Russia and China veto US Security Council bid on Gaza 'ceasefire'

The live blog has now closed. Thank you for following. The New Arab will be back again tomorrow at 9am with live coverage of events in Gaza.

Israel's occupation forces have committed nine massacres against families in the Gaza Strip over the last 24 hours - killing at least 82 civilians and injuring 110 - Wafa news agency reports.

United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths on Friday called for an immediate ceasefire and said Israel needs to lift all impediments to aid distribution to Gazans.

"Limits to aid distribution within Gaza are set by those who block the movements of convoys meant to feed tens of thousands of critically hungry people," Griffiths said in a post on social media platform X.

There has been a lot of debate and finger-pointing about the challenges to getting aid to people in need in Gaza.

So, let’s settle this once and for all. pic.twitter.com/mUB6mQiKdc

— Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) March 22, 2024

(Reuters)

A full-scale ground offensive against Gaza's Rafah would further isolate Israel internationally, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.

"We share Israel's goal of defeating Hamas... A major military ground operation in Rafah is not the way to do it," he told reporters in Israel. "It risks further isolating Israel around the world."

The Security Council will vote Saturday on a new draft resolution that seeks an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, three diplomats said, but the United States has indicated it may veto it.

The vote will come a day after the United States put forward a text on the need for a ceasefire that was vetoed by Russia and China and opposed by Arab states, which said it was not explicit enough in pressuring Israel.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that Russia and China "cynically vetoed" a US-led draft resolution at the UN Security Council on a ceasefire in Gaza.

"On the resolution, which got very strong support, but then was cynically vetoed by Russia and China, I think we were trying to show the international community a sense of urgency about getting a ceasefire," Blinken told reporters in Israel.

US Secretary of State of State Antony Blinken shook hands and chatted on Friday with demonstrators in Tel Aviv, demanding Israel focus on the release of captives held by Hamas, promising them that he was working to bring them home.

Several dozen people, including some family members of hostages, gathered outside a Tel Aviv hotel where Blinken's delegation was based, holding banners calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, where Israel's bombardment of the enclave has resulted in 32,070 Palestinians being killed and 74,298 injured.

(Reuters)

A total of 32,070 Palestinians have been killed and 74,298 injured since 7 October - according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, emphasised the need to protect civilians in Gaza and sustain humanitarian aid through both land and sea routes, the State Department said.

Blinken also discussed efforts to reach an agreement for a ceasefire of at least six weeks that would secure the release of hostages and enable a surge in humanitarian assistance, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

(Reuters)

The Palestinian ambassador to the UN has denounced the US draft resolution which was vetoed by Russia and China at the UN Security Council on Friday.

Riyad Mansour said it was "one-sided" and that it failed to address the "genocide" happening against Palestinians in Gaza.

"The essence of it is calling for an immediate ceasefire during the month of Ramadan, which we support because we want to save the lives of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and we want to have massive humanitarian assistance to the level of the needs of our people," Mansour said.

Israel's military said it had opened a new entry point for aid to enter Gaza and was allowing unlimited supplies into the enclave, after a UN-backed report said there was an imminent risk of famine in the north and that it would spread.

"As much as we know, by our analysis, there is no starvation in Gaza. There is a sufficient amount of food entering Gaza every day," Colonel Moshe Tetro, head of Israel's Coordination and Liasion Administration for Gaza, told reporters at Gate 96, a new entry point for delivering supplies to the northern area.

A convoy of seven trucks entered through Gate 96 on Thursday, which he said was the third time the route was used.

Aid convoys, which are driven by Palestinian drivers, are cleared by the military at the southern cross point of Kerem Shalom and drive up on the Israeli side of the Gaza security fence to Gate 96 where they enter Gaza and turn north.

(Reuters)

Al Jazeera reports that Guyana abstained from the US resolution because it "lacked attribution in a number of key areas".

Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett said, "To whom is the demand for compliance with obligations under international law [addressed?] … Who is preventing the use of all available routes to the Gaza Strip? Who does not respect deconfliction and notification mechanisms?"

"We know the answers to these questions … Why then were the relevant demands in this resolution not clearly addressed to the occupying power, not even once?"

Israel plans to send troops into Gaza's Rafah even without US support, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Antony Blinken on Friday, as Washington failed to pass a UN resolution on an "immediate" ceasefire.

"And I told him that I hope we will do it with the support of the US, but if we have to - we will do it alone," Netanyahu said.

Almost six months of Israeli bombardment since 7 October has brought Gaza to its knees, with many thousands killed, infrastructure shattered and widespread warnings that its 2.4 million people are on the verge of famine.

French President Emmanuel Macron vowed on Friday to keep pressing for a Gaza ceasefire call at the UN Security Council, moments after China and Russia vetoed a US-backed draft resolution.

"The Security Council must call for an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian access," Macron told reporters in Brussels, promising to resume work based on an alternative French resolution "along with our US, European and Arab partners to reach an agreement".

(Reuters)

Russia and China on Friday vetoed a US-backed draft resolution at the Security Council on a ceasefire in Gaza, with Moscow accusing Washington of a "hypocritical spectacle" that does not pressure Israel.

Russia and China both exercised their veto against the resolution, which would have spoken of the "imperative of an immediate and sustained ceasefire" and condemned the 7 October attack by Hamas.

Israeli forces have been assaulting Palestinian worshippers trying to reach Al-Aqsa mosque in occupied Jerusalem.

Footage from the Quds News Network shows forces restricting worshippers from entering the compound and preventing it from being filmed.

Israeli occupation forces assault Palestinians trying to reach Al-Aqsa mosque in occupied Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/BeQQxUyVuI

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) March 22, 2024

David Cameron, the UK foreign secretary, has warned Israel that the UK government could withhold weapons unless aid enters Gaza and complies with international law.

It is reported that the secretary told Israeli officials that an "arms embargo" could happen if prisoners detained by Israeli forces are denied access to visits from the Red Cross.

This comes as the UK was considering restricting arms exports to Israel if it invades Rafah.

A group of protesters interrupted an event at the Czech National Gallery in Prague to protest against Israel's war on Gaza, Anadolu reports.

“Good evening, everyone, on behalf of the Prague Art Collective, we interrupt the opening. Six months ago, in October 2023, I was an exhibitor here. And today, I'm standing here asking for a minute of your attention, Yara Abu Aataya, a Prague-based content designer said during the event's open speeches.

Aataya said she is from Gaza, and her family is still in the enclave.

Nearly 120,000 worshipers reached the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem despite restrictions from the Israeli forces.

The Jordan-run Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem said worshippers performed the second Friday prayer of Ramadan in the courtyards of the mosque.

Finland's foreign trade and development minister said on Friday that the country will resume funding the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA.

Several countries, including the United States and Britain, paused their funding to UNRWA after accusations by Israel that a dozen of the agency's 13,000 staff in Gaza took part in the 7 October attack in Israel.

"UNRWA improving its risk management, meaning preventing and initiating close monitoring for misconduct, provides sufficient guarantees for us at this point to continue our support," Foreign Trade and Development Minister Ville Tavio said.

Israel reported on Friday the seizure of 800 hectares (1,977 acres) of land in the occupied West Bank, which activists called the largest action of its kind in decades.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and has been raiding the territory and expanding settlements - especially since 7 October.

Settlements in the Palestinian territories are illegal under international law.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said preventing from praying at Al-Aqsa is a "crime and a violation" of Netanyahu's pledges to keep the situation as it was before.

