Israel-Gaza war live: UN security council intensifies ceasefire resolution negotiations to try and avoid another US veto
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The UN security council is set to convene Tuesday to weigh a call for a ceasefire in Gaza, after a previous bid was vetoed by the United States.
The vote was postponed to give more time for diplomats to meet US objections to the wording of the draft resolution. The vote in New York had been due on Monday. The US said it could not support a reference to a “cessation of hostilities”, but might accept a call for a “suspension of hostilities”.
The Arab countries negotiating the text said they had been encouraged to see that the White House was apparently trying to find wording that it could support – as opposed to simply vetoing resolutions.
Read the rest of Patrick Wintour’s piece on the postponement here:
Key events
Israeli strikes killed at least 28 Palestinians in southern Gaza and troops raided one of the last functioning hospitals in the north as the country pressed ahead with its offensive against Hamas on Tuesday with renewed backing from the US, despite rising international alarm.
The offensive, launched in response to Hamas’s attack in Israel on 7 October, has killed nearly 20,000 Palestinians and displaced about 1.9 million, demolished much of northern Gaza and sparked attacks on US and Israeli targets across the region, AP reports.
Attacks on ships in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have led large shipping companies – as well as the oil and gas firm BP – to suspend trade through the vital waterway, prompting the US and its allies to launch a new mission to counter the threat.
But after meeting Israeli officials on Monday, the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said he was “not here to dictate timelines or terms”.
At least 10 Palestinians have been killed and 40 others wounded in an Israeli strike on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory has said.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis will not change their stance on the Gaza conflict due to the establishment of a multinational naval alliance to safeguard shipping in the Red Sea, a senior Houthi negotiator has told Reuters.
The naval alliance led by the US was “essentially unnecessary”, Mohammed Abdulsalam said, adding that all the waters adjacent to Yemen were safe except for Israeli ships, or ships heading to Israel, because of the “unjust aggressive war on Palestine”.
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, announced the creation of a multinational operation to safeguard commerce in the Red Sea after a series of missile and drone attacks on shipping by the Houthis.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency has received a report of an incident 80 nautical miles north-east of Djibouti, at the mouth of the Red Sea, according to an advisory note.
It added that authorities were investigating, Reuters reported.
The US defence secretary has invited dozens of countries to take steps to address Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping as he spoke at a defence ministerial to tout a new military operation to secure commerce in the waterway.
“We’re all here because many countries can directly contribute to our common efforts to keep strategic waterways safe,” Lloyd Austin said, according to prepared remarks.
“These reckless Houthi attacks are a serious international problem and they demand a firm international response.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Austin announced the launch of the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian, which will include joint patrols of Red Sea shipping.
Some of Britain’s most heralded playwrights, actors and theatre directors have signed an open letter calling for the release of members of a Palestinian theatre group who have been in Israeli custody since 13 December, while also decrying the destruction of cultural sites in the West Bank and Gaza.
Read the rest of that report by Lanre Bakare and Nadia Khomami:
Summary of the day so far
It’s 9:01am in Gaza and Tel Aviv and here’s a summary of the latest events so far:
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The UN security council will convene today to weigh a call for a ceasefire in Gaza, after a previous attempt was vetoed by the United States. The vote was postponed to give more time for diplomats to meet US objections to the wording of the draft resolution. The vote in New York had been due on Monday. The US said it could not support a reference to a “cessation of hostilities”, but may accept a call for a “suspension of hostilities”. The Arab countries negotiating the text said they had been encouraged to see that the White House was apparently trying to find wording that it could support – as opposed to simply vetoing resolutions.
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The US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, has announced the creation of a multinational operation in the Red Sea after a series of missile and drone attacks by Yemen’s Houthis. Austin, on a trip to Bahrain after talks in Tel Aviv earlier on Monday, said countries participating in the US-led initiative include the UK, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain.
