BLOG The vote in the UN Security Council on the resolution for aid to Gaza has been postponed again

The vote in the United Nations Security Council on the resolution calling for a ceasefire and the delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip was postponed again today.

The US, its allies and Arab states have engaged in high-level diplomacy to avoid another US veto of a new UN resolution on aid to Gaza.

Deputy US Ambassador Robert Wood told reporters that he is still working hard to amend the text of the resolution so that it is acceptable.

A new vote has not yet been scheduled, and diplomats announced that Russia invited 15 council members to closed consultations this evening.

The US wants parts of the text of the resolution that call for a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas, but the key point is the inspection of aid trucks entering Gaza to make sure they are carrying only humanitarian goods.

(BETA)

A school in Tel Aviv was hit by shrapnel today in a major rocket attack on that city in central Israel, Hebrew-language media reported.

The school said the students were safe and in bomb shelters.

Footage posted online showed parts of rockets and interceptors scattered in the Tel Aviv area, including a larger one that fell on a path in a park in Kiryat On.

Minor damage was reported in several places, but Israeli emergency services said there were no injuries.

Hamas's military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for the rocket fire on Israel and confirmed that Tel Aviv was the target.

In the north, the Lebanese extremist organization Hezbollah claimed responsibility for what it said were direct hits across the border into Israel, after anti-tank rockets were fired at civilians, wounding two.

Israeli media reports that around 30 rockets were fired from Gaza today, the most in the past few days.

The military has not commented on the rocket fire, but estimates that the extremists' ability to attack Israel have been greatly limited are being questioned.

In the meantime, Hamas has again announced that it will not agree to release more hostages, nor to negotiate about it, until the conflict ends.

The announcement came amid intense negotiations over a possible deal to release hostages in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli jails.

Hamas leaders have already said they will not accept a temporary truce.

An unnamed Israeli official accused the extremist group of trying to condition the release of the hostages on the end of the war and said "that's not going to happen".

129 hostages are still believed to be held in Gaza out of the 240 to 250 taken on the first day of the war on October 7 in attacks by Palestinian extremists led by Hamas in southern Israel.

(BETA)

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi warned that the possible failure of the UN Security Council to pass a resolution on Gaza would mean the application of "dangerous double standards", writes Reuters.

Safadi said the draft resolution, which the UN Security Council is due to vote on later in the day, is focused on speeding up aid shipments that Amman claims Israel is obstructing to prevent aid from being delivered, Reuters reports.

At the request of the US, a vote in the UNSC was postponed yesterday on a draft resolution that seeks to increase aid to the Gaza Strip and requires the UN to take over the monitoring of humanitarian deliveries in the Palestinian enclave.

The human rights organization Amnesty International (AI) announced today that Israel must release all "arbitrarily detained" Palestinians, shed light on the circumstances of death, disappearance and inhumane treatment.

AI regional director Heba Morajef emphasized in a press release that an "independent investigation" is needed into the alleged abuse of detainees.

On Tuesday, the Israeli army told Agence France-Presse that it was opening an investigation into "the deaths of terrorists in military detention centers," but did not specify their number or the circumstances of their deaths.

The Israeli military came under fire after photos of dozens of Palestinians in their underwear, blindfolded and handcuffed, arrested in the Gaza Strip were released.

The army previously announced that "500 terrorists" had been arrested in the small Palestinian enclave.

The war between Israel and Hamas, which has been going on for 75 days, was triggered by unprecedented attacks by Palestinian extremists from Gaza into southern Israel.

About 1.140 people, mostly civilians, were killed in those attacks, according to France Presse, based on the latest official Israeli information, and 250 people were kidnapped and taken to Gaza.

Since then, about 100 hostages have been released.

After the attack on October 7, Israel pledged to "destroy Hamas" and continuously bombarded the besieged Palestinian territory, and the ground offensive began on October 27.

At least 20.000 people have been killed since the start of the Israeli bombing, mostly women, children and minors, according to the Ministry of Health there.

AI also called for the unconditional release of all hostages, recalling that the abduction of civilians is a war crime.

(BETA)

The Security Council of the United Nations again postponed for a day last night the vote on the new UN resolution concerning the desperately needed aid for Gaza, while the US administration is trying at a high level to change the key wording in the text, in order to avoid the US veto.

The US seeks to change the reference in the text concerning the cessation of hostilities in the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant movement Hamas, as well as the part concerning the authorization of the United Nations to exclusively inspect the trucks to ensure that they are actually delivering humanitarian goods to Gaza - which Israel opposes.

United Arab Emirates Ambassador Lana Nuseibe, who sponsored the Arab-backed resolution, said very high-level talks were underway to try to reach an agreement on the text for its adoption.

"Everyone wants to see a resolution that has an impact and can be applied on the ground," she told reporters after the 15-member Council held closed consultations, adding: "We believe that giving some room for additional diplomacy could yield positive results. "

Nuseibe said that the UAE will be optimistic and try to reach an agreement, but if the negotiations do not produce results by Thursday, "then we will assess in the Council that we are going to vote on the resolution."

The vote - originally postponed to Monday, then moved to Tuesday and then Wednesday - is now expected today.

The original text called for an "immediate cessation of hostilities to allow safe and unimpeded humanitarian access and for immediate steps towards a sustainable cessation of hostilities". He also urged UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to quickly establish a mechanism for sole UN oversight of aid deliveries to Gaza — bypassing current Israeli inspections of aid entering the territory.

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also raised two other issues Wednesday morning that were not in the Arab-sponsored resolution — condemning Hamas's deadly October 7 incursion into southern Israel that led to the war.

"It is important for us, if the Security Council is going to talk about it, that there is a condemnation of Hamas and what they did on October 7, that there is a recognition of the need for Israel to be able to defend itself, and there is of course a significant commitment from all members in providing humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza," Kirby said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken then said at a press conference in Washington that the US was engaged intensively and "in good faith" in the negotiations on the resolution, "so I hope we can come to a new place".

On December 8, the US vetoed a Security Council resolution that was supported by almost all other members of the Council and dozens of other nations. The resolution demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a similar resolution on December 12.

(BETA)