It’s 1.45am in Gaza City, Tel Aviv and Beirut and we’re about to close this blog. Our live coverage will resume later in the day. A summary of key recent developments is below. All our coverage of the Israel-Gaza war and the broader Middle East crisis can be seen here. Thank you for reading.
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The US has defended its veto last month of a UN security council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying the proposal was “disconnected from the situation on the ground”.
The Associated Press reports that a UN general assembly meeting on Tuesday, the Palestinian and Arab delegations were joined by many other countries as they demanded an immediate halt to the fighting – calls that were echoed by a group of anti-war rabbis in the gallery.
US deputy ambassador Robert Wood repeated that Washington was working to secure a “pause” in the Israel-Hamas war and the release of 136 Israeli hostages in Gaza. He said it was “striking” that those urging an end to the conflict had made very few demands of Hamas, whose 7 October attack on southern Israel sparked the war.
The US only got support from Israel. A ceasefire would be “a victory for Hamas … to continue the reign of terror in Gaza”, said Israel’s UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan. He said Israel supported delivering aid to Gaza but accused Hamas of “looting” humanitarian assistance before it got to civilians. He also accused the UN of doing “nothing” to bring the hostages home.
About 36 rabbis from the group Rabbis 4 Ceasefire, which opposes Israel’s ongoing military action, came to the UN as tourists. The majority of them briefly held signs in the empty security council chamber saying “Biden Stop Vetoing Peace”. A small group did the same in the gallery of the general assembly chamber before being hustled out by UN security officers.
Riyad Mansour, the UN Palestinian ambassador, told the assembly his people were “being slaughtered”, with entire families killed, and stressed that “the horrors need to end, and the only way to end them is a ceasefire”.
This is Adam Fulton picking up our live coverage – stay with us for the latest developments
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