will vote on urging an immediate ceasefire after weeks of war.

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 role had done this in decades.

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.”

After Guterres sent his urgent letter, the United Arab Emirates prepared a draft resolution that will be put to a vote on Friday, according to the delegation from Ecuador, which chairs the council this month and decides on scheduling issues, Agence France-Presse reports.

The latest version of this document was seen Thursday by AFP and 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 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.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Wednesday said Guterres’ tenure was “a danger to world peace” after he invoked Article 99.

Key events

We reported earlier that the Israeli military has claimed the killing of the Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah in Lebanon took place in an active combat zone. The nations armed forces have now said:

On 13 October 2023, the terrorist organisation Hezbollah launched an attack on multiple targets within Israeli territory along the Lebanese border.

One incident involved the firing of an anti-tank missile, which struck the border fence near the village Hanita. Following the launch of the anti-tank missile, concerns arose over the potential infiltration of terrorists into Israeli territory.

In response, the IDF used artillery and tank fire to prevent the infiltration. The IDF is aware of the claim that journalists who were in the area were killed.

The area is an active combat zone, where active fire takes place and being in this area is dangerous. The incident is currently under review.

The Reuters investigation found an Israeli tank crew killed Abdallah, a visuals journalist, and wounded six reporters by firing two shells in quick succession from Israel while the journalists were filming cross-border shelling.

The two strikes killed Abdallah and severely wounded the Agence France-Presse (AFP) photographer Christina Assi a little more than a kilometre from the Israeli border, near the Lebanese village of Alma al-Chaab.

Israeli forces have killed five Palestinians during a raid near Tubas, a town in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry says.

The Israeli military spokesperson’s office has said it is checking the report, Reuters reports. The West Bank has seen a surge in violence in parallel to Israel’s war with Hamas Islamists in Gaza; another territory where Palestinians seek statehood.

The armed wing of Hamas claims an Israeli soldier who was being held hostage has been killed in a clash between the militants and an Israeli special forces unit that was conducting a rescue operation.

According to Reuters, Al-Qassam Brigades claims its fighters discovered the rescue operation and confronted the unit; leading to the death and injury of several of the Israeli forces. They did not specify a number.

They identify the captive soldier as 25-year-old Sa’ar Baruch and have given an identification number for him, Reuters reports.

The Israeli Defence Forces have not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel rescued a captive soldier from Gaza in late October, and has said it could mount similar operations to retrieve remaining hostages if possible.

Responding to a Reuters investigation that determined its forces killed one of the news agency’s journalists in southern Lebanon, the Israeli military claims the incident took place in an active combat zone and is under review.

According to Reuters, the Israeli statement did not directly address the death of Issam Abdallah on 13 October, but said that, at the time, Lebanese Hezbollah fighters had attacked across the border and Israeli forces opened fire to prevent a suspected armed infiltration.

Summary of the day so far

It’s just past 9am in Gaza and Tel Aviv and here are the latest developments:

