UN Security Council vote on Gaza ceasefire postponed to Tuesday

Prolonged negotiations led the UN Security Council to postpone to Tuesday a vote on a resolution that had sought a new ceasefire in Gaza, diplomatic sources said on Monday, as the United States exhibits growing impatience with key ally Israel.

The news comes after the first commercial trucks entered the Gaza Strip since the Israel-Hamas war erupted more than two months ago, said the United States.

Summary:

• US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin held a joint press conference with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in Israel on Monday, during which he called for more aid for people displaced in the besieged Gaza Strip and said that the US would continue to provide arms and munitions to Israel.
• Initially intended for Monday, the United Nations Security Council vote on the conflict in Gaza was postponed until Tuesday as negotiations continued over the text of the document, diplomatic sources at the United Nations told AFP.
• The first commercial trucks have entered the Gaza Strip since the war, joining UN-led deliveries, the United States said on Monday.
• A more precise picture of Hamas‘s October 7 attack on Israel has emerged from social security data, confirming the unprecedented scale of the violence but also challenging some initial testimonies. The final death toll from the attack is now thought to be 695 Israeli civilians, including 36 children, as well as 373 security forces and 71 foreigners, giving a total of 1,139. This excludes five people, among them four Israelis, still listed as missing by the prime minister’s office.
• At least 19,453 people have been killed in Israel‘s ensuing assault on the Gaza Strip and at least 52,286 people injured, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. At least 7,600 people are missing, according to the Hamas media office.

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. 

France 24