UN general assembly debating resolution for immediate ceasefireThe UN general assembly is currently meeting on a resolution for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Dennis Francis, president of the UN general assembly, is currently speaking, calling the ongoing violence a “humanitarian catastrophe”.
“Civilians should never undergo the level of suffering we are currently witnessing,” Francis said.
“Again, I ask, how many more thousands of lives must be lost before we do something? No more time is left. The carnage must stop,” Francis added.
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Osama Mahmoud Abdelkhalek Mahmoud, UN representative for Egypt, is speaking about the wide spread support for the resolution amid other UN members, despite the US’s veto.
“This is a sign of the international community is well aware of the seriousness of the current situation and its tragic repercussions on national peace and security,” he said.
UN general assembly president Dennis Francis wrapped his remarks with a final plea:
“In the name of humanity, I ask you all once again: Stop this violence, now.”
UN general assembly debating resolution for immediate ceasefireThe UN general assembly is currently meeting on a resolution for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Dennis Francis, president of the UN general assembly, is currently speaking, calling the ongoing violence a “humanitarian catastrophe”.
“Civilians should never undergo the level of suffering we are currently witnessing,” Francis said.
“Again, I ask, how many more thousands of lives must be lost before we do something? No more time is left. The carnage must stop,” Francis added.
The Israeli army said on Tuesday that it had recovered the bodied of two hostages taken by Hamas during a military operation in Gaza, AFP reported.
From AFP:
The army had previously confirmed that one of the hostages, soldier Ziv Dado, was killed on the day of the attack, but Israel considers those still held by Hamas to be hostages regardless of whether they are dead or alive.
The other hostage, Eden Zecharya, was taken by Hamas from the Supernova music festival near the Reim kibbutz.
Before the bodies of Dado and Zecharya were recovered, Israel said it believed 137 hostages were still in Hamas captivity.
A statement from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which has helped to coordinate relatives’ outreach efforts, said that Zecharya “was kidnapped while injured in the upper half of her body”, and that her boyfriend was murdered during the attack.
Israel said on Tuesday that 19 people who are still being held hostage are dead in absentia, also announcing that it had recovered the bodies of two hostages, Reuters reported.
Of the 19 people include a Tanzanian national, said Israel’s press office. Tanzania has said that two of its citizens were among those taken hostage in October.
Some 240 people were taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October, with 135 people still in captivity.
The Israeli military has reportedly begun pumping seawater into Gaza’s tunnel system, with some critics warning that such a move could hurt Gaza’s freshwater supply, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The Israeli military has said such tunnels are where Hamas is hiding fighters, hostages, and weapons, the Journal reported. The process of destroying the tunnels by pumping in seawater could take weeks.
Israel’s military did not immediately provide comment on the report to Reuters.
The Guardian’s Ed Pilkington also discussed how Biden’s latest comments could signal a crack in his support for Israel.
Biden’s warning for Netanyahu suggested that a crack could be opening up in his previously solid support for Israel over its punishing response to the 7 October attack by Hamas that killed 1,200 people, mainly civilians. Two months of military operations inside Gaza have left more than 18,000 Palestinians killed, according to the health ministry, and an estimated 50,000 with injuries.
The Biden administration has come under increasing strain over its stance on the Israeli assault, both from the court of public opinion and from inside his own Democratic party. A recent CBS News poll found that only 20% of Americans think his approach is more likely to lead to a peaceful resolution of the conflict, while 38% of Democrats – substantially up from 28% last month – felt that Biden has shown too much support for Israel.
Read the full article here.
Here’s more information on comments Biden made at a fundraising event, where he said Israel is starting to lose support from the international community, from CNN.
Speaking to Democratic donors in Washington, Biden said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a “tough decision to make.”
“This is the most conservative government in Israel’s history,” Biden said, adding that the Israeli government “doesn’t want a two-state solution.”
Biden said Israel was beginning to lose support around the world, and argued Netanyahu “has to strengthen and change” the Israeli government to find an eventual long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The remarks – delivered at an off-camera fundraiser, a venue in which the president has been more freewheeling than his usual White House appearances – amounted to some of Biden’s most candid to date when it comes to his view of the ongoing war…
Read the full article here.
Canada, Australia and New Zealand issue joint statement calling for efforts towards a ceasefireCanada, Australia and New Zealand support efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire in Palestine, according to a joint statement released from the prime ministers of all three governments, Reuters reported.
“The recent pause in hostilities allowed for the release of more than 100 hostages and supported an increase in humanitarian access to affected civilians … We want to see this pause resumed and support urgent international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire,” read the statement.
“We are alarmed at the diminishing safe space for civilians in Gaza. The price of defeating Hamas cannot be the continuous suffering of all Palestinian civilians,” read the statement, further.
The prime ministers added that a ceasefire must also include Hamas releasing all hostages and to “stop using Palestinian civilians as human shields”, the statement read.
This latest statement comes after the US vetoed a UN security council resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, a move that garnered criticism from several world leaders.
Biden says Israel ‘starting to lose support’ of international community over Gaza bombingBiden also said that Israel is starting to “lose support” from the international community due to its indiscriminate bombing that has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians.
