DUBAI - 20,057 Palestinians have been killed and 53,320 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct. 7, the Gaza health ministry said on Friday.
A United Nations Security Council vote on a bid to boost aid to the Gaza Strip was delayed by another day to Friday even though Israel's ally the United States, which holds veto power, won the changes it wanted and said it could now support the proposal.
With Israel's military campaign more than 10 weeks old, the amended resolution no longer dilutes Israel's control over all aid deliveries to 2.3 million people in Gaza. Israel monitors the limited aid deliveries to Gaza via the Rafah crossing from Egypt and the Israel-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing.
After nearly two weeks of negotiations and already several days of delays on a vote, an agreement was struck late Thursday with the U.S. that could allow a resolution drafted by the United Arab Emirates to be adopted.
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters that it was "a resolution that we can support", but she declined to specify if that meant the U.S. would vote in favor or abstain, which would allow the resolution to be adopted.
The vote, however, was delayed until Friday after Russia - also a veto power - and some other council members complained during closed-door talks about the amendments made to appease Washington, diplomats said.
Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia declined to speak to reporters after the meeting. A key sticking point for the U.S. had been a proposal for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to establish a monitoring mechanism in Gaza "to exclusively monitor all humanitarian relief consignments to Gaza provided through land, sea and air routes" from countries not party to the war.
Instead, the amended draft resolution asks Guterres to appoint a senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator to establish a U.N. mechanism for accelerating aid to Gaza through states that are not party to the conflict.
The coordinator would also have responsibility "for facilitating, coordinating, monitoring, and verifying in Gaza, as appropriate, the humanitarian nature" of all the aid. 'CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES'
The initial draft resolution demanded that Israel and Hamas allow and facilitate "the use of all land, sea, and air routes to and throughout the entire Gaza" for aid deliveries. That was changed to "all available routes," which some diplomats said allows Israel to retain control over access. The US had also been wary of a reference in the draft resolution to a cessation of hostilities, said diplomats.
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