Israel-Hamas WarU.N. Security Council Passes Gaza Aid Resolution as U.S. Abstains
Published Dec. 22, 2023Updated Dec. 23, 2023
Mourning for an Israeli soldier killed in Gaza, Lt. Yaacov Elian, at his funeral in Tel Aviv.Oded Balilty/Associated Press
Smoke billowing from a bombardment in southern Gaza.Jack Guez/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Palestinian medics transporting a victim following an Israeli bombardment in Rafah, in southern Gaza.Mahmud Hams/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
A man walking past placards showing Israeli hostages taken during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks, next to the Western Wall in Jerusalem.Maja Hitij/Getty Images
Residents of Bureij, in central Gaza, arriving in Deir al Balah, a few miles to the south, following an Israeli evacuation order.Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
An Egyptian truck driver removing a tarp covering his cargo of humanitarian aid destined for Gaza at the Kerem Shalom border crossing in Israel.Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images
A man carrying the body of his grandson, who was killed in an Israeli bombardment, in Rafah.Hatem Ali/Associated Press
Flares fired by Israeli soldiers light up the sky over Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.Mahmud Hams/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Follow live news updates on the Israel-Hamas war.
Here’s what we know:
The measure calls for a major increase in aid to beleaguered Palestinian civilians, but aid organizations and critics of Israel and the U.S. harshly objected to its failure to call for a cease-fire.
Security Council resolution passed after days of talks to overcome U.S. resistance.
Resolution’s weakened language prompts dismay from aid groups.
Israel tells Gazans to evacuate more territory, as its offensive grinds slowly forward.
Iran has helped the Houthi militia target ships, U.S. intelligence says.
Hostages’ relatives sue the international Red Cross for not visiting captives.
A U.S.-Israeli dual citizen listed as a hostage is now said to have been killed.
Security Council resolution passed after days of talks to overcome U.S. resistance.
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The United States and Russia both abstained from the U.N. Security Council vote on Friday.Credit...Charly Triballeau/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThe U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution on Friday calling for a surge in aid to desperate civilians in Gaza and pauses in the fighting to deliver that aid safely, ending nearly a week of intense diplomatic wrangling intended to ensure that the United States would not block the measure.
The vote was 13-0, with the United States and Russia abstaining. At U.S. insistence, the measure did not demand an immediate truce. Instead, it called for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors” of unspecified timing and location, “to enable full, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access.”
The United States, under pressure from Jerusalem to preserve Israeli inspections of aid, delayed multiple scheduled votes on the resolution as negotiators tried to work out a compromise and avoid drawing a U.S. veto.
“The U.S. did manage to wriggle out of a pretty serious diplomatic mess this week,” said Richard Gowan, the U.N. director for the International Crisis Group. “I think a lot of U.N. members will be unhappy with the highly convoluted text the Council just passed, but they will also be relieved that the Council could agree to anything at all.”
It remained unclear how the resolution would affect the current fighting in Gaza, where health officials say about 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and ground operations, or if its demands for increased humanitarian aid deliveries by all available routes could be implemented. The resolution also calls for the immediate release of all hostages taken during the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.
Security Council resolutions are legally binding on member states, but enforcing them, which requires consensus, can be difficult.
“We know this is not a perfect text,” said Lana Nusseibeh, the ambassador for the United Arab Emirates, who has been leading the negotiations. “We know only a cease-fire will stop the suffering.”
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Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, speaking to the U.N.’s Palestinian representative, Riyad Mansour, on Friday.Credit...Charly Triballeau/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesBefore the final vote, Russia proposed an amendment that would have partially reverted to an earlier draft of the resolution, including a demand for the suspension of hostilities, but the United States vetoed that change.
One major sticking point had been the question of whether Israel would still inspect all aid shipments, which U.N. officials said had held up the delivery of food, fuel, medicine and other aid. Israel, however, fought to keep its oversight of aid going into Gaza.
“Just as this Council is committed to increasing aid, it should also be committed to blocking the smuggling and transfer of weapons to Hamas terrorists,” said Jonathan Miller, Israel’s deputy U.N. ambassador.
The first step under the resolution is for the U.N. secretary general to appoint a special coordinator responsible for “facilitating, coordinating, monitoring and verifying” that aid entering Gaza is humanitarian in nature, who is to be “consulting all relevant parties.”
The coordinator will be tasked with negotiating with all sides to streamline the delivery of aid, and is to give a progress report to the Council in 20 days.
Even though she abstained, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said that the resolution “speaks to the severity of the crisis and it calls on all of us to do more.” She added that the Council “must continue to support the resumption of humanitarian pauses.”
Ms. Thomas-Greenfield did not explain the U.S. abstention but said she was deeply disappointed that the resolution did not condemn Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel.
Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, said that U.S. efforts to change the text to their liking were “cynical and shameful” and “not transparent.” He said the resolution had been diluted to the point that it gave “Israeli forces the greenlight to commit war crimes.” The only reason Russia did not veto the resolution, he said, was because it had the backing of Arab states.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. representative, delivered an emotional speech to the Council in which he recounted the story of a little girl who lost her parents, then died a few days later in a strike on a hospital. He accused Israel of disproportionate attacks on Gaza.
“This resolution is a step in the right direction,” Mr. Mansour said. “It must be implemented, and it must be accompanied with massive pressure for an immediate cease-fire.”
— Farnaz Fassihi and Michael LevensonShow less
Resolution’s weakened language prompts dismay from aid groups.
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Palestinian children helping clear debris following an Israeli bombardment in Rafah on Friday.Credit...Mohammed Abed/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesAid groups in Gaza quickly criticized a new U.N. Security Council resolution as too weak to help alleviate the vast suffering in the territory, where hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced, hunger is widespread and Israeli attacks are strangling the delivery of desperately needed food, water, fuel and medicine.
The compromise resolution, which passed on Friday after a week of attempts, was negotiated to avoid a veto from the United States and stopped well short of calling for a cease-fire, recommending only that steps be taken “to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.”
Humanitarian groups immediately responded by castigating the United States for not supporting calls to end the war, which Gazan authorities say has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians. Israel has used thousands of airstrikes, heavy bombs and artillery as it tries to dismantle Hamas, the armed group that rules Gaza and which led the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that set off the latest conflict.
The United Nations says the war has displaced nearly 1.9 million people — more than 85 percent of Gaza’s population, putting many there at risk of both famine and the rampant spread of infectious diseases.
The U.N. secretary-general, António Guterres, said he hoped the resolution makes clear that a cease-fire is necessary to ensure aid is effective, and elaborated on that thought hours later in a post on social media.
“The way Israel is conducting its offensive is creating massive obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid inside Gaza,” his post said.
Doctors Without Borders, which has physicians and other staff working in Gaza’s collapsing health care system, said the resolution “falls painfully short” of what is needed.
“This resolution has been watered down to the point that its impact on the lives of civilians in Gaza will be nearly meaningless,” the group’s executive director in the United States, Avril Benoît, said in a statement.
The United States vetoed a resolution calling for a cease-fire earlier this month, saying it agreed with Israel that halting the military offensive in Gaza would allow Hamas’s armed wing to regroup and mount attacks. Throughout intense negotiations in the Security Council this week, the United States stood with Israel, opposing any call for an “urgent suspension of hostilities.”
In the end, the resolution that passed — with Washington abstaining — called for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors” throughout Gaza for a “sufficient number of days” to allow for increased shipments of aid.
The United States and Israel decried that the final resolution did not condemn the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, which killed about 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials.
Amnesty International’s secretary general, Agnès Callamard, said in a statement that it was “disgraceful” that the United States had weakened the resolution’s language. While the resolution was needed, she said, it was “woefully insufficient in the face of the ongoing carnage and extensive destruction.”
Human Rights Watch said the United States had watered down the resolution and must ensure that Israel implements the humanitarian measures it calls for.
Riyad H. Mansour, the U.N.’s Palestinian representative, lamented that it had taken 75 days for the resolution to pass. He said the document was a step in the right direction but fell short.
“It must be implemented and must be accompanied by massive pressure for an immediate cease-fire. I repeat, immediate cease-fire,” he said.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza, which was densely populated and impoverished long before this war erupted, has been dire almost since hostilities began. But the U.N. indicated this week that the enclave was reaching new depths of catastrophe, saying that almost every household was facing a severe lack of food and water.
Ephrat Livni contributed reporting.
— Gaya Gupta, Farnaz Fassihi and Victoria KimShow less
Maps: Tracking the Attacks in Israel and Gaza
See where the Israeli military advanced along a new front into central Gaza.
Israel tells Gazans to evacuate more territory, as its offensive grinds slowly forward.
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The site of Israeli strikes in Khan Younis last week. Israeli troops are inching ahead in intense fighting in the southern city, which Israel now considers the key center of Hamas’s control.Credit...Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/ReutersThe Israeli military on Friday instructed residents in the central Gaza Strip to move farther south immediately, as its troops continued their slow advance through the enclave and expectations of an imminent victory over Hamas appeared dim.
The call to evacuate in Al Bureij — an area in central Gaza where Israel has not previously focused its offensive — comes as the military has been operating in the northern Gaza Strip and engaging in intense fighting in recent weeks in and around the southern city of Khan Younis.
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Source: Israeli military announcements
By Leanne Abraham and Josh Holder
“Our forces continue to intensify ground operations in northern and southern Gaza,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief spokesman for the Israeli military, said on Thursday night.
Israel says it has achieved operational control in some areas in the north, but the grinding progress is leading some prominent Israeli military analysts and political commentators to point to a widening gap between the reality on the ground and the rhetoric of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who pledged on Wednesday that the war “will continue until Hamas is eliminated — until victory.”
