Fighting escalated and the Palestinian death toll rose on Saturday, with Israel pounding the enclave from north to south in an expanded phase of the two-month-old war against the Iran-backed Islamist group Hamas.
Decrying a "spiralling humanitarian nightmare", UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday declared that nowhere in Gaza was safe for civilians, hours before the US vetoed a Security Council resolution backed by the vast majority of its members calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.
Security Council members fail to adopt resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Middle East.— United Nations (@UN) Humanitarian organizations, including UN and partners, have warned that the situation in Gaza is near total collapse. https://t.co/Zs8c7gpx2c pic.twitter.com/8oQC2vMR8lDecember 8, 2023 The US has vetoed a UN Security Council demand for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The vote left Washington diplomatically isolated on the 15-member council.
Thirteen members voted in favour of the draft resolution put forward by the United Arab Emirates, while Britain abstained.
"We do not support this resolution's call for an unsustainable ceasefire that will only plant the seeds for the next war," Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood told the council.
The US and Israel oppose a ceasefire, saying it would benefit Hamas, which Israel has vowed to annihilate in response to the militants' deadly October 7 cross-border rampage.
Washington instead supports "pauses" such as the seven-day halt in fighting during which Hamas released some hostages and the humanitarian aid flow increased.
The deal broke down on December 1.
Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour told the council the vote means "millions of Palestinian lives hang in the balance".
Gaza's health ministry says the death toll from Israel's campaign in Gaza has risen to 17,487. (AP PHOTO)
Ezzat El-Reshiq, a member of Hamas' political bureau, condemned the US veto as "inhumane".
Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said in a statement: "A ceasefire will be possible only with the return of all the hostages and the destruction of Hamas."
The White House on Friday said more could be done by Israel to reduce civilian casualties and the US shared international concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
"We certainly all recognise more can be done to try to reduce civilian casualties," White House national security council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Residents and the Israeli military reported intensified fighting in northern areas, where Israel had previously said its troops had largely completed their tasks last month, and in the south where they mounted a new assault this week.
Gaza's health ministry on Friday said the death toll from Israel's campaign in Gaza had risen to 17,487.
Most of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes and are unable to find refuge. (AP PHOTO)
Early on Saturday, it said another 71 dead and 160 injured people had arrived at Al Aqsa hospital in the past 24 hours.
More strikes were reported on Friday in Khan Younis in the south, the Nusseirat camp in the centre and Gaza City in the north.
On Friday evening, residents reported intensified Israeli tank fire in north Gaza, while health officials said at least 10 people were killed in an air strike on a house in Khan Younis.
Reuters journalists in southern Gaza have seen dead and wounded swamping the main Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, where there was no room on the floor on Friday for arriving patients sprawled across blood-smeared tiles.
Israel's military said 94 Israeli soldiers had been killed fighting in Gaza since its ground invasion began in mid-October in retaliation for Hamas' rampage in southern Israel in which militants killed 1200 people and took more than 240 hostages.
Israeli commander Brigadier General Dan Goldfuss said in a video message recorded in Khan Younis his forces were fighting house to house and "shaft to shaft", a reference to tunnel shafts.
Since the Israeli military campaign began, most of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes, and residents say it has become almost impossible to find refuge.
Israel's chief military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israel had detained more than 200 suspects from Gaza in the past 48 hours and dozens were taken to Israel for questioning.
