Gaza crisis: UN urges more humanitarian aid, Israel widens offensive

The UN Security Council has called for humanitarian assistance for Gaza to be boosted, but the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the way Israel was conducting its military operation was creating "massive obstacles" to aid distribution inside the battered enclave.

After days of wrangling to avert a threatened U.S. veto, the Security Council on Friday passed a resolution urging steps to allow "safe, unhindered, and expanded humanitarian access" to Gaza and "conditions for a sustainable cessation" of fighting.

Speaking after the vote, Israel's Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan dismissed the resolution as unnecessary. "The UN's focus only on the aid mechanisms for Gaza is unnecessary and disconnected from reality – Israel in any case allows the introduction of aid on any necessary scale," he said.

Hamas and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority split over the resolution. Hamas said the resolution "failed to match" the catastrophic condition in Gaza resulting from Israeli military actions in the region, and the Palestinian Authority's Foreign Ministry welcomed the resolution as a step "in the right direction to help alleviate the suffering of the people of the Gaza Strip and puts pressure on those countries that deliberately blocked or delayed the adoption of the resolution."

The Palestinian Authority's Foreign Ministry called for a rapid implementation of the resolution and called on the UN to set up a mechanism to implement the resolution as soon as possible. The ministry also called on the international community to continue to put pressure on Israel to stop its military operations, implement the two-state solution and realize the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

Dai Bing, charge d'affaires of China's permanent mission to the United Nations, told the Security Council that given the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, the resolution offers "at least a glimmer of hope" for more and faster delivery of aid to Gaza.

Humanitarian crisis

The resolution came as the death toll in Gaza exceeded 20,057, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run government's media office.

As Israel cut electricity, water, food and fuel to the enclave, the entire 2.3 million population of the Gaza Strip is facing crisis levels of hunger and the risk of famine is increasing each day as the conflict grinds on, according to a report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a UN-backed body, which was published on Thursday.

However, Israel, which said 140 of its soldiers have been killed since it launched a ground incursion on October 20, vowed on Friday to continue its military operations on the Gaza Strip until all hostages are freed and Hamas is "eliminated."

Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said during a press briefing that heavy battles took place in Khan Younis, the largest city in the southern Gaza Strip, previously marked by the army as "a safe zone."

Hagari said that the army is preparing to "expand the fighting in the Strip, primarily in the southern area," as the fighting in the north is "in its final stages" and the IDF "has nearly gained full operational control in the north."

Guterres said the way Israel is conducting its operation is "creating massive obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian assistance" in Gaza, where the United Nations says the aid available is just 10 percent of what is needed.

An effective aid operation in Gaza requires security, staff who can work in safety, logistical capacity, and the resumption of commercial activity. These four elements do not exist, Guterres said.

The UN waited 71 days for Israel finally to allow aid to enter Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing. The crossing was then hit while aid trucks were in the area, he said.

(With input from agencies)