As the Gazan death toll has soared and civilians have been pushed into a small southern corner of the enclave, Israel has come under increasing pressure from the United States and other countries to scale back its operations and move to a less intensive phase of fighting in the coming weeks.
The military’s goal is to bring down Hamas’s rule in Gaza, destroy or degrade its military capabilities to the point that it no longer poses a threat to Israel and to bring back about 120 hostages who remain in Gaza.
But Hamas’s top leaders so far have evaded capture, and Gaza’s armed groups have continued to fire rockets into Israel, including two barrages that reached Tel Aviv and its environs this week.
Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, dismissed Mr. Netanyahu’s declarations about eliminating Hamas as “foolish” and “absurd propaganda.”
“Netanyahu raises the slogan of victory and the elimination of Hamas,” Mr. Rishq said in a statement on Friday. He added: “It is an illusion and a mirage that will not be achieved, and it will crash due to the steadfastness of our people.”
Political commentators and some military experts have been lowering expectations for a quick and decisive victory.
“Nobody should imagine that there will be a situation where we put a flag on top of a hill and say ‘OK, we won, and now Gaza will be peaceful and safe,’ It will not happen,” said Gabi Siboni, a colonel in the reserves and a fellow at the conservative-leaning Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security. “The reality is that we are going to be fighting in Gaza for years to come.”
Others echoed that assessment. “There will be no ‘victory picture,’” wrote Ben Caspit, a political columnist and a longtime critic of Mr. Netanyahu, in Friday’s Maariv newspaper. He added: “The realization that ‘eliminating’ Hamas is an unrealistic short-term objective is creeping in.”
Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, emphasized on Friday that Israel’s campaign would be a long one that “requires patience.” In northern Gaza, he said in a video statement, the military was “gradually achieving the objectives we set, first among them dismantling Hamas’s battalions and stripping Hamas of its underground capabilities.”
Israel has used thousands of airstrikes, heavy bombs and artillery as it tries to dismantle Hamas and its infrastructure, and the Gaza Health Ministry said on Thursday that the death toll in Gaza was more than 20,000.
During the first six weeks of the war, it regularly used 2,000-pound bombs — some of its biggest and most destructive — in areas it designated safe for civilians, according to an analysis of visual evidence by The New York Times. While bombs of that size are used by several Western militaries, munitions experts say they are almost never dropped by U.S. forces in densely populated areas anymore.
Gazans who have left their homes and moved south say they do not feel safe there and that no areas are off-limits for Israeli bombing. Israel called on Friday for people to leave Al Bureij for shelters in Deir al-Balah, which lies a short distance further south in central Gaza.
“It is not safe here either,” said Nevin Muhaisen, 35, a teacher from northern Gaza who moved to Deir al-Balah early in the war and shares an apartment with about 30 members of her extended family, by WhatsApp message. “I keep hearing explosions at the coastal part of the city and in Khan Younis,” she added.
Abu Bakr Bashir contributed reporting.
— Isabel KershnerShow less
Iran has helped the Houthi militia target ships, U.S. intelligence says.
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A container ship crosses the Suez Canal toward the Red Sea, where Houthi rebels have escalated attacks disrupting global trade.Credit...Mohamed Hossam/EPA, via ShutterstockIran has been helping the Houthi militia in Yemen plan and carry out attacks against commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea, according to newly declassified American intelligence.
The new information comes as the United States is stepping up pressure on Iran to reel in the proxy and militia groups that it funds and controls in the Middle East.
Iran has long supported the Houthis with weapons and supplies, but it has often allowed the group to make its own decisions on military operations.
While the declassified intelligence did not indicate that Iran had ordered the attacks on commercial ships, Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said on Friday that Iran has had a more direct role in planning the operations than had been revealed previously.
Ms. Watson said Iran has provided advanced weapons systems, intelligence support, and financial aid and training without which Houthis would not have been able to attack ships off the coast of Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
According to the U.S. intelligence, the Houthis have used Iranian-made weapons to launch attacks against Israel and in the region.
On Oct. 19, for example, Houthis used 29 Iranian-made drones and 3 Iranian cruise missiles to attack Israel, according to the declassified intelligence. Some were shot down, and none reached Israel.
The Houthis launched the same kind of drones earlier this week, but they were shot down by the U.S.S. Carney, Ms. Watson said.
Iran is also funding the recent Houthi operations, Ms. Watson said. In November, the militia used Iranian tactics in its seizure of the Galaxy Leader in the Red Sea.
American officials now are examining whether there was a link between the Houthi operations and an attack by Somali pirates on a ship in the Gulf of Aden.
Somali pirates attempted to attack a commercial chemical tanker, the M/V Central Park, on Nov. 27, but were thwarted by sailors from the U.S.S. Mason. Hours later, two ballistic missiles were fired from Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen toward the Mason.
“We do not know if the missile strike and the attempted hijacking were coordinated, but the missile launch was conducted by the Houthis,” Ms. Watson said.
