UN Security Council calls for pauses in Gaza fighting for aid, Israel rejects
Britain also abstained because there was no condemnation of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas
The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday called for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses in fighting between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip for a “sufficient number of days” to allow aid access.
The 15-member council overcame an impasse, which saw four unsuccessful attempts to take action last month, to adopt a resolution that also calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas.
Here are the latest updates
- More than 11,300 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7. In Israel, the official death toll from Hamas’s attacks stands at more than 1,200.
- Israeli forces launched another raid at the al-Shifa medical complex in Gaza City on Thursday, according to a doctor inside the hospital, as Hamas rejects claims of weapons being uncovered during an hours-long raid on Wednesday.
- The US abstained from voting on the resolution, which does not mention the word ‘ceasefire’, and Israel has rejected the Security Council’s legally binding decision.
- Russia, and Britain, who are council veto powers, abstained from Wednesday’s vote on the resolution drafted by Malta. The remaining 12 members voted in favor.
- The council stalemate has largely been centered on whether to call for a humanitarian pause or a ceasefire. A pause is generally considered less formal and shorter than a ceasefire, which has to be agreed upon by the warring parties. The United States has backed pauses, while Russia has pushed for a ceasefire.
- Russia failed in a last-minute bid to amend the resolution to call for a truce leading to a cessation of hostilities. Russia abstained because there was no call for an immediate ceasefire, Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council.
- A car has crashed into a barricade near the Israeli embassy in Tokyo on Thursday and a man in his 50s was arrested on the spot, according to Reuters news agency.
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