The UN Security Council delayed a vote on a ceasefire resolution for a second time on Tuesday, with the vote –originally scheduled for yesterday – now set for Wednesday. Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels have launched a spate of attacks on cargo ships and tankers in the Red Sea in recent weeks, leading the United States to announce a 10-nation naval coalition to protect the vessels. Read our live blog to see how all the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+1)
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Summary:
- A United Nations Security Council vote on a Gaza ceasefire resolution was postponed again until Wednesday as negotiations continued in an effort to head off another veto by the United States, diplomatic sources said.
- The US and a host of other nations are creating a new force to protect ships transiting the Red Sea that have come under attack by drones and ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Tuesday in Bahrain.
- A more precise picture of Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel has emerged from security data, confirming the unprecedented scale of the violence but also challenging some initial testimonies. The final death toll from the attack is now thought to be 1,139, among them 695 Israeli civilians including 36 children, 373 security forces and 71 foreigners. The revised figure excludes five people, four of them Israeli, still listed as missing by the prime minister's office.
- At least 19,667 people have been killed in Israel's ensuing assault on the Gaza Strip and at least 52,586 people wounded, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. At least 7,600 people are missing, according to the Hamas media office.
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Key developments from yesterday:
- Prolonged negotiations led the UN Security Council to postpone to Tuesday a vote on a resolution that had sought a new ceasefire in Gaza.
- US and Israeli intelligence chiefs met with Qatar’s prime minister in Poland to broker the release of more hostages, the first known meeting of the three since a week-long ceasefire ended in late November.
- A north Gaza hospital that Israeli troops raided is no longer functioning and patients including babies have been evacuated, putting the enclave's collapsing health services in further peril, a World Health Organization official said.
- Israelis protested Monday in central Tel Aviv, calling for swift action to release the remaining 129 hostages believed to be held in Gaza.
- While in Israel, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Washington's support for Israel was "unshakeable" but urged its ally to do more to protect civilians.
Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”. The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.
In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN's counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies.
For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
