At UNSC, US calls for a ceasefire deal to prevent wider war
More from the UN Security Council’s emergency meeting on Gaza:
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council that a broader regional conflict was “not inevitable”.
“The United States’s overall goal remains to turn the temperature down in the region, deter and defend against any future attacks and avoid regional conflict. That starts with finalising a deal for an immediate ceasefire with hostage release in Gaza,” she said.
Thomas-Greenfield added that the US was prepared to make “a final bridging proposal: one that resolves the remaining implementation issues in a manner that meets the expectations of all parties”.
She did not provide details, however.
Israel attacks UN, Palestine envoy as UNSC hears of dire situation in Gaza
Israel’s Ambassador Gilad Erdan made all these false claims, attacking the UN official that was sitting right next to him, attacking Palestine’s envoy Riyad Mansour, attacking Palestinians.
But taking all that away – because it’s easy to get kind of distracted by that and think that might have been actually his motivation – is to really take a step back and look at the humanitarian situation on the ground in Gaza.
And we got some of that during this briefing.
We heard that just within a 48-hour period, three schools that were being used as shelters were attacked by Israel. This is from the UN, from people on the ground there.
And that there have been 21 strikes on schools that are being used by Palestinians as shelters since July 4. And that just in the past two weeks, a quarter of a million Palestinians have been displaced – just in the past two weeks!
We’ve also heard from a UN official during the beginning of this briefing about how humanitarian aid into Gaza has gone down, not up, because Israel has closed the Rafa border crossing into Gaza since May. And we also heard that nearly 90 percent of the entire Gaza Strip has been put under some sort of evacuation order.
