EXPLANER
The United States vetoes a UN Security Council ceasefire resolution as hundreds of Palestinians are killed in new attacks on Gaza.
Here’s how things are going on Thursday, December 9, 2023:
Struggle
- Palestinian media claimed early this morning that bombings by Israeli forces had caused “dozens” of casualties in the north and south of Gaza.
- Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have killed at least 310 Palestinians in 24 hours, according to Gaza authorities.
- The Palestinian Olympic Committee said 64 athletes and sports officials had been killed in Gaza since October 7, according to the official Wafa news agency.
- An Israeli drone fired on a car in southwest Syria, killing four people, according to Syrian state media.
- Israel carried out raids in the southern city of Hebron and Qalqilya as well as Jericho, Jenin, Salfit and Ramallah, according to Tel Aviv Tribune and Palestinian media sources.
- US officials told Reuters that Washington had asked Congress to approve the sale of 45,000 shells for Israeli Merkava tanks.
- Palestinians have paid tribute to Refaat Alareer, a prominent poet and scholar who sought to tell the stories behind the headlines in Gaza, and who was killed by Israel.
UN veto
- The United States has vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
- Hamas strongly condemned the US veto of the proposed resolution, calling it “unethical and inhumane.”
- The President of the United Nations General Assembly, Dennis Francis, said he would continue to work for an immediate humanitarian truce in Gaza.
- Israel’s envoy to the UN, Gilad Erdan, thanked US President Joe Biden for his “firmness” with Israel.
Diplomacy
- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has called for an immediate end to the war in Gaza and an international peace conference to find a lasting political solution, leading to the creation of a Palestinian state.
- Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that “urgent steps” must be taken to achieve a truce in Gaza and the delivery of food and supplies medical.
- A United Nations World Food Program official said “chaos and despair” are widespread as displaced Palestinian families starve on the streets of Gaza.
- The White House has said Israel can do more to reduce civilian casualties and the United States shares international concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.