UN votes symbolically in favour of Palestinian membership

UNITED NATIONS, May 11 (AFP/AP): The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Friday to grant the Palestinians additional rights in the global body and backed their drive for full membership, which is blocked by the United States.

Israel's UN ambassador Gilad Erdan reacted angrily to the largely symbolic vote, while Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour said it was historic.

With the war in Gaza raging, the Palestinians in April relaunched a request dating back to 2011 to become full members of the United Nations, where their current status is that of a "nonmember observer state."

To succeed, the initiative needed a UN Security Council green light and then a two-thirds majority vote in the General Assembly.

But the United States -- one of five veto-holding members on the Security Council and Israel's closest ally -- blocked it on April 18.

Before Friday's vote, Palestinian ambassador Mansour said "I have stood hundreds of times before at this podium, but never for a more significant vote than the one about to take place, an historic one."

"The day will come where Palestine will take its rightful place among the community of free nations," he added.

Israel orders new

evacuations

in Rafah

Israel ordered new evacuations in Gaza's southern city of Rafah on Saturday as it prepared to expand its operation, saying it was also moving into an area in northern Gaza where Hamas has regrouped.

Fighting is escalating across the enclave with heavy clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants on the outskirts of Rafah, leaving the crucial nearby aid crossings inaccessible and forcing more than 110,000 people to flee north.

Israel's move into Rafah has so far been short of the full-scale invasion that it has planned.

The United Nations and other agencies have warned for weeks that an Israeli assault on Rafah, which borders Egypt near the main aid entry points, would cripple humanitarian operations and cause a disastrous surge in civilian casualties. More than 1.4 million Palestinians - half of Gaza's population- have been sheltering in Rafah, most after fleeing Israel's offensives elsewhere.