Israel must do more to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza and should “remove all barriers to the flow of aid at scale through all crossings and routes” into the territory, the United States has told the United Nations Security Council.
“The continued pattern of significant civilian harm resulting from incidents like Sunday’s airstrikes undermines Israel’s strategic goals in Gaza,” deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood said.
An airstrike on Sunday ignited a blaze in a tent camp in Rafah in southern Gaza, killing at least 45 people.
Israel – a US ally – said it had targeted Hamas militants and had not intended to harm civilians.
Yesterday, Algeria put forward a draft Security Council resolution that essentially orders Israel to “immediately halt its military offensive” in Rafah.
Today, Mr Wood told reporters that the US was reviewing it, but UN action was unlikely to be helpful or change the situation on the ground.
The draft text also cites a ruling by the International Court of Justice on 24 May that ordered Israel to immediately halt its military assault on Rafah – a landmark emergency ruling in South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide.
Mr Wood said the decision echoed the US position that Israel must avoid a major military operation in Rafah that would put huge numbers of civilians at risk.
Humanitarian aid access to Gaza has been extremely limited since Israel began its military incursion into Rafah three weeks ago, the UN has said, with famine looming in the enclave of 2.3 million people.
Mr Wood said more must be done to get supplies into the territory and safely distribute them.
Israel has been fighting to eradicate Hamas, which rules Gaza, since a cross-border attack on 7 October by militants in which 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Nearly 130 hostages are believed to remain captive in the enclave.
Gaza’s health authorities say that more than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war.
Israel says it wants to root out the last major intact formations of Hamas fighters in Rafah and rescue hostages.
“Israel can kill any Palestinian and call them either terrorists or human shields to justify that murder.
“It uses both terms extremely loosely so they can cover anyone and everyone,” deputy Palestinian UN envoy Majed Bamya told the Security Council.
“Israel has called any form of opposition to its occupation and suppression of the Palestinian people terrorism,” he added.
Israel’s deputy UN Ambassador Jonathan Miller said the war could end if Hamas released the hostages and put down its arms.
“But the reality is that Hamas refuses these terms. Hamas chooses to hold innocents hostage. Hamas chooses to continue firing rockets. Hamas chooses to exploit the civilians of Gaza as human shields,” he told the council.
Mr Wood said that Israel has a right to defend itself, but it also has to protect civilians.
“The fact that Hamas leaders and fighters hide among civilians does not lessen” that obligation, he added.
Prospect of recognition if Palestinian Authority reforms – France
French President Emmanuel Macron has urged Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas to “implement necessary reforms”, offering the “prospect of recognition of the State of Palestine” during a phone call, his office said.
Mr Macron “highlighted France’s commitment to building a common vision of peace with European and Arab partners, offering security guarantees for Palestinians and Israelis,” as well as “making the prospect of recognition of a state of Palestine part of a useful process”.
The readout of the call with the head of the PA in the occupied West Bank follows yesterday’s official recognition of a Palestinian state by three European nations – Ireland, Spain and Norway – which drew ire from Israel.
Mr Macron had said that he would be prepared to recognise a Palestinian state, but such a move should “come at a useful moment” and not be based on “emotion”.
France supports “a reformed and strengthened Palestinian Authority, able to carry out its responsibilities throughout the Palestinian territories, including in the Gaza Strip, for the benefit of the Palestinian people,” the French leader told Mr Abbas.
Mr Macron described civilian casualties in Gaza as “intolerable”.
He told Mr Abbas that France was “determined to work with Algeria and its partners on the United Nations Security Council” so the body “makes a strong statement on Rafah”.
Official: Israel does not ‘want to rule in Gaza’
A senior Israeli security official said the war in Gaza could continue until the end of the year to achieve the aim of destroying Hamas.
“We may have another seven months of fighting to consolidate our success and achieve what we have defined as the destruction of Hamas’s power and military capabilities,” National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said.
“Victory for us means destroying Hamas’s military capabilities, bringing back all the hostages and ensuring that at the end of the war there are no more threats from Gaza,” he added.
“In other words, no more Iranian-funded terrorist armies on our border,” Mr Hanegbi told public broadcaster Kan, speaking from Cyprus.
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The Israeli official also said that discussions are under way over Gaza’s post-war future.
“We are trying to plan what will happen after the war, so that the Palestinians will be responsible for their own lives.
“We will be responsible for Israel’s security but we don’t want to rule in Gaza.”
Israel’s Army Radio said the military had achieved full operational control of the Philadelphi Corridor that runs along the border between Gaza and Egypt.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report, which cited the Israeli Defense Forces.
It comes as street fighting and Israeli bombardment rocked Rafah, Palestinian residents and officials said, a day after tanks rolled into the centre of the city near the Egyptian border.
Hamas’ military wing said it was firing rockets at Israeli troops.
The United States is among the countries urging Israel to refrain from a full-scale offensive in Rafah – the last Gaza city to see ground fighting – because of the risk to civilians.
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But the White House said that it had not seen Israel cross President Joe Biden’s “red lines”, with National Security Council spokesman John Kirby saying: “We have not seen them smash into Rafah.
“We have not seen them go in with large units, large numbers of troops, in columns and formations in some sort of coordinated manoeuvre against multiple targets on the ground,” he added.
