United Nations: The United Nations, its top leaders and agencies have strongly condemned the killing of hundreds of civilians in a strike on a hospital in Gaza, underscoring that attack on hospitals or civilian infrastructure is against international humanitarian law.
The airstrike on Al-Ahili hospital on Tuesday killed at least 500 people, Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry said, blaming Israel for the attack.
Israeli authorities have, however, denied involvement with the Israeli Defence Forces saying rockets misfired by Islamic Jihad militants towards Israel failed after launch and hit the hospital.
“I am horrified by the killing of hundreds of Palestinian civilians in a strike on a hospital in Gaza today, which I strongly condemn. My heart is with the families of the victims. Hospitals and medical personnel are protected under international humanitarian law,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on X.
In another post on X, Guterres said too many lives and the fate of the entire region hang in the balance as he called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Middle East to ease epic human suffering.
The Secretary-General also condemned the attack on a UNRWA school on Tuesday in Al-Maghazi refugee camp in Gaza which killed at least six people, the statement said. The Secretary-General extended his sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a swift recovery to those injured.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) also strongly condemned the attack on the hospital, which was operational with patients, health and caregivers, and internally displaced people sheltering there. The WHO said the hospital was one of 20 in the north of the Gaza Strip facing evacuation orders from the Israeli military.
The order for evacuation has been impossible to carry out given the current insecurity, critical condition of many patients, and lack of ambulances, staff, health system bed capacity, and alternative shelter for those displaced, the global health agency said.
The WHO called for the immediate active protection of civilians and health care. Evacuation orders must be reversed. International humanitarian law must be abided by, which means health care must be actively protected and never targeted, it said.
UNSC to vote on Gaza resolution
The UN Security Council scheduled a Wednesday vote on a resolution that initially condemned the heinous terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel as well as all violence against civilians, while calling for humanitarian pauses to deliver desperately needed aid to millions in Gaza.
Negotiations on wording of the draft resolution sponsored by Brazil continued throughout Tuesday, and the final version to be voted on had not been released by late Tuesday.
The vote follows the council's rejection Monday evening of a Russian-drafted resolution that condemned violence and terrorism against civilians and called for a humanitarian cease-fire but made no mention of Hamas.
Russia, the United Arab Emirates and China called for the emergency session, at which UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo and UN Mideast envoy Tor Wennesland were to brief council members.
The divided Security Council has been even more polarized since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and whether its five veto-wielding permanent members the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France would support the Brazil resolution or abstain in the vote remained to be seen.
To be adopted, a resolution needs at least nine of the 15 council members to vote yes and no veto by a permanent member.
The council vote was taking place amid frantic diplomatic efforts to prevent the Israeli-Hamas conflict from spreading. US President Joe Biden was on a lightning trip to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to try to prevent the war's expansion in the region and to open corridors for the delivery of aid to Gazans.
After the hospital blast, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas backed out of a meeting with Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and King Abdullah II of Jordan.
The 22-member Arab Group at the United Nations expressed outrage at the hospital deaths and called for an immediate cease-fire to avoid further Palestinian casualties, the opening of a corridor to safely deliver aid to millions in Gaza, and the prevention of any forced evacuation of people from the territory.
Gaza has a population of more than two million and since October 7, when the current conflict began after Hamas launched an audacious terror attack on Israel and the Jewish state declared war on the militant group, about one million Palestinians have been displaced and nearly half of them are sheltering in UNRWA schools in the Gaza Strip. Another 1,200 people across Gaza are believed to be buried under the rubble, alive or dead, health authorities said.
Hamas' October 7, attack in southern Israel killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and resulted in some 200 being taken captive into Gaza. Hamas militants in Gaza have launched rockets every day since, aiming at cities across Israel.