Several major shipping companies have suspended operations in the Red Sea because of the Houthi threat.
The United States has been working with an international coalition to increase security for commercial vessels in the region. This week the United States and other countries began Operation Prosperity Guardian, a maritime effort to deter further Houthi attacks.
“These attacks on commercial shipping in international waters by the Houthis are a flagrant violation of international law and represent a direct threat to international commerce and maritime security,” Ms. Watson said. “They are totally unacceptable and have to stop.”
— Julian E. Barnes Reporting from WashingtonShow less
Hostages’ relatives sue the international Red Cross for not visiting captives.
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Several posters showing the faces of Israeli hostages held in Gaza are pasted on a house in Kibbutz Be’eri, Israel, which Hamas militants was attacked on Oct. 7.Credit...Ohad Zwigenberg/Associated PressDozens of people who were kidnapped from Israel by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 or are related to hostages have sued the International Committee of the Red Cross in an Israeli court, arguing the organization has not fulfilled its obligation to assist victims of armed conflict and violence and to protect their lives and dignity.
The lawsuit comes as the Red Cross has come under mounting political pressure from Israelis and their leaders — including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — to do more to persuade Hamas to let its aid workers and paramedics visit the remaining hostages. Israel believes 129 people, mostly men, are still being held captive.
Mr. Netanyahu has called on the Red Cross to put public pressure on Hamas to grant access to the hostages, but the organization’s president, Mirjana Spoljaric, has said “the more public pressure we seemingly would do, the more they would shut the door.”
The lawsuit, filed in Jerusalem District Court on Thursday, says the Red Cross has failed to visit the hostages in captivity to check on their health, provide them with medications and then report back to their relatives on their welfare. The complaint also asserts the Red Cross “did not and is not doing enough to bring about their release.”
The civil complaint was filed on behalf of former hostages and relatives by the Shurat HaDin-Israeli Law Center, an Israeli human rights group, and seeks about $2.8 million in damages, as well as a court order directing the Red Cross to visit all remaining hostages, provide them with medications and relay information about them to their families.
A spokesman for the I.C.R.C., Jason Straziuso, said the organization had not yet seen the lawsuit. He said Red Cross officials did not know where the hostages were being held in Gaza and could not visit them without assurance of safe passage from both Hamas and the Israeli military because of active fighting.
“Even if we knew where the hostages were being held, it’s quite possible that showing up on the doorstep unannounced could put them in danger, and we would never do that unless agreements were in place,” Mr. Straziuso said. He added the I.C.R.C. cannot deliver medications for the same reason.
Alyona Synenko, an I.C.R.C. spokeswoman in Jerusalem, said the organization’s efforts to gain access to the hostages had been taking place behind closed doors and were not apparent to the public.
“People who were held hostage and their families have gone through a horrific experience, and it is easy to understand their anger and frustration,” Ms. Synenko said.
A lawyer representing the families, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, acknowledged the suit was unusual. The complaint argues the I.C.R.C. occupies a unique position under international humanitarian law and the Geneva Convention, giving it a mandate and moral duty to visit the hostages, check their well-being and fight for their release. The I.C.R.C. has not acted as it was “reasonably expected” to, the lawsuit says.
“The Red Cross does not exist in a vacuum,” Ms. Darshan-Leitner said. “There are ways it could have put pressure on Hamas — through the United Nations, through the roughly 196 countries that finance it, through the Palestinian Authority. They play an important role, a life and death role, and every day and every hour that goes by is critical.”
While the Geneva Convention empowers the I.C.R.C. to visit prisoners of war and victims of violence in conflict zones, the organization has said it cannot force its way in to places where hostages are being held. “People say ‘just go visit them,’ but they may not understand how difficult it is to do so,” Mr. Straziuso said.
Mr. Netanyahu said that a deal brokered in late November to exchange hostages for Palestinian prisoners included a provision for the I.C.R.C. to visit all the remaining hostages held in the Gaza Strip, but that aspect of the deal was not confirmed by the other parties.
Ms. Darshan-Leitner argued the current situation in Gaza carries echoes of the I.C.R.C.’s scant efforts during World War II to save Jews who were being deported and exterminated in concentration camps across Europe. The organization has acknowledged and apologized for that failure.
She also noted that the I.C.R.C. did not visit Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who was held captive in the Gaza Strip for five years until his release in 2011, and has not visited other Israelis held by Hamas.
— Roni RabinShow less
A U.S.-Israeli dual citizen listed as a hostage is now said to have been killed.
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Judi Weinstein and Gadi Haggai were both shot while taken hostage on Oct. 7 during an attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz.Credit...Iris Weinstein Haggai/Hostage and Missing Families ForumGadi Haggai, a 73-year-old man taken hostage in the Hamas-led invasion of Israel, is now believed to have died in the Oct. 7 attack, the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum said in a statement on Friday.
