U.N. Security Council Urges Israel to Increase Flow of Aid Into Gaza

Members of the United Nations Security Council met Wednesday to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and every member called on Israel in speeches to consistently allow aid into northern Gaza and dramatically scale up assistance to the rest of the enclave.

The Security Council has rarely spoken in unity when it comes to the war in Gaza, and differences remain on how to reach and impose a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel. But at an emergency meeting on Wednesday, diplomats agreed that the lack of sufficient aid into Gaza needed to be addressed urgently.

Many also denounced Israel’s strike of a hospital complex on Monday that ignited fires that spread to a tent shelter for displaced people next to a hospital, leading to accounts that people were burned alive.

Some of the sharpest criticism came from Israel’s allies, including the United States, which vetoed three resolutions blocking efforts for a cease-fire in the first eight months of the war and abstained from one that eventually passed in June.

“There are no words, simply no words, to describe what we saw,” said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States ambassador to the United Nations. “Israel has a responsibility to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties, even if Hamas was operating near the hospital in an attempt to use civilians as human shields. We have made this clear to Israel.”