Middle East

US President Joe Biden discussed the situation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, the White House said. Israel’s main ally has kept up its support while expressing concern over the growing casualty toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

With the Palestinian death toll in Gaza now over 20,000, the international community is calling for a cease-fire. Israel vows to press ahead, saying it wants to destroy Hamas’ military capabilities following the militant group’s October 7 cross-border rampage that triggered the war, in which it killed 1,200 people and took 240 others hostage.

The Israeli offensive has devastated much of northern Gaza, killed nearly 20,000 Palestinians, and driven some 1.9 million people – nearly 85 per cent of the population – from their homes. The widespread destruction and heavy civilian death toll has drawn increasing international calls for a cease-fire.

Israel says it warns of strikes in advance so civilians can escape, and it accuses Hamas of hiding in residential areas. In the ground war, where Israel has lost 132 soldiers, tanks advanced further into the southern city of Khan Younis and shelled a market area but met heavy resistance, residents said.

The UN General Assembly has scheduled an emergency meeting on Tuesday to vote on a draft resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN said it’s similar to the Security Council resolution the US vetoed Friday.

Other countries including India and China have not explicitly endorsed a fossil fuel phase-out at COP28, but have backed a popular call for boosting renewable energy. China’s top climate envoy, Xie Zhenhue, described this year’s climate summit as the hardest in his career.

Israel holds the Hamas militants responsible for civilian casualties, accusing them of using civilians as human shields, and says it has made considerable efforts with evacuation orders to get civilians out of harm’s way. It says 97 Israeli soldiers have died in the ground offensive after Hamas raided southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 240 hostage.

Unlike at past UN climate talks that sparked huge protest rallies, including 2021’s COP26 in Glasgow and 2015’s COP21 in Paris, there have been no demonstrations outside the venue.

The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have already been forced from their homes, many fleeing multiple times. With fighting raging across the length of the territory, residents and UN agencies say there is now effectively nowhere safe to go, though Israel disputes this.