Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 18 people overnight and into yesterday, according to medics and witnesses, as the US said it would veto another draft UN ceasefire resolution.
The US, Israel’s top ally, instead hopes to broker a ceasefire agreement and hostage release between Israel and Hamas, and envisions a wider resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed back, calling Hamas’ demands “delusional” and rejecting US and international calls for a pathway to Palestinian statehood.
Photo: Reuters
His Cabinet yesterday adopted a declaration saying Israel “categorically rejects international edicts on a permanent arrangement with the Palestinians” and opposes any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, which it said would “grant a major prize to terror” after the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war.
An airstrike in Rafah overnight killed six people, including a woman and three children, and another strike killed five men in Khan Younis, the main target of the offensive over the past two months. Associated Press journalists saw the bodies arrive at a hospital in Rafah.
In Gaza City, an airstrike flattened a family home, killing seven people, including three women, said Sayed al-Afifi, a relative of the deceased.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Nasser Hospital, the main medical center serving southern Gaza, “is not functional anymore” after Israeli forces raided the facility in Khan Younis last week.
There are still about 200 patients in the hospital, including 20 who need urgent referrals to other hospitals, he wrote on X.
Meanwhile, Algeria, the Arab representative on the UN Security Council, has circulated a draft resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and unhindered humanitarian access, as well as rejecting the forced displacement of Palestinian civilians.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement on Saturday that the draft resolution runs counter to Washington’s efforts to end the fighting and “will not be adopted.”
“It is critical that other parties give this process the best odds of succeeding, rather than push measures that put it — and the opportunity for an enduring resolution of hostilities — in jeopardy,” she said.
The US has used its veto on similar previous resolutions with wide international support.
The US, Qatar and Egypt have spent weeks trying to broker a ceasefire and hostage release, but Qatar said on Saturday that the talks “have not been progressing as expected.”
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