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A demonstrator holds a placard near a police officer, during a protest in solidarity with Pro-Palestinian organizers on the Columbia University campusApril 18, 2024. [Caitlin Ochs/Reuters] (Reuters)
By Virginia Pietromarchi, Nils Adler and Farah Najjar
Published On 18 Apr 2024

This live page is now closed. You can continue to follow our coverage of the war in Gaza here.

19 Apr 2024 - 00:00
 (00:00 GMT)

That’s a wrap from us

Thank you for joining us for updates on everything related to Israel’s war on Gaza. Please check our homepage for the latest news.

18 Apr 2024 - 23:45
 (23:45 GMT)

A look at what happened today

We will be closing this live page soon. Here’s a quick recap from today:

  • The US has again exercised its veto power in the UN Security Council to block Palestine’s widely supported bid for full UN membership.
  • At least six people have been killed in Israeli attacks on central Gaza’s Shati and Nuseirat refugee camps, with several others reported wounded.
  • UN chief Antonio Guterres has said six months of Israel’s assault on Gaza has made it a “humanitarian hellscape”, and that a ceasefire would defuse tensions in the Middle East.
  • New York City Police Department has reportedly stormed the campus of Columbia University, where students have been camped out in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, in an apparent crackdown on the protests.
  • The Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s al-Quds Brigades launched rockets into southern Israel, with Israeli local media saying sirens have sounded for the first time in “weeks” in Ashkelon.
18 Apr 2024 - 23:30
 (23:30 GMT)

Hamas condemns US veto of UN resolution

The Palestinian armed group Hamas has accused the US of standing “in the face of international will” by exercising its veto power at the UN Security Council and denying Palestinians full membership in the world body.

The group said in a statement that it condemns “in the strongest terms the American position biased towards the occupation”, as it called on the international community “to exert pressure to go beyond the American will and support the struggle of our Palestinian people and their legitimate right to self-determination”.

“We assure the world that our Palestinian people will continue their struggle and resistance until they defeat the occupation, take away their rights, and establish their independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” the statement read.

18 Apr 2024 - 23:15
 (23:15 GMT)
Developing

Gaza civil defence says recovered bodies after Israeli attack on Gaza City

Gaza’s civil defence crews have said they recovered three bodies from under the rubble of a “family home” in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City after it was struck by Israeli warplanes.

At least one other was wounded, they said, while nine others remain missing under the debris. The teams were working with their hands due to a lack of adequate equipment.

Video footage verified by Al Jazeera showed the direct aftermath, moments after the Israeli army attacked the home that was housing some 15 people.

According to testimonies of the area’s residents, most of those who were in the house were children, women and elderly Palestinians.

The owner of the house, Mohammed al-Jazzar, says the structure was bombed without warning. He said his entire family, including his wife, children and grandchildren were in the house.

“We have not yet been able to dig them out of the rubble,” al-Jazzar said.

“My son was martyred just 15 days ago, and today, I lost my whole family,” he said.

18 Apr 2024 - 23:00
 (23:00 GMT)

Egypt expresses ‘deep regret’ over UNSC vote

Egypt has expressed “deep regret” over the inability of the UN Security Council to pass a resolution recognising a Palestinian state through full UN membership.

In a statement, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said approving Palestine’s bid to become a full UN member is a vital step and “is an inherent right of the Palestinian people”.

It also said preventing Palestine from gaining full UN membership is a move that is “not consistent with the legal and historical responsibility” of the international community, which needs to aid all parties in reaching a “final and just solution to the Palestinian issue”.

18 Apr 2024 - 22:45
 (22:45 GMT)

UN resolution was a ‘shameful proposal’: Israeli FM

Israel Katz commended the United States for vetoing the UNSC resolution, which he labelled a “shameful proposal” in a post on X.

“It is outrageous that even half a year after the October 7 massacre, the UN Security Council failed to condemn Hamas[‘s] horrific crimes,” he wrote.

“Israel will continue to fight until the fall of Hamas and the release of all 133 Israeli abductees,” he said.

As we have been reporting, the US used its veto on a draft resolution that would have recommended to the UN General Assembly that “Israel will continue to fight until Hamas is destroyed and all 133 hostages in Gaza are released” after 12 council members voted yes.

18 Apr 2024 - 22:30
 (22:30 GMT)

PRCS expresses ‘grave concern’ over safety of its detained members

The Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) says six members of its team are still detained by Israeli forces.

Their fate remains “unknown”, the group said in a post on X.

“Their families and colleagues are deeply concerned for them, especially as they are aware that they are currently being subjected to torture and humiliation based on the testimonies of their released colleagues,” PRCS said.

