Netanyahu threatens to cancel delegation visit to Washington if the US does not use veto at UN security council
Israeli media is reporting that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will call off the visit of senior aides to Washington this week if the US does not use its veto to block a UN Security Council resolution today calling for a ceasefire if it does not have the release of hostages as a condition.
National security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer were set to fly out later this week.
Meanwhile the White House has announced that national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant are expected to meet today in Washington. They are expected to discusss hostage talks, humanitarian aid and protecting civilians in Rafah, Reuters reports a White House official said.
Key events
Mozambique representative Pedro Comissário Afonso is introducing the resolution, saying the situation in Gaza is a matter of gave concern to the entire international community.
The draft resolution on Gaza up for a vote today is written by Algeria, Guyana, Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, South Korea, Switzerland.
Israel, Yemen and Palestine have been invited as additional observers at the meeting.
A meeting of the UN security council has begun in New York. It is starting, at the request of Russia, with a minute of silence for victims of the Crocus City Hall attacks.
Israel to ‘phase out’ use of Unrwa, accusing refugee agency of ‘perpetuating the conflict’
An Israeli official has confirmed that Israel will cease working the the UN relief and works agency that assists Palestinian refugees in Gaza, accusing the organisation of “perpuating the conflict”.
Israel, which has occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 1967, and whose creation in 1948 displaced large numbers of Palestinians from their homes, said “Unrwa are part of the problem”.
“UNRWA are part of the problem, and we will now stop working with them. We are actively phasing out the use of UNRWA because they perpetuate the conflict rather than try and alleviate the conflict,” Reuters reports spokesperson David Mencer told the media.
More details soon …
Netanyahu threatens to cancel delegation visit to Washington if the US does not use veto at UN security council
Israeli media is reporting that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will call off the visit of senior aides to Washington this week if the US does not use its veto to block a UN Security Council resolution today calling for a ceasefire if it does not have the release of hostages as a condition.
National security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer were set to fly out later this week.
Meanwhile the White House has announced that national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant are expected to meet today in Washington. They are expected to discusss hostage talks, humanitarian aid and protecting civilians in Rafah, Reuters reports a White House official said.
Israel confirms it will not work with Unrwa in Gaza
An Israeli government spokesperson has confirmed yesterday’s claim by Unrwa that Israel is ceasing to co-operate with the agency.
More details soon …
Axios is reporting that sources tell it the US does not intend to veto a new UN security council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Earlier a spokesperson for China’s foreing ministry also appeared to indicate there would be no veto from China.
So far, since 7 October, at least one of the US, China or Russia has vetoed multiple attempts to pass a resolution calling for a halt in the fighting.
Here is a map from our graphics team showing the damage to buildings in the Gaza Strip wrought by months of Israel’s aerial bombardment and its ground offensive inside the territory. It uses data up until 21 March, and is cross-referenced with satellite imagery. It does not show damage to agricultural land, the destruction of which is contributing to the food crisis and the threat of famine.
Peter Beaumont
The medical situation in Gaza’s hospitals has reached an “unimaginable” state of crisis where large open wounds are being left untreated and medical staff are facing chronic shortages of the most basic medical items, including surgical gauze and material to pin fractures.
In a statement released on Monday, the team said healthcare workers had been forced to evacuate or were unable to access the hospital. It said Israeli restrictions had led to shortages of medical supplies, including basics such as gauze and plates and screws used to stabilise broken bones.
Vital medical supplies have been caught up in Israel’s restriction of aid to Gaza, which has brought large parts of territory to the brink of a “man-made famine”, according to senior UN officials last week.
The statement was released as Israeli forces continued to assault two major Gaza hospitals, including al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
The IRC’s Gaza team leader said:
The situation we’re facing is beyond comprehension. Continuous Israeli military operations near hospitals are making an already tense situation even worse for those seeking shelter or medical help, pushing the healthcare system to the brink of collapse.
Despite the relentless efforts of our medical teams, the infrastructure necessary to deliver optimal medical care has been severely compromised by bombing, stringent restrictions on the entry of aid including medical supplies, and the overwhelming surge in needs.
Read more here: Medical crisis in Gaza hospitals at ‘unimaginable’ level, aid agencies say
Reuters interviewed more than two dozen people, including humanitarian workers, Israeli military officials and truck drivers, about the tortuous route that aid takes to get into Gaza.
Before aid shipments enter Gaza, they undergo a series of Israeli checks, and a shipment approved at one stage of the process can later be rejected, according to 18 aid workers and UN officials involved in the aid effort.
“It’s upsetting watching these aid trucks go nowhere and vast humanitarian supplies sit in warehouses when you think about what’s happening, right now, to the people who need them,” said Paolo Pezzati, an Oxfam worker who recently visited the queue of aid trucks near the Egypt-Gaza border.
While the trucks struggle to get into Gaza, the need for aid has risen dramatically, both because of the vast number of displaced people and the devastation of key infrastructure in Israel’s assault. This includes the destruction of bakeries, markets, and farmland whose crops met some of Gaza’s food needs.
“Previous wars weren’t like this,” said Alaa al-Atar, a municipal official, referring to conflicts in Gaza. “There wasn’t the destruction of all sources of subsistence – homes, farmland, infrastructure. There’s nothing left to survive on, just aid,” said Atar, who was displaced from the north to the south of Gaza early in the war.
Once trucks reach the Rafah crossing, some are then required to drive along the Egypt-Israel border for 40km to an inspection facility on the Israeli side called Nitzana. Here the goods are physically checked by Israeli soldiers.
Some items get rejected during the physical inspection, in particular ones Israel believes could be used by Hamas and other armed groups for military purposes. The same item that is let through one day, can be rejected on another day, UN officials and aid workers said.
Pezzati said he saw a warehouse in Al Arish in early March that was filled with items banned by Israel. “There were crutches, camping toilets, hygiene kits, disinfectants for doctors, for surgery,” he said.
The Israeli military says it can scan a total of 44 trucks an hour at Nitzana and at a crossing from Israel into Gaza where aid trucks are inspected, at Kerem Shalom. But aid agency officials say the actual number scanned is fewer. The military declined to tell Reuters how many hours Nitzana and Kerem Shalom are open each day.
Groups of Israelis have been began protesting against the delivery of aid to Gaza. Between late January and early March, the protests effectively shut down either Nitzana or Kerem Shalom for a total of 16 days, according to aid agencies.
Storing aid in Gaza has also become a problem. Warehouses have been damaged by the fighting and occasionally looted. Of the 43 warehouses in Gaza that were operational before the war, only 22 are now working.
Before the war began, an average of 200 trucks carrying aid entered Gaza each day. Since the start of the war, an average of around 100 trucks have entered Gaza daily. Delivering aid directly by air to Gaza is not possible as Israel destroyed the strip’s international airport two decades ago.
UN officials have accused Israel of blocking humanitarian supplies to Gaza. The European Union’s foreign policy chief alleged Israel was using starvation as a “weapon of war”. A coalition of aid agencies has said famine is imminent in northern Gaza.
“There is a sufficient amount of food entering Gaza every day,” said Col Moshe Tetro, a Cogat official overseeing Gaza for Israel’s military.
Sirens have sounded in southern Israel.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
