Closing summary
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
At least 32,070 Palestinians have been killed and 74,298 have been injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, according to the latest figures from Gaza’s health ministry on Friday.
A US resolution urging a ceasefire in Gaza linked to a hostage deal has been vetoed by Russia and China in the UN security council. Eleven council members voted for the resolution on Friday morning; Russia, China and Algeria voted against it and Guyana abstained. As permanent security council members the Russian and Chinese votes counted as vetoes. The US’s critics, including Russia, noted the text did not explicitly use the word “call” in terms of a ceasefire. It also implied the ceasefire would be conditional on the release of all hostages.
The UN security council is expected to vote on Saturday on a new draft resolution that seeks an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, according to reports. The vote on the resolution, expected at 10am local time (1400 GMT), “demands an immediate ceasefire” for the ongoing Muslim holy month of Ramadan that leads “to a permanent sustainable ceasefire” respected by all sides, AFP reported, citing diplomatic sources.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said an Israeli offensive into the southern Gaza town of Rafah would risk “further isolating” Israel and damage its long-term security. Speaking as he left Israel on a short visit during his sixth Middle East trip since the start of the war, Blinken told reporters he had “candid conversations” with officials including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior ministers.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel remained determined to send troops into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians are sheltering, and would do so without US backing if necessary. “I told him that I hope we would do this with US support but if necessary – we will do it alone,” Netanyahu said after his meeting with US secretary of state Antony Blinken.
The US vice-president, Kamala Harris, said there was no way for civilians to escape the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, where Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to send troops as Washington presses for more humanitarian aid. “There is nowhere for these people to go and be safe,” Harris told reporters on Friday.
The leaders of Ireland, Spain, Malta and Slovenia have agreed to take the first steps towards recognising a Palestinian state. The prime ministers of the four countries released a joint statement indicating their “readiness to recognise Palestine and said that we would do so when it can make a positive contribution and the circumstances are right.”
The UK home secretary, David Cameron, has accused Israel of demanding the closure of a key aid crossing into Gaza, in a clash with a British-born government spokesperson that has reportedly resulted in the official’s suspension. The spokesperson, Eylon Levy, whom Israeli media reported as having been suspended, had tweeted Lord Cameron suggesting Israel was not placing any obstacles in the delivery of aid.
The Israeli military’s spokesperson said its forces have detained hundreds of Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters, including a number of security officials and military commanders, during its extended raid into Gaza’s main hospital. Hamas and medical staff deny that the hospital is used for military purposes or to shelter fighters. In recent days, Hamas spokespeople have said that the dead announced in previous Israeli statements were not fighters but patients and displaced people and have accused Israel of war crimes.
Palestine has condemned Israel’s declaration that an 800 hectare (1,977 acres) section of the Israeli-occupied West Bank is state land. The Israeli government announced Friday it was confiscating the land in the occupied West Bank, which activists called the largest such seizure in decades. The Palestinian ministry of foreign affairs said the latest move was “a continuation of the extermination and displacement of our people from their homeland.
People living in Gaza are facing exorbitant food prices as more than 1 million residents of the Palestinian territory face famine. Aid officials have referred to Israel’s siege of Gaza as “man-made starvation”, with the territory facing the threat of mass deaths from famine in the coming weeks. Children are already dying from hunger. But an Israeli official on Friday denied that people in Gaza are suffering from starvation.
Hundreds of worshippers were “blocked” from reaching the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem by Israeli forces on Friday, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. Al Aqsa, Islam’s third-holiest shrine, is a focus of Palestinian statehood hopes and is also revered by Jews as vestige of their two ancient temples. Israeli controls on access have often stoked political friction, especially during Ramadan.
The head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (Unrwa) has welcomed Finland’s decision to resume funding to the agency. All Nordic countries are now supporting Unrwa, Philippe Lazzarini said, in addition to Canada and Australia, while several Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia have increased funding. Portugal also said it would give €10m ($10.89m/£8.6m) to Unrwa as a one-off contribution intended to provide food, medicine, and humanitarian aid to Palestinians.
UN security council to vote on new draft resolution tomorrow - reports
The UN security council is expected to vote on Saturday on a new draft resolution that seeks an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, according to reports.
The vote on the resolution, led in part by Algeria, the Arab nation currently on the 15-member Security Council, is expected at 10am local time (1400 GMT), AFP reported, citing diplomatic sources.
Three European nations – Malta, Slovenia and Switzerland – are co-sponsoring the resolution, along with Mozambique, Guyana and Sierra Leone.
The draft resolution, seen by AFP, “demands an immediate ceasefire” for the ongoing Muslim holy month of Ramadan that leads “to a permanent sustainable ceasefire” respected by all sides. It also demands both the “immediate and unconditional” release of hostages seized in the 7 October attack by Hamas and humanitarian access in the battered Gaza Strip.
The US has indicated it may veto the new draft resolution, it writes.
Updated
