The United Nations Security Council postponed a vote Wednesday in a bid to get U.S. support on a resolution that seeks to facilitate scaled up aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip, where the World Food Program says half the population is starving amid Israeli military strikes.
Originally planned for Monday, the vote has been repeatedly postponed as diplomats seek compromise language Washington can accept.
The United Arab Emirates, as the Arab representative in the 15-nation council, drafted the resolution and is leading the negotiations.
“As the penholder, we are aware and are part of very high-level discussions that are happening between capitals to try to reach a text that will in fact be adopted,” UAE Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh told reporters. “The overriding objective of this resolution was always to try and positively impact on the ground for the people who need it the most.”
She said, “Giving a little bit of space for additional diplomacy could yield positive results,” but if it does not, the council will go ahead and vote Thursday morning.
The draft resolution "demands" that the parties to the conflict "allow, facilitate and enable the immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale directly to the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip" by the most direct routes. It also "calls for the urgent suspension of hostilities" to allow safe and unhindered aid access and for urgent steps toward a “sustainable cessation of hostilities.”
Diplomats said this last part is a major sticking point for the Americans.
The text, if adopted, also would authorize a U.N. monitoring mechanism to confirm the humanitarian nature of aid shipments into Gaza through multiple entry points.
At a news conference at the U.S. State Department, Secretary Antony Blinken said the United States has been “at the forefront” of efforts to get more humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza, including getting the Rafah and Kerem Shalom border crossings open to humanitarians.
“We want to make sure that the resolution, in what it calls for and requires, actually advances that effort and doesn’t do anything that could actually hurt the delivery of humanitarian assistance — make it more complicated,” Blinken said.
“I hope we can get to a good place,” he said.
Blinken also urged nations to demand Hamas stop hiding behind civilians, lay down its arms and surrender.
“This is over tomorrow if Hamas does that,” he said.
Israeli officials have sent mixed messages on what they are willing to consider.
President Isaac Herzog told a gathering of international diplomats Tuesday that Israel is prepared to enter into a further humanitarian pause in return for the release of its hostages. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his stance Wednesday that the war would end only with Hamas eradicated, all hostages freed and Gaza posing no more threat to Israel, the Reuters news agency reported.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, which governs Gaza, after its fighters crossed into southern Israel on October 7. Israel said 1,200 people were killed and some 240 captives taken in the terror attack. More than 100 of the hostages remain in Gaza.
Aid enters through Jordan for first time
In a positive development, the World Food Program, or WFP, said a 46-truck convoy organized with a Jordanian charity arrived in Gaza Wednesday with 750 metric tons of food. It is the first time a direct aid convoy from Jordan has reached Gaza since October 7, the food agency said.
"Establishing a corridor through Jordan will increase the flow of aid and remove some of the pressure and congestion we are currently facing,” WFP Palestine Representative Samer AbdelJaber said in a statement. “This will allow us to secure more supplies and have more trucks on the road.”
The WFP has called for an immediate cease-fire and the opening of all border crossings to Gaza, saying half of the population is now starving, with little access to food, water and shelter.
Hamas official in Cairo
Also Wednesday, Hamas said its top leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was in Cairo to discuss the war with Egyptian officials.
The head of a smaller Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad, which is also holding hostages in Gaza, reportedly said its leader would visit Egypt in the coming days.
Egypt has previously played a role in mediating between Hamas and Israel, including a temporary, weeklong cease-fire in late November that included Hamas releasing more than 100 hostages in exchange for about 300 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.
Negotiations have taken place regarding a new pause in fighting that would involve Hamas releasing more hostages, but the warring sides have not agreed to a deal.
The White House said discussions for a humanitarian pause and hostage release are "very serious.”
Fighting continued in Gaza for a 75th day, with the Israeli military saying it had attacked more than 300 targets during the past 24 hours.
The Israeli response has killed nearly 20,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. Israel says 132 of its soldiers have died in its ground offensive.
The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, says the conflict has forced nearly 2 million Gazans from their homes, with many of them trying to find a safe place to stay at U.N. shelters in southern Gaza, which are severely overcrowded.
Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
