The United States vetoes a UN-backed resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, as ICJ hearings continue.
This is how things stand on Wednesday, February 21, 2024:
Struggles and humanitarian crisis
- Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, said the Israeli army bombed a shelter housing MSF staff in al-Mawasi, near Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
- In the 24 hours between Monday and Tuesday afternoon, 103 Palestinians were killed and 142 injured by Israeli attacks on Gaza, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
- The World Food Program said it suspended food deliveries to isolated northern Gaza due to attacks and the breakdown of civil order in the region. The weakening of aid operations threatens to deepen misery across the territory, where Israel's air and ground offensive has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians.
Regional tensions and diplomacy
- The United States vetoed a widely supported, Arab-backed U.N. resolution that called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Israel's war on Gaza.
- Before the vote, Algeria's ambassador to the UN, Amar Bendjama, said: “A vote in favor of this draft resolution is support for the Palestinians' right to life. On the contrary, voting against implies supporting the brutal violence and collective punishment inflicted against them.”
- China's ambassador to the UN, Zhang Jun, said the US veto “stifles” an “overwhelming consensus” among UN Security Council members on a ceasefire in Gaza.
- Separately, South Africa argued before the United Nations' highest court that Israel is responsible for apartheid against the Palestinians and that Israel's occupation of lands sought for a Palestinian state is “inherently and fundamentally illegal.” Israel rejects such claims.
- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has described the looting of homes in Gaza by Israeli soldiers as a “symptom of genocide and ethnic cleansing.”
- And in Yemen, Houthi rebels said they had attacked an Israeli cargo ship, the MSC Silver, with several missiles in the Gulf of Aden, near the entrance to the Red Sea.
In today's session, Ambassador. Dr. Riyad Mansour condemned the Security Council's failure to call for a #Stop the fire in #Loop “By the time this session is over, more than 25 #palestines “He will be dead because of the Council's inaction. It means more babies will be killed.” @AlgeriaUN @UNITED NATIONS #UNSC pic.twitter.com/J9d0LT3bvs
— State of Palestine (@Palestine_UN) February 21, 2024
Violence in the occupied West Bank
- Israeli forces destroyed infrastructure and fired live rounds in Jenin, while raids continue on dozens of homes in the occupied West Bank city, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
- The Israeli military said it had targeted a “terrorist cell” with an airstrike in Jenin, killing three people. Palestinian armed groups said they had responded by using explosive devices against Israeli military vehicles.
- Israeli forces also arrested a minor in the town of al-Khader, south of Bethlehem.
