Despite international pressure to soften its support for Israel, the United States, criticized from all sides, again prevented the UN Security Council on Tuesday from demanding an “immediate” ceasefire in Gaza.
The draft resolution, which demanded “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire which must be respected by all parties”, received 13 votes in favor, one abstention (United Kingdom) and one against. This is the third American veto since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Israel’s primary supporter, the United States believes that this resolution would have endangered the delicate diplomatic negotiations on the ground to obtain a truce including a new release of hostages. The Palestinian ambassador to the UN slammed a “dangerous” veto, with Hamas seeing it as a “green light” for Israel to carry out more “massacres”.
At the same time, deadly Israeli strikes targeted the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Nearly a million and a half people, according to the UN, are massed in the city of Rafah, located in the south of the Palestinian territory against the closed border with Egypt, whose population has increased sixfold since the beginning of the war, on October 7, between Israel and Hamas.
Dramatic situation in Gaza
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an upcoming offensive on the city, targeted daily by Israeli strikes, in order to defeat the Palestinian Islamist movement in its “last bastion”. A coming attack which worries the international community, while hopes of an end to the fighting are increasingly slim.
The Hamas health ministry announced earlier that bombings on Gaza had killed 103 people in 24 hours. Reports from humanitarian organizations are increasingly alarming about the situation in the Gaza Strip, besieged by Israel. 2.2 million people are threatened with famine, according to the UN. Food and drinking water have become “extremely scarce” in Gaza, according to the United Nations, which is concerned about an imminent “explosion” in the number of child deaths.