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Yemen’s Houthis were behind two more attacks against commercial shipping in the Southern Red Sea, the US Central Command said on Tuesday. Reuters news agency is reporting the cost of shipping goods to Israel by sea has risen in recent days as some container lines pull out while others impose new surcharges.
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BP has halted all shipments of oil and gas through the Red Sea after an increase in attacks on cargo ships by Houthi militants. The British oil company said it had paused shipping in the region indefinitely, citing a “deteriorating security situation” amid tensions in the Middle East. BP becomes the first oil company to directly halt its shipping, after five big shipping firms stopped their vessels passing through the waters between Asia and Africa that connect Asia and Europe.
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Austin has held talks with Israeli officials including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his defence counterpart, Yoav Gallant, in Tel Aviv on Monday. The discussions focused on Israel shifting away from large-scale aerial and ground operations in the Gaza Strip to a new phrase in the war focused on the precise targeting of Hamas leaders, the US official said.
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The US defence secretary said Washington was still not imposing a timetable despite international calls for a ceasefire. “This is Israel’s operation. I’m not here to dictate timelines or terms,” Austin said.
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Israeli forces have forced displaced Palestinian civilians sheltering at Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City to evacuate the facility and arrested medical staff, according to reports. Richard Sewell, the dean of the Anglican-run St George’s College in Jerusalem, said most of the hospital’s staff have been detained, while medical sources told Al Jazeera that the hospital was now out of service.
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The British foreign minister, David Cameron, will call for increased coordination between allies to address the “desperate” humanitarian situation in Gaza during a visit to Paris and Rome on Tuesday, his office has said.
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In Australia, more than 50 former and current Labor MPs have signed a letter condemning Israel’s “domination” of Palestine and demanding Australia recognise Palestine as a state and examine its relationship with Israel.
Let’s take a closer look at what’s been happening in the Red Sea. The US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, has announced the creation of a multinational operation after a series of missile and drone attacks by Yemen’s Houthis.
The Guardian’s Jonathan Yerushalmy has broken down in an explainer the significance of those attacks and the disruption it’s caused:
Global supply chains are once again under threat, as the impact of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas ripples out across the Middle East.
In recent weeks, Houthi militants based in Yemen have stepped up their attacks on commercial shipping vessels travelling through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, in response to Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza.
Tankers and cargo ships have been targeted by drone and missile attacks launched from Yemen – and although the damage caused has been minimal in most cases, the threat alone has left trade routes through the Red Sea at a near standstill.
Jonathan takes us through what the Houthis are doing and how the disruption will effect shipping. Read the rest of his report here:
The BBC has a report by its south-east Asia correspondent, Jonathan Head, on one of the Thai hostages who was released by Hamas and has now returned home.
Wichian Temthong is a 37-year-old farm worker who is now back in Thailand. While he survived, three young Israeli men he met in captivity were those who were mistakenly shot dead by Israeli soldiers on Friday.
Wichian Temthong said:
Every day my foreign friends and I tried to support each other. We would shake hands and do fist bumps. They would cheer me up by hugging me and clapping my shoulder. But we could only communicate by using our hands.
In Australia, more than 50 former and current Labor MPs have signed a letter condemning Israel’s “domination” of Palestine and demanding Australia recognise Palestine as a state and examine its relationship with Israel.
Read our report here:
Here are some of the latest images of the IDF coming out of Israel:
Here are some of the latest images coming out of Gaza, as the fighting continues.
The UN security council is set to convene Tuesday to weigh a call for a ceasefire in Gaza, after a previous bid was vetoed by the United States.
The vote was postponed to give more time for diplomats to meet US objections to the wording of the draft resolution. The vote in New York had been due on Monday. The US said it could not support a reference to a “cessation of hostilities”, but might accept a call for a “suspension of hostilities”.
The Arab countries negotiating the text said they had been encouraged to see that the White House was apparently trying to find wording that it could support – as opposed to simply vetoing resolutions.
Read the rest of Patrick Wintour’s piece on the postponement here:
Welcome and opening summary
It’s 6:36am and sunrise in Gaza and Tel Aviv. Welcome to our blog on the Israel-Gaza war. I’m Reged Ahmad and I’ll be with you for the next while.
