20:00 United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, following the Security Council vote demanding aid deliveries at scale, that Israel's offensive was the "real problem... creating massive obstacles" to humanitarian shipments.
"The real problem is that the way Israel is conducting this offensive is creating massive obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid inside Gaza," he said. "A humanitarian ceasefire is the only way to begin to meet the desperate needs of people in Gaza and end their ongoing nightmare."
19:30 The UN Security Council approved a resolution that will bring more aid into Gaza and that will allow the "safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale."
After days of delays, the resolution also called for the creation of "conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities" but it did not call for an immediate end to fighting.
Russia and the United States, which both could have vetoed the measure as permanent members of the council, abstained, meaning it passed with 13 votes in favor.
Nonetheless, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield called the resolution "a strong step forward."
"This council provided a glimmer of hope among a sea of suffering," she said.
Diplomatic wrangling at United Nations headquarters in Manhattan -- causing the vote to be postponed several times this week -- has come against the backdrop of deteriorating conditions in Gaza and a mounting death toll.
Russian ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya hit out at the United States, saying "they have resorted to their favorite tactic... of twisting of arms", calling the text "toothless."
The United Arab Emirates sponsored the resolution, which was amended in several key areas to secure compromise.
The UAE's ambassador to the UN Lana Zaki Nusseibeh said "it responds with action to the dire humanitarian situation."
"We know this is not a perfect text... We will never tire of calling for a humanitarian cease-fire," she said.
Permanent Representative of the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations Lana Nusseibeh speaks during the Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters, Friday, Dec. 22, 2023 AP
18:30 In an interview with Israel's Channel 12, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak emphasized the urgent need for the government to devise a mechanism to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Barak argued that Netanyahu's continued rule is ineligible, accusing him of incitement of hatred and unwavering support for his son Yair against political adversaries.
Turning to the security challenges on the northern border, Barak expressed Israel's lack of interest in engaging in simultaneous conflicts on the Gaza and Lebanon fronts.
He stressed the importance of resolving the Gaza situation first before embarking on a political endeavor to address Hezbollah's presence along the borders.
These remarks from Barak come in the midst of mounting domestic pressure on Netanyahu to step down due to the failed Gaza invasion, which resulted in significant casualties but failed to dismantle Hamas or secure the release of remaining captives held by the resistance group in the besieged strip.
18:00 Reporters Without Borders (RSF) filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) regarding the deaths of seven Palestinian journalists killed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip over the past eight weeks.
The organization accused the Israeli army of war crimes against Gaza journalists and said that the latest to be killed covering the war on Gaza -- between 22 October and 15 December -- have raised the total death toll of Palestinian journalists in the besieged strip to at least 66, urging the ICC prosecutor to investigate and prosecute all of those responsible for the deaths since 7 October.
Colleagues and family members mourn over the body of Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqa, who was killed during Israeli bombardment, during his funeral in Khan Yunis on the southern Gaza Strip on December 16, 2023 AFP
“In view of the massacre of journalists in Gaza and the targeting to which they seem to be subjected, we call on ICC prosecutor Karim Khan to clearly state that he is making it a priority to investigate the crimes committed against journalists in Gaza and to prosecute those responsible," RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said.
This is the RSF’s fourth complaint to the ICC about war crimes against journalists in Palestine since 2018 and the second since the beginning of Israel's war on Gaza.
"The RSF also supported the complaint filed by Al-Jazeera about the fatal shooting of Palestinian journalist Shirin Abu Akleh in the West Bank on 11 May 2022," the organization said on its official website.
17:30 The CNN, citing diplomatic sources, reported that the US will support the draft resolution on Gaza in the UN Security Council after it has been watered down.
The news comes as diplomats at the Security Council are locked in negotiations on how to frame a draft resolution they could put to the vote, later today, without it being vetoed by Israel's closest ally the United States.
People gather during the Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters, Friday, Dec. 22, 2023 AP
Language calling for “urgent steps” to lay the groundwork “for a sustainable cessation of hostilities” was instrumental in the United States’ decision to support the resolution. Negotiations have dragged on throughout the week as diplomats worked behind closed doors on the language, the CNN reported.
The language of the now reads “urgent steps to immediately allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and also for creating the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities,” the source told CNN.
It does not call for an immediate end to fighting.
US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters that Washington would support the resolution if it "is put forward as is".
17:00 A US-Israeli man held captive in Gaza has died, a group representing captives' families and his kibbutz community said.
Gad Haggai, 73, is the latest confirmed fatality among captives held by Hamas in the territory.
