Israel must do more to protect civilians, allow aid into Gaza: US at UNSC

Israel must do more to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza and should "remove all barriers to the flow of aid at scale through all crossings and routes" into the enclave, the United States told the UN Security Council.

"The continued pattern of significant civilian harm resulting from incidents like Sunday's air strikes undermines Israel's strategic goals in Gaza," deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood told the 15-member council on Wednesday.

An air strike on Sunday set off a blaze in a tent camp in Rafah in southern Gaza, killing at least 45 people.

Algeria on Tuesday put forward a draft UN Security Council resolution that essentially orders Israel to "immediately halt its military offensive" in Rafah. On Wednesday, Wood told reporters that Washington was reviewing it, but UN action was unlikely to be helpful or change the situation on the ground.

The draft text also cites a ruling by the International Court of Justice on May 24 that ordered Israel to immediately halt its military assault on Rafah, in a landmark emergency ruling in South Africa's case accusing Israel of genocide.

'Avoid major military operation'

Wood said the ruling echoed the US position that Israel must avoid a major military operation in Rafah that would put huge numbers of civilians at risk. The US said on Tuesday that Israel's actions in Rafah did not amount to a major ground invasion that could change US policy toward Israel.

Humanitarian aid access to Gaza has been extremely limited since Israel began its military incursion into Rafah three weeks ago, the UN has said, with famine looming in the enclave of 2.3 million people. Wood said more must be done to get aid into Gaza and safely distributed.

"Israel can kill any Palestinian and call them either terrorists or human shields to justify that murder. It uses both terms extremely loosely so they can cover anyone and everyone," deputy Palestinian UN envoy Majed Bamya told the council.

"Israel has called any form of opposition to its occupation and suppression of the Palestinian people terrorism," he said.