US for a 4th time blocks UN Security Council resolution calling for ceasefire in Gaza

Algerian Ambassador to the UN Amar Bendjama speaks during a UN Security Council meeting on the Israel-Hamas war, at UN Headquarters in New York City on Feb. 20, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 21 February 2024
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US for a 4th time blocks UN Security Council resolution calling for ceasefire in Gaza

  • America’s envoy says the resolution, drafted by Algeria, would interfere with ‘sensitive’ negotiations, led by Washington, to broker an end to hostilities
  • Algeria’s ambassador to the UN asks: ‘How many innocent lives must be sacrificed before the council deems it necessary to call for a ceasefire?’

NEW YORK CITY: For the fourth time since the start of the war in Gaza, the US on Tuesday vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in the embattled territory.

It said such a resolution would interfere with ongoing, “sensitive” negotiations, led by Washington, that are attempting to broker an end to the hostilities.

Thirteen of the 15 council members voted in favor of the resolution, which was drafted by Algeria. The UK abstained.




Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US permanent representative to the UN, described Tuesday’s vote as “irresponsible.” (Screenshot/UNTV)

“This resolution is a stance against the advocates of murder and hatred,” Algeria’s ambassador to the UN, Amar Bendjama, told the council prior to the vote.

“A vote in favor of this draft resolution is support to the Palestinians’ right to life. Conversely, voting against it implies an endorsement of the brutal violence and collective punishment inflicted upon them.

“Today, every Palestinian is a target of death, extermination and genocide. How many innocent lives must be sacrificed before the council deems it necessary to call for a ceasefire?”

More than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israeli forces began their bombardment in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. About 70,000 have been injured, and thousands of bodies are thought to be still buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings.

After the vote, Bendjama vowed that he will continue to knock on the door of the Security Council demanding an end to the bloodshed in Gaza. “We will never tire and we will never stop,” he added.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US permanent representative to the UN, described Tuesday’s vote as “irresponsible.”

She signaled on Saturday that Washington would block the draft resolution over concerns it could jeopardize ongoing negotiations to broker a pause in the fighting and the release of the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas and other groups in the Gaza Strip.

“Any action this council takes right now should help not hinder these sensitive and ongoing negotiations,” she said before the vote, warning that the Algerian resolution would only hamper those talks.

“Demanding an immediate, unconditional ceasefire without an agreement requiring Hamas to release the hostages will not bring about a durable peace. Instead, it could extend the fighting between Hamas and Israel.”

In addition to the call for an immediate ceasefire, the Arab-backed draft resolution did also demand the immediate release of all hostages. It also rejected the forced displacement of Palestinian civilians, called for the unrestricted flow of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, and reiterated council demands that both Israel and Hamas “scrupulously comply” with the rules of international law, especially in relation to the protection of civilians. It also condemned “all acts of terrorism,” without explicitly naming either side.

In a surprise move on Sunday night, the US tabled its own alternative draft resolution on Gaza that also called for a “ceasefire” but referred to it as a temporary one to be implemented “as soon as practicable” and “based on the formula of all hostages being released.”

The US draft, a copy of which Arab News obtained, also underscored the demand that Israel should not proceed with a military offensive against the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, on the grounds that such an attack “would result in further harm to civilians and their further displacement, including potentially into neighboring countries, which would have serious implications for regional peace and security.”

Rafah has become the last refuge for more than a million Palestinians forced to flee fighting in other parts of Gaza.

Discussions of the US draft resolution, which diplomatic sources said has not been officially presented to Security Council members, have yet to take place and there is no timetable as yet for any vote on it.

However, the sources said that based on media reports, the text of the resolution appears to be too wordy, and they have concerns about the wording of the ceasefire call, especially the reference to it being a temporary measure to be implemented “as soon as practicable,” without specifying who will decide when this might be. This suggests the US will leave it up to Israel to decide when a ceasefire declaration is appropriate, they said.

Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, described the failure to adopt the Algerian resolution as “yet another dark chapter in the history of the UN Security Council, again written by the US delegation.”

He accused the Americans of providing cover for Israel to carry out “inhumane plans against Gaza, specifically to expel the Palestinians from the strip and to completely cleanse the strip and quite literally transform it into an uninhabitable territory.”

The magnitude of the violence unleashed in Gaza “has surpassed any conflict humankind has encountered following the Second World War. Public opinion will no longer forgive UN inaction,” he added.

China’s envoy, Zhang Jun, also expressed disappointment about the outcome of the vote. He said the US veto sends the wrong message and pushes the situation in Gaza in a dangerous direction.

“The continued passive avoidance of an immediate ceasefire is nothing different from giving a green light to the continued slaughter,” he said.

While ceasefire resolutions are being vetoed in the Security Council, Zhang said, the spillover from the conflict continues to destabilize the entire Middle East region, increasing the risk of a wider war.

“Only by extinguishing the flames of war in Gaza can we prevent fires of hell from engulfing the entire region,” he added. “The council must act quickly to stop this carnage in the Middle East.”

Slovenia’s Samuel Zbogar, who voted in favor of the resolution, called for an end to the killing of civilians in Gaza.

