The United States vowed Monday it would continue to arm Israel in its campaign against Hamas, even as it called for more humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the devastated Gaza Strip. Fighting raged on in the third month of the bloodiest-ever Gaza war, with the Hamas-run health ministry reporting another 110 people killed in strikes on the Jabalia camp near Gaza City.
Here are top 10 updates on Israel-Hamas war,
1) Hamas released a short video on Monday showing three elderly Israeli hostages whom the Islamist group seized during its October 7 rampage. Israel denounced it as a “criminal, terrorist video”, Reuters reported.
2) The three men - identified by Israel as 79-year-old Chaim Peri, 80-year-old Yoram Metzger, and 84-year-old Amiram Cooper - were taken hostage over 10 weeks ago with about 240 others by Hamas infiltrators who carried out a killing spree in Israeli communities.
3) Israel and Hamas agreed to a week-long ceasefire at the end of November, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, that included the release of more than 100 hostages in Gaza in exchange for 240 Palestinian women and teenagers from Israeli jails.
4) Efforts are underway to try to arrange for the release of more hostages, with the heads of the US CIA and Israel's Mossad, and Qatar's prime minister expected to meet and discuss the issue.
5) The UN Security Council delayed until Tuesday morning a vote on an Arab-sponsored resolution calling for a halt to hostilities in Gaza to allow for urgently needed aid deliveries to a massive number of civilians as members intensified negotiations to try to avoid another veto by the United States, as per AP reports.
6) The US vetoed a Security Council resolution on December 8 that was backed by almost all council members and dozens of other nations demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza.
7) The draft resolution that was being considered by the 15 council members on Monday recognizes that civilians in Gaza don’t have access to sufficient food, water, sanitation, electricity, telecommunications, and medical services “essential for their survival.”
8) More than 19,400 Palestinians have been killed according to the Gaza Health Ministry since Israel declared war on the Palestinian militant Hamas group following its surprise attack in southern Israel on October 7 that killed about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and took about 240 hostages.
9) Hamas controls the Gaza Strip and its Health Ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. Thousands more Palestinians lie buried under the rubble in Gaza, the UN estimates. Israel says 116 of its soldiers have died in its ground offensive.
10) The draft is being negotiated by the United Arab Emirates, which is the Arab representative on the Security Council, and requests U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres establish am expeditious mechanism to monitor all humanitarian shipments to Gaza by land, sea, and air.
(With inputs from agencies)
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