Israeli strikes and ground fighting continue on Saturday in the Gaza Strip, where the suffering Palestinian population is hoping for an increase in humanitarian aid. After five days of laborious negotiations to avoid a veto by the United States, the UN Security Council adopted a text on Friday calling for the “immediate” and “large-scale” delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. At the same time, from France, an association plans to deliver 4.5 tons of medicine on December 29 to Gaza.
Information to remember
⇒ Israeli-American hostage announced dead in Gaza (army)
⇒ 4.5 tonnes of medicine heading to Gaza
⇒ UN Security Council demands ‘large-scale’ aid
Drone hits ship off Indian coast
A drone struck a commercial ship in the Indian Ocean on Saturday, causing damage but no injuries, two shipping agencies said, with one saying the ship was linked to Israel.
The attack off the Indian coast, which was not immediately claimed, caused a fire on board, according to the British maritime safety agency UKMTO. The British company Ambrey, for its part, indicated that “the Liberian-flagged tanker was affiliated with Israel”.
Israeli-American hostage announced dead
The Israeli army and Kibbutz Nir Oz announced Friday that an Israeli-American hostage died when he was kidnapped on October 7 during the Hamas attack on Israeli soil. His remains are still in the Gaza Strip, according to the kibbutz. Gadi Haggaï, 73, “was killed on October 7 at the kibbutz. His body was brought back by terrorists to the Gaza Strip where he was being held,” Nir Oz said in a statement, without specifying how the news of the death had been transmitted to him.
According to a press release from the hostage families’ forum, Gadi Haggaï’s wife, Judith, 70, is still a hostage in the Palestinian territory, where fighting between Hamas and Israel is raging. Joe Biden said he continues to “pray” that Judith Haggaï is in good health and that she returns home safe and sound. “I repeat the promise we made to all the families of those still held hostage: we will not stop working to bring them home,” added the American president in a statement. To date, 129 hostages are still being held in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
UN Security Council demands ‘large-scale’ aid
After fierce negotiations, the UN Security Council demanded on Friday the “large-scale” delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, without calling for a ceasefire which the Americans did not want, despite the international pressure on their Israeli ally. The resolution adopted by 13 votes in favor and two abstentions (United States and Russia) demands from all parties the “immediate, safe and unimpeded delivery of large-scale humanitarian aid” to Gaza and asks to “take all “urgent” measures in this regard and to “create the conditions for a lasting cessation of hostilities”.
“A humanitarian ceasefire is the only way […] to end the nightmare” in Gaza, also repeated UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, directly attacking Israel whose offensive is “the real problem” for the delivery of aid to Gaza. Hamas deemed the resolution voted on Friday by the UN Security Council “insufficient”.
Israel will continue to inspect all humanitarian aid to Gaza
The Israeli Foreign Minister affirmed that his country would continue to inspect all humanitarian aid destined for Gaza, after the vote of a UN Security Council resolution demanding the delivery of this assistance on a “large scale” and “unhindered”. “Israel will continue to act in accordance with international law, but will examine, for security reasons, any humanitarian assistance to Gaza,” wrote the minister, Eli Cohen, on X (ex-Twitter).
Humanitarian aid: the pharmaceutical industry “mobilized” for Gaza
Tulipe, an organization managing donations of health products provided urgently by French pharmaceutical groups, is “mobilized” at the end of the year to transport medicines to Gaza, its president Karine Levesque explains to Agence France Presse. “The teams are still mobilized” for these two conflict regions, indicates Karine Levesque, whose association will ship the equivalent of 100,000 treatments to Gaza on December 29.
This new “donation of 4.5 tonnes currently being prepared” is an operation coordinated with the Crisis and Support Center of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Croissant -Red. Thanks to donations from around sixty member companies, most of them large international pharmaceutical groups, which contribute according to their turnover, the structure recognized as being of public utility operates in around twenty countries each year, including Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion.