Furious Israel ambassador shreds UN charter before vote on Palestine membership
NEW YORK ? Israel's United Nations ambassador physically fed a mock copy of the U.N. charter into a shredder to illustrate what he said was the General Assembly's disregard for the document as delegates voted to advance Palestinian membership to the world body.
The stunt came just before the General Assembly voted overwhelmingly for a resolution asking the Security Council to make Palestine, which has U.N. observer status, into a full member.
A furious Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan, invoking the Holocaust, World War Two and the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, ripped his colleagues for wanting to "advance the establishment of a Palestinian terror state led by the Hitler of our time."
Earlier, Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour spoke with emotion about the death toll in Gaza and cited the anti-war protests at Columbia University as he implored the assembly to vote "Yes." In the face of a looming Israeli invasion of Rafah, he said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "ready to kill thousands more for his political survival."
More: 'Not supplying the weapons' to Israel if there's a major Gaza offensive, Biden says
Humanitarian officials told USA TODAY aid shipments to Gaza has slowed to a trickle as Israeli troops battled fighters from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the eastern part of Rafah and Israeli jets dropped bombs. Israel has ordered an estimated 100,000 residents ? roughly the population of Burbank, California ? to evacuate for their own safety.
Here are some of the day's top events.
US report on Israel's war conduct could come Friday
A Biden administration report on Israel's conduct in Gaza is expected to come as soon as Friday, USA TODAY's Francesca Chambers reports.
A U.S. government official who was not authorized to speak publicly told USA TODAY an unclassified version of the report with broad strokes and an executive summary were likely to be sent to lawmakers first, with a subsequent classified version or addition coming days later, most likely early next week.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby separately said Friday afternoon that President Joe Biden is "aware of the contents" of the forthcoming report and was "fully briefed on it" but Kirby would not describe the report or say when the commander in chief was read in.
More: Biden administration set to release report on Israel's conduct in Gaza war
Biden administration monitoring Israeli strikes in Rafah 'with concern'
The White House said Friday it is monitoring intensified fighting between the Israel Defense Forces and Palestinian militants in the southern Gaza city of Rafah but does not believe it represents a large-scale invasion to this point.
The fighting has resulted in the closing of border crossings near Rafah, preventing humanitarian aid from entering Gaza.
“We’re obviously watching it with concern, of course,” said John Kirby, a White House spokesman on national security matters. “I wouldn't go so far as to say what we've seen here in the last 24 hours connotes or indicates a broad, large-scale invasion or major ground operation.”
More: Thousands flee Rafah assault as aid groups warn suffering will be 'unbearable'
Kirby said the fighting appears to be localized near the Rafah border crossing and involves Israeli troops already dispatched to the area following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
“That said, we’re watching it with concern,” he reiterated.
More than 100,000 Palestinians have left Rafah since Israel ordered an evacuation in preparation for an invasion.
President Joe Biden, in an interview on CNN Wednesday, said for the first time that the U.S. would cut off supplying certain offensive weapons to Israel if it moves ahead with a planned invasion of Rafah that the Biden administration has long opposed.
?Joey Garrison
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South Africa presses world court to order Israel out of Rafah
South Africa has asked the International Court of Justice to order Israel to withdraw from Rafah as part of additional emergency measures over the war in Gaza, the U.N.'s top court said Friday.
In the ongoing case brought by South Africa, which accuses Israel of acts of genocide against Palestinians, the World Court in January ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention and to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians.
Israel did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It has previously said it is acting in accordance with international law in Gaza, and has called South Africa's genocide case baseless and accused Pretoria of acting as "the legal arm of Hamas."
In filings published on Friday, South Africa is seeking additional emergency measures in light of the ongoing military action in Rafah, which it calls the "last refuge" for Palestinians in Gaza.
?Reuters
More: UN court orders Israel to prevent Gaza carnage
US says it supports Palestinian statehood but direct negotiations come first
Explaining America's opposition, U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood described Friday's overwhelming U.N. General Assembly vote as a "unilateral" step that won't advance peace in Israel and Palestine.
"Our vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood; we have been very clear that we support it and seek to advance it meaningfully," Wood said in a statement. "Instead, it is an acknowledgement that statehood will come only from a process that involves direct negotiations between the parties."
Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, called the U.N. vote "a dangerous political move that rewards terrorism" in a post on X, the former Twitter.
"The US has made it clear it will not support full membership for the PA outside of a negotiated settlement w/ #Israel," Risch, ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said, referring to the Palestinian Authority. "Any efforts otherwise put US financial support to the UN at risk."
?Dan Morrison
Toll of Gaza war deaths doesn't include those killed for lack of medical care
While the official Gaza death toll nears 35,000, that number includes only Palestinians killed in direct combat operations ? while omitting those who have died from a lack of medical care for other conditions.