“The suffering that Palestinians are enduring is beyond anything a human being should be subjected to,” he said.


Israel army orders evacuation of northern Gaza neighborhoods

Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Gaza City, June 7, 2025. (REUTERS)
Updated 7 sec ago
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Israel army orders evacuation of northern Gaza neighborhoods

  • Palestinian Health Ministry says Gaza’s hospitals only have fuel for three more days

GAZA CITY: The Israeli military has called for Gazans to evacuate from neighborhoods in the north of the Gaza Strip, where it said rockets had been fired from.

Israeli forces will “attack each zone used to launch rockets,” the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X, adding: “For
your security, evacuate immediately to the south.”
The warning covered a neighborhood northwest of Gaza City and another in Jabalia.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said on Saturday that Gaza’s hospitals only had fuel for three more days and that Israel was denying access for international relief agencies to areas where fuel storage designated for hospitals is located.

FASTFACT

The UN has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade.

There was no immediate response from the Israeli military or COGAT, the Israeli defense agency that coordinates humanitarian matters with the Palestinians.
Also on Saturday, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it was unable to distribute assistance to Palestinian civilians, blaming threats by Hamas, which the group denied.
“The threats made it impossible to proceed today without putting innocent lives at risk,” the GHF said in a statement in which it also said it intended to resume aid distribution “without delay.”
A Hamas official said he did not know of such “alleged threats.”
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the GHF said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations.
The UN has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.

FASTFACT

The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution.

On Wednesday, the GHF suspended operations and asked the Israeli military to review security protocols after Palestinian hospital officials said more than 80 people had been shot dead and hundreds wounded near distribution points between June 1-3.
Eyewitnesses blamed Israeli soldiers for the killings. The Israeli military said it fired warning shots on two days, while on Tuesday it said soldiers had fired at Palestinian “suspects” who were advancing towards their positions.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution that the UN says is neither impartial nor neutral.
The GHF says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to UN and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.

 


UNRWA chief condemns Israeli ban on foreign journalists entering Gaza

Updated 07 June 2025
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UNRWA chief condemns Israeli ban on foreign journalists entering Gaza

  • Lazzarini said Israeli authorities’ refusal to grant access to foreign media since the beginning of the war in Gaza was unprecedented in modern conflict

AMMAN: The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has sharply criticized Israel for barring international journalists from entering the Gaza Strip, calling the ongoing restriction a “ban on reporting the truth.”

Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, said the Israeli authorities’ refusal to grant access to foreign media since the beginning of the war in Gaza was unprecedented in modern conflict.

“This is unlike any other conflict in contemporary history,” Lazzarini wrote in a post on X. “It essentially prevents journalists from reporting the truth from the Gaza Strip.”

He warned that the continued ban on international coverage had grave consequences, describing it as “the perfect recipe for fueling media misinformation, deepening polarization, and obscuring humanity.”

Lazzarini called for an immediate end to the ban on foreign media organizations and urged Israel to facilitate access for international journalists. He also called for support for Palestinian journalists who remain in Gaza and continue to report under extremely difficult and dangerous conditions.

“The world must not be kept in the dark,” he said.

The remarks come amid growing international concern over press freedom in Gaza, where Palestinian reporters have borne the brunt of the conflict with limited external scrutiny due to access restrictions.


UN welcomes new Libya safety and rights committees

Updated 07 June 2025
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UN welcomes new Libya safety and rights committees

  • UNSMIL said the committees were “composed of key parties“
  • The safety committee was tasked with drafting a plan to disarm non-state actors in Tripoli

TRIPOLI: The United Nations mission in Libya on Saturday welcomed the formation of two committees by the Libyan presidential council to address safety and human rights after recent deadly clashes in Tripoli.

UNSMIL said the committees were “composed of key parties,” with one aimed at “strengthening security arrangements to prevent the outbreak of fighting and ensure the protection of civilians.”

The second committee was tasked with “addressing human rights concerns in detention facilities, including widespread arbitrary detention,” it added.

Libya is split between the UN-recognized government in Tripoli, led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, and a rival administration in the east.

The North African country has remained deeply divided since the 2011 NATO-backed revolt that toppled and killed longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi.

Last month, its capital was rocked by days of deadly fighting between rival armed groups that left at least eight people dead, according to the UN.

The violence was sparked by the killing of Abdelghani Al-Kikli, the leader of the Support and Stability Apparatus (SSA) armed group, by the government-backed 444 Brigade, which later took on another rival faction, Radaa.

It also came after Dbeibah announced a string of executive orders seeking to dismantle armed groups that he later said had “become stronger than the state.”

Earlier this week, the Libyan presidential council announced the creation of the committees in a move that Dbeibah described as necessary “to strengthen the rule of law.”

The safety committee was tasked with drafting a plan to disarm non-state actors in Tripoli and strengthen the control of official security forces, the council said.

And the human rights committee will monitor conditions in detention centers and review cases of people detained without judicial oversight.

This came after UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Turk raised alarm over “gross human rights violations uncovered at official and unofficial detention facilities” run by the SSA group.

