US reportedly prevents UN Security Council reaction to Gaza aid attack

By Mucahit Oktay

The US reportedly blocked a reaction from the UN Security Council regarding the Israeli military's attack on a humanitarian aid convoy in Gaza, resulting in the deaths of at least 112 Palestinians and injuring 760 others.

During a Security Council meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, member states discussed issuing a statement in response to the attack on the humanitarian aid convoy in Gaza City.

Following the closed-door session, no statement was released.

According to information obtained by Anadolu, a draft resolution containing critical remarks against Israel failed to gain approval from the US Permanent Mission to the UN.

The draft resolution expressed deep concern over reports that 112 people lost their lives and 760 were injured as a result of Israeli forces opening fire on a crowd awaiting food aid in southwestern Gaza.

The resolution called on all parties to refrain from depriving civilians in the Gaza Strip of essential services and humanitarian aid, under international humanitarian law, warning of a potential acute food crisis affecting the entire population of 2.2 million people in Gaza if urgent action is not taken.

Council members urged Israel to keep border crossings open to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and ease the opening of additional crossings to meet humanitarian needs on a broader scale.

Earlier Thursday, Israeli forces fired on a crowd of Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid at the Al Nabulsi roundabout on Al Rashid Street, a major coastal road to the west of Gaza City in northern Gaza, leaving at least 112 Palestinians dead and 760 injured, according to the Gaza-based Health Ministry.

Israel has launched a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

At least 30,035 Palestinians have since been killed and 70,457 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.