UN General Assembly debates Israel withdrawing from occupied Palestinian territory
The UN General Assembly debated a resolution calling for Israel to withdraw from occupied Palestinian territory in response to an International Court of Justice ruling (ICJ) earlier this year.
The discussion in the 193-member body lasted for close to three hours on Tuesday, pushing a vote on the motion back to Wednesday morning, New York time.
Here’s what some governments said:
- The State of Palestine said that “each country has a vote, and the world is watching us… those who think the Palestinian people will accept a life of servitude, a life of apartheid, are the ones who are not being realistic”.
- Ireland said it would vote yes, adding that “it is incumbent on the General Assembly to act upon the [ICJ’s] findings”.
- The United States said it would vote no, saying “there is no path to peace offered through the … resolution under consideration”.
- China described the vote as “a historic moment”, saying it hoped the resolution would bring “new impetus to ending the occupation”.
- Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon sharply criticised the move, describing it as “an attempt to destroy Israel through diplomatic terrorism”.
Rescuers scrambling to save 80 Palestinians trapped under rubble in Bureij
There has been a remarkable intensification of Israeli air strikes and artillery bombardments in multiple areas of the Gaza Strip over the course of the past couple of hours.
In the north, the Sabra and Zeitoun neighbourhoods of Gaza City have been under relentless Israeli attacks. Several casualties were transferred to the Baptist Hospital [al-Ahli Arab Hospital] to get medical treatment.
But the main story is in the Bureij refugee camp, where a residential building has been completely flattened. We’re talking about an estimated 80 Palestinians stuck under the debris. Civil Defence workers have managed to recover the bodies of eight Palestinians who were killed. But there are still dozens under the rubble.
The emergency workers say they are facing a remarkable challenge in accessing the site again, especially as the Israeli military has targeted a number of workers as they were heading to the place in order to rescue those who are still under the rubble.
Apparently, confrontations are still ongoing in the southern part of Gaza, in particular in Rafah, where the Israeli military has stated that there was a serious military and security incident in Rafah, with four Israeli soldiers critically wounded amid ongoing hostilities with Palestinian armed groups.
Gaza’s Ministry of health publishes names of 34,344 people killed in Gaza
Gaza’s Ministry of Health has released a 649-page document listing the names, date of birth and gender of 34,344 people killed since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October last year. The PDF document, dated August 31, 2024, was shared by the ministry on its telegram account on Monday.
The first 14 pages of the document lists the names of 710 babies who were less than one-year old when they died.
The list does not include all the names of people killed in the war so far, which according to the latest update from the Ministry of Health is at least 41,252 people.
A Palestinian man carries the body of a relative killed in Israeli strikes on the Bureij refugee camp, at the al-Awda Hospital at the Nuseirat refugee camp on Tuesday
