🔴Live: US says new UN draft resolution on Gaza ceasefire ‘not helpful’

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation in Rafah, as seen from Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip on May 28, 2024. © Mohammed Salem, Reuters

The United States’ deputy ambassador at the UN said Wednesday that a new resolution on the war in Gaza would "not change the situation on the ground". The draft seeking an immediate ceasefire and a halt to Israel's offensive in Rafah is being circulated at the Security Council by Algeria. Israel’s military earlier said it had seized full control of the strategic Philadelphi corridor, a buffer zone between Gaza and Egypt.  Follow our liveblog for the latest developments in the war in Gaza.

Summary:

• Algeria is circulating a proposed UN Security Council resolution that would demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and order Israel to halt its military offensive in the southern city of Rafah immediately.

• Street fighting and Israeli bombardment rocked Gaza's far-southern Rafah on Wednesday, Palestinian residents and officials said, a day after Israeli tanks rolled for the first time into the centre of the city near the Egyptian border.

• Israel’s military said Wednesday it had seized entire control of the strategic Philadelphi corridor, a buffer zone between Gaza and Egypt. The military said it had no further immediate details. 

• Israeli shelling and airstrikes west of Rafah killed at least 37 people overnight Monday and on Tuesday, most of them sheltering in tents, according to witnesses, emergency workers and hospital officials. The strikes pummeled the same area where strikes on Sunday triggered a deadly fire that engulfed tents in a camp for displaced Palestinians, killing 45 people.

• At least 36,171 Palestinians have been killed and 81,420 wounded in Israel’s war in Gaza, according to the last official death toll given by the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Some 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.

Yesterday's key developments:

• The United Nations chief says the "humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza is risking famine and is calling on Israel to enable safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance through all crossing points.

• The US-built temporary pier taking humanitarian aid to Gaza's coast will be repaired after getting damaged in rough seas and weather, the Pentagon said Tuesday. The pier will be pulled out and sent to the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, where US Central Command will repair it.

• US President Joe Biden is not turning a “blind eye” to casualties in Gaza’s Rafah but has no plans to change policy yet following a deadly Israeli strike over the weekend, the White House said Tuesday.

• The White House said on Tuesday it opposes imposing sanctions against International Criminal Court officials over the prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants for Israeli leaders over the Gaza war.

• Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad released a video on Tuesday showing an Israeli hostage alive and held in the Gaza Strip. The captive, identified by Israeli media as Sasha Trupanov, 28, is seen speaking in Hebrew in the 30-second clip.

About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:

Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent. For more on the health ministry’s casualty figures, click here.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)