Israel presses on in Gaza after US veto on truce bid

GAZA/JERUSALEM — Israel ordered residents out of the center of Gaza's main southern city Khan Yunis and pounded the length of the enclave overnight through Sunday, after the United States wielded its UN Security Council veto to shield its ally from a demand for a cease-fire.

Since a truce with Hamas in the two-month-old conflict collapsed on Dec 1, Israel has expanded its ground assault into the southern half of the Gaza Strip, pushing into Khan Yunis, where residents reported fierce battles. Both sides reported a surge in fighting in the north.

An official toll of deaths in Gaza from the Palestinian health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave exceeded 17,700 on Saturday, with many thousands missing and presumed dead under the rubble. The ministry has said about 40 percent of deaths were of children under 18.

On the Israeli side, about 1,200 people were killed, according to Israeli tallies.

On Saturday, 100 trucks carrying unspecified aid entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, said Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority. That is still well below the daily average before the conflict.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who invoked a rarely-used power last week to call for a cease-fire, said: "We are facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system."

Despite growing international pressure, the US Joe Biden administration said on Saturday it has approved the emergency sale to Israel of nearly 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition worth over $106 million.

The sale was announced a day after the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, a measure that had wide international support.

The resolution failed to pass at a Security Council emergency meeting held late Friday after the US cast a veto and the United Kingdom abstained, while the other 13 UNSC members voted in favor of the proposal handed in by the UAE and backed by more than 90 UN member states.

Decision slammed

The Palestinian Authority and Hamas slammed on Saturday the US veto.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas denounced on Saturday the US position as "aggressive and immoral, and a blatant violation of all humanitarian values and principles" while thanking those member states that favored the resolution for "siding with justice, peace and human ethics".

Meanwhile, two hospitals in central and southern Gaza received the bodies of 133 people from Israeli bombings over the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said on Saturday.

Hamas said that day it continued its rocket fire into Israel.

In Gaza, residents reported airstrikes and shelling, including in the southern city of Rafah near the Egyptian border — one area where the Israeli army had told civilians to go.

"We now live in the Gaza Strip and are governed by the American law of the jungle. America has killed human rights," said Rafah resident Abu Yasser al-Khatib.

Agencies Via Xinhua