Hamas: an international coalition to fight against attacks in the Red Sea – L’Express

Initially scheduled for Monday, a meeting of the UN Security Council is to be held on Tuesday, December 19, while calls for a ceasefire are increasing from Western and Arab countries. British Foreign Minister David Cameron is due to meet his French and Italian counterparts on Tuesday to once again call for “a lasting ceasefire”, his services announced.

⇒ New attempt at agreement at the UN Security Council

⇒ An international coalition against the Houthis

⇒ The head of the CIA and Mossad in Doha

The 15 members of the UN Security Council are meeting Tuesday morning with the aim of reaching a new resolution aimed at an interruption of hostilities in Gaza and allowing access for humanitarian aid. The meeting scheduled for Monday was postponed, in order to allow negotiations to continue and avoid reaching an impasse similar to the last meeting on December 8. Despite pressure from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the United States, Israel’s ally, then used its right of veto to block the adoption of a resolution calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire.” in the Gaza Strip.

This same resolution was adopted last week by the United Nations General Assembly, in a non-binding manner. A draft text prepared by the United Arab Emirates, obtained by AFP on Sunday, called for “an urgent and lasting cessation of hostilities to allow unimpeded access for humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.”

Visiting Israel on Monday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin promised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the United States would continue to “provide Israel with the equipment you need […]including critical munitions, tactical vehicles and air defense systems”. He also assured that his desire not to “impose a timetable” on Israel in its fight against Hamas which has continued since October 7.

The American minister also insisted on the need to “provide increased humanitarian aid to the nearly two million people displaced in Gaza.”

The United States announced Monday the formation of an international coalition of ten countries, including France, against attacks by Houthi rebels from Yemen in the Red Sea. This statement follows the attack on Monday of two new ships, which the Houthis consider to be “allies of Israel”.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on Sunday that these attacks “cannot go unanswered”. Several shipowners, as well as the British hydrocarbon giant BP and the Taiwanese maritime transport giant Evergreen, have announced that they will stop passing through the area, where 40% of world trade passes.

The heads of the US and Israeli intelligence services are in Doha on Tuesday to discuss the “next phase” of a potential deal between Palestinian Hamas and Israel in Gaza with Qatar’s prime minister, a source briefed on the visit said.

“The director of the CIA and the director of the Israeli National Intelligence Agency (Mossad) are in Doha to meet with the Prime Minister of Qatar, to consolidate the progress of the extended humanitarian pause agreement and to begin further discussions on the next phase of a potential agreement,” added this source to AFP on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the discussions.

At the same time, negotiations are continuing for the implementation of a new truce. According to the Axios news site, CIA boss Bill Burns met with Israeli and Qatari officials in Warsaw with a view to new negotiations on the release of hostages. “Hamas is ready for an exchange of prisoners, but after a ceasefire,” an official of the Islamist movement said on Tuesday.

Considerable destruction, massive displacements of civilians, hospitals out of service, in a territory subjected by Israel to a siege since October 9: in the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian situation remains disastrous. The organization Human Rights Watch on Monday accused Israel of using “starvation of civilians as a technique of war […]which constitutes a war crime”. Accusations to which the Israeli government reacted by calling HRW “an anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli organization”. Approximately 1.9 million inhabitants, or 85% of the strip’s population from Gaza, were displaced by the war.