2023-12-10 00:51:00
Photo: AFP.
Israel This Saturday it continued its offensive against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip, after the United States blocked a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire after more than two months of war, a decision harshly questioned by Palestinian factions and several world leaders.
In the south of the enclave, an Israeli bombardment in the city of Khan Yunis left six deadwhile five other people died in an attack in Rafah, on the border with Egypt, the Gaza Ministry of Health indicated.
For its part, the Ezzedin Al Qasam brigades, the armed wing of the Islamist militia, claimed responsibility this Saturday for new rocket attacks against southern Israel, reported the AFP news agency.
Photo: AFP.
According to the Islamist movement, at least 17,700 people, mostly women and childrenhave died in Israeli bombings and ground operations in Gaza since the start of the war on October 7.
Israel launched that day an offensive in response to an attack by Islamist militants from Gazawho killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped around 240 in the south of the country, among them twenty with Argentine nationality.
The offensive, which since October 27 has included ground operations, reduced a large part of the Palestinian enclave, 362 square kilometers and nearly 2.4 million inhabitants, to rubble.
According to the UN, more than half of the houses are destroyed or damaged and 1.9 million people have been displaced by the conflict.
The American veto
The resolution to call for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” presented at the UN at the request of the Secretary General, António Guterres, was vetoed yesterday by the United States, Israel’s main ally, and one of the five members with the right to veto in the Council. of the United Nations Security Council.
For the deputy representative of the United States at the UN, Robert Wood, the resolution It was dissociated from “reality” and “would not have moved a needle on the ground.”
“While the United States supports a lasting peace, we will not support a call for an immediate ceasefire because Hamas is seeking neither a lasting peace nor a two-state solution,” Wood said, making it clear that his position “does not change the notion that how Israel defends itself is important, and it must respect international law and minimize harm to civilians.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahuappreciated the United States veto and said that “other countries must also understand that it is impossible to support the elimination of Hamas on the one hand and, on the other, to call for an end to the warwhich would prevent the elimination of Hams”.
Demand for the release of hostages held by Hamas / Photo: Daniel Dabove
The Israeli Foreign Minister, Ali Cohen, He stated that a ceasefire “could prevent the collapse of the Hamas terrorist organization, which is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, and would have allowed it to continue ruling the Gaza Strip.”
Hamas, in power in Gaza, called the US position “immoral and inhumane” and said it amounts to “direct participation” in the “massacres.”
Also the president of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbasconsidered that the United States is “responsible for the bloodshed of Palestinian children, women and the elderly in the Gaza Strip at the hands of Israeli occupation forces.”
Abbas, who governs the West Bank, stated this Saturday that “the United States’ position makes it complicit in the crimes of genocide, ethnic cleansing and war crimes committed by the occupation forces against the Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem.
International reactions
Iran warned that the US veto exposes the Middle East to the risk of an “uncontrollable explosion” of the situation.
For his part, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoganstated that the UN Security Council has become the “Israel Protection Council.”
The Chilean president, Gabriel Boricjoined the questions about the US decision and demanded an “urgent” structural reform of the UN.
“A structural reform of the UN is urgent. The world is no longer the same as it was in 1945,” Boric wrote on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
A structural reform of the UN is urgent. The world is no longer that of 1945. https://t.co/vY86k8ACZd
— Gabriel Boric Font (@GabrielBoric) December 9, 2023
The proposal in the Security Council for a ceasefire had 13 votes in favor (China, France, Russia, Albania, United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Switzerland, Japan, Malta and Mozambique), one abstention ( United Kingdom) and the veto of the United States, one of the five permanent members that have that power.
The British ambassador to the UN, Barbara Woodwardexplained that his abstention was due to the fact that the text did not contain an explicit condemnation of Hamas.
“Israel needs to be able to deal with the threat posed by Hamas and it needs to do so in a way that complies with international humanitarian law so that this attack cannot be carried out again” Barbara Woodward, British ambassador to the UN.
Photo: AFP.
On the other hand, France regretted the “lack of unity” of the Council: “By refusing to commit to negotiations, the Gaza crisis worsens and the Council does not fulfill its mandate,” noted the French ambassador. Nicolas de Rivière.
For China, in the words of its representative, Zhang Jun“allowing the fighting to continue while claiming to care about the lives and safety of the people of Gaza is contradictory.”
The Russian deputy ambassador was harsher, Dmitri Polianskywhich blamed the United States for “literally signing a death sentence for thousands, if not tens of thousands more civilians in Palestine and Israel,” according to statements reproduced by the Europa Press news agency.
Other countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Malaysia also made explicit their rejection of the US veto, as did humanitarian organizations such as Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders or Human Rights Watch.
The Israeli bombings only stopped during the week-long truce that came into effect on November 24, negotiated with the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the United States, to exchange hostages for Palestinian prisoners imprisoned in Israel.
Israel estimates that there are still 138 hostages held in Gaza. Yesterday, he reported that an operation to free hostages had failed and that two soldiers were wounded in the attempt.
Hamas said a hostage identified as Sahar Baruch was killed and released a video showing a body.
The Kibbutz of Beeri, the Gaza border farming community where Baruch lived, and the Israeli Forum for Hostages and Missing Relatives said in a joint statement that the 25-year-old man was “murdered” by Hamas.
Photo: AFP.
The war also reignited tensions in the West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel since 1967, where an Israeli operation killed six Palestinians yesterday, according to the Palestinian National Authority.
In addition, an Israeli bombing in southern Syria killed three fighters from the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah and a Syrian, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) reported.
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