That unknown number includes "people with chronic diseases, pregnant women, and children with malnutrition," Zaher Sahloul, president of the humanitarian group MedGlobal, told USA TODAY.
With Gaza's hospitals mostly in ruins, "There will be more deaths that will not be counted as war deaths," said Sahloul, a Chicago-based doctor whose organization works in Ukraine, Syria, Gaza and Sudan.
This week, MedGlobal was forced to evacuate a clinic in the Zorub neighborhood of Rafah, which had been home to 10,000 people. The small clinic served 200 people and is being relocated north ? along with many Zorub residents ? to the town of Deir al Balad as Israeli forces press Rafah and aerial bombings increase.
"Tens of thousands of people are being treated like cattle," Zaher said.
?Dan Morrison
More: Pregnant women in Gaza Strip face starvation, no anesthesia after 6 months of war
Biden arms report will find Israel credible, AP says
An overdue Biden administration report will conclude that Israel hasn't violated the terms for its use of American weapons, the Associated Press said Friday, citing three people briefed on the controversial document.
AP said the report is expected to be sharply critical of Israel while affirming that Israel has not violated ther terms of its weapons agreements with the U.S. while dropping munitions on Gaza, where nearly 35,000 people have died.
President Joe Biden confirmed this week he had paused shipments of bombs to Israel out of concern over a possble full scale assault on Rafah.
"He is tactically using the weapons pause to try to forestall this Rafah invasion," Scott Paul, humanitarian policy chief at Oxfam America, told USA TODAY. "They've spent seven months of avoiding the question of whether Israel is violating international humanitarian law" in the Gaza war.
The Biden administration report will be submitted to Congress by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
?Dan Morrison
Cease-fire talks back to square one, Hamas says
Hamas said in a statement on Friday that Israel's effective rejection of a cease-fire proposal supported by the Islamist militant group has brought negotiations back to square one.
The group added it will hold consultations with different Palestinian factions to review its negotiation strategy.
On Monday, Hamas said it had accepted what appeared to be an amended cease-fire proposal that differed from one Israel had been considering. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said then that "even though the Hamas proposal is far from Israel's requirements, Israel will send a delegation to mediators to exhaust the possibility of reaching an agreement under conditions acceptable to Israel."
Netanyahu's government is under intense domestic pressure to secure the safe release of 128 hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, while his goverment continues to push for an assault on Rafah in southern Gaza.
?Dan Morrison
Gaza death toll pushes 35,000
The official tally of casualties in Gaza reached 34,943 killed and 78,572 injured since Oct. 7, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said Friday.
?Dan Morrison
More: Pregnant women in Gaza Strip face starvation, no anesthesia after 6 months of war
Palestine resolution passed at UN General Assembly
The resolution asking the Security Council to reconsider full Palestinian membership in the U.N. has passed with a huge majority.
Delegates from 143 countries voted yes, nine ? including the U.S. ? voted no, and 25 abstained.
"It remains the U.S. view that unilateral measures at the U.N. and on the ground will not advance this goal," Nate Evans, a spokesman for the U.S. mission to the U.N. said earlier Friday.
?Francesca Chambers and Dan Morrison
Israeli Ambassador shreds UN charter at the podium
Ambassador Gilad Erdan of Israel closed his speech to the assembly by producing a small, hand-held document shredder, into which he fed a small prop copy of the United Nations charter.
"You are shredding the U.N. charter with your own hands," he said. "This day will go down in infamy."
?Dan Morrison
Israel's ambassador invokes Holocaust, says UN supporting a 'Palestinian terror state'
Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan ripped the General Assembly for wanting to "advance the establishment of a Palestinian terror state led by the Hitler of our time."
"It makes me sick," he said. Erdan called the General Assembly a "shameless body" welcoming "a terror state into its ranks" and raised the Holocaust repeatedly. He told the silent assembly that elections in Palestine would raise Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar the Palestinian presidency. "He owes you his deepest gratitude," Erdan said.
Erdan accused Mansour, his Palestinian counterpart, of shedding "crocodile tears," noting that no Palestinian officials had denounced Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.
?Dan Morrison
Palestinian ambassador lauds Columbia University protests
Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour cited the anti-war protests at Columbia University as he implored the General Assembly to pass a vote urging the Security Council to make Palestine a full member of the U.N.
Mansour described the Palestinian flag as flying in solidarity with Gaza around the world, "and on the campus of Columbia University."
Police arrested 282 people at Columbia University and the City College of New York on April 30 after demonstrators refused to leave protest encampments.
Mansour called the flag "a symbol raised by all those who believe in freedom."
"Voting 'yes' is the right thing to do," he said.