It said his body was still being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The forum said Mr. Haggai and his wife, Judih Weinstein Haggai, citizens of both Israel and the United States, were shot during the Hamas terror attack while they were on their regular morning walk in the fields and vineyards of Kibbutz Nir Oz.
Ms. Haggai contacted friends to tell them they had been shot and that her husband was critically injured, the forum said. It said that was the last time anyone in Israel heard from them. Ms. Haggai is still being held captive. Her condition is unknown.
“Gadi was a man full of humor who knew how to make those around him laugh,” Liat Bell Sommer, a spokeswoman for the forum, said in a statement, adding that Mr. Haggai was “a musician at heart, a gifted flutist.”
The forum did not specify how it knew that Mr. Haggai died during the attack.
“Jill and I are heartbroken by the news” of Mr. Haggai’s death, President Biden said in a statement.
“We continue to pray for the well-being and safe return of his wife, Judy,” he added. “Their daughter joined by phone my meeting with the families of hostages last week. Those families bravely shared with me the harrowing ordeal that they have endured over the past months as they await news of their loved ones. It’s intolerable.”
As Israel has investigated the Oct. 7 attack, it has learned more about the fate of those who went missing. Earlier this month, Israeli authorities said Eitan Levy, a 53-year-old man originally thought to have been taken hostage, had actually been killed in the Oct. 7 attack.
Hamas and other Palestinian groups killed roughly 1,200 people and abducted some 240 others during the Oct. 7 attack, Israeli authorities say. It was the deadliest attack in the country’s history.
In addition to murder and kidnapping, some attackers committed other atrocities, including rape and mutilation of their victims, Israel has said.
— Liam StackShow less
Saudis overwhelmingly oppose ties with Israel, a new poll finds.
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The Rahmah Mosque area in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A poll found that 40 percent of Saudis expressed positive attitudes toward Hamas, compared with 10 percent in a poll several months before the Gaza war began.Credit...Giuseppe Cacace/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesA new poll has found that 96 percent of Saudis believe that Arab countries should cut all ties with Israel to protest the war in Gaza, posing a significant challenge to the Biden administration’s push for Saudi Arabia to establish diplomatic relations with Israel.
According to the poll, 40 percent of Saudis expressed positive attitudes toward Hamas, compared with 10 percent in a poll several months before the war began. Only 16 percent of Saudis surveyed in the poll said that Hamas should stop calling for the destruction of Israel to accept the creation of Palestinian and Israeli states side by side — the “two-state solution” to the conflict that the Saudi government publicly supports.
The poll, by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a generally pro-Israel research organization, surveyed 1,000 Saudis from Nov. 14 to Dec. 6.
While Saudi Arabia has grown more autocratic over the past eight years, analysts say that the country’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, must still take public opinion into account as he weighs decisions.
Before the war — when the American-brokered efforts to reach a Saudi-Israel “normalization” deal appeared to be gaining pace — American political analysts, U.S. officials and some Saudi officials had asserted that younger Saudis tended to care less about the Palestinian cause than previous generations and might therefore be more amenable to the idea of ties with Israel.
It is unclear to what extent that was true, given the lack of regular, reliable polling in Saudi Arabia — and considering the climate of fear created by deepening levels of political repression under Prince Mohammed. Since the war in Gaza began, vocal support for the Palestinian cause and antipathy toward Israel has been widespread among Saudis of all ages.
The positive views of Hamas that the poll found, while still a minority, are notable given that Saudi citizens can face prosecution for sympathizing with the Palestinian armed group, which launched the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.
In September, shortly before the war began, Prince Mohammed said in a television interview that the talks between Saudi and American officials were getting “closer every day” to a deal in which Saudi Arabia would recognize the state of Israel for the first time.
Saudi officials had been pushing for major concessions from the United States — including access to American nuclear technology and American security guarantees — in exchange for normalizing ties with Israel, balancing a trade-off between potential public opposition to the deal and the political gains it could bring.
The Washington Institute poll found that 95 percent of Saudis did not believe that Hamas killed civilians in its attacks, which left around 1,200 people dead in southern Israel, most of them civilians — including many women and children — according to Israeli officials. It is relatively common for Arabs to believe that reports of civilian deaths are Israeli propaganda.
In contrast, the focus for most Saudis and other Arabs has been the Israeli military’s siege of Gaza, including a bombing campaign that is one of the most intense this century and that has killed around 20,000 Palestinians, according to the health authorities in Gaza.
In the poll, 87 percent of Saudis said that the war had shown “that Israel is so weak and internally divided that it can be defeated some day.”
Just 5 percent agreed that Saudis should “show more respect to the world’s Jews, and improve our relations with them.”
The poll did find, however, that a majority of Saudis supported a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over a military approach. Three-quarters said that they supported the idea of an Arab diplomatic effort to make peace between the two sides.
— Vivian NereimShow less
Next steps under U.N. resolution on Gaza aid remain unclear.