The UN security council is to meet Friday under acute pressure from the secretary general, António Guterres, and will vote on urging an immediate ceasefire after weeks of war. 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”. After Guterres sent his urgent letter, the United Arab Emirates prepared a draft resolution that will be put to a vote on Friday, according to the delegation from Ecuador, which chairs the council this month and decides on scheduling issues, Agence France-Presse reports. The latest version of this document was seen Thursday by AFP and calls the humanitarian situation in Gaza “catastrophic” and “demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire”.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said there is a “gap” between Israel’s “intent to protect civilians” in Gaza and what has been happening on the ground. Blinken, speaking at a news conference in Washington after a meeting with the UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, said: “It remains imperative that Israel put a premium on civilian protection.”
Reuters is reporting that Israel has agreed, at the request of the US, to open the Kerem Shalom border crossing for only the screening and inspection of the humanitarian aid delivered into Gaza via the Rafah crossing, a senior US official said on Thursday. There has been no time frame given for when the crossing might open.
The UN aid chief, Martin Griffiths, has said there is no longer a functioning humanitarian operation in southern Gaza, saying instead that the aid that is reaching civilians in the territory is “erratic”, “undependable” and “not sustainable”. Speaking at a press briefing in Geneva on Thursday, Griffiths said the pace of the military assault in southern Gaza “is a repeat” of the assault in northern Gaza, and warned that there was nowhere safe for civilians in the southern part of the besieged territory.
The Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer was killed in an Israeli strike, his friends said overnight on 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.
Israel’s military has continued its heavy bombardment amid intense fighting in Gaza as its war with Hamas hit the two-month mark. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had struck about 250 targets in Gaza over a 24-hour period, ending on Thursday morning. At the northern end of the Gaza Strip, there was heavy fighting in the Jabaliya refugee camp.
At least 350 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in the course of 24 hours, the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry said in its latest update on Thursday. The cumulative total is 17,177 Palestinian deaths and 46,000 injured since the war began on 7 October, according to the ministry’s tally. About 20 people were killed in airstrikes that hit two homes in the residential part of Rafah in southern Gaza, according to witnesses. Rafah, a town on the southern border with Egypt, is where the IDF has told people to relocate to avoid areas likely to be bombed.
Israeli forces have given contradictory recommendations to Gaza civilians on where to seek refuge and humanitarian relief. Those who have fled to an IDF-declared “humanitarian zone” at al-Mawasi in the south-west corner of the Gaza Strip have depicted a desperate scene with no shelter and barely any food. The IDF, meanwhile, has not ruled out bombing the area.
Joe Biden spoke with Benjamin Netanyahu in a call on Thursday in which the US president “stressed that much more assistance was urgently required” across Gaza, the White House said. Biden “emphasised the critical need to protect civilians and to separate the civilian population from Hamas including through corridors that allow people to move safely from defined areas of hostilities” during his call with the Israeli prime minister, a readout of the call said.
The White House has said Israel and Hamas were not close to another deal on a new humanitarian pause. Discussions are happening “literally every day” on a possible new agreement, the White House’s national security council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Thursday. The Pentagon said the US military has resumed its flights of surveillance drones over Gaza to aid the search for hostages taken by Hamas.

Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, is expected to travel to Israel in a matter of weeks, but the opposition says the trip has come too late, Australian Associated Press reports.

As a bipartisan parliamentary delegation prepares to visit the Middle East next week, plans are being made for Sen Wong to make an official visit early next year. The exact date is yet to be determined.

“Australia has been working with countries that have influence in the region to help protect and support civilians, to help prevent the conflict from spreading and to reinforce the need for the just and enduring peace that all of us want.” Wong said in a statement.

Wong’s trip would be the first time a cabinet minister had travelled to the region since the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Opposition foreign spokesperson Simon Birmingham said Sen Wong’s travel plans had come too late.

Sen Birmingham said a visit was also necessary after Israel updated its travel warnings for its citizens to Australia, citing rising levels of antisemitism.

Doug Emhoff, the husband of vice-president Kamala Harris spoke on Thursday night at the lighting of a massive menorah in front of the White House to mark the first night of Hanukkah.

He said that American Jews are “feeling alone” and “in pain” as he denounced rising antisemitism in the US and abroad, particularly amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Emhoff, the first Jewish person to be the spouse of one of the country’s nationally elected leaders, highlighted fear in the Jewish community, moments before the menorah was lit on the Ellipse, just south of the White House.

Emhoff said he’s held conversations with representatives from across the Jewish community to see how they’re holding up amid the war, as the conflict in Israel and Gaza enters its third month.

“The common denominator of these conversations is that we’re feeling alone, we feel hated, we’re in pain,” he said. “Even as we face darkness today, I am hopeful,” Emhoff said. “The story of Hanukkah and the story of the Jewish people has always been one of hope and resilience.”

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff makes remarks at the Grand Lighting ceremony of the National Menorah on the Ellipse in Washington DC. Photograph: Shutterstock

Here’s some pictures from a gathering in New York Thursday night, marking the first night of Hanukkah and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Jewish groups in Columbus Circle in a protest for ceasefire in Gaza as part of a Hanukkah ceremony in New York. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

A Palestinian flag is seen at the protest as well as lighted candles and people bundled up against the cold. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

A woman with a candle and people holding signs saying “ceasefire” in the background. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Our full report on the day’s events is now live – including what US secretary of state Antony Blinken had to say about Israel’s efforts to protect civilians in Gaza, and the humanitarian concerns.

The US has issued some of its strongest criticism of Israel’s conduct in the war against Hamas, as growing pressure to speed up the delivery of humanitarian supplies into Gaza has resulted in the government of Benjamin Netanyahu saying that another crossing would be opened into the territory.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken said there was a gap between the Israeli government’s declared intentions to protect civilians and the mounting casualties seen on the ground.

