The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they happen.
UN Security Council vote on Gaza delayed again; US signals support for latest draft
The United Nations Security Council once again pushed back a vote to later Friday on a much-delayed resolution on the war between Hamas and Israel, diplomatic sources say, as the US has signaled its support for the draft resolution in its current form.
This marks the fourth time the Security Council has delayed a vote this week as diplomatic efforts were being made to get the US on board, following its veto on December 9 of a resolution that called for a ceasefire but did not condemn Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacres in Israel in which thousands of terrorists killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 240 hostages, and did not acknowledge Israel’s right to defend itself.
Sources previously indicated one of the key sticking points for the new vote is a proposal for the UN to create a monitoring mechanism for aid going into the Gaza Strip. It appears this demand was dropped, according to the latest draft which calls for “urgent steps to immediately allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and also for creating the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.”
It also demands all sides “allow and facilitate the use of all… routes to and throughout the entire Gaza Strip, including border crossings… for the provision of humanitarian assistance.”
And it calls for the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”
The postponement to Friday came as the US, which has opposed a number of proposals during the resolution’s drafting this week, says it is ready to support it in its current form.
The United Arab Emirates is sponsoring the resolution, which was amended in several key areas to secure compromise and US support, according to the draft version seen by AFP.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield says in a briefing: “We have worked hard and diligently over the course of the past week with the Emiratis, with others, with Egypt, to come up with a resolution that we can support. And we do have that resolution now. We’re ready to vote on it.”
She says it’s a resolution “that will bring humanitarian assistance to those in need. It will support the priority that Egypt has in ensuring that we put a mechanism on the ground that will support humanitarian assistance, and we’re ready to move forward.”
More than 20 countries join coalition to protect Red Sea shipping, says Pentagon
More than 20 countries have joined the US-led coalition to protect Red Sea shipping from attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the Pentagon says.
The Iran-backed Houthis have repeatedly targeted vessels in the vital shipping lane with strikes they say are in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is battling terror group Hamas following its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7.
“We’ve had over 20 nations now sign on to participate” in the coalition, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder tells journalists.
Ryder said the Houthis are “attacking the economic wellbeing and prosperity of nations around the world,” effectively becoming “bandits along the international highway that is the Red Sea.”
Coalition forces will “serve as a highway patrol of sorts, patrolling the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to respond to — and assist as necessary — commercial vessels that are transiting this vital international waterway,” he says, calling on the Houthis to cease their attacks.
The latest round of the Israel-Hamas conflict began when the Palestinian terror group carried out a shock cross-border attack on October 7 that killed around 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians. Terrorists also abducted about 240 people.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel began a bombardment of targets in Gaza, alongside a ground invasion, which Gaza’s Hamas terror government on Wednesday said has killed at least 20,000 people since October 7, without differentiating between combatants and civilians. That figure cannot be independently verified and includes those killed by failed Palestinian rocket launches. Israeli officials have said over 8,000 of those killed in Gaza are Hamas operatives. The IDF says 137 soldiers have been killed during the ground offensive so far.
The United States announced the multinational Red Sea coalition on Monday, while the Houthis warned two days later that they would strike back if attacked.
Canada to welcome citizens’ extended families from Gaza
OTTAWA — Canada will take in extended families of Canadians in war-torn Gaza for up to three years, Immigration Minister Marc Miller announces.
The move, which is due to take effect on January 9, will allow Canadians to reunite with spouses or common-law partners, children and grandchildren regardless of age, siblings and their immediate families, as well as parents and grandparents.
Miller says the aim of the policy change is “to get people safe” as the humanitarian crisis has made Gaza “unlivable.”
The government had previously focused on getting more than 600 Canadians, their spouses and children out of Gaza.
Miller estimates that it could see hundreds more resettled in Canada while fighting continues.
He stresses at a news conference, however, that it is “extremely difficult to leave Gaza and may not be possible for everyone.”
“These are situations that are not under our control” and there is a “whole waterfall of scenarios where things could potentially go wrong,” he warns.
Miller says he also ordered immigration officials to prioritize permanent residency applications for Palestinians.
The newcomers will require documentation and security checks including a biometrics screening in Cairo before being allowed to board flights to Canada.
Ahmad Al-Qadi, with the National Council of Canadian Muslims, told a separate news conference in Ottawa that many Canadians who fled Gaza in recent months had to make an “impossible decision to leave parents and siblings behind in a war zone because they don’t have citizenship.”
He thanked the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for expanding the eligibility criteria to Canadians’ extended families.