UN Security Council seeks to salvage compromise on Gaza resolution

UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council on Thursday was locked in efforts to secure compromise to pass a resolution on the Israel-Hamas war after previous efforts to win Washington's backing fell short.

After days of delays, the latest draft version seen by AFP calls for "urgent steps to immediately allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and also for creating the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities."

A vote on the resolution was scheduled for later Thursday, according to the official schedule.

Diplomatic wrangling at United Nations headquarters in Manhattan -- causing the vote to be postponed several times this week -- has come against the backdrop of deteriorating conditions in Gaza and a mounting death toll.

The United Arab Emirates is sponsoring the resolution on the conflict which was watered down in several key areas to secure compromise, according to the draft version seen by AFP.

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."

Israel bombed a newly reopened aid crossing on Thursday, Hamas authorities said.

Members of the 15-member council have been grappling for days to find common ground on the resolution.

- 'Desperate' situation -

Israel, backed by its ally the United States, has opposed the term "ceasefire," and Washington has used its veto twice to thwart resolutions opposed by Israel since the start of the war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday there would be no ceasefire in Gaza until the "elimination" of Hamas.

"We're still actively working with our UN partners about the resolution and on the language itself," US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

The diplomatic tussle came as the UN's hunger monitoring system warned that "every single person in war-torn Gaza is expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity in the next six weeks."

"The World Food Programme has been calling the situation desperate, and no one in Gaza is safe from starvation, they say. That's why we have all been calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire," said the UN secretary-general's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.

Hamas armed wing infiltrated Israel on October 7 and killed around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Israel responded with a relentless air and ground campaign. The Hamas government's media office in the Gaza Strip said Wednesday at least 20,000 people have been killed, among them 8,000 children and 6,200 women. - AFP