Hunger was worsening among Palestinians in the besieged Gaza strip, aid agencies said, as the United Nations General Assembly prepared to vote on Tuesday on an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the two-month-old conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Hundreds more civilians have died in Israel’s assault on Gaza since the US on Friday vetoed a Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire.
Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes and residents say it is impossible to find refuge or food in the densely populated coastal enclave. The UN World Food Programme has said half of the population is starving. “Hunger stalks everyone,” UNRWA, the UN body responsi-ble for Palestinian refugees, said on X.
Gazans said people forced to flee repeatedly were dying of hunger and cold as well as the bombard-ments, describing looting of aid trucks and sky-high prices. Israel says its instructions to people to move are among measures it is taking to protect civilians as it tries to root out Hamas fighters who it claims killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostage in an Oc-tober 7 cross-border attack on Israel. About 100 hostages have since been freed.
Israel’s retaliatory assault has killed 18,205 Pales-tinians and wounded nearly 50,000, according to the Gaza health ministry. The 193-member General Assembly is likely on Tuesday to pass a draft reso-lution that mirrors the language of one that was blocked by the United States in the 15-member Security Council last week.
General Assembly resolutions are not binding but carry political weight and reflect global views. Some diplomats and observers predict the vote will garner greater support than the assembly’s October call for “an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce.”
The vote was due a day after 12 Security Council envoys visited the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, the only place where limited humanitarian aid and fuel have entered. The United States did not send a representative on the trip. US President Joe Biden, who has weathered intense criticism for his support of Israel’s response to the October 7 attacks, on Monday told a White House celebration for the Jewish holiday of Hannukah that his commitment to Israel is “unshakeable.”
“Folks, were there no Israel, there wouldn’t be a Jew in the world that was safe,” Biden said. He also alluded to his complex relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who he said is in a “tough spot”.—Agencies