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Internally displaced Palestinians in a refugee camp in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Saturday.Credit...Haitham Imad/EPA, via ShutterstockA U.N. Security Council resolution passed on Friday called on the secretary general to appoint a special coordinator for aid to help Palestinians trapped in Gaza and to establish a mechanism to speed up aid deliveries, in consultation with all the relevant parties.
The resolution was meticulously negotiated to avoid objections from the United States, which has stood with Israel in opposing a resolution that would ask Israel to agree to a full cease-fire.
Instead, the resolution called on the warring parties to “allow, facilitate and enable the immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance” to civilians in Gaza and to “create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.”
But on Saturday, as the war continued without letup, it remained unclear how soon the special coordinator for aid to Gaza would be appointed and how fruitful that official’s efforts would be. Aid organizations said that without a full halt in fighting, it would be nearly impossible to distribute enough aid in Gaza.
Nor did the resolution immediately undo any of the snarls that have limited aid entering Gaza, including a stringent inspection system by the Israeli authorities, who say they want to prevent the entry of weapons or other goods that could benefit Hamas’s military operations.
Israeli officials said after the vote that they would still screen all goods entering Gaza, a process that U.N. officials and aid agencies have criticized as cumbersome and slow.
“The resolution maintains Israel’s security authority to monitor and inspect aid entering Gaza,” Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said after the vote.
Egypt, whose Rafah border crossing with Gaza has been the main point of entry for aid, called the resolution “an important, positive step toward lessening the humanitarian suffering affecting Palestinian civilians.” In a statement, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry also said the measure was insufficient because it did not demand an immediate cease-fire, which the ministry said was “the only means to stop the bloodshed in Gaza.”
The war began after a Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, which killed about 1,200 people and saw 240 others taken hostage, according to Israeli officials. Since then, Gaza has been under siege by Israel, with very limited, and vastly insufficient, amounts of aid entering via Gaza’s border with Egypt.
Last week, after significant international pressure, Israel opened its main cargo crossing into Gaza and began letting aid in. That crossing, Kerem Shalom, was open for the first time since the war began for major aid shipments.
Most of Gaza’s fuel and commercial goods came from Israel before the war, but the country closed its crossings with Gaza after the Oct. 7 attack. Aid trucks had to travel from Egypt to Kerem Shalom for inspection by the Israeli military, and then to return to Egypt to enter Gaza from there, drawing out and complicating the process.
— Ben Hubbard and Roni Caryn RabinShow less
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Our Coverage of the Israel-Hamas War
A Traumatic Event: Across religious and political divides, Israelis are starting to come to terms with what the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Oct. 7 meant for Israel as a state, for Israelis as a society, and for its citizens as individuals.
Death Toll in Gaza: The number of Gaza residents reported killed during Israel’s war in the territory has surpassed the toll for any other Arab conflict with Israel in more than 40 years. Most experts say the figure is most likely an undercount.
Keeping a Low Profile: The war in Gaza has thrust the Houthis, a Yemeni militia, into the global spotlight. As the group creates chaos in the Red Sea by firing missiles toward Israel, Saudi Arabia would rather watch from the sidelines.
West Bank Raids: Since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, the Jenin neighborhood of the Israeli-occupied West Bank has been a focal point of what Israeli officials describe as counterterrorism operations.
A Subdued Christmas: The war in Gaza has prompted the West Bank city of Bethlehem, which is traditionally seen as the birthplace of Jesus, to tone down its celebrations for the holiday.
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The New York Times
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After last-minute negotiations, the U.S. ambassador to the UN said on Thursday that the U.S. was ready to support a Security Council resolution that would call for more aid to enter Gaza.
Follow updates.
Israel-Hamas War: U.S. Says It Can Support U.N. Security Council Resolution on Gaza
NYTIMES.COM
Israel-Hamas War: U.S. Says It Can Support U.N. Security Council Resolution on Gaza
The resolution, which would call for more aid to enter the territory, has been delayed because the U.S. said Israel must remain involved in the inspection process.
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BDSFail
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🇺🇸🤝🇮🇱
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MadKast
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Israel is out of control 🤪
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Andy Janovic
As long as it is a meaningless resolution, no doubt...
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Yekaterinla Sokolova
As long as it is a meaningless resolution, no doubt...
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Alon Ashkenazi
The IDF will not rest until all those behind the October 7 Massacre face the consequences of their inhumane actions.
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Tim Mc Ginty
Israelis promised 'another Nakba', to 'flatten Gaza' and that 'there are no innocents in Gaza' and the US is more than happy to supply the bombs and the political cover. Decades of occupation and colonial expansion with zero accountability have brought us to this point.
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Omar Al-Omari
Tim Mc Ginty, looks like zidiots are triggered by your truth 😂
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Alexander Andreas Grriffin
Amazing job writing this
Someone,was able to write this without using the words genocide, slaughter, ethnic cleansing, war crime, illegal, concentration camp, or pogram.
