Israel-Hamas war updates: UN General Assembly urges Gaza ceasefire

This live page is now closed. Follow along with our coverage of the Israeli war on Gaza at our new page, here.

To read more about Israel’s operation in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, read our explainer here.

Even in a time of genocide, Big Tech silences Palestinians, writes Marwa Fatafta. To find out why she believes so, read this opinion piece.

We will soon be closing this live page. Here’s a recap of the day’s developments:

• A UNGA resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian truce has passed with the support of 153 countries.
• US President Joe Biden gave his most public criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, saying that it was “starting to lose support by [its] indiscriminate bombing” of the enclave.
• Israeli forces have continued to pound areas in central Gaza as well as the enclave’s south, namely Deir el-Balah, Rafah and Khan Younis, killing dozens of Palestinians.
• Gaza’s health ministry has said Israeli forces entered Kamal Adwan Hospital after besieging and shelling the facility for days.
• At least six Palestinians have been killed, most of them in a drone attack, during an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

The Icelandic Society of Authors and Composers issued a statement with the demand, saying that Iceland should withdraw from the European song competition if Israel is allowed to participate.

The society’s board said that Israel should be banned on the same grounds that Russia had been after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“We all have a duty to take a stand against war and the killing of civilians and innocent children,” the board said, quoted by The Reykjavik Grapevine. “We owe it to those nations that act with force through military might not to share the stage in an event that is always characterised by joy and optimism.”

In 2019, the Icelandic entry to Eurovision displayed the Palestinian flag during the show, in support of the Palestinian people.

Biden has announced that his defence chief and national security adviser are heading to the region to discuss the situation in Gaza.

Biden did not specify which countries US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin will visit during his trip.

Jake Sullivan, the White House’s national security adviser, will visit Israel and meet with the country’s war cabinet to discuss the US commitment to Israel as well as the need to protect civilians in Gaza, Biden said.

The US president’s remarks come despite outrage and accusations of anti-Semitism over similar comments he made on Monday.

“I believe, without Israel as a freestanding state, not a Jew in the world is safe – not a Jew in the world is safe,” Biden told donors at a campaign reception.

A variation of those remarks had sparked anger against the president, with many noting that the safety and security of Jewish Americans is the responsibility of the US government, not a foreign country.

IfNotNow, a progressive Jewish group, had called on Biden to apologise.

“As President of the United States, it’s his job to make this country safe for everyone, including Jewish Americans,” Eva Borgwardt, the group’s national spokesperson, said in a statement earlier on Tuesday.

We are deeply offended by President Biden’s statement last night, and call on him to apologize.

Telling American Jews that our safety ultimately comes from Israel is antisemitic. Like all other Americans, like all other humans, we deserve to be safe & free in the place we live. https://t.co/eKfMEIc3Aj

— IfNotNow🔥🕎 (@IfNotNowOrg) December 12, 2023

The military said that aircraft and tanks attacked Syrian army positions inside Syria after three missiles were earlier fired from Syria towards the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The Israeli military said that only one of the rockets hit the Golan Heights, which is Syrian territory that Israel has unilaterally annexed.

It added that Israeli forces also attacked a Hezbollah rocket launcher position in Lebanese territory.

Riyad Mansour said protests across the world calling for a ceasefire, including demonstrations outside the UN headquarters, must be heard.

He added that the “massive power” of protests culminated in the UNGA resolution, which was overwhelmingly approved earlier, stressing that Washington cannot overlook the will of billions of people across the world.

“We hope in a few days – inshallah [God willing] few hours – that the United States [will] come to the conclusion to force Israel to stop this aggression against our people,” Mansour told reporters.

Cargo ships and other vessels have been warned by Yemen’s Houthi rebels against “falsifying their identities” or turning off their radio signal as they navigate the Red Sea.

In a statement posted on social media, Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, the head of Yemen’s Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, wrote that any vessels navigating through the Red Sea are not allowed to travel towards Israel.

He also said that those vessels must quickly respond to Houthi attempts at communication.

Al-Houthi also reiterated Houthi opposition to the US and Israeli “aggression” against Gaza, while vowing to break the siege of the enclave.

The Iran-allied Houthis have conducted several attacks targeting Israel since October as well as taking control of a ship traveling near Yemen after they claimed it was linked to Israel. Then, on Monday, the Houthis hit a Norwegian tanker moving through the Red Sea with a missile.

The vote saw some key Washington allies back the call for ending the war, with only eight countries siding with the US and Israel against the non-binding resolution.

UN Security Council members France – a close US partner – China and Russia backed the measure, as the UK abstained.

Ukraine, which has been receiving US military and financial support against the Russian invasion, also abstained. So did Germany, which staunchly supports Israel, while neighbouring Austria joined Israel in voting against the measure.

Poland, a NATO member and US ally that borders Ukraine, voted for the resolution along with the northern European countries of Finland and Sweden.

Some US partners in the vital Asia-Pacific region also backed the call for the ceasefire, including India, Japan and South Korea. Australia voted in favour as well.

Moreover, the US’s neighbours to the north and the south – Canada and Mexico –  sided with the majority in support of a ceasefire.

“The world has witnessed a strong, noble and great stance by the General Assembly,” Riyad Mansour said.

Mansour stressed that the resolution “demands” a ceasefire, which he said carries an authoritative tone. “This holds additional power,” he added, speaking in Arabic as he explained that the measure did not just “call for” an end to the fighting.

Mansour noted that more than 30 additional nations have backed today’s resolution compared with the first UNGA ceasefire call in October, which received 120 votes.

“We hope and we will work to ensure that the Israeli authority will abide by this humanitarian ceasefire immediately – as the UN chief has demanded, as 13 countries in the Security Council have demanded, and as the General Assembly has demanded moments ago,” he said. “Our efforts will continue.”

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says he discussed the “dire situation” in Gaza during a meeting with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and the Palestinian Authority, as well as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation secretary general.

In a brief statement posted on X, the WHO chief said the UN health agency “will continue to support civilians and health personnel in any possible way”.

“But we need sustained, safe, scaled up access to do this. And this is only possible via a ceasefire,” he said.

I just met with Foreign Ministers @FaisalbinFarhan, @Menlu_RI and Riad Malki, and Hissein Brahim Taha, @OIC_OCI Secretary-General, to discuss the dire health situation in #Gaza. We discussed our shared concerns over the systematic degradation of the health system.@WHO will… pic.twitter.com/igGIZYjHFN

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) December 12, 2023

Unsurprisingly, Israel and the US were among the countries to vote against the motion.

Also among them were two tiny Pacific Islands – Micronesia and Nauru – with a combined population of fewer than 130,000 people.

Here is the list:

• Austria
• Czech Republic
• Guatemala
• Israel
• Liberia
• Micronesia
• Nauru
• Papua New Guinea
• Paraguay
• United States

Mathu Joyini, South Africa’s envoy to the UN, has called for universally applying international law.

“The events of the past six weeks in Gaza have illustrated that Israel is acting contrary to its obligation in terms of the Genocide Convention,” Joyini said, referring to the international treaty that outlaws genocide.

“As a UN member state and owing to South Africa’s painful past experience of a system of apartheid, this impresses on us as member states to take action in accordance with international law.”