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The UN Security Council (UNSC) will meet behind closed doors in New York on Monday to examine Israel’s airstrikes on Gaza, as the death toll continues to increase, with 24 confirmed killed and 203 injured, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The United Nations’ most powerful council agreed to confront the attacks after petitions from the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, France, Norway, and China on Saturday, according to the dpa news agency, citing diplomatic sources.
On Friday, Israeli forces launched Operation Breaking Dawn, a series of targeted airstrikes on Gaza that resulted in the deaths of several people, including Taisir al-Jabari, a top leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, designated a terrorist organisation by both the European Union and the United States, is intimately linked to Israel’s arch-enemy Iran and is the Gaza Strip’s second most powerful force after the dominant Hamas militant group.
Fearing retaliation for al-assassination, Jabari’s Israel closed its border with Gaza, resulting in a fuel shortfall at Gaza’s sole power plant, which was pushed offline on Saturday.
As a result, Gaza residents now have only four hours of electricity per day, down from twelve, in what an energy company official termed as a “catastrophic situation.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated on Saturday that they were preparing for a “week of operations” against Palestinian militants, as Gaza fired retaliatory missiles at Israel.
The Israeli military stated that 190 rockets fired from Gaza into Israel since Friday have all either missed Israel, landed in uninhabited areas, or been intercepted by the country’s Iron Dome defence system.
According to Israel, strikes on terrorist targets in Gaza continued on Saturday. The attacks targeted three residential buildings, destroying one five-story apartment building. According to witnesses, Israeli drones fired a warning shot at the building before fighter jets bombed it.
Meanwhile, according to Palestinian media, five children and an adult were killed in a strike on the Jabalia refugee camp to the north of Gaza City on Saturday.
The Israeli military, however, disputed responsibility for the attack: “Based on military data, it appears that the event was caused by an errant Islamic Jihad missile,” the Israeli military claimed, adding that it had not been carrying out operations on Jabalia at the time of the attack.
A representative for Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid stated there was video footage of the incident and that “the world should be appalled that this terror organisation is attacking innocent Israelis and killing innocent people in the Gaza Strip.”
An Egyptian security source told dpa that Egypt has offered to mediate ceasefire talks between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement in Gaza, and that an Egyptian team is prepared to travel to Israel and Gaza in an attempt to de-escalate the situation.
Egypt has frequently served as a go-between between Israelis and Palestinians. Cairo successfully mediated a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in 2021, bringing a stop to 11 days of conflict.