Read the rest of our piece here:

The Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer 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, Agence France-Presse reported.

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, 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.

UN security council to meet Friday and vote on Gaza ceasefire

The UN security council is to meet under acute pressure from Secretary-General António Guterres and will vote on urging an immediate ceasefire after weeks of war.

No one in his role had done this in decades.

The latest version of this document was seen Thursday by AFP and 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.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Wednesday said Guterres’ tenure was “a danger to world peace” after he invoked Article 99.

The US secretary of state Antony Blinken has commented on the situation in Gaza. It was at a news conference after a meeting with the British foreign secretary David Cameron.

As we stand here almost a week into this campaign into the south … it remains imperative that Israel put a premium on civilian protection …

And there does remain a gap between … the intent to protect civilians and the actual results that we’re seeing on the ground

Reuters has characterised it as the strongest public criticism of Israel’s conduct of the war on Hamas in south Gaza.

Watch his comments here:

Antony Blinken says 'gap' between Israel's intent to protect civilians and 'actual results' – video — Antony Blinken says ‘gap’ between Israel’s intent to protect civilians and ‘actual results’ – video

Opening summary

It’s 6:33am in Gaza and Tel Aviv, just after sunrise. Welcome to our latest blog on the Israel-Hamas war. I’m Reged Ahmad and I’ll be with you for the next while.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said there is a “gap” between Israel’s “intent to protect civilians” in Gaza and what has been happening on the ground. Blinken, speaking at a news conference in Washington after a meeting with the UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, said: “It remains imperative that Israel put a premium on civilian protection.”

More on that in a moment but first – here’s a summary of the main developments so far:

Reuters is reporting that Israel has agreed, at the request of the US, to open the Kerem Shalom border crossing for only the screening and inspection of the humanitarian aid delivered into Gaza via the Rafah crossing, a senior US official said on Thursday. But there has been no time frame given for when the crossing might open.
The United Arab Emirates has asked for the UN security council to vote tomorrow on a draft resolution that demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, according to diplomats. The renewed push for a ceasefire, reported by Reuters, was made after the UN secretary general, António Guterres, took the rare step of invoking article 99 of the UN charter on Wednesday to notify the security council that the crisis in Gaza represented a threat to world peace.
The UN aid chief, Martin Griffiths, has said there is no longer a functioning humanitarian operation in southern Gaza, saying instead that the aid that is reaching civilians in the territory is “erratic”, “undependable” and “not sustainable”. Speaking at a press briefing in Geneva on Thursday, Griffiths said the pace of the military assault in southern Gaza “is a repeat” of the assault in northern Gaza, and warned that there was nowhere safe for civilians in the southern part of the besieged territory.
Israel’s military has continued its heavy bombardment amid intense fighting in Gaza as its war with Hamas hit the two-month mark. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had struck about 250 targets in Gaza over a 24-hour period, ending on Thursday morning. At the northern end of the Gaza Strip, there was heavy fighting in the Jabaliya refugee camp.
At least 350 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in the course of 24 hours, the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry said in its latest update on Thursday. The cumulative total is 17,177 Palestinian deaths and 46,000 injured since the war began on 7 October, according to the ministry’s tally. About 20 people were killed in airstrikes that hit two homes in the residential part of Rafah in southern Gaza, according to witnesses. Rafah, a town on the southern border with Egypt, is where the IDF has told people to relocate to avoid areas likely to be bombed.
Israeli forces have given contradictory recommendations to Gaza civilians on where to seek refuge and humanitarian relief. Those who have fled to an IDF-declared “humanitarian zone” at al-Mawasi in the south-west corner of the Gaza Strip have depicted a desperate scene with no shelter and barely any food. The IDF, meanwhile, has not ruled out bombing the area.
Joe Biden spoke with Benjamin Netanyahu in a call on Thursday in which the US president “stressed that much more assistance was urgently required” across Gaza, the White House said. Biden “emphasised the critical need to protect civilians and to separate the civilian population from Hamas including through corridors that allow people to move safely from defined areas of hostilities” during his call with the Israeli prime minister, a readout of the call said.
The White House has said Israel and Hamas are not close to another deal on a new humanitarian pause. Discussions are happening “literally every day” on a possible new agreement, the White House’s national security council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Thursday. The Pentagon said the US military has resumed its flights of surveillance drones over Gaza to aid the search for hostages taken by Hamas.