Israel’s war on Gaza updates: UN overwhelmingly votes for Palestine rights

Thank you for joining our real-time updates on everything related to Israel’s war on Gaza.

To read more about how the overwhelming majority of UN member states backed Palestine’s bid for statehood, read this.

To find out more about how the UK revoked the visa of a law student who addressed a pro-Palestine protest, check this out.

For more news, analysis and opinion on the conflict, click here.

Here’s a look at what happened today:

• The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approves a resolution to expand the state of Palestine’s “rights and privileges” and a bid for UN recognition.
• The Israeli military expands its ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza as intense fighting rages across the besieged enclave, including in Gaza City.
• This is happening while Israel has closed aid crossings to Gaza for days, allowing almost nothing in or out as tens of thousands are fleeing Rafah amid a dire humanitarian situation.
• The Biden administration says Israel’s use of US-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law, but it will continue to supply arms for now.
• After another round of ceasefire talks failed to get a final agreement, Hamas accused Israel of “turning against the mediators’ proposal” that would have also secured a captive-prisoner exchange.

Israeli singer Eden Golan, 20, has become a focus for protests by pro-Palestine demonstrators who want Israel kicked out of Eurovision because of the war on Gaza, which has killed almost 35,000 people.

A crowd estimated by police at more than 10,000 marched through the southern Swedish city of Malmo on Thursday to chants of “Free Palestine” and “Israel is a terror state”. Banners accused Eurovision of being complicit in genocide and called for a boycott of the competition.

Another protest march is planned for Saturday, hours before Golan competes in the live Eurovision final against acts from 25 other countries. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu praised Golan for performing despite “contending with an ugly wave of anti-Semitism”.

The Kiryat Shmona area of Israeli settlements near the Lebanese border was earlier hit by dozens of rockets fired by Hezbollah.

Images online show a large blaze engulfing the area after the attacks, with Israeli media confirming the Israel Fire and Rescue Service deployed 10 firefighting teams to the scene.

عاجل | وسائل إعلام إسرائيلية: حرائق مستمرة في محيط مستوطنة كريات شمونة بعد استهدافها بالصواريخ مساء الجمعة pic.twitter.com/pV75yTncbr

— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) May 10, 2024

Translation: Israeli media – Fires continue in the vicinity of the Kiryat Shmona settlement after it was targeted by missiles on Friday evening

Hamish Young, senior emergency coordinator in Gaza for UNICEF, described the dire situation in Rafah.

“I have been working on large-scale humanitarian emergencies for the best part of the last 30 years and I’ve never been involved in a situation as devastating, complex or erratic as this,” he said.

According to Young, roads to al-Mawasi – the so-called “humanitarian zone” that Israel ordered people from Rafah to go to – are jammed with hundreds of trucks, buses, cars and donkey carts loaded with people and possessions.

“For five days, no fuel and virtually no humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip and we are scraping the bottom of the barrel,” he said. “Over 14,000 children have reportedly been killed already – a ground offensive in Rafah will undoubtedly result in this number increasing dramatically.”

Roads to ‘safe zones’ jammed.
No fuel in 5 days, virtually no aid.
No proper sanitation facilities.

“I've never been involved in a situation as devastating, complex or erratic as this.” – Hamish Young, UNICEF Senior Emergency Coordinator, Gaza Strip.https://t.co/zxsUT9ip6I

— UNICEF (@UNICEF) May 10, 2024

In a dramatic display, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, earlier shredded a copy of the UN Charter during his speech at the UN General Assembly denouncing a resolution giving Palestine more rights.

The move shows “insolence” by Israel, which only considers the UN Charter valuable as long as member states remain silent on its attacks on Gaza, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Insolence in the Zionist way is expecting cheering from the global community after killing more than 34,000 women, children and innocent civilians during seven months of war crimes, gross violations of international humanitarian law, and being accused of genocide,” wrote ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani in a post on X.

“Shame on the criminals.”

ممثل إسرائيل يمزق ميثاق الأمم المتحدة احتجاجا على منح فلسطين العضوية الكاملة #حرب_غزة #فيديو pic.twitter.com/24WLwspyc1

— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) May 10, 2024

Translation: An Israeli representative tears up the United Nations Charter in protest against granting Palestine full membership

January Makamba, the foreign minister of Tanzania, expressed the East African country’s support for the UN General Assembly resolution granting Palestine further “rights and privileges”.

He pointed out that 143 countries voted that Palestine should become a full member state of the UN, but it still won’t be admitted for now because of a veto wielded in support of Israel by the US at the UN Security Council.

“We need to fix a system in which one country can thwart the decision of the entire family of nations,” Makamba said.

Tanzania and 142 other countries voted to admit Palestine into UN. Still, at least for now, Palestine won’t be admitted because of an earlier ONE veto in the UNSC on the matter. We need to fix a system in which one country can thwart the decision of the entire family of nations. pic.twitter.com/GW5nf9iFZ1

— January Makamba (@JMakamba) May 10, 2024

The Israeli military released aerial footage showing the bombing of an area in Rafah from which the Qassam Brigades fired rockets at Beersheba, an occupied Palestinian city officially known as Be’er-Sheva, in southern Israel’s Negev region hours earlier.

Two rocket launch sites were destroyed in the air strikes on the besieged city in southern Gaza, it said, adding there were secondary explosions, indicating the presence of additional weapons.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro called for the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Netanyahu, whose government he described as “genocidal” in its war in Gaza.