The UN security council has delayed until Tuesday morning a vote on an Arab-sponsored resolution calling for a halt to hostilities in Gaza to allow for urgently needed aid deliveries. Members have intensified their negotiations to try to avoid another veto by the United States. The pause was to give more time to meet US objections to the wording of the draft resolution.
More on that in a moment but first, here is a summary of our other main developments:
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The US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, has announced the creation of a multinational operation in the Red Sea after a series of missile and drone attacks by Yemen’s Houthis. Austin, on a trip to Bahrain after talks in Tel Aviv earlier on Monday, said countries participating in the US-led initiative include the UK, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain.
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Yemen’s Houthis were behind two more attacks against commercial shipping in the Southern Red Sea, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement on Tuesday. Reuters news agency is reporting the cost of shipping goods to Israel by sea has risen in recent days as some container lines pull out while others impose new surcharges.
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BP has halted all shipments of oil and gas through the Red Sea after a step-up in attacks on cargo ships by Houthi militants. The British oil company said it had paused shipping in the region indefinitely, citing a “deteriorating security situation” amid tensions in the Middle East. BP becomes the first oil company to directly halt its own shipping, after five big shipping firms stopped their vessels passing through the waters between Asia and Africa that connect Asia and Europe.
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The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has held talks with Israeli officials including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence counterpart, Yoav Gallant, in Tel Aviv on Monday. The discussions focused on Israel shifting away from large-scale aerial and ground operations in the Gaza Strip to a new phrase in the war focused on the precise targeting of Hamas leaders, the US official said.
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The US defense secretary Lloyd Austin said Washington was still not imposing a timetable despite international calls for a ceasefire. “This is Israel’s operation. I’m not here to dictate timelines or terms.”, Austin said.
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Israeli forces have forced displaced Palestinian civilians sheltering at al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City to evacuate the facility and arrested medical staff, according to reports. Richard Sewell, the dean of the Anglican-run St George’s College in Jerusalem, said most of the hospital’s staff have been detained, while medical sources told Al Jazeera that the hospital is now out of service.
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At least 19,453 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the latest tally by the territory’s health ministry on Monday. 52,286 people have been injured, it said. Meanwhile, four Palestinians have been killed on Monday in the Faraa refugee camp, south of the West Bank city of Tubas, in an Israeli military raid, the Palestinian health ministry said.
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The armed wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, has released a video of three elderly Israeli men being held hostage in Gaza. One man said he was being held in harsh conditions with other elderly hostages suffering chronic illnesses. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the video was “atrocious terror” that “shows the cruelty of Hamas against elderly civilians.”
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The Qatari prime minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, met the heads of the CIA and Israel’s Mossad spy agency on Monday to discuss a potential new deal to secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, according to reports. But a Palestinian source familiar with the talks told the BBC that negotiations over a new temporary ceasefire “haven’t begun yet”.
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The US has raised concerns with Israel after a mother and daughter were allegedly killed by an Israeli military sniper in a church compound in Gaza City, the White House said. The two women were killed inside the Holy Family parish in Gaza City on Saturday, according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Most of Gaza’s Christian families have taken refuge in the compound since the start of the war. The most senior Catholic cleric in England said the shooting was a “cold–blooded killing” that did “nothing to further Israel’s right to defend itself”. The IDF has appeared to deny responsibility for the deaths.
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Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of committing a war crime by starving people in the Gaza Strip who continued to face relentless attacks in the war with Hamas militants. “The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the occupied Gaza Strip,” HRW said in a report. “World leaders should be speaking out against this abhorrent war crime.”
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British foreign minister David Cameron will call for increased coordination between allies to address the “desperate” humanitarian situation in Gaza during a visit to Paris and Rome on Tuesday, his office said.
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The UK Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has joined the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, in calling for a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, as the political rhetoric continued to shift away from unqualified support for Israel’s assault in line with moves from the US and others.
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