Jerusalem, Dec 9 (AP) Israel has designated a safe zone in southern Gaza, but its widening air and ground offensive has left Palestinians packed together in dire humanitarian conditions.
Aid groups are severely limited by fighting and restrictions placed by the military. The United Nations estimates 1.9 million people have been displaced and new military evacuation orders are squeezing people into ever-smaller areas. Most lack food, water and medicine.
The United States on Friday vetoed a United Nations resolution backed by the vast majority of Security Council members and many other nations demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza. The vote came after Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for the first time invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter, which enables a UN chief to raise threats he sees to international peace and security. He warned of an "humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza and urged the council to demand a humanitarian cease-fire.
Around 1,200 people have died on the Israeli side, mainly civilians killed during Hamas' October 7 attack that triggered the war. The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the death toll in the territory has surpassed 17,400, with more than 46,000 wounded. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths, but said 70 per cent of the dead were women and children.
Currently:
— Six Palestinians are killed in the Israeli military's latest West Bank raid, health officials say
— Palestinians try to survive war's new chapter in southern Gaza.
— Israel designates a safe zone in Gaza. Palestinians and aid groups say it offers little relief.
Here's what's happening in the war:
ROCKET FIRED FROM GAZA LANDS IN TEL AVIV
TEL AVIV, Israeli — A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed in central Tel Aviv on Friday, causing damage to a parked car.
Police and forensic teams were on the site to clear the road from debris and any remnants of the rocket. There were no reports of injuries.
Hamas militants have fired thousands of rockets into Israel during the two-month war. The rocket fire has continued, despite a fierce Israeli ground offensive inside Gaza.
The rocket barrages have displaced tens of thousands of people in southern Israel from their homes and set off air-raid sirens as far away as Tel Aviv, some 80 kilometers north of Gaza.
ISRAEL SAYS ATTEMPT TO RESCUE HOSTAGES FAILED
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says two soldiers have been seriously wounded in a failed attempt to free Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
The military said Friday that it killed numerous militants in the overnight operation, but was unable to rescue any hostages.
Earlier Friday, Hamas said its fighters had stopped a rescue attempt and clashed with Israeli special forces. It claimed an Israeli soldier who was being held hostage was killed by Israeli air fire meant to protect the withdrawing forces. Israel's military had no comment on the claim.
Hamas is believed to be holding some 137 hostages who were captured in the October 7 cross-border attack that triggered the war.
4 KILLED IN ISRAELI DRONE STRIKE IN SYRIA
DAMASCUS, Syria — An Israeli drone strike hit a car in southern Syria on Friday, killing four people, two Syrian pro-government media outlets reported.
A Hezbollah official in Beirut said three of the dead were members of the Lebanese militant group. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the group usually does not announce where its fighters were killed.
Hezbollah has deployed fighters in different parts of Syria over the past decade alongside government forces in the country's conflict, now in its 13th year.
The latest deaths raise to 93 the number of Hezbollah fighters killed during battles with Israeli troops since the Israel-Hamas war started two months ago. There was no comment from Israel.
The newspaper Al-Watan and Sham FM radio said the strike targeted a car in the southern town of Baath, and that the bodies were taken to a hospital in the Syrian town of Quneitra on the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Israel captured the Golan Heights during the 1967 Mideast war. It annexed the strategic territory overlooking northern Israel in 1981, a move not recognized by most of the international community.
US SAYS IT DOES NOT SUPPORT IMMEDIATE CEASE-FIRE
UNITED NATIONS — The United States is reiterating its opposition to a cease-fire in Gaza, saying it would leave Hamas in charge of the territory still holding over 100 Israeli hostages.
US deputy ambassador Robert Wood's statement to an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday was a strong signal that the United States will veto a draft resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza. The resolution is backed by Arab and Islamic nations, the UN secretary-general and many other countries.
The council has scheduled a vote for later Friday. The resolution is sponsored by the United Arab Emirates, the Arab representative on the council.
Wood said the US does not believe that an immediate cease-fire would lead to “durable peace, in which both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security” because Hamas would remain in charge. A halt to military action would only “plant the seeds for the next war" he said, "because Hamas has no desire to see a durable peace, to see a two-state solution.”
He also called the Security Council's failure to condemn Hamas' cross-border attack in southern Israel on October 7 "a serious moral failure." (AP) CK