The outspoken leftist leader last week announced his country is severing diplomatic ties with Israel over its attack on Gaza.

“Netanyahu will not stop the genocide. That implies an international arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court,” Petro wrote on X.

He added the UN Security Council “must begin to consider the establishment of a peacekeeping force in the territory of Gaza”.

Israel responded to the severing of diplomatic ties by describing Petro as “anti-Semitic and hateful”, saying his stance amounted to handing a reward to Hamas.

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) says the southern crossings to the Gaza Strip, where the main flow of aid goes through the enclave, have seen nothing enter for three days.

Only one bakery is functioning in Rafah, a city where some 1.4 million Palestinians are displaced, and the Israeli military is advancing with a ground invasion.

“Without a reopening of access, WFP’s operations will go into standstill while families run out of food.”

No aid has entered #Gaza from the southern crossings in 3 days and only one bakery in Rafah is functioning.

Without a reopening of access, WFP's operations will go into standstill while families run out of food. pic.twitter.com/LfaeKSgQS2

— World Food Programme (@WFP) May 10, 2024

The prominent US university reportedly started sending out suspension notices to students who participated in pro-Palestine demonstrations on campus.

The Palestine Solidarity Committee at the university said suspensions are effective immediately. “Students are now at risk of degree withholding, eviction, food insecurity, and deportation. Details to follow.”

The move came after the students rejected a request to put an end to their encampment with calls on Harvard to divest from Israel.

Police forces made more arrests on Friday as they raided US universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), tear-gassing demonstrators and taking down camps.

BREAKING: Harvard has started sending out suspension notices to student protestors. Suspensions are effective immediately. Students are now at risk of degree withholding, eviction, food insecurity, and deportation. Details to follow.

— Harvxrd Palestine Solidarity Committee (@HarvxrdPSC) May 10, 2024

John Kirby says it’s “deeply regrettable” that a ceasefire agreement has not yet been reached but stressed Washington is “working hard to keep both sides engaged in continuing the discussion, if only virtually”.

In-person talks on a deal have concluded for now after Israel rejected a proposal that was accepted by Hamas and launched an assault on Rafah this week.

“We still believe that a deal is possible,” Kirby told reporters.

The White House spokesman also said the US is watching Israel’s military operations in Rafah “with concern”, and he urged the Israelis to reopen the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt for humanitarian aid immediately.

The Israeli military says the limited amount of fuel was transferred through the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing.

“The fuel was transferred for essential requirements of the international community, including hospitals, humanitarian areas, logistical centres, and the distribution of aid,” according to the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) organisation in charge of distributing aid.

UN and international aid agencies have repeatedly warned most public services in Gaza could grind to a halt in days if more fuel and humanitarian assistance are not allowed into the enclave immediately.

Earlier today (Fri), 200,000 liters of fuel were transferred to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom Crossing.

The fuel was transferred for essential requirements of the Int’l community, including hospitals, humanitarian areas, logistical centers, and the distribution of aid. pic.twitter.com/rEHcJug9z4

— COGAT (@cogatonline) May 10, 2024

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (EuroMed) says an investigation it conducted into the killing by the Israeli military of 12 members of a Palestinian family on December 4 as they tried to evacuate a Gaza City neighbourhood found that the drone strike was “without justification or necessity”.

The Geneva-based group said a video showed the aftermath of the two missiles fired from an Israeli drone that killed the family, mostly women and children. Its investigators visited the site and determined the victims were members of the Abu Al-Ain family and were civilians.

Three more Palestinians – a man, his child and an elderly woman – were wounded in the attack.

The UN’s special rapporteur on the right to education says a crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters on US college campuses signals “a concerning erosion of intellectual freedom and democratic principles within educational settings”.

“I am deeply troubled by the violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators, arrests, detentions, police violence, surveillance and disciplinary measures and sanctions against members of the educational community exercising their right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression,” said Farida Shaheed.

“I am particularly concerned about the unequal treatment of protesters based on their political stance, particularly targeting pro-Palestinian demonstrators.”

Students have enacted protest encampments in support of Palestinians in Gaza at dozens of universities across the US and around the world in recent weeks.

Some university administrators have called in police to clear the demonstrations, arresting hundreds of people.

Hamas wants a real captives-for-prisoners swap, but Netanyahu instead wants the war on Gaza to continue, senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya says.

“Hamas did not suspend nor withdraw from the [ceasefire] negotiations. The occupation [Israel] turned against the mediators’ proposal,” al-Hayya said in comments to Al Araby TV.

The Palestinian group said earlier efforts to agree to a Gaza truce are now “back at square one” after Israel effectively rejected a proposal by international mediators this week.

Students at the University of Minnesota have been joined by civil rights groups to call on their school to cut financial ties with Israel and for an end to the Gaza war during a Board of Regents meeting.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations confirmed its Minnesota chapter joined Muslim leaders involved in the effort.

The rights group also filed a federal complaint urging an immediate investigation into a “hostile environment of anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab and Islamophobic discrimination” within the Berkeley Unified School District in San Francisco.

Our Minnesota chapter joined Muslim leaders for press conference to call for a ceasefire in Rafah. pic.twitter.com/GAwqts0j2a

— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) May 10, 2024