UNSMIL said it was “committed to providing technical support” to the newly formed committees.

“UNSMIL stresses that these committees come at a crucial moment when Libyans are demanding meaningful reform, accountable and democratic state institutions,” it said.


Gaza rescuers say Israel fire kills 36, six of them near US-backed aid center

Updated 07 June 2025
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Gaza rescuers say Israel fire kills 36, six of them near US-backed aid center

  • Deaths latest reported near aid center run by Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) in Rafah
  • Gazans have gathered at the roundabout almost daily since late May to collect humanitarian aid

GAZA: Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli forces killed at least 36 Palestinians on Saturday, six of them in a shooting near a US-backed aid distribution center.

The shooting deaths were the latest reported near the aid center run by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) in the southern district of Rafah and came after it resumed distributions following a brief suspension in the wake of similar deaths earlier this week.

An aid boat with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, was meanwhile nearing Gaza in a bid to highlight the plight of Palestinians in the face of an Israeli blockade that has only been partially eased.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that at around 7:00 am (0400 GMT), “six people were killed and several others wounded by the forces of the Israeli occupation near the Al-Alam roundabout.”

Gazans have gathered at the roundabout almost daily since late May to collect humanitarian aid from the GHF aid center about one kilometer (a little over half a mile) away.

AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls compiled by the civil defense agency or the circumstances of the deaths it reports.

The Israeli military told AFP that troops had fired “warning shots” at individuals that it said were “advancing in a way that endangered the troops.”

Samir Abu Hadid, who was there early Saturday, told AFP that thousands of people had gathered near the roundabout.

“As soon as some people tried to advance toward the aid center, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire from armored vehicles stationed near the center, firing into the air and then at civilians,” Abu Hadid said.

The GHF, officially a private effort with opaque funding, began operations in late May as Israel partially eased a more than two-month aid blockade on the territory.

UN agencies and major aid groups have declined to work with it, citing concerns it serves Israeli military goals.

Israel has come under increasing international criticism over the dire humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, where the United Nations warned in May that the entire population was at risk of famine.

The aid boat Madleen, organized by an international activist coalition, was sailing toward Gaza on Saturday, aiming to breach Israel’s naval blockade and deliver aid to the territory, organizers said.

“We are now sailing off the Egyptian coast,” German human rights activist Yasemin Acar told AFP. “We are all good,” she added.

In a statement from London, the International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza — a member organization of the flotilla coalition — said the ship had entered Egyptian waters.

The group said it remains in contact with international legal and human rights bodies to ensure the safety of those on board, warning that any interception would constitute “a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.”

The Palestinian territory was under Israeli naval blockade even before the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas that sparked the Gaza war and the Israeli military has made clear it intends to enforce the blockade.

“For this case as well, we are prepared,” army spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said on Tuesday, when asked about the Freedom Flotilla vessel.

“We have gained experience in recent years, and we will act accordingly.”

A 2010 commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of a similar attempt to breach Israel’s naval blockade, left 10 civilians dead.


Syrian authorities announce closure of notorious desert camp

Updated 07 June 2025
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Syrian authorities announce closure of notorious desert camp

DAMASCUS: A notorious desert refugee camp in Syria has closed after the last remaining families returned to their areas of origin, Syrian authorities said on Saturday.
The Rukban camp in Syria’s desert was established in 2014, at the height of Syria’s civil war, in a de-confliction zone controlled by the US-led coalition fighting the Daesh group, near the borders with Jordan and Iraq.
Desperate people fleeing IS jihadists and former government bombardment sought refuge there, hoping to cross into Jordan.
Former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government rarely allowed aid to enter the camp and neighboring countries closed their borders to the area, isolating Rukban for years.
After an Islamist-led offensive toppled Assad in December, families started leaving the camp to return home.
The Syrian Emergency Task Force, a US-based organization, said on Friday that the camp was “officially closed and empty, all families and residents have returned to their homes.”
Syrian Information Minister Hamza Al-Mustafa said on X on Saturday that “with the dismantlement of the Rukban camp and the return of the displaced, a tragic and sorrowful chapter of displacement stories created by the bygone regime’s war machine comes to a close.”
“Rukban was not just a camp, it was the triangle of death that bore witness to the cruelty of siege and starvation, where the regime left people to face their painful fate in the barren desert,” he added.
At its peak, the camp housed more than 100,000 people. The numbers dwindled with time, especially after Jordan sealed off its side of the border and stopped regular aid deliveries in 2016.
Around 8,000 people still lived there before Assad’s fall, residing in mud-brick houses, with food and basic supplies smuggled in at high prices.
Syrian minister for emergency situations and disasters Raed Al-Saleh said on X said the camp’s closure represents “the end of one of the harshest humanitarian tragedies faced by our displaced people.”
“We hope this step marks the beginning of a path that ends the suffering of the remaining camps and returns their residents to their homes with dignity and safety,” he added.
According to the International Organization for Migration, 1.87 million Syrians have returned to their places of origin since Assad’s fall, after they were displaced within the country or abroad.
The IOM says the “lack of economic opportunities and essential services pose the greatest challenge” for those returning home.
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