UN Gaza resolution vote delayed; most disapprove of Biden's handling of war: Updates
Editor's Note: For the latest news on the Israel-Hamas conflict, please see our live updates file here.
The United Nations Security Council again delayed a vote on a resolution urging the delivery of crucial humanitarian aid into Gaza and some form of a halt in fighting as negotiations continued to avoid another veto by the United States.
Now pushed to Wednesday for a vote, the resolution called for an “urgent suspension of hostilities," a step back from Monday’s draft that demanded a “cessation of hostilities.” The resolution would also express the council's “strong concern for the disproportionate effect” of the war on women and children, and it demanded the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”
Earlier this month, the U.S. vetoed a Security Council resolution supported by almost all council members and many other nations that called for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza. The General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a similar resolution on Dec. 12 in a 153-10 vote with 23 abstentions.
Resolutions passed by the 15-member Security Council are considered legally binding but are often ignored by targeted parties. While the General Assembly’s resolutions do not carry the same legal weight, they serve as an indicator of world opinion.
Developments:
∎ A 17-day-old baby and her 2-year-old brother were among 27 people killed in an Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said eight people were killed and 34 others were injured after Israeli shelling hit a house in Deir al-Balah, a city in central Gaza.
∎ Israeli President Isaac Herzog said during a briefing Tuesday with foreign ambassadors that Israel is “ready for another humanitarian pause and additional humanitarian aid in order to enable the release of hostages" and said the "responsibility lies fully with ... the leadership of Hamas."
∎ Three major Hebrew TV networks, in what the Times of Israel described as an apparent coordinated leak by the government, are reporting that Israel’s approach to negotiations for another hostage deal with Hamas are focusing on the release of women and the elderly.
∎ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was scheduled to meet with the families of 15 hostages Tuesday in Tel Aviv. The families of many hostages have been lobbying the government to reopen talks with Hamas aimed at winning release of those still being held.
∎ Comedian Jerry Seinfeld on Tuesday visited a kibbutz in southern Israel where Hamas attacked civilians on Oct. 7, Israeli media reported. Seinfeld also visited the site of the music festival where over 300 people were killed, and met with families of hostages, according to reports and images on social media.
UN delays vote on cease-fire resolution:Austin pushes Israel to 'protect' Gazans
Poll: Most U.S. voters disapprove of Biden's handling of war
Most U.S. voters disapprove of President Joe Biden's handling of the Israeli-Hamas war, and younger voters are far more critical of Biden's efforts and Israel's conduct than older voters, a New York Times/Siena College poll released Tuesday found.
The poll shows almost 75% of voters 18 to 29 years old, traditionally leaning Democratic, disapprove of Biden's efforts in Gaza. And among registered voters, they say they would vote for former President Donald Trump by 49% to 43%. Just five months ago those voters backed Biden by 10 percentage points.
“I don’t want to vote for someone who is not aligned with my own personal values, as Biden has shown he is not when it comes to Gaza,” said Colin Lohner, a 27-year-old software engineer in San Francisco.
Summer Jennings, 29, told the Times she thought Trump would take the same approach as Biden but do a better job: “If Israel backs down, it’ll just be these oppressive governments" ruling the Middle East.
The survey showed 44% of all those surveyed said Israel should stop its military campaign to protect against civilian casualties, while 39% said Israel should continue to fight despite the rising death toll of Palestinian civilians. But 48% of all voters surveyed said they believed Israel was not taking enough precautions to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza.
Gaza hospital director: 'Hamas leaders are cowards'
The director of Kamal Adwan hospital told Israeli investigators the northern Gaza hospital was turned into a military facility under Hamas’ control and that it had once housed a kidnapped soldier. Ahmed Kahlot, who said he was recruited to Hamas in 2010 at the rank of lieutenant colonel, said Hamas uses hospitals for hiding operatives and military planning and taps ambulances to transport staff. Footage from some of the interrogation was released Tuesday by the Israeli military.
"They hide in hospitals because they believe that a hospital is a safe place," Kahlot says. "Hamas leaders are cowards. ... They destroyed us."
Israeli soldiers suspended for mocking Palestinian detainees
The Israeli army has suspended a group of soldiers who laughed and smoked a water pipe while mocking detained Palestinians in a video that drew millions of views on social media. The video is one of several to emerge in recent days showing soldiers displaying questionable behavior in Gaza as global opposition to Israel's war in Gaza grows stronger. The video shows the soldiers laughing and eating snacks as at least seven Palestinians are sitting blindfolded in the room in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
"I never imagined Jenin like this, what do I say?" one soldier says to the camera as he smokes hookah. "Show them what I have here."
The camera then pans to the Palestinian detainees sitting on the floor.
The enclave has been occupied by Israel for 16 years but has drawn the full force of Israel's relative military might since Oct. 7, when Palestinian militants raced across the border on a violent spree that killed 1,200 Israelis. The Gaza Health Ministry said this week the death toll in Gaza had surpassed 19,000.
“The behavior of the soldiers in the videos is deplorable and stands in stark contrast to the values of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces),” an Israeli army spokesperson told the Associated Press. After a disciplinary hearing, the reserve duty soldiers were suspended until further notice, the spokesperson said on condition of anonymity.
Hamas financier 'eliminated' in Israeli strike
A prominent Hamas financier has been "eliminated" by an Israeli jet attack in the heart of the southern Gaza border city of Rafah, the Israeli military said Tuesday. Israel says Tzavahi Proana transferred tens of millions of dollars to Hamas, most for the organization's military arm, and that Hamas uses financiers to launder money from Iran and other international sources. The strike was guided by intelligence from the Israeli security agency Shin Bet.
"Proana was one of the few and prominent money changers who was able to transfer to the military wing of Hamas the amount of money needed for the fighting," the Israeli military said in a statement.
Hamas: US a 'partner in these crimes'
The expansion of Israel's "punitive" bombing and ground assault in Gaza constitutes war crimes and is being fueled by U.S. support, making the U.S. a "partner in these crimes," Hamas leaders said in a statement Tuesday. The statement said the attacks won't deter Palestinians from demanding that a Palestinian state be established with Jerusalem as its capital.
The U.S. and most of the world support a two-state solution that would provide Palestinians with a homeland. But the U.S. also has steadfastly supported Israel's right to crush Hamas and is helping provide the weapons to do so. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Israel retain security control over Gaza after the war. A two-state solution has drawn little support within Israel's overwhelmingly Jewish population.
Contributing: The Associated Press