U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Israel needs to address urgently “catastrophic conditions” among Palestinian civilians in the besieged Gaza Strip and stop “intensifying suffering” by limiting aid deliveries, its ally the United States told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, October 9, 2024.

Referring to reports of squalid conditions in south and central Gaza, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, “These catastrophic conditions were predicted months ago, and yet they have still not been addressed. That must change, and now.”

“We call on Israel to take urgent steps to do so,” she said in a blunt statement.

The 15-member Security Council met over the humanitarian crisis a year after a deadly attack by Palestinian militants Hamas on southern Israel sparked the war in Gaza. Israel has since laid to waste much of the enclave and almost the entire population of 2.3 million has been displaced.

Israel says Hamas militants killed some 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023, while health authorities in Gaza say nearly 42,000 people have been killed so far during Israel’s retaliation. Thomas-Greenfield also addressed a recent Israeli order for civilians in Gaza’s north to evacuate again, saying they must be able to return to communities to rebuild.

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“There must be no demographic or territorial change in the Gaza Strip, including any actions that reduce the territory of Gaza,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, told the Security Council: “Hundreds of thousands of people are again being pushed to move to the south, where living conditions are intolerable.

“Yet again, Gazans are teetering on the edge of a man-made famine,” he said.

‘NO RESTRICTIONS’

The U.N. has long complained of obstacles to getting aid into Gaza and distributing it during the war. Reuters reported last week that food supplies to Gaza have fallen sharply in recent weeks because Israeli authorities have introduced a new customs rule on some humanitarian aid and are separately scaling down deliveries organized by businesses.

“We need to see fewer barriers to the delivery of aid, not more of them,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon defended his country’s record: “Israel imposes no restrictions on humanitarian aid. In fact, 82% of all requests for humanitarian coordination have been approved and implemented.”

He accused Hamas of diverting aid from those in Gaza who need it.

Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward told the council that Israel “must do much more” to avoid civilian casualties and ensure the U.N. and aid groups can operate safely and effectively in Gaza.

“Delivery of humanitarian assistance is being hindered, and humanitarian workers are constantly under threat,” French U.N. Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said.

More than 300 humanitarian aid workers, most of them UNRWA staff, have been killed.

Palestinians check the damage in the al-Zahra school used as a refuge by displaced Palestinians following an Israeli strike, in the Shujaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City on August 8, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant group Hamas.
| Photo Credit: AFP

The Israeli military has ordered another mass evacuation in large areas around Khan Younis in southern Gaza, saying its forces will soon operate there in response to Palestinian rocket fire. Gaza’s second-largest city, Khan Younis suffered widespread destruction during air and ground operations earlier this year.

Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to heavily destroyed areas of Gaza where they had fought earlier battles against Hamas and other militants since the start of the 10-month-old war.

Gaza faces a severe humanitarian crisis with Israeli restrictions on aid and ongoing fighting limiting access to crucial medical, food and other supplies. The Health Ministry in Gaza says the death toll in the territory is nearing 40,000.

Regional tensions have soared since Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed July 31 in Iran by a presumed Israeli strike. Retaliation has been expected.

Cease-fire talks

World leaders have been pushing for a cease-fire in Gaza. On Thursday (August 8,2024), the foreign powers involved in brokering a possible deal — the U.S., Egypt and Qatar — issued a joint statement calling on Israel and Hamas to resume stalled cease-fire talks on Aug. 15.

Israel has confirmed it will send negotiators to resume indirect cease-fire talks with Hamas next week in response to a proposal by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Thursday (August 8,2024) that the government would heed the call by foreign mediators to revive negotiations aimed at halting the fighting in Gaza after 10 months of devastating war and bringing home Israeli hostages still captive in the enclave.

The statement said that on August 15, at a place to be determined, the parties would hash out the implementation of a “framework agreement” that has already been finalized. The mediators said the talks would take place either in Qatar’s capital of Doha or Egypt’s capital of Cairo.

There was no immediate response to the offer by Hamas. Last week’s killing of its top political leader in Tehran raised tensions across the region, an escalation widely seen as a blow to cease-fire talks.

The foreign powers involved in brokering a possible cease-fire aimed at halting the fighting in Gaza and releasing Israeli hostages have jointly appealed to Israel and Hamas to return to the negotiating table next week.

The statement issued Thursday (August 8,2024) by the United States, Egypt and Qatar, the three mediators in the monthslong Israel-Hamas war, called on the parties to resume stalled cease-fire talks on Aug. 15 in either Qatar’s capital of Doha or Egypt’s capital of Cairo.

“There is no further time to waste nor excuses from any party for further delay,” it said, adding that the negotiators have already finalized a “framework” for the deal. All that’s left to hammer out, it said, are the details of implementation.