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Iron Lion Zion
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A crash course on history of the “PALESTINIAN STATE”
1. Before Israel, there was a British mandate, not a Palestinian state.
2. Before the British Mandate, there was the Ottoman Empire, not a Palestinian state.… See more
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Tedjani Zeghouane
No one in the world can condemn Isreal for killing thousands of kids and women every single second because Isreal is the spoiled kid of the U.S. And no one can condemn the U.S for supporting the cruelty of Isreal because the biased media which controlled by murderous U.S showing that the U.S is the savior of the world.
Peter Jenning says that "whoever controls the media, controls the reality". So that, the U.S uses media to alter facts and convince the people that killing kids and women is a must.
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Meirav Shaharabani
Better call Hamas to surrender and release the hostages.
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הָשִׁיבָה שׁופְטֵינוּ
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Ceasefires only apply to democratic countries like Israel and not to terrorist organizations that are not bound by any laws and rulles , this will allow Hamas-gaza to continue launching rockets at the civilian population, to re arm, and to continue the… See more
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BDSFail
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A diplomatic victory for the USA and Israel. 🇺🇸🤝🇮🇱
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Etienne Jaulin
Stop the US unsustainable support for the genocidal apartheid regime. Let them fend for themselves!
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Michal Ilan
✌️❤️🇮🇱
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הָשִׁיבָה שׁופְטֵינוּ
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The UN nations calling to end the war in Gaza that was imposed on Israel, but for some reason they are not calling for the dissolution of Hamas terrorists and the return all the abductees home which is what will immediately bring an end the war and the suffering of Gaza. The world suffers from a big moral distortion🕎🇮🇱
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Edited
The Palestinian Narrative Was Invented by the KGB
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Call for more aid to the hostages.
Call for release of the hostages.
Call for surrender of Hamas.
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The Palestinian Narrative Was Invented by the KGB
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When speaking about the Middle East, it is common to hear about the “need” and “desire” for Palestinian statehood. But exactly what kind of state do the Palestinians want and what are the roots of Palestinian nationalism?
Historically, the Palestinian “desire for statehood” and “need for liberation” was invented in large part by the Soviet Union. It is no coincidence that the blueprint for the PLO Charter was drafted in Moscow in 1964 and was approved by 422 Palestinian representative hand selected by the KGB. At that time, the USSR was in the business of creating people’s liberation fronts. The KGB founded the PLO as well as the National Liberation Army of Bolivia (1964) with Ernesto “Che” Guevara at its head and the National Liberation Army of Colombia (1965).
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Paul Emeka
The aid ought to be tied with releasing the hostages.
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Tamoura Riahi
The Palestinian Red Crescent Center in Jabalia was attacked and ambulances were destroyed. The army detained all the medical staff and paramedics and subjected them to beatings. Six of them were not released. The displaced women were gathered in the center and taken to an unknown location with the internet cut off. There is also the director of the Khan Yunis Ambulance Center in detention and they know nothing about him.
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Karen Mint
The US is directly responsible for the genocide of the Palestinian people
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Noam Dahan
And even after all the people.of gaza have been through because of Hamas, more then 75% of them support hamas'es actions on october 7th.
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הָשִׁיבָה שׁופְטֵינוּ
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Egypt has a border with Gaza, why won't Egypt help the residents of Gaza? anyway 70 percent of gaza are Egyptian, and the other 30 are from Jordan, no Arab country helps them, but they always blame Israel🤦🏻🇮🇱🕎
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Mehedi Hasan Rony
Imagine for a minute, a court where the accused can veto his prosecution.That's where we are today.
The zionist apartheid regime controls the US and the US controls the EU.That means both the US and the EU are under brutal zionist occupation.
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Noam Dahan
They dont have many things, but they still have rockets, missles, ammonition, ohhh and over 130 INNOCENT HOSTAGES!
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הָשִׁיבָה שׁופְטֵינוּ
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Only Hamas and the residents of Gaza who support it are responsible for their own destruction. Did you start a war? Deal with the consequences🕎🇮🇱
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Ofek Rainish
Thats just virtue signalling. Israel said for weeks they can expand aid 300% but the UN couldn't deliver or distribute...🤷🏻🤷🏻🤷🏻
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John Zelinski
I am always for the aid of innocent human beings on either side who are the victims of their leaders as Hamas steals most of the aid it becomes more difficult to get it to the people. Hamas knew Palestinians would feel the worst of the attack because of Oct 7th.
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Brett Nortje
As long as it is a meaningless resolution, no doubt...
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Raya Rosen
Better call Hamas to surrender and release the hostages. Better call Egypt to let refugees cross the border and settle in temprarily.
Hamas has declined Israel's offer for a new truce treaty. Therefore, war must go on.
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Lokwell Tom
US and Israel are directly responsible for the suffering we witness in Gaza. America supplies bombs and Israel drops them on children and women, commiting war crimes with impunity. Over 20,000 Palestinians dead without accountability for some of the worse crimes Israel has committed to date.
