Asma Al Habash, mourns her brother and his family, victims of an Israeli army strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp, at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, December 12, 2024
PALESTINIAN medical officials say Israeli air strikes today killed at least 28 people in the Gaza Strip, including seven children.
This came hours after the United Nations general assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The latest Israeli killing spree took place in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp, according to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby city of Deir al-Balah.
Two other strikes killed 15 men, part of local committees set up by displaced Palestinians to secure aid convoys.
The Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis received the bodies.
The hospital said eight were killed in a strike near the southern border town of Rafah and seven others in a strike 30 minutes later near Khan Younis.
Meanwhile the UN general assembly overwhelmingly approved resolutions on Wednesday demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and backing the UN agency for Palestinian refugees that Israel has moved to ban.
The votes in the 193-nation world body were 158-9 with 13 abstentions to demand a ceasefire, and 159-9 with 11 abstentions to support the agency known as Unrwa.
Slovenia’s UN ambassador Samuel Zbogar told the assembly: “Gaza doesn’t exist any more. It is destroyed.
“There is no reason for this war to continue. We need a ceasefire now. We need to bring hostages home now.”
Algeria’s deputy UN ambassador Nacim Gaouaoui said: “The price of silence and failure in the face of the Palestinian tragedy is a very heavy price, and it will be heavier tomorrow.”
Palestinian UN ambassador Riyad Mansour called Gaza “the bleeding heart of Palestine.”
He said: “The images of our children burning in tents, with no food in their bellies and no hopes for the future, after having endured pain and loss for more than a year, should haunt the conscience of the world and prompt action to end this nightmare.”
US deputy UN ambassador Robert Wood said: “At a time when Hamas is feeling isolated due to the ceasefire in Lebanon, the draft resolution on a ceasefire in Gaza risks sending a dangerous message to Hamas that there’s no need to negotiate or release the hostages.”
In advance of the UN vote, Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon said: “By demanding a ceasefire today without addressing the hostages, this assembly will once again side with those who weaponise human suffering.”
General assembly resolutions are not legally binding, though they reflect world opinion. There are no vetoes in the assembly.
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