The Israeli army also confirmed his death.
His wife Judith Weinstein Haggai, 70, is thought to be the oldest woman among those still held captive in Gaza.
16:40 Abu Dhabi-based The National newspaper reported that the Karm Abu Salem border crossing has reopened a day after an Israeli strike hit the Palestinian side killing four people including its Palestinian director.
The Israeli army acknowledged the drone strike that occurred on Thursday and claimed it was targeting gunmen near the tri-border crossing - between Egypt, Gaza and Israel.
The Israeli army said it would begin an investigation into the attack.
Last week, under international pressure, Israel agreed to open the Karm Abu Salem crossing to speed up the process of entry of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
16:30 Al-Jazeera reported, citing a correspondent in Gaza, that 28 people were killed during the past hours in Israeli bombardment of Khan Younis in the southern strip.
The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance group, Al-Quds Brigades also released a statement saying they have targeted Israeli military gatherings in the vicinity of the Al Zinna area, east of Khan Younis, with a missile barrage and mortar shells.
16:00 A Sky News visual investigation shows a building in Deir al Balah was hit one day after civilians were told they could flee to the city, the media and news company posted on X.
"The scene was horrific, fires burning in the house," eyewitness Mohammed Abu Musabeh told Erem News, a UAE-based news organisation.
Among the survivors was an infant girl, Layan, a relative of Mr Abu Musabeh, who said she was blown onto a neighbour's roof by the force of the explosion.
"How will this child continue her life after learning what happened to her family?"
Days earlier on 1 December, a temporary ceasefire had collapsed. In preparation for an invasion of southern Gaza, Israel published an interactive map which divided the territory into hundreds of small zones.
The map, Israel said, would be used to give clear and precise evacuation orders to try to keep civilians in the densely populated Gaza Strip away from active combat zones.
Using on-the-ground footage, satellite imagery and mapping software, a Sky News visual investigation found that Israel's evacuation orders have instead been chaotic and contradictory and that a neighbourhood in Deir al Balah was hit one day after the IDF said evacuees could flee there.
14:30 UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said that the entire population of Gaza faces "an imminent risk of famine.”
"We have been warning for weeks that, with such deprivation and destruction, each day that goes by will only bring more hunger, disease and despair to the people of Gaza," Griffiths posted on X, formerly Twitter.
14:00 Lebanon's prime minister said his country is ready to implement a UN resolution that would help end Hezbollah's cross-border attacks on Israel if Israel also complies and withdraws from disputed territory.
The frontier between Lebanon and Israel has seen escalating exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, since Israel’s war on Gaza began on October 7, raising fears of a broader conflagration.
Smoke billows after Israeli bombardment over Lebanon's southern town of Kfar Kila near the border with Israel on December 21, 2023 AFP
UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, called for the removal of armed personnel south of Lebanon's Litani River, except for UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army and state security forces.
The solution to the current cross-border hostilities "is the implementation of international resolutions", including Resolution 1701, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a statement.
"We are totally ready to commit to their implementation, on condition the Israeli side does the same, and withdraws -- according to the international laws and resolutions -- from occupied territory," he added.
Mikati's office said the premier was referring territory claimed by Lebanon that remains occupied following Israel's withdrawal from the country's south in 2000: the disputed Shebaa Farms, the Kfarshuba hills and the Lebanese side of the village of Ghajar.
Despite holding sway over swathes of the country's south, Hezbollah has not had a visible military presence on Lebanon's southern border since the end of the 2006 war.
A diplomatic source, requesting anonymity, told AFP that the proposals to avert another all-out conflict include settling the disputed land border between Israel and Lebanon and encouraging Hezbollah withdraw its fighters from near the frontier.
13:00 Three Israeli soldiers were killed and four injured as a result of bombing and clashes on the Israeli-Lebanese border, Al-Arabiya reported citing sources.
Earlier an Al-Arabiya correspondent reported four Israeli soldiers injured from a missile launched from southern Lebanon.
Cross-border clashes have escalated between the Israeli army and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters since Israel's war on Gaza began on 7 October.
9:00 The United Nations warned that Israel’s war on Gaza was pushing the strip towards famine, ahead of an expected Security Council vote Friday on a resolution to boost aid to the Palestinian territory but not call for a ceasefire.
With conditions deteriorating in the territory, the UN Security Council has been locked in negotiations on a resolution that would boost aid deliveries.
The latest draft seen by AFP, set to face a vote Friday, calls for "urgent steps to immediately allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and also for creating the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities."
It does not call for an immediate end to fighting.
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