Israel ramps up strikes; UNSC delays ceasefire vote
Gaza, giving Arab leaders more time to try to persuade the US to let it pass.
Top diplomats from countries including Egypt, Qatar and Jordan were set to meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington later Friday amid a push for the US to abstain from voting. Given the US's status as a veto-wielding permanent member of the council, a no vote would kill the resolution.
So far the Biden administration has indicated it opposes the resolution, which was introduced following a rare plea to the council by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Earlier this week, he invoked his highest diplomatic tool for the first time in five decades to urge action by the Security Council given the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Earlier in the day, Israel sharply ramped up strikes on the Gaza Strip, pounding the length of the Palestinian enclave and killing hundreds in a new, expanded phase of the war while Washington asked Israel to do more to protect civilians. The Israeli military said on Friday it had struck more than 450 targets in Gaza from land, sea and air over the past 24 hours — the most since a truce collapsed last week and about double the daily figures typically reported since then.
With the vast majority of Gazans now displaced and unable to access any aid, hospitals overrun and food running out, the main UN agency there said society was «on the verge of a full-blown collapse».
«As we stand here almost a week into this campaign into the south… it remains imperative that Israel put a premium on civilian protection,» US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a press conference in Washington on Thursday. «And there does remain a gap between the
