UN Security Council to vote on Gaza aid as famine fears mount

The United Nations Security Council was expected to vote Friday on a resolution to boost aid to Gaza, as the world body warned the Israel-Hamas war was pushing the Palestinian territory towards famine.

Separate diplomatic efforts were also under way for a fresh pause in the worst-ever Gaza war, which was triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel in October.

With conditions deteriorating in the territory, the U.N. Security Council has been locked in negotiations on a resolution that would boost aid deliveries.

The latest draft seen by AFP, set to face a vote Friday, calls for "urgent steps to immediately allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and also for creating the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities."

It does not call for an immediate end to fighting.

Backed by its ally the United States, Israel has opposed the term "ceasefire". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday there would be no ceasefire in Gaza until the "elimination" of Hamas.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., told reporters that Washington would support the resolution if it "is put forward as is".

The war began on October 7 after Hamas militants broke through Gaza's militarised border and killed around 1,140 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Hamas also abducted about 250 people.

Vowing to destroy the group, Israel began a relentless bombardment of targets in Gaza, alongside a ground invasion, which the territory's Hamas government on Wednesday said has killed at least 20,000, mostly women and children.

The entire population of Gaza faces "an imminent risk of famine", according to a U.N.-backed global...