“They’re starting to lose that support,” Biden said during a Tuesday campaign event.
Biden added that Netanyahu needs to change his hardline government.
Biden’s comments come as Netanyahu thanked the US for its support on Tuesday, but noted that the US and Israel have had disagreements about “the day after Hamas, said Israel’s prime minister on X.
US president Joe Biden will be speaking to the families of Americans who were taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October, his first in-person meeting with families, Reuters reported, citing a White House official.
It is unclear how many families will be present for the Wednesday meeting and how many will be in person versus on video conference.
Biden has previously met with families before, but either virtually or on the phone.
On Tuesday, Biden said the US commitment to Israel is “unshakable”. “We’re not going to stop until every hostage is returned home,” Biden said to donors in Washington DC on Tuesday.
The World Health Organization’s eastern Mediterranean regional office has said that four people are still being detained after being deployed on a WHO-led mission to move patients from al-Shifa Hospital.
A member with Palestine’s health ministry and three people with Palestine Red Crescent Society were all detained on 22 November while on the WHO-led mission.
WHO’s eastern Mediterranean regional office posted about their detention on a post to X, formerly known as Twitter.
On 22 November, six people from the Ministry of Health and PRCS were detained during a WHO-led mission to move patients from Al-Shifa Hospital. Four people–three from the Ministry of Health and one [Palestine Red Crescent Society] staff—are still in detention, more than three weeks later.
There is no information on their wellbeing or whereabouts. This is unacceptable. WHO, along with their family, colleagues and loved ones, is deeply concerned about their wellbeing. We reiterate our call for their legal and human rights to be respected.
Children react following an Israeli air strike on Palestinian houses, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photograph: Reuters
Palestinians check the destruction following Israeli bombardment in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Photograph: Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images Palestinians wave their identity cards as they gather to receive flour rations for their families outside a warehouse of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photograph: Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty ImagesIsrael continues to deploy soldiers, tanks, military aircraft and armoured vehicles near the Gaza border in Nahal Oz, Israel. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty ImagesOne patient died after treatment was delayed due to Israeli military checkpoints, WHO has confirmed.
Additionally the WHO has blamed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for lengthy delays at checkpoints in allowing wounded people to pass. It cited the case of a patient who died in an emergency convoy en route to a Gaza City hospital, during repeated and lengthy Israeli checks in which a health worker was detained and beaten.
The organisation also provided several details of medics being detained, harassed, beaten, or stripped by Israeli soldiers while trying to access treatment for injured Palestinians.
On Tuesday, he provided further details about the high-risk mission, saying on X that the WHO was “deeply concerned about prolonged checks and detention of health workers that put lives of already fragile patients at risk”.
“Due to the hold-up, one patient died en route, given the grave nature of their wounds and the delay in accessing treatment,” he said.
A statement further described the incidents.
“On the way north, the UN convoy was inspected at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint, and ambulance crew members had to leave the vehicles for identification. Two Palestinian Red Crescent [PRCS] staff were detained for over an hour, further delaying the mission.
“WHO staff saw one of them being made to kneel at gunpoint and then taken out of sight, where he was reportedly harassed, beaten, stripped and searched.
“As the mission entered Gaza City, the aid truck carrying the medical supplies and one of the ambulances were hit by bullets.
Read the full article here.
Aid organisations working in Gaza say that injured Palestinians face potentially fatal delays with accessing treatment due to Israeli military checkpoints and other bureaucracy.
The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont reports:
Palestinians who have been injured during the war in Gaza are facing potentially fatal delays both in getting treatment within the coastal strip as well as in being evacuated abroad, caused by Israeli bureaucracy and military checkpoints, the UN and aid organisations say.
The delays come amid a claim by the World Health Organization (WHO) that Palestinian ambulance staff involved in a recent high-risk evacuation were detained at gunpoint, stripped and beaten by Israeli soldiers.
With estimates that 50,000 Palestinians have suffered injuries in the two months of Israeli military operations launched after Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October, Physicians for Human Rights Israel (an Israeli NGO) said on Tuesday that only 400 Palestinians had been evacuated abroad, despite a number of countries being willing to receive the wounded …
Read the rest of the article here.
A senior Palestinian official said that Netanyahu’s recent statement equating Oslo Accords with what happened on 7 October confirms that Israel’s war is against all Palestinians, in a post to X, formally known as Twitter, Reuters reported.
The post was made by Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary general of the executive committee of the PLO.
Al-Sheikh’s remarks were in response to Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments on Tuesday that the Oslo accords led to as many Israelis being killed as the attacks on 7 October did.
On X, Al-Sheikh wrote:
Netanyahu’s statement, which equates the Oslo accords with what happened on 7 October, confirms that his war is against all Palestinians, and we say to Netanyahu that Oslo died under the tracks of his tanks that are sweeping through all our cities, villages and camps from Jenin to Rafah.
Netanyahu’s statement, which equates the Oslo Accords with what happened on October 7th, confirms that his war is against all Palestinians, and we say to Netanyahu that Oslo died under the tracks of his tanks that are sweeping through all our cities, villages and camps from Jenin… t.co/0oFicbR60e
— حسين الشيخ Hussein AlSheikh (@HusseinSheikhpl) December 12, 2023