Air strikes and artillery fire followed one another on Sunday in the Gaza Strip. On Sunday, 84 people were killed in bombings notably in Gaza City (north) and those of Khan Younes and Rafah (south), bringing the total Palestinian death toll to 32,226 deaths, announced the Hamas Ministry of Health.
“When we look at Gaza, it almost seems as if the four horsemen of the Apocalypse are galloping above, sowing war, famine, conquest and death,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday. , traveling in Egypt. Antonio Guterres urged Israel to “remove the last obstacles” to the entry of humanitarian aid, desperately awaited by the 2.4 million inhabitants of the Palestinian territory, placed under complete siege since October 7.
Information to remember:
⇒ The Security Council tries again to vote on a call for a ceasefire
⇒ UNRWA says it is banned from any aid delivery in northern Gaza
⇒ Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visits Washington
Gaza: Security Council tries again to vote on ceasefire call
The UN Security Council will try again this Monday to adopt a text demanding an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza. On Friday, Russia and China vetoed a draft American resolution emphasizing the “need” for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza in connection with negotiations for the release of hostages. Some observers saw this as a substantial shift in Washington’s position, under pressure to limit its support for Israel. The United States had until then systematically opposed the term “ceasefire” in UN resolutions, blocking three texts to this effect.
But the rejected American text did not explicitly call for an immediate ceasefire, using wording considered ambiguous by Arab countries, China and Russia, which denounced the “hypocritical spectacle” of the United States.
The draft resolution which must be put to the vote this Monday is the result of the work of the non-permanent members of the Council, who negotiated all weekend with the United States to try to avoid another failure, according to diplomatic sources , who expressed some optimism about the outcome of the vote. “We expect, barring a last minute twist, that the resolution will be adopted and that the United States will not vote against it,” a diplomat told AFP on Sunday.
Unrwa says it is banned from any aid deliveries in northern Gaza
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) announced on Sunday, through its head Philippe Lazzarini, that it was now formally prohibited by Israel from any delivery of food aid to the north of the Gaza Strip. “Despite the tragedy unfolding before our eyes, the Israeli authorities have informed the UN that they will no longer approve UNRWA food convoys in the north” of the Gaza Strip, announced Philippe Lazzarini on X, emphasizing that the agency remains “the main lifeline for Palestinian refugees.”
The agency had in fact no longer been able to distribute aid in this sector, where the risk of famine is most acute, since January 29, said its spokesperson Juliette Touma. However, it can continue to do so in the southern part. “Preventing UNRWA from bringing food is in fact denying the possibility of survival to hungry people,” responded the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , who called for an “urgent” review of this decision.
Israel’s “military advantage” at the heart of its Defense Minister’s US trip
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant indicated on Sunday that his visit to Washington would be devoted in particular to maintaining Israel’s “military advantage” in the Middle East, against the backdrop of the war in Gaza. “During my visit, I will focus on preserving Israel’s qualitative military advantage, and on achieving our common goals: victory over Hamas and the return of hostages” held in Gaza since attack of October 7, declared the minister on the airport tarmac, before taking off for the American capital.
This visit will aim “to preserve the qualitative military advantage of the State of Israel, our capacity to obtain” certain weapons devices, he said. It will also focus on maintaining “essential ties with the United States, and the importance of achieving our objectives in Gaza […] and to ensure Israel’s security needs, linked to the Gaza Strip and Lebanon”. This trip at the invitation of his counterpart and “friend” Lloyd Austin, “is a very important trip”, said Yoav Gallant, who is also scheduled to meet Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and the Director of the CIA.
Macron warns Netanyahu
French President Emmanuel Macron raised his tone on Sunday towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, once again marking “his firm opposition” to an Israeli offensive on Rafah and warning that “the forced transfer of the population constituted a war crime”.
During a telephone interview with Benyamin Netanyahu, the French leader also “strongly condemned recent Israeli announcements regarding colonization”, the Elysée indicated in a press release. Israel announced on Friday the seizure of 800 hectares of land in the occupied West Bank.