18 Apr 2024 - 22:20
 (22:20 GMT)

‘Unfair, unethical and unjustified’: Palestine responds to US veto

The Palestinian presidency has condemned the US veto of the Security Council resolution that recommended full UN membership for a Palestinian state.

The presidency said in a statement the US veto was “unfair, unethical and unjustified”.

18 Apr 2024 - 22:10
 (22:10 GMT)

Palestinian’s bid doesn’t go any further than this, but level of support significant

By Gabriel Elizondo

Reporting from New York, United States

This is how the process plays out in the Charter of the United Nations:

It first goes to the Security Council committee. If it doesn’t get consensus in the committee, it can then be forced to a vote.

That’s the vote that you just saw right now with the resolution put forward by Algeria.

The US decided to veto it. That’s it. It does not go to the General Assembly.

There’s no other avenue for Palestine at this point to get full membership unless the United States changes its position, but we don’t see that in the foreseeable future.

This was really a vote that was pretty overwhelmingly in favour of Palestine.

The fact that you saw Ecuador, Korea, Japan and France vote for this really shows how isolated the United States is on this issue.

Make no mistake about it: The United States would have preferred that this would not have gotten nine votes because then it would not have had to veto it.

We’re here every day at the UN. We talk to diplomats; we gauge the mood on a daily basis. And it wasn’t guaranteed that this was going to get nine votes. The fact it got 12 votes in favour of Palestine is very significant. Make no mistake about that.

18 Apr 2024 - 22:00
 (22:00 GMT)

US showing it’s ‘my way or the highway’ with UNSC veto

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara says that, once again, the US’s veto demonstrated a policy of “it’s my way or the highway”.

“Palestine could only be a country the way the United States sees it, or Israel sees it, only at the time that it’s suitable to the United States and within the geopolitics and the global interest of the United States,” Bishara said.

The US is therefore sacrificing the “freedom of Palestinian people for egotistical and narrow interests of the United States and Israel”, he said.

18 Apr 2024 - 21:50
 (21:50 GMT)

US deputy ambassador to the UN speaks after the vote

Robert Wood says the United States “has worked vigorously and with determination to support Palestinian statehood in the context of a comprehensive peace agreement that would permanently resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.

“Since the attacks of October 7, President Biden has been clear that sustainable peace in the region can only be achieved through a two-state solution with Israel’s security guarantee,” he said after he raised his hand to vote against and veto the resolution supporting full membership for Palestine at the UN.

“There is no other path that guarantees Israel’s security and future as a democratic Jewish state,” Wood continued.

He said that “there are unresolved questions as to whether the applicant meets the criteria to be considered a state”.

“We have long called on the Palestinian Authority to undertake necessary reforms to help establish the attributes of readiness for statehood and note that Hamas, a terrorist organisation, is currently exerting power and influence in Gaza, an integral part of the state envisioned in this resolution,” he said.

18 Apr 2024 - 21:40
 (21:40 GMT)

Russia slams US for rejecting Palestine’s bid for full UN membership

Russia’s ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia has spoken in favour of granting Palestine full membership to the Security Council, saying “an absolute majority of the global community” also supports it.

By exercising its veto, the US has demonstrated “what they really think of the Palestinians”, Nebenzia told the UNSC.

Washington thinks “they do not deserve to have their own state”, and it only realises “the interest of Israel”, he said.

Nebenzia said the US is turning a blind eye to the “crimes of Israel” against civilians in Gaza, as well as the continuation of the illegal settlement activity in the occupied West Bank.

“The aim is to break the Palestinians’s will, to force them once and for all to submit to the occupying power, to turn them into servants and second-class persons, and perhaps, to once and for all force them out of their native territory,” he said.

However, he said, “that policy is only having an opposite impact”.

18 Apr 2024 - 21:30
 (21:30 GMT)

Jordan’s FM tells Iranian counterpart his country will not be turned into ‘battlefield’

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi has told his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian that his country “will not allow Israel or Iran to turn Jordan into a battlefield”.

Jordan will “confront any violation of its airspace and any threat to the security and safety of its citizens”, a statement by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said.

Safadi and Amirabdollahian met on the sidelines of the UNSC meetings in New York, according to the statement.

The statement also said that the pair discussed “developments” in Gaza and the region, as well as the “dangers” of an escalation in the Middle East.

Safadi reiterated the need to “de-escalate tensions in the region”.

Iran and Joran have been at odds since Saturday’s attack by Iran on Israeli territory, after reports that Jordan aided in Israel’s defence of the more than 300 drones and missiles fired by Iran.

