As the UN gets ready to vote on a resolution extending the ceasefire, hunger increases in Gaza

As the United Nations General Assembly readied itself to vote on Tuesday on an emergency humanitarian ceasefire in the two-month-old conflict between Israel and Hamas, aid groups reported that hunger was growing among Palestinians in the beleaguered Gaza strip.

Since the United States rejected a Security Council resolution urging a ceasefire on Friday, hundreds more people have perished in Israel’s assault on Gaza.

The majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants have been forced from their houses, and locals claim it is impossible to get food or safety in the crowded coastal territory. According to the UN World Food Programme, half of humanity is famished.

“Hunger stalks everyone,” UNRWA, the UN agency in charge of Palestinian refugees, declared on X.

Gazans described relief trucks being looted and exorbitant costs, adding that individuals who were forced to escape on a regular basis were dying from hunger and the cold in addition to the bombardment.

Israel claims that the directive to relocate is one of the steps it is doing to safeguard civilians while it attempts to apprehend Hamas militants who it said killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 240 during a cross-border raid on Israel on October 7. Since then, some 100 captives have been set free.

The Gaza Health Ministry reports that 18,205 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 50,000 injured as a result of Israel’s retaliation attack.

On Tuesday, the 193-member General Assembly is expected to approve a draft resolution that closely resembles the text of the one that the US rejected last week in the 15-member Security Council.

Resolutions of the General Assembly represent international opinions and have political weight but are not legally binding.

More people will vote in favor of the vote, according to some diplomats and observers, than in favor of the assembly’s October request for “an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce.”

The Security Council sent 12 envoys to the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, the sole location where some fuel and humanitarian goods have been let in. The vote was scheduled to take place the day after their visit. There was no representative from the US traveling with them.

At a White House celebration for the Jewish holiday of Hannukah on Monday, US President Joe Biden, who has faced harsh criticism for endorsing Israel’s reaction to the October 7 strikes, declared that his loyalty to Israel is “unshakeable.”

“Folks, were there no Israel, there wouldn’t be a Jew in the world that was safe,” Biden stated. He also mentioned his complicated relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, claiming that he is currently in a “tough spot.”

Speaking to reporters on Monday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller stated that Israel was not an exception to US policy, which mandates that any nation receiving US weaponry must abide by the laws of war.

“We are monitoring everything that happens in this conflict,” Miller stated. “We are engaged in conversations with the Israeli government.”

Although US authorities claim there are no plans to withhold or impose limitations on military aid to Israel, there has been an increase in scrutiny about the manner and locations in which Israel deploys US-supplied weapons as the war has intensified.

Miller continued, “Washington found photos circulating on social media depicting Palestinian males imprisoned in Gaza in their underpants “very troubling” and requested an explanation from Israel regarding the photos’ circumstances. According to Israel, the males were undressed to ensure that no weapons or explosives were concealed.

Additionally, the White House stated on Monday that it was looking for additional information regarding reports that Israel had attacked southern Lebanon in October using white phosphorus weapons supplied by the US. The explosives, which are among their authorized applications on battlefields as smoke screens, can result in severe burns.

Human Rights Watch claimed that Israel employs white phosphorus weapons in Gaza and Lebanon, however Israel refuted this claim as “unequivocally false”.

According to UN estimates, 1.9 million people, or 85% of Gaza’s population, are internally displaced, and the conditions in the southern regions where they have gathered are appalling.

⚡️The Al-Quds Brigades (PIJ) published a new video showing scenes of their attacks against Zionist military vehicles in the axes east of Gaza. pic.twitter.com/D1OZIXnRRd

— Arya – آریا 🇮🇷 (@AryJeay) December 11, 2023

Israel announced on Monday that, despite not actually opening the Kerem Shalom border crossing, it would expand shipment screening in an effort to increase the quantity of aid that reaches Gaza.

Before the war, this crossing was where most trucks entered the strip. According to two Egyptian security sources, a new agreement between Israel, Egypt, and the US will start inspections on Tuesday.

Israel launched a ground offensive in the south after a week-long ceasefire broke down on December 1 and has since advanced from the east into the center of Khan Younis city.

In northern Gaza, where Israel had declared its purpose was almost accomplished, militants and locals claimed on Monday that fighters were stopping Israeli tanks from going farther west and from engaging in combat with Israeli forces.

Israel announced the surrender of several dozen Hamas fighters and invited more to follow suit.

Locals reported gunfire close to the coastline road, and Hamas media said that fighters thwarted an effort by Israeli naval forces to land troops offshore.

Health officials and locals reported that Israeli airstrikes on Monday night continued late into the night. According to medics, Israeli airstrikes in the central and southern Gaza Strip killed at least fifteen persons in different incidents.

According to the US Navy, a land-based cruise missile fired from Houthi-controlled Yemen targeted another commercial vessel in the Gulf. Since the conflict began on October 7, the Houthis, who are affiliated with Iran, have increased their attacks on ships in strategic commerce routes and have begun launching missiles and drones at Israel.