TRANSCRIPT
A majority of United Nations member states support an immediate and lasting ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
After the United States vetoed a proposed Security Council demand for an immediate ceasefire last week, a dozen Security Council envoys attended a trip organized by the United Arab Emirates to visit Rafah.
Russia's permanent representative to the U-N, Vassily Nebenzia, comments on the experience:
“It is, one time to see it, it's worse (than) ten briefings. When you see it with your own eyes, when you visit the hospital, when you see how the humanitarian assistance is being basically prohibited to enter Gaza despite the catastrophic situation, the dire situation of the Palestinian people in the strip."
This comes after Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that thousands of people in Gaza were "simply starving."
The United Nations General Assembly is expected to meet today at the request of Arab and Muslim states and is likely to vote on a draft resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
Another humanitarian concern is raised after reports that Israel deployed white phosphorus munitions during an October incident in southern Lebanon.
White phosphorus can be used by armies to light up a battlefield or hide troops behind a smokescreen.
However, as it burns fiercely in contact with air, it can also be hazardous to people and is supposed to be used away from civilian populations.
Since the white phosphorus has been provided to Israel by the United States, it prompted a response by White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby
“We've seen the reports, certainly concerned about that. We'll be asking questions to try to learn a little bit more. I do think it's important to remind that white phosphorus does have a legitimate military utility in terms of illumination and producing smoke to conceal movements. And obviously, any time that we provide items like white phosphorus to another military, it is with the full expectation that it will be used in keeping with those legitimate purposes and and in keeping with the law of armed conflict. But we've seen these reports that are fresh. Just don't have it any more on it right now."
According to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry of Gaza, Israeli operations have killed more than 17,700 Palestinians, around two-thirds of them women and children, and about 90 per cent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced, with U-N agencies saying there is no safe place to flee.
State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller raised the question about what Israel should do to reduce the impact on Gaza's population.
“We think there are more things that Israel can do to minimize civilian harm. Secretary talked about some of those this weekend. We think there needs to be more predictability in the south for when humanitarian pauses can take, take place. We need there needs to be more predictability in terms of the corridors that humanitarian that that civilians could use to get themselves out of harm's way in, in designated time periods when those are protected. There needs to be more predictability in those same quarters so aid can come in."
Israel says 97 of its soldiers have died in its ground offensive and that the raid by Hamas in early October killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw 240 taken as hostages.
Israel's army says its operation is legal, as said by its spokesman, rear admiral Daniel Hagari:
“(regarding) The issue of phosphorus activated in Lebanon -- We are operating in one clear way: Legally and according to international law. This is how we operate, this is how we exert force both in the north and in the south and this is how we will continue to operate."
