The US vetoes a supported UN decision demanding a right away humanitarian ceasefire, whereas ICJ hearings proceed.
Right here’s how issues stand on Wednesday, February 21, 2024:
Combating and humanitarian disaster
- Docs With out Borders, identified by its French initials MSF, mentioned the Israeli army has bombed a shelter internet hosting MSF employees in al-Mawasi close to Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
- Within the 24 hours between Monday and Tuesday afternoon, 103 Palestinians have been reported killed and 142 injured by Israeli assaults on Gaza, in line with the UN Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
- The World Meals Programme mentioned it has paused deliveries of food to remoted northern Gaza due to assaults and the breakdown of civil order within the area. The weakening of the help operations threatens to deepen distress throughout the territory, the place Israel’s air and floor offensive has killed over 29,000 Palestinians.
Regional tensions and Diplomacy
- The US vetoed an Arab-backed and extensively supported UN resolution demanding a right away humanitarian ceasefire in Israel’s struggle on Gaza.
- Earlier than the vote, Algeria’s UN Ambassador Amar Bendjama mentioned: “A vote in favour of this draft decision is a help to the Palestinians’ proper to life. Conversely, voting in opposition to it implies an endorsement of the brutal violence and collective punishment inflicted in opposition to them.”
- China’s Ambassador to the UN Zhang Jun mentioned that the US’s veto “stifles” an “overwhelming consensus” among the many UNSC’s members on a ceasefire in Gaza.
- Individually, South Africa argued on the United Nations’ high courtroom that Israel is chargeable for apartheid in opposition to the Palestinians and that Israel’s occupation of land hunted for a Palestinian state is “inherently and essentially unlawful”. Israel rejects such claims.
- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has described Israeli troopers’ reported looting of houses in Gaza as a “symptom of genocide and ethnic cleaning”.
- And in Yemen, the Houthi rebels claimed they struck an Israeli cargo ship, the MSC Silver, within the Gulf of Aden close to the doorway to the Crimson Sea with numerous missiles.
At at present’s session, Amb. Dr. Riyad Mansour condemned the Safety Council’s failure to name for a #ceasefire in #Gaza “By the point this session ends, over 25 #Palestinians can be useless because of the Council’s inaction, It means extra infants can be murdered.” @AlgeriaUN @UN #UNSC pic.twitter.com/J9d0LT3bvs
— State of Palestine (@Palestine_UN) February 21, 2024
Violence within the occupied West Financial institution
- Israeli forces destroyed infrastructure and fired dwell rounds in Jenin, as raids on dozens of houses proceed within the metropolis within the occupied West Financial institution, in line with the Palestinian information company Wafa.
- The Israeli army mentioned it had focused a “terrorist cell” with an air strike in Jenin, killing three folks. Palestinian armed teams mentioned that they had responded by utilizing explosive units in opposition to Israeli army automobiles.
- Israeli forces additionally arrested a minor within the city of al-Khader, south of Bethlehem.
