US abstains in UNSC vote; NYTimes, Wash Post on Israeli 1-ton bombs, Hamas-hospital fiction – Day 76

On recent missions to north Gaza, WHO staff say that every single person they spoke to in Gaza is hungry. Wherever they went, including hospitals and emergency wards, people asked them for food. “We move around Gaza delivering medical supplies, and people rush to our trucks hoping it’s food,” they said, calling it “an indicator of the desperation.” (social media)

UN Security Council resolution; major newspapers criticize Israel’s bombing campaign and Hamas narrative; Gazans face “crisis levels of hunger”; another Gazan Christian dies on church compound.

Number of Gazans killed since the Biden administration vetoed UNSC ceasefire resolution: at least 2,626 (approximately 1,103 children)

The United Nations Security Council on Friday approved a resolution that calls for humanitarian pauses between Israel and Hamas, increased aid to Gaza and the creation of conditions that will allow for a sustainable end to fighting, ending days of closed-door negotiations. The resolution calls for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip for a sufficient number of days to enable full, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access.”

The United States and Russia abstained from the vote. US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield praised the resolution but abstained from voting in favor of it after the text failed to include a condemnation of Hamas. Friday’s resolution the language called for “urgent steps” to lay the groundwork “for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.”

The Biden administration has been toughening its stance on Israel lately, calling its “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza unacceptable, but continues to provide support and weapons.

The UN Security Council votes on Friday (photo)

Will the resolution make a meaningful difference? Mouin Rabbani, a Middle East analyst, says the dilemma is that “any resolution that could make a meaningful difference in terms of the situation on the ground in the Gaza Strip is certain to be vetoed by the United States”.

There have been reports that the US insisted on seeing references to a demand for all parties to respect international humanitarian law be removed from the latest Gaza draft resolution at the Security Council.

“So, in effect, the US is voting for the continuation of the siege, for the continuation of the mass killings in the Gaza Strip, and most importantly, the idea of humanitarian assistance without a ceasefire is absolutely meaningless and illusory. Who in their right mind believes that humanitarian assistance can be delivered throughout the Gaza Strip to all those in need while the Gaza Strip is experiencing the most intensive bombing campaign in the entire history of the Middle East?” Rabbani added.

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More than 90 percent of Gaza facing ‘crisis levels’ of hunger: the proportion of households in Gaza facing crisis levels of hunger is the highest it has ever recorded globally, according to a report published by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

The report adds that there is a risk of famine in Gaza if the “current situation” continues. “The cessation of hostilities and the restoration of humanitarian space to deliver this multi-sectoral assistance and restore services are essential first steps in eliminating any risk of Famine.”

100 aid trucks entered Gaza on December 21.

Palestinians line up for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip (photo)

New York Times reports that Israel used “one of its biggest and most destructive bombs in areas…which the military had indicated as safe for civilians.” The video investigation focuses on the use of 2,000-pound bombs in an area of southern Gaza where Israel had ordered civilians to move for safety. While bombs of that size are used by several Western militaries, munitions experts say they are almost never dropped by U.S. forces in densely populated areas anymore.

The findings reveal that 2,000-pound bombs posed a pervasive threat to civilians seeking safety across south Gaza.

Watch the remarkable video:

A new article in the Washington Post casts doubt on key claims by Israel that the Al Shifa Hospital stood on top of a Hamas military hub. Israel’s mid-November operations around, then inside the hospital caused devastating disruption in medical operations and threatened the wellbeing of thousands of displaced residents sheltering there. The operation prompted allegations of violations of international law and Israel’s flouting of the hospital’s protected status.

In the weeks since, other hospitals in Gaza have come under attack in ways that mirror what happened at al-Shifa — making the assault not just a watershed moment in the conflict, but a vital case study in Israel’s adherence to the laws of war. (Read the full article here.)

Another death in Christian church compound “under siege”: Khalil Sayegh tweeted about the circumstances of the death of his father, Jeries Sayegh, who died from a lack of medical attention while besieged inside a Christian church in Gaza. Sayegh’s father was one of 7 injured when 2 women were shot dead by Israeli snipers last week. The church compound remained under siege, and the wounded were unable to get medical care. Another gunshot victim is also reportedly near death.

PRCS says males at ambulance center subjected to ‘torture’: Following several days of Israeli forces besieging a Red Crescent ambulance center, then storming it and removing all males, the The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has given an update. They say, “Occupation soldiers compelled all males present at the center, totaling 47 individuals, to exit, undress, and subsequently restrained and took them to a house, where they were beaten and subjected to torture.” Eight still remain detained.

The group added that Israeli forces “destroyed the ambulances central wireless communication system and all ambulance vehicles at the branch,” and called on the international community to pressure Israel into releasing its staff.

Injured Palestinians are brought to Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis on December 19, 2023 (photo)

Israeli president Isaac Herzog blames UN for the shortfall in delivery of aid to Gazans, when Israel’s ongoing bombardment is actually making it nearly impossible to transport aid to where it is needed.

The president claimed, “Unfortunately, due to a decisive failure of the United Nations, they are unable to bring in more than 125 trucks a day,” adding, “It is possible today to provide three times the amount of humanitarian aid to Gaza – if the UN— instead of complaining all day — would do its job.”

Israel continues to restrict the amount of aid let into Gaza, and has attacked UN-run schools, among other sites. Human Rights Watch has said that Israel uses the starvation of civilians as a “method of warfare” in Gaza.

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The US is facing pressure on multiple levels to stop shielding Israel from growing global demands for a ceasefire in Gaza, says David Adler, a political economist and coordinator of the Progressive International advocacy group. “As far as I can see, the Biden administration is not being particularly cowed by the issue of reputation in the face of a sustained violation of international law by its Israeli ally,” he said.

The question now has become, he added, “What depths and depravity could push the US to take more considered action?”

Early on 20 December, Israeli forces reportedly destroyed 56 buildings in Ash Shuja’iyeh, eastern Gaza city. This is one of multiple incidents resulting in casualties, devastation, or both, reported over the past day despite the ongoing telecommunications shutdown (photo)

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – DECEMBER 21:

Palestinian death toll since October 7: at least 19,889* (~19,586 in Gaza* (8,663 children), and at least 303 in the West Bank). This does not include an estimated 8,000 more still buried under rubble. Euro-Med Monitor reports 27,137 Palestinian deaths.

*IAK does not yet include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile is being disputed; although much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, experts are still looking into the incident. Israel is blocking an international investigation.

Palestinian injuries since October 7: at least 58,659** (including at least 55,000 in Gaza** and 3,665 in the West Bank). **NOTE: it is impossible to provide an accurate number of injuries in Gaza due to the ongoing bombardment and communication disruption.

It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties. in Gaza**. About 1.9 million people have been displaced (about 85-90% of the population).

Reported Israeli death toll since October 7: ~1,139 (7 killed in West Bank, 138 in Gaza), including 32 Americans, and 5,431 injured, approximately 36 children).

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries in Israel may have been caused by Israeli soldiers; additionally, since Israel has a policy of universal conscription, it is unknown how many of those attending the outdoor rave a few miles from Gaza on stolen Palestinian land were Israeli soldiers.