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Salih Mimar Tok
First, stop the Israeli genocide that lacks human conscience.
Show the same common sense to innocent Palestinian children, women and civilians as you did to civilian casualties in the Ukraine war.
Anyone with a humanitarian conscience can invest in Palestine.
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May Mohamed
Why are you naming a genocide against thousands of unarmed people as ( israil, hamas) war? Are the thousands of children killed by zionists Hamas members?
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زينة حسين
How can America prevent the entry of aid? How can it be so horrific?
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Makenzie Prater
Everyone who loves humanity stands with Palestine.
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Christian Zimmer
The newspaper "Haaretz" once again emphasized that there's some sort of anti-Netanyahu party going on in Washington – almost like an anti-Zelensky bash in Ukraine. Both of them messed up their promises, and now it's becoming clearer that Ukraine won't be able to take down Russia without a hefty direct military intervention from the USA – which is pretty unlikely. Meanwhile, "Israel" can't seem to shake things up decisively in Gaza and the surrounding region, and Washington doesn't seem keen on getting involved either. The real issue is that Netanyahu, just like Zelensky, hyped up expectations big time – stuff like blasting away the Hamas, taking out their leaders, and fundamentally addressing the Hezbollah threat up north. But in the meantime, Hamas rockets keep hitting Tel Aviv and Ashkelon, and Hezbollah rockets are making their way to the north of "Israel," with no clear signs that Hamas has crumbled, except for pictures of Gazans in their underwear. Absolutely ridiculous, isn't it?
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Narwhal Greenland
FLEE HOUSE (after your can came back) , for clear HAMAS GUERILLA and DESTROY ALL LINKS TUNNEL , nobody want tragedy repeat (destroy!!! all links…tunnel) 🚼🪃⚰️ 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌏🌎🌍🌞 .
YOUR “MUST” HAVE DONE EVERY TIME “MAGIC” FROM MONSTERS 🚼🪃⚰️ 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌍🌎🌏🌞 .
TODAY MISTAKE (kidnap oversea peoples) , Tomorrow What Next , …HAMAS AND TEAMS >(irn) 🚼🪃☢️ 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌏🌎🌍🌞 .
(Refugee and Hamas Teams ALWAYS DREAMS TO Israel Country)
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Omezzine Khouaja
Revenge is not self-defense .... Besides this occupation entity wants to realize its project : "The greater Israel" ... They accuse in USA anyone who talks about "the river to the sea" of anti-Semitism, but there's no problem if Benjamin Netanyahu's so… See more
Greater Israel - Wikipedia
EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG
Greater Israel - Wikipedia
Greater Israel - Wikipedia
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William Zeiders
How’s the celebrating people of Oct 7 feal now living in tents ? Not celebrating now ! You trained your children to martyre and now your crying ?????
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محمود سعدون
Lionel Rothschild (1868-1937 AD) was responsible for the branches of England, and the leader of the Jewish community in England. Chaim Weizmann - a member of the Haganah organization and gang and later the first president of Israel - and Nahum Sokolow approached him and succeeded in convincing him to seek the British government for assistance. The Jews wanted to build a national homeland for themselves in Palestine. Lionel did not hesitate, but in addition to issuing the Balfour Declaration, he sought to establish a Jewish legion within the British Army during World War I. James Armand Rothschild (1878-1957 AD) gathered volunteers for him and then assumed the presidency of the Immigration Authority. To Palestine, which is called the Jewish Agency, and his father financed economic projects in Palestine, including the current Israeli Knesset building in Jerusalem. The Balfour Declaration was issued after the Rothschild family provided huge financial assistance to Britain, which was about to announce its defeat at the hands of the Germans, and it also affected European governments in general.
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Del PocoLoco
Israel is committing a genocide in the name of jews ..the moderate Jews need to protest against these atrocities
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Med Mal
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1Kdci0LJ3_/?igsh=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==
View on Instagram
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محمد شاور
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10232532685283850&id=1359739319&mibextid=Nif5oz
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David J. Bridbury
Hamas needs to surrender.
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הָשִׁיבָה שׁופְטֵינוּ
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How come the bank accounts of the terrorist leaders of Hamas have over billions of dollars and they still need humanitarian aid?🕎🇮🇱
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Aleks Mo
‼😂A party was held in Moscow, in the style of "naked Hunter Biden". Naked men with a woolen sock on their knees !
https://t.me/readovkanews/71173
Telegram: Contact @readovkanews
T.ME
Telegram: Contact @readovkanews
Telegram: Contact @readovkanews
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Carol Gai
USA government is complicit in colonial zionist project, israel's genocide and ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine🇵🇸. Both apartheid, occupier israel and USA must face the ICC for flagrant war crimes upon Palestine, since 75 days & 75+ years. UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand governments are also complicit. This is a genocide, holocaust in Gaza and the OPT. israel per se is a flagrant war crime, that should be dismantled and defunded immediately!
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