18 Apr 2024 - 21:20
 (21:20 GMT)

After Iran struck Israel, how did Jordan and Lebanon react?

As the world awaits Israel’s reaction to Iran’s attacks, we look at two of its neighbours, Lebanon and Jordan, and their very different responses to what has already happened.

But what can they tell us about what is to come?

Listen to Al Jazeera’s latest episode of The Take with Nabih Bulos, the Los Angeles Times’s Middle East bureau chief, to find out more:

18 Apr 2024 - 21:19
 (21:19 GMT)
Houthi

US stops UN from recognising a Palestinian state through membership

The US has vetoed a draft resolution that would have recommended to the 193-member UN General Assembly that “the State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nations”.

Britain and Switzerland abstained, while the remaining 12 council members voted yes.

More to follow …

18 Apr 2024 - 21:05
 (21:05 GMT)

More on the US-Israel Rafah meeting

Spokesperson Patrick Ryder says the Pentagon views the discussions with the Israelis regarding Rafah as technical in nature.

He said the discussion enabled the United States to share with Israel its “concerns” and “provide lessons learned” from years of conducting “those types of operations”.

“We understand the need of Israel to go after Hamas, to eliminate, or defeat Hamas’s threat”.

“We believe there is a way to do this while also taking into account the civilian safety and ensuring humanitarian assistance,” Ryder said

18 Apr 2024 - 20:50
 (20:50 GMT)

‘Not enough aid is getting into Gaza’: UNRWA

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) says humanitarian agencies face continuous challenges in delivering aid to people in a post on X.

The agency listed several obstacles it faces, including:

  • Time: Aid crossing into Gaza is subject to complex requirements during the offload.
  • Cold chain: Sensitive cold-chain cargo (food and medicines) is offloaded and left exposed until the UN is allowed to pick it up.
  • Safety of the UN teams: Aid convoys have been hit by drones and strikes.
  • Space: UNRWA’s main logistics base in Rafah is only partially operational; warehouse and distribution space is limited throughout the enclave, and most of it is no longer possible to reach or has been destroyed.
  • Trucks: Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza, most of the agency’s trucks used to transport aid have been damaged or destroyed.
18 Apr 2024 - 20:35
 (20:35 GMT)

US says Israel agrees to listen to American concerns during Rafah meeting

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan says that Israeli and US officials have met on Israel’s planned invasion of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, the last city in the Gaza Strip yet untouched by an Israeli army ground offensive.

Around 1.5 million people, most of them displaced from other parts of Gaza, are currently sheltering in the city, and the US has said for months that it will not support Israel’s upcoming attack if a plan is not in place to protect the civilians there.

Sullivan said US and Israeli officials discussed US concerns with various courses of action in Rafah, which Israel agreed to take into account and discuss further, adding officials will meet again soon.

“The two sides agreed on the shared objective to see Hamas defeated in Rafah,” the White House said in a statement, adding that the meeting involved the US-Israel Strategic Consultative Group, which was convened by Sullivan.

Israel has been slow to react to US requests over the course of its war on Gaza, including on the protection of civilians and humanitarian workers, as well as on the amount of aid that gets into the Strip.

 

18 Apr 2024 - 20:20
 (20:20 GMT)

Police crack down on Gaza protest at Columbia University

Local media and social media users are reporting that the New York City Police Department has stormed the campus of Columbia University, where students have been camped out in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, demanding that the institution divest from Israel.

Photos show the police on campus a short while ago, and video verified by Al Jazeera shows arrests being made.

University administrators told students on Wednesday to remove a protest camp on campus and called in police a day later.

This week, leaders from Columbia University appeared before a committee in the US Congress to face questions about alleged anti-Semitism on campus. The hearing was a sequel of sorts to a similar panel held in December, featuring the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Police made several arrests at an anti-Gaza war protest on the Columbia University campus on April 18, 2024, in New York [Caitlin Ochs/Reuters]
Police officers stand guard as demonstrators protest in solidarity with Palestinians at Columbia University [Caitlin Ochs/Reuters]
[Associated Press]
[Associated Press]

18 Apr 2024 - 20:05
 (20:05 GMT)

At least 6 people killed in Israeli attacks on Shati, Nuseirat camps in Gaza

At least four people have been killed in an Israeli attack on Shati refugee camp, also known as Beach Camp, west of Gaza City, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

It said an Israeli fighter jet targeted a residential home where a number displaced families were sheltering. Several others were wounded in the attack.

Separately, Wafa said civil defence teams recovered two bodies after an attack on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza earlier in the day. Those wounded in the attack were taken to nearby al-Awda Hospital, it added.