?Dan Morrison
More: False claims made amid protests at Columbia University over the Israel-Hamas war
UAE presents resolution urging Security Council to make Palestine a full UN member
Representing a group of Arab states, Ambassador Mohamed Abushahab of the United Arab Emirates is submitting the draft resolution asking the Security Council to "reconsider and support" the Palestinian Authorities bid for full membership.
"Voting against this resolution would be a moral and legal abandonment," he told the assembly.
He called for a vote at 11am.
Last month the U.S. vetoed a move at the Security Council to make Palestine a full U.N. member.
?Dan Morrison
UN General Assembly meets, with Palestine vote on tap
An emergency special session of the U.N. General Assembly has opened. Members expect a vote Friday ? mostly symobolic ? on a draft resolution to make Palestine a full member of the world body. Full membership can only be approved by the U.N. Security Council, where the U.S. holds one of five vetoes. The U.S. and Israel oppose the vote.
Watch the livestreamed proceedings here.
?Dan Morrison
Israel's UN ambassador blasts Palestine member vote
Gilad Erdan, Israel's Ambassador to the UN, slammed his General Assembly colleagues for allowing a vote on Palestinian statehood.
"The UN, in a shameful violation of its own charter, will vote to grant the Palestinian Authority the rights and privileges reserved only for UN member states even though it doesn't meet the criteria for statehood and failed to receive the recommendation of the Security Council," Erdan told USA TODAY in a text message.
"This is a reward for terrorism and will only strengthen Hamas and make peace impossible," he said. "It is one of the most destructive resolutions ever presented in the UN made possible due to the antisemitism and political interests that are so prevalent at the UN."
The Palestinian Authority's foreign ministry said on X, the former Twitter that the assembly would vote Friday "on a new draft resolution regarding the right of the State of #Palestine to full membership, enhancing its status in the UN system, and its natural place among the countries of the world."
?Kim Kjelmgaard
UN Palestinian agency closes Jerusalem headquarters after arson
The main United Nations aid agency for Palestinians closed its headquarters in East Jerusalem after local Israeli residents set fire to areas at the edge of the sprawling compound on Thursday, the agency said.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNWRA, said in a post on the social media platform X that he had decided to close the compound until proper security was restored. He said Thursday's incident was the second in less than a week.
"This is an outrageous development. Once again, the lives of UN staff were at a serious risk," he said.
"It is the responsibility of the State of Israel as an occupying power to ensure that United Nations personnel and facilities are protected at all times," he said.
?Reuters
More: Israeli failed to prove Hamas has deeply infiltrated UN aid agency, report says
Defying Biden, Netanyahu invokes Israel's 1948 independence war
On Thursday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was strong enough to fight alone after President Joe Biden warned that U.S. arms shipments to the country could be stopped if he orders a full-scale invasion of Rafah in Gaza.
"If we need to stand alone, we will stand alone," Netanyahu said in a video message ahead of Israel’s Independence Day next week. "I have said that if necessary ? we will fight with our fingernails."
In his message late Thursday night, Netanyahu looked back to Israel's foundational 1948 war, when the new state was attacked by a coalition of Arab countries after it declared independence in the wake of a U.N. plan to partition the-then British Mandate into two states, one Jewish, one Arab.
"In the War of Independence 76 years ago, we were the few against the many. We did not have weapons. There was an arms embargo on Israel, but with great strength of spirit, heroism and unity among us ? we were victorious," Netanyahu said.
The Excerpt: Will the pro-Palestinian college protests lead to lasting change?
His government has vowed to enter Rafah to crush Hamas militants behind the Oct. 7 border attacks that triggered the Israel-Hamas war. Israel's military says it has dismantled at least 18 of Hamas' 24 battalions. However, it believes thousands of Hamas fighters are hiding in Rafah.
On Wednesday night, President Joe Biden told CNN that he would withhold offensive weaponry from Israel if Netanyahu goes forward with an all-out invasion of Rafah.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden told CNN. The U.S. has paused a planned shipment of heavy bombs to its Middle East ally.
Israel's operation in Rafah has so far appeared to be limited in scope.
Escape from Gaza Palestinians are paying tens of thousands of dollars to an Egyptian company to escape
But world leaders fear an even larger humanitarian crisis there. And even without a full-scale Rafah invasion, medical facilities in Gaza's southernmost city have been overwhelmed.
About 80,000 people have fled Rafah this week as Israeli tanks mass on the edge of the city and humanitarian aid is choked off by border closures, U.N. agencies said Thursday.
Fact check: Misspelled pro-Palestinian message is from Canadian protest, not Columbia University
"The toll on these families is unbearable," the U.N. Relief Works Agency said on social media. "Nowhere is safe."
Meanwhile, negotiations over reaching a truce agreement between Israel and Hamas have appeared to stall.
Contributing: Reuters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Israel denounces UN vote on Palestine membership: Recap
