Gaza update

 Israel and the United States were increasingly isolated as they faced global calls for a cease-fire in Gaza, including a non-binding vote expected to pass at the United Nations later on Tuesday. Israel has pressed ahead with an offensive against Gaza’s Hamas rulers that it says could go on for weeks or months. The war ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel has already brought unprecedented death and destruction to the impoverished coastal enclave, with more than 18,000 Palestinians killed, mostly women and minors, and over 80% of the population of 2.3 million having fled their homes. More

Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant,  said Israel had “no intention” of staying permanently in Gaza after the completion of its military campaign to eliminate Hamas. The country was open to discuss alternatives about who will control the territory as long as it is not a group hostile to Israel, he said, and would consider an agreement with Hezbollah in Lebanon if security guarantees were received.

A World Health Organization official said on Tuesday that only 11, or less than a third, of Gaza’s hospitals remain partially functional and pleaded for them to remain intact.

The WHO has issued a strong statement in which it accuses Israel of delaying a vital medical mission, and making Palestinian medical staff kneel at gunpoint, while detaining them and preventing them doing their jobs. A member of Palestine Red Crescent Society staff claims to have been harassed, beaten, threatened, stripped and blindfolded by Israeli forces, then left to walk towards the south with his hands still tied behind his back, and without clothes or shoes.