War pushing Gaza to famine, UN warns

GAZA STRIP, Dec 22 (Agencies): The Israel-Hamas war is pushing Gaza towards famine, the United Nations warned ahead of an expected Security Council vote later on Friday on a resolution to boost aid to the Palestinian territory but not call for a ceasefire.
Separate diplomatic efforts were also underway for a fresh pause in the worst-ever Gaza war, which was triggered by an unprecedented attack by Hamas militants on Israel in October.
With aid workers running out of words to describe conditions in Gaza, the UN Security Council has been locked all week in negotiations over how to phrase a resolution about the war.
The latest draft 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."
It does not call for an immediate end to fighting.
Backed by its ally the United States, Israel has opposed any reference to a "ceasefire".
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the UN, told reporters that Washington would support the resolution if it "is put forward as is".
Most of the dead are women and children, Hamas officials say.
The entire population of Gaza faces "an imminent risk of famine", according to a UN-backed global hunger monitoring system on Thursday.
"We have been warning for weeks that, with such deprivation and destruction, each day that goes by will only bring more hunger, disease and despair to the people of Gaza," UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths posted on X, formerly Twitter.
The UN estimates 1.9 million Gazans are now displaced, out of a population of 2.4 million.
A Reuters report adds: Israeli forces signalled they were widening their ground offensive with a new push into central Gaza on Friday, as the UN Security Council was expected to vote on a resolution to increase humanitarian aid to stave off the threat of famine.
As hopes faded for an imminent breakthrough in talks this week in Egypt aimed at getting warring Israel and Hamas to agree to a new truce, air strikes, artillery bombardments and fighting were reported across the Palestinian enclave.
Israel's military on Friday ordered residents of Al-Bureij, in central Gaza, to move south immediately, indicating a new focus of the ground assault that has already devastated the north of the Strip and made a series of incursions in the south.
Israel's government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to eradicate Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Gaza, after its fighters launched a cross-border raid on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
But the soaring death toll during the Israeli military campaign of retaliation has drawn increasing international criticism, even from staunch ally the United States.
20,057 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces
An Arab News adds: Health officials in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip say more than 20,057 Palestinians have been killed in the war between Israel and Hamas.
The figure, amounting to nearly one per cent of the territory's prewar population, is a new reflection of the staggering cost of the war, which in just over 10 weeks has displaced more than 80 per cent of Gaza's people and devastated wide swaths of the tiny coastal enclave.
Gaza's health ministry said Friday that it has documented 20,057 deaths in the fighting. It does not differentiate between combatant and civilian deaths. It has previously said that roughly two-thirds of the dead were women or minors.
Hamas says Israel's goal of eliminating it 'doomed to fail'
An AFP report adds: Hamas's military wing on Thursday said Israel's objective to eliminate the Hamas group in Gaza was "doomed to fail", more than two months into war triggered by attacks on Israel.
Abu Obeida, spokesman for Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, also said in an audio recording that any further release of hostages held in Gaza depended on a "cessation of aggression".
Neither Israel's continued offensive nor "direct military operations" would bring the hostages home, he said.
"It is not possible to release enemy prisoners alive except by entering into negotiations."
According to Israeli authorities, 129 hostages remain held in Gaza.
Abu Obeida said there was "no alternative" to negotiations, warning that Israeli fire could lead to the deaths of more hostages.
He took aim at Israel's leader, whose "decision... evades facing and recognising the truth".
Shortly after the spokesman's recording, Hamas's armed wing also released a video showing three Israeli hostages, claiming they had since been killed in Israeli strikes.
Canada to welcome citizens' extended families from Gaza
An Arab News adds: Canada will take in extended families of Canadians in war-torn Gaza for up to three years, Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced Thursday.
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 said 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 estimated that it could see hundreds more resettled in Canada while fighting continues to rage in Gaza.
He stressed 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 warned.