THE Philippines joined 152 other countries that voted in favor of a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in war-torn Gaza.
The UN General Assembly vote demanding a ceasefire has no legal force but was the strongest sign yet of eroding international support for Israel’s actions. Only eight countries joined the United States and Israel in voting against the resolution on Tuesday (New York time) while three-quarters of the 193 member states voted in favor.
Philippine Representative to the UN Antonio Lagdameo said a ceasefire is necessary to end the suffering in the area.
He said Manila is deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, home to some 2.3 million Palestinians.
“The Philippines believes strongly that the humanitarian ceasefire is crucial to halt the loss of life and suffering, irrespective of their affiliation. This ceasefire is a necessary step to facilitate the delivery of urgent humanitarian aid to all affected civilians,” Lagdameo told the UNGA after casting the Philippine vote.
“We call on all parties to comply with their obligations under international law,” he added.
Lagdameo said while Manila condemns the attack by Hamas militants on Israel in October, which triggered retaliation from Israel, any military action should consider the impact on civilians and should minimize, if not eliminate, collateral damage.
“While we condemn the October 7 terrorist attacks perpetuated by Hamas, the Philippines emphasizes adherence to international humanitarian law, especially principles of proportionality and distinction in response to security threats,” Lagdameo added.
Israel said over 1,200 were killed, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack while Hamas gunmen also took with them to Gaza more than 200 hostages, including foreign nationals. Four Filipinos working in Israel were killed in the Hamas attack. Hamas freed two Filipinos during a temporary pause in fighting last month.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo defended Manila’s vote in favor of the resolution. The Philippines abstained in the October UNGA resolution calling for an immediate truce.
He said the October resolution failed to mention the attack by Hamas.
“Sa ngayon kasi humanitarian ang focus (Because the focus is on humanitarian),” the DFA chief told reporters of the country’s change in position.
DIPLOMATIC ISOLATION
Israel faced growing diplomatic isolation in its war in Gaza as the United Nations demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and US President Joe Biden said “indiscriminate” bombing of civilians was costing international support.
With intense fighting now being waged simultaneously in the north and south of the enclave, Israeli troops on Wednesday reported their worst combat losses for more than a month, including a colonel, the highest-ranking officer yet killed in the ground campaign.
Warplanes again bombed the length of Gaza and aid officials said the arrival of rainy winter weather worsened the conditions for hundreds of thousands of families sleeping rough in makeshift tents. The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have already been made homeless.
Israel launched its campaign to annihilate the Hamas militant group that controls Gaza with global sympathy after fighters stormed across the border fence on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and seizing 240 hostages.
But since then, Israeli forces have besieged the enclave and laid much of it to waste, with more than 18,000 people confirmed killed according to Palestinian health authorities, and many thousands more feared lost in the rubble or beyond the reach of ambulances.
Since a week-long truce collapsed at the start of December, Israeli forces have extended their ground campaign from the northern Gaza Strip into the south with the storming of the main southern city of Khan Younis.
Meanwhile, fighting has only intensified amid the rubble of the north, where Israel had previously announced that its military objectives had been largely met.
Israel reported ten of its soldiers killed in the past 24 hours, including a full colonel commanding a forward base and a lieutenant-colonel commanding a regiment. It was the worst one-day loss since 15 were killed on Oct. 31.
According to Army Radio, most of the deaths came in the Shejaiya district of Gaza City in the north, when an infantry unit hunting Hamas gunmen entered a building and lost contact with the rear base. When another unit was sent in after them, bombs were set off in the building and gunmen opened fire.
UN VOTE
The UN General Assembly vote demanding a ceasefire is the strongest sign yet of eroding international support for Israel’s actions.
Before the vote, Biden said Israel still has support from “most of the world” including the US and European Union for its fight against Hamas.
“But they’re starting to lose that support by indiscriminate bombing that takes place,” he told a campaign donor event in Washington.
Close US intelligence sharing allies Canada, Australia and New Zealand said in a joint statement: “The price of defeating Hamas cannot be the continuous suffering of all Palestinian civilians.”
In the most public sign of division between the US and Israeli leaders so far, Biden said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needed to change his hardline government and that ultimately Israel “can’t say no” to an independent Palestinian state, opposed by far-right members of the Israeli cabinet.
Netanyahu said Israel disagrees with Washington about the future for Gaza after the war, and opposes US calls for Gaza to be governed by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority that now exercises partial self-rule in the West Bank.
DESTRUCTION, DEATH
In the north, heavy fighting has also taken place in the Jabaliya district, where Gaza health officials say Israeli forces have besieged and stormed a hospital and detained and abused medical staff.
In the south, Israeli forces storming Khan Younis advanced in recent days to city center. Residents said there was heavy fighting there but no further attempts to advance in the last 24 hours.
“The Israeli tanks have not moved further from the center of the city. They are facing fierce resistance and we hear the exchanges of fire, explosions too,” Abu Abdallah, a father of five who lives 2 km away, told Reuters.
The Israelis had brought bulldozers and were destroying the road near the Khan Younis home of the Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Al-Sinwar, Abu Abdallah said. “They are only bringing destruction and death wherever they go at the expense of our innocent defenseless civilians.”
Hospitals in the north have largely ceased functioning altogether. In the south, they have been overrun by dead and wounded, carried in by the dozen throughout the day and night.
“Doctors including myself are stepping over the bodies of children to treat children who will die,” Dr Chris Hook, a British physician deployed with medical charity MSF at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, told Reuters.
International agencies say the limited aid reaching Gaza is being distributed only in parts of Rafah near the Egyptian border. Even there, the situation has become far more extreme this week, with hundreds of thousands of people sheltering under tarps.
Gemma Connell, based in Rafah as Gaza team leader for the UN humanitarian office OCHA, told Reuters in a message: “Heavy rains and winds overnight. So awful for all of these people in makeshift shelters.”
Israel says it has been encouraging increased aid to Gaza through Egypt’s border, and is announcing daily four-hour pauses in operations near Rafah to help civilians get to it. The UN says cumbersome inspections and insecurity have slowed aid to a trickle.