This comes after the Israeli military blocked hundreds of worshippers from reaching the compound in occupied Jeruselum to perform the second Friday prayer in the holy month of Ramadan.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates// Preventing citizens from praying at #Al_Aqsa is a crime and a violation of Netanyahu’s pledges to keep the situation as it was before#Gaza_under_attack#CeasefireNow#Palestine#Israeliwarcrimes pic.twitter.com/TLHXcc9D2R

— State of Palestine - MFA 🇵🇸🇵🇸 (@pmofa) March 22, 2024

The EU's 27 leaders called on Thursday for an "immediate humanitarian pause" in Gaza and urged Israel not to launch a major ground offensive in the southernmost city of Rafah.

"The European Council calls for an immediate humanitarian pause leading to a sustainable ceasefire," the leaders said after meeting in Brussels, while also calling for "the unconditional release of all hostages".

The Council "urges the Israeli government not to undertake a ground operation in Rafah, which would worsen the already catastrophic humanitarian situation and prevent the urgently needed provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance", they added in their conclusions.

A Houthi drone and a remote-controlled boat believed to have been targeting a merchant vessel off the Yemen coast was destroyed in a US-led naval coalition in the Red Sea.

According to US Central Command on Thursday, its forces had destroyed one unmanned aerial vehicle and a surface vessel - both launched by Iranian-backed Houthi forces from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

"These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for US Navy and merchant vessels," CENTCOM said.

The Houthis say they are carrying out attacks on shipping in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

The United States and Saudi Arabia have made "good progress" in talks on normalising ties between the kingdom and Israel amid the war on Gaza, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday without providing a timeline for concluding a deal.

"I believe we can reach an agreement, which would present a historic opportunity for two nations, but also for the region as a whole," Blinken said at a joint press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Cairo.

(Reuters)

Six Israelis were wounded on Friday following a shooting at a bus stop near Dolev, a West Bank settlement located northwest of Ramallah. One of the people injured is in critical condition.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, a Palestinian shot at a minibus, damaging the vehicle and an ambulance that arrived at the scene.

The army located and killed the gunman after he fled the scene. 

US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib accused the Israeli government of committing the worst crimes against humanity during a speech on the House floor on Thursday.

"What we are witnessing, all around this world, is the Israeli government using starvation as a weapon of war, Tlaib said.

"The starvation is a result of the total siege on Gaza and the intentional targeting of local food production, infrastructure, and obstruction of aid convoys."

Tlaib is the first Palestinian American woman to serve in Congress and one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@reprashida)

The Israeli military has blocked hundreds of worshippers from reaching Al-Aqsa mosque in occupied Jeruselum to perform the second Friday prayer in the holy month of Ramadan - WAFA news agency reports. 

Eyewitnesses reported increased military presence around the checkpoints in Qalandia, north of Jerusalem, Al-Zaytouna, east of Jerusalem, and Bethlehem to the south.

Israeli forces have been blocking access to Al-Aqsa during the holy month, restricting entry and putting up iron barriers, while Israeli settlers have been storming the compound.

Britain and Australia on Friday declared the need for an "immediate cessation of fighting" in Gaza, as diplomatic pressure built on Israel to rethink a planned ground assault on the southern city of Rafah.

Australian and UK foreign and defence ministers stressed the "urgency of an immediate cessation of fighting in Gaza to allow aid to flow and hostages to be released" in a statement after talks in Adelaide.

The call came just hours before the United States was expected to put a resolution to the UN Security Council that would stress the need for "an immediate ceasefire".

China said on Friday it supported steps by the UN Security Council to end the war on Gaza while not saying whether Beijing, a permanent council member with veto power, would support a US draft resolution on the need for an immediate ceasefire.

"China supports the Security Council in taking further responsible and meaningful actions as soon as possible to make unremitting efforts to end the fighting in Gaza as soon as possible," Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian said.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken landed in Tel Aviv on Friday ahead of Gaza war talks, which were expected to be tense, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to an AFP journalist.

Blinken arrived from Cairo for the last stop of his latest Middle East tour and is expected to speak to the Israeli government on humanitarian aid distribution in the Palestinian territory and to urge Israel not to launch a ground operation in Rafah, where around 1.5 million people are sheltering.