GAZA: The UN Security Council for the first time on Monday demanded a ceasefire in Gaza, with the United States, the Zionist entity’s ally which has vetoed previous bids, abstaining. The resolution, which demands an “immediate ceasefire” for the ongoing holy month of Ramadan that leads to a “lasting” truce, went through, with all other 14 Security Council members voting yes.

In Gaza, Zionist forces fought Hamas fighters on Monday including around at least three major hospitals, raising fears for the patients, medics and displaced people trapped inside. Troops and tanks have encircled Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, the territory’s biggest, for a week and more recently moved on the Al-Amal Hospital in the main southern city of Khan Yunis, as aid agencies have voiced alarm about civilians caught up in the fighting. The Red Crescent on Sunday said military vehicles had also surrounded the nearby Nasser Hospital.

As combat raged on, technical talks have continued in Qatar towards a truce and hostage release deal, and the UN Security Council was set to convene later in the day for a vote on a new ceasefire demand. Almost six months into the war, global concern has mounted over the threat of famine in Gaza, and on Zionist plans to invade the crowded far-southern city of Rafah. UN chief Antonio Guterres, on a crisis visit to the Middle East, has pleaded for an end to the “non-stop nightmare” for the 2.4 million people trapped in Gaza’s worst-ever war.

Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads a coalition including ultra-nationalist parties, has vowed to go ahead with a Rafah invasion even without Washington’s support. US Vice President Kamala Harris stressed on ABC TV that a Rafah invasion would be “a huge mistake” and, when asked whether she would rule out “consequences” for the Zionist entity, replied that “I am ruling out nothing”.

The health ministry in Gaza Strip on Sunday put the total Palestinian death toll at 32,333, most of them women and children. Bombardment and fighting in Gaza killed another 72 people overnight, according to the ministry. More than 50 airstrikes rained down on the Gaza Strip, said the Hamas government press office.

Food and water shortages have deepened the suffering, especially in northern Gaza where residents, mostly women and children, were waiting in line to fill up jerrycans and buckets in Jabalia. “We don’t even have food to give us the energy to go to collect the water — let alone the innocent children, women and the elderly,” said one man, Bassam Mohammed Al-Haou. Another local man, Falah Saed, said “we are suffering a lot from water shortages because all and pipes and pumps have stopped working since the beginning of the war”.

Palestinians living near Al-Shifa have reported hellish conditions, including corpses in the streets, constant bombardment and the rounding up of men, who are stripped to their underwear and questioned. The Al-Shifa raid was in its eighth day. The Zionist entity has said the operation will continue until the last fighter is “in their hands”, signaling an extended presence at Al-Shifa, which troops also raided in November. At Al-Amal Hospital, the Palestinian Red Crescent said Zionist forces had surrounded all entrances and prohibited hospital staff from leaving.

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said the Zionist entity had definitively barred it from making aid deliveries in northern Gaza, where the threat of famine is highest. “Despite the tragedy unfolding under our watch, the (Zionist) Authorities informed the UN that they will no longer approve any @UNRWA food convoys to the north,” Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the agency, said Sunday on X. “This is outrageous & makes it intentional to obstruct lifesaving assistance during a man made famine.”

UNRWA director of communications Juliette Touma told AFP the decision not to approve deliveries to the north had been relayed in a meeting with Israeli military officials on Sunday. It followed two denials in writing for convoy deliveries to the north last week. No reason for the decision was given, Touma said.

Last week a UN-backed food security assessment warned that famine was projected to hit the north of Gaza by May unless there was urgent intervention. UNRWA has not been able to deliver food to the north since Jan 29, Touma said. “The latest decision is another nail in the coffin” for efforts to get desperately needed aid to Gazans reeling from war, Touma said. Touma said Zionist authorities on Sunday also rejected a UN request to send a team to Al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza, where fighting has flared for almost a week, “to evacuate people who are injured”.

Martin Griffiths, head of the UN humanitarian coordination office, said on X on Sunday that UNRWA “is the beating heart of the humanitarian response in Gaza”. “The decision to block its food convoys to the north only pushes thousands closer to famine. It must be revoked,” he added. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, said on X that blocking UNRWA aid deliveries was “in fact denying starving people the ability to survive”. - AFP