UN Security Council passes resolution calling for Gaza aid: Live updates

Editor's Note: For the latest news on the Israel-Hamas conflict, please see our live updates file here.

After days of delays, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution calling for crucial humanitarian supplies for Gaza on Friday, the same day the Palestinian death toll rose to more than 20,000 deaths.

The final resolution dropped language from an earlier draft that called for an "urgent cessation of hostilities" to appease the U.S., which vetoed two previous resolutions. Instead, it calls for "urgent steps to immediately allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and also for creating the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.”

The final resolution passed after the U.S. abstained from the vote.

The 15-member council delayed the vote since Monday in the hopes of winning U.S. support. After days of negotiations, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters on Thursday the U.S. would support the scaled-down language.

The death toll in Gaza, a new reflection of the staggering cost of Israel’s military offensive as pressure grows to scale it back, amounts to nearly 1% of the territory’s prewar population.

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Developments:

∎ The IDF announced on Friday that a 19-year-old soldier was killed by a rocket launched from Lebanon near Israel's northern border. The soldier was identified as Sgt. Amit Hod Ziv, of Rosh Ha'ayin. Another soldier who was also wounded in the attack was evacuated to receive medical treatment.

∎ The Israeli military carried out a raid on Beit Hanoun, a city on the northeast edge of the Gaza Strip, the IDF announced via X. The IDF said the raid uncovered several tunnels, including one in a school, and many weapons were collected, including Kalashnikov rifles and grenades.

∎ The Israeli Air Force carried out a strike on Hezbollah targets within Lebanon's borders, the IDF said on X. Hezbollah announced on Friday that 121 of its members have been killed since the group first began launching attacks on Israel beginning in October, the Times of Israel reported.

∎ Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on the phone on Friday about de-escalation strategies and humanitarian relief efforts, the Kremlin announced, according to Reuters. The two reportedly agreed that Abbas would visit Russia at a future date.

∎ More journalists have been killed in the first 10 weeks of the Israel-Gaza war than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year, according to an analysis released Thursday by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. The analysis found that at least 68 journalists and media workers have been killed since the war began, 61 of them Palestinian, four Israelis, and three Lebanese.

∎ Palestinian militants won't negotiate further prisoner-hostage swaps until the Israeli “aggression” on Gaza ends, Hamas said in a statement Thursday.

U.S. Ambassador calls UN resolution 'strong'

In her remarks after the U.S. abstained from a vote on the resolution passed by the U.N. Security Council, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield expressed her relief negotiations were successful and called the resolution "strong."

“This was tough, but we got there," she said, adding the council "provided a glimmer of hope amongst a sea of unimaginable suffering."

Her comments came after Russian ambassador to the U.N. Vassily Nebenzia said the resolution was “entirely toothless” and accused the U.S. of "gross pressure, blackmail and twisting arms" to avoid its veto.

While the U.S. did not block Friday’s resolution, Thomas-Greenfield said she was “appalled” it did not include a condemnation of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.

Prison guards under investigation after death of Palestinian prisoner in custody

Israeli police are investigating 19 prison guards in connection with the death in custody of a Palestinian security prisoner whose body showed “severe signs of violence,” according to advocacy group the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.

Thaer Abu Assab, 38, died on Nov. 18 while serving out a 25-year sentence for attempted murder at Ketziot prison in the Negev Desert, south of Jerusalem. He was arrested in 2005.

The Prisoners' Club demanded an investigation into the death and an autopsy of the body. The Israel Prison Service said it would cooperate with the investigation, which police announced on Thursday.

Israeli campaign in Gaza among deadliest, most destructive in recent history, experts say

Israel's military campaign in Gaza since Oct. 7 now ranks among the deadliest and most destructive in recent history, the Associated Press reported.

At more than 20,000, the death toll from Israel's attacks on Gaza has exceeded that of the U.S.-led nine-month campaign to oust the Islamic State group from Mosul in Iraq, which killed around 10,000.

The damage inflicted by Israel is also proportionally greater than the bombing of Germany by the Allies during WWII. Allied attacks on Germany between 1942 and 1945 destroyed around 10% of all buildings in Germany as compared with 33% of buildings that have been destroyed in Gaza as a result of Israeli attacks, U.S. military historian Robert Pape told the AP.

The Israeli attacks have caused more destruction in just over two months than that suffered by Aleppo in Syria between 2012 and 2016 and Mariupol under Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine, according to the AP.

Israeli believed to be hostage killed in Oct. 7 attack

A 73-year-old believed to have been taken hostage by Hamas was in fact killed during the events of Oct. 7, the kibbutz where he lived announced on Friday.

Gadi Hagi was thought to be among the more than 200 hostages kidnapped by Hamas, along with his wife, Judy Weinstein, 70, who is still being held by Hamas, according to Kibbutz Nir Oz. Hagi was a father of four and grandfather of seven.

Around 80 hostages were released in late November by Hamas in exchange for Israel's release of around 150 Palestinian prisoners.

The Israeli military faced heavy criticism last week after soldiers mistakenly shot and killed three Israeli hostages holding a makeshift white flag in Gaza.

UN Report: More than half of Gaza's population is starving

More than half a million people in Gaza — a quarter of the population — are starving, according to a report Thursday by the United Nations and other agencies highlighting the crisis since caused by the siege on the territory in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

The report estimated over 90% of Gaza's population faced high levels of food crisis between Nov. 24 and Dec. 7, with 40% classified as experiencing a state of "emergency" and 15% in "catastrophe."

“WFP has warned of this coming catastrophe for weeks," World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain said of the report in a press release on Thursday. "Tragically, without the safe, consistent access we have been calling for, the situation is desperate, and no one in Gaza is safe from starvation.”

At least five U.S.-funded projects in Gaza destroyed since Oct. 7

At least five community and youth projects supported by the U.S. have been destroyed in the conflict since Oct. 7, likely by attacks launched on Gaza by the U.S.-backed Israeli military.

They include the Gaza Sports Club, which received $519,000 in U.S. funding for an upgrade that included new basketball, volleyball and tennis courts, a soccer field, a running track, and accessible bathrooms.

More than $7 billion in U.S. funding has gone towards development and humanitarian aid projects in both Gaza and the West Bank since the establishment of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, in 1961.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Israel war news updates: UN Security Council passes Gaza resolution