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UN Security Council passes resolution to boost aid delivery to Gaza – here are more major updates.
Here’s how things go on Saturday, December 23, 2023:
Latest developments
- The United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution authorizing increased aid to the Gaza Strip, which is at “imminent risk of famine” and facing the spread of disease. But rights groups call it “woefully insufficient” to address the growing humanitarian crisis in the enclave.
- The UN resolution did not require a suspension of hostilities, which the United States opposed.
- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, said he welcomed the resolution but that an “immediate ceasefire” was “the most urgent demand.”
- Israel continues its bombardment of the Gaza Strip, with the latest attacks reported in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza and Khan Younis in the south.
- Israeli troops, backed by armored vehicles and a bulldozer, launched dawn raids across the occupied West Bank, searching homes and confronting young Palestinians in Jenin and a nearby refugee camp, according to local media.
- Strikes also continue along the Israeli-Lebanese border, with the Israeli Air Force attacking sites in southern Lebanon in what it sees as operations against Hezbollah infrastructure. Meanwhile, Hezbollah fighters continue to target northern Israel with missiles.
Human impact and fighting
- At least 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7, according to the Gaza government media office. The death toll from Hamas attacks on Israel stands at nearly 1,140.
- At least 18 Palestinians, including children, have been killed by Israeli attacks in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
- Around 70 percent of those killed in Gaza following the Israeli military attack were women and children, while 53,320 Palestinians were injured during the same period, according to the UN.
- The WHO chief reiterated that “starvation threatens in Gaza” as continued fighting has blocked access to food and other essential supplies.
- At least 10,000 children aged under five face “life-threatening” malnutrition in Gaza, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned.
Diplomacy
- Despite international pressure, Israel’s foreign minister said the country would continue the war on Gaza “until all hostages are released and Hamas is eliminated.”
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Israel’s way of waging war in Gaza has created “massive obstacles” to the delivery of humanitarian aid to the war-torn territory where the population faces famine.
- The Israeli military’s ability to avoid destroying U.S. government-funded civilian infrastructure in Gaza demonstrates that Israeli forces practice “selective restraint” in what they aim to destroy, says former Human Rights director Watch, Kenneth Roth.
- The United States has accused Iran of being “deeply involved” in attacks by Yemen-based Houthis in the Red Sea.
