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US again vetoes Gaza ceasefire call

NEW YORK: The United States on Thursday again wielded its veto and thwarted a UN Security Council call for a ceasefire in Gaza, shielding its ally Israel from meaningful diplomatic pressure. The 14 other members of the council backed the resolution, initiated last month in response to the UN’s official declaration of famine after nearly two years of Israel’s military offensive. The vote came as Israeli tanks and jets pounded Gaza City, the target of a major new ground offensive, forcing Palestinians to flee south. The resolution text seen by AFP had demanded “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza respected by all parties” as well as the immediate and unconditional release of hostages. The United States has repeatedly rejected that approach many times, most recently in June when it used its veto to back Israel. “Let this resolution send a clear message, a message that the Security Council is not turning its back on starving civilians, on the hostages and the demand for a ceasefire,” Denmark’s UN ambassador Christina Lassen said ahead of the vote. “A generation risks being lost not only to war but to hunger and despair. Meanwhile, Israel has expanded its military operation in Gaza City, further deepening the suffering of civilians as a result.

Israel fails to meet occupation deadline WASHINGTON: Israel failed to meet a 12-month deadline on Thursday that was established by the UN General Assembly to end its illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The assembly overwhelmingly endorsed the deadline in a resolution it passed on Sept 18 last year, that demanded an end to Israel’s “unlawful” occupation within 12 months. The resolution, which Palestine spearheaded, was adopted with sweeping consensus, with 124 member states voting in favour and just 14 against. Noting that Israeli settlements also violate international law, the resolution asserts that the Palestinian people have the right to self determination under the UN Charter. It explicitly demanded “that Israel bring to an end without delay its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which constitutes a wrongful act of a continuing character entailing its international responsibility, and do so no later than 12 months from the adoption of the present resolution”. Palestine’s UN mission said instead, “and in defiance of the UN Charter, ICJ international law, General Assembly resolution and the international and global determination, Israel is further entrenching its unlawful occupation and presence in Palestine through genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleansing.” Its post on X was referring to the International Court of Justice, where Israel is facing a case of genocide for the conduct of its war on Gaza, where more than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed, the majority of whom have been children and women. The court also issued an advisory opinion on July 19 last year, in which it said Israel’s occupation of Palestine is unlawful and should be brought to an end “as rapidly as possible”. – Bernama ROME: Local officials in Italy said on Thursday that they had blocked a shipment of “explosives” to Israel to protest its Gaza offensive. The move was made by the city hall of Ravenna, the Adriatic port controlled by the centre-left Democratic Party – an opposition group against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government. “Thanks to courageous dockers, we were informed last night of the scheduled arrival of two containers to the Ravenna port” listed as explosives, Mayor Alessandro Barattoni said. Ravenna, along with provincial leaders and the regional Emilia-Romagna government are shareholders in the port, which allowed them to block the shipment. “You must choose a side, and Emilia-Romagna and Ravenna know perfectly which, the one of innocent victims and hostages, and not the one of criminal governments and terrorist organisations,” the leaders said. – AFP CAIRO: A driver bringing aid from Jordan for Gaza opened fire and killed two Israeli military personnel at the Allenby Crossing into the West Bank on Thursday before being killed by security forces. No group claimed responsibility for what Israel denounced as a “terror attack” at the only gateway for Palestinians from West Bank to Jordan. Jordan’s Foreign Ministry said the driver was identified as Abdul Mutalib al-Qaisi, who was born in 1968. He began working as a driver delivering aid to Gaza three months ago. Israel’s ambulance service said the two Israelis succumbed to their wounds. Jordan said the shootings were a threat to its humanitarian role in Gaza. – Reuters ITALIAN PORT BLOCKS ‘EXPLOSIVES’ SHIPMENT AID DRIVER KILLS TWO AT JORDAN CROSSING

mandated investigative commission gave its independent analysis, accusing Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza since October 2023 with the intent to “destroy” the Palestinians. The issue will be central to next week’s annual UN summit in New York. Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, condemned the resolution, saying that “for some members of the Council, this is a performance. For Israel, this is a daily reality. The proposal was presented without condemnation of Hamas, without condemnation of the Oct 7 massacre”. Danon sparred repeatedly with Algeria’s ambassador Amar Bendjama, who asked Palestinian people to “forgive us because this Council could not save your children ... our sincere efforts, shattered against the wall of rejection.” – AFP international

o Dark moment in this chamber: Pakistan envoy

“It is this catastrophic situation, this humanitarian and human failure that has compelled us to act today.” Pakistan’s ambassador Asim Ahmad called the veto a “dark moment in this chamber”. “The world is watching. The cries of children should pierce our hearts,” he said. The previous US veto sparked an unusual show of anger from the 14 other members of the council, who are increasingly vocal in their frustration over their apparent inability to pressure Israel to stop the suffering of Gaza’s inhabitants. For the first time on Tuesday, a UN

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US Deputy Special Envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus casting a veto on Thursday. – REUTERSPIC

Hospital head abandoned to disease in jail ISTANBUL: A Palestinian lawyer on Thursday said the director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, is being “abandoned to disease and hunger” in an Israeli prison, warning that his condition is rapidly deteriorating under deliberate neglect. “Even I was punished simply for visiting him three weeks ago, a meeting that lasted only 20 minutes and was surrounded by harassment before, during and after the meeting.” Qasem said she obtained a 33-page medical file for Abu Safiya, but it contained no specialist report despite his worsening condition.

Abu Safiya was detained on Dec 27 last year when Israeli forces stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital as part of their campaign to drive Palestinians from northern Gaza. Troops arrested 240 staff and patients, stripped them and rendered the hospital inoperable. He has been held under Israel’s “Unlawful Combatants Law”, which permits open-ended detention without charge, renewable every six months, based on secret intelligence files. Rights advocates say the law, enacted in 2002, has been widely used to imprison Palestinians from Gaza without trial. The Israeli army has continued a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, killing more than 65,100 Palestinians since October 2023. – Bernama

Ghaid Qasem, Abu Safiya’s attorney, told Palestinian outlet Aljarmaq that her client suffers from severe chest pain, irregular heartbeat and high blood pressure, but has never been examined by a cardiologist since his arrest last December. She said Abu Safiya also endures fractured ribs and widespread skin infections, including scabies, without any medicine or ointment. “The prisoners are cut off from sunlight, denied sufficient food and live in total isolation,” she said.

She added that the doctor is expected to be presented before a judge in the coming weeks. Still, she described such hearings as purely “theatrical”, with guards merely informing him that his detention had been extended “until the end of the war” without a lawyer present. In earlier remarks, Qasem had disclosed that Abu Safiya’s weight plunged from 100kg at the time of his arrest to just 60kg, underscoring what she called a pattern of “deliberate neglect” of Palestinian detainees.