Friday briefing: UN prepares to vote on Gaza aid
The UN Security Council prepares for a vote on aid to Gaza
After a week of delays, the US yesterday held high-level negotiations with Egypt to find a compromise on a UN Security Council resolution that would allow increased, safe delivery of aid to Gaza, a US official said.
Here’s the latest.
US deputy ambassador to the UN Robert Wood told reporters earlier in the day that the US was still in talks but not yet ready to sign the resolution, which also called for a pause in fighting.
Egypt, which controls the Rafah border crossing into Gaza, wants the UN to take over aid to the enclave. The US, under pressure from Israel, has said Israel should be involved in monitoring aid deliveries and disputed that UN inspections would speed them up.
A vote, which the Council postponed three times this week at the request of the US, could take place later in the day.
In Israel, The army said it had learned that its forces nearly recovered three hostages before they were accidentally killed by Israeli forces last week. Footage from a fighting dog’s Go-Pro camera captured the voices of the young hostages.
Grim milestone: According to officials there, the death toll in Gaza has reached about 20,000. It is the heaviest loss on the Arab side in any war with Israel in forty years.
Where are the leaders of Hamas? Israel’s goal in the war is to destroy Hamas. But Israel has not yet identified any Hamas officials believed to be the main planners of the October 7 attack.
The suspect, who had a firearms permit, was a 24-year-old world history student at the university. He first shot his father in a town outside Prague and then continued his rampage at the school before killing himself, officials said. The national police chief said the attacker was “inspired by a similar terrible event abroad,” but he did not specify where.
Context: Mass shootings are rare in the Central European country. In 2019, a gunman killed six people in a hospital in the city of Ostrava. That was the deadliest shooting since 2015, when a gunman killed eight people in a restaurant southeast of Prague.
Japan prepares to sell Patriot missiles to the US
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s cabinet is expected to meet today to discuss changes to arms export restrictions that would allow Japan to sell US-designed Patriot missiles made in Japan back to the US.
This move represents a significant shift in Japanese policy after World War II. It could also help Washington support Ukraine in its fight against Russia. The Japanese government is also discussing the possibility of sending artillery shells to the US and policy changes that would allow the country to export a fighter jet it is developing jointly with Britain and Italy.
Context: The change is another sign that Japan, a pacifist nation since the end of World War II, is taking on a greater global security role.
THE LAST NEWS
How rich were the McCallisters in ‘Home Alone’?
Fans of the 1990 holiday classic “Home Alone” have been debating the McCallister family’s wealth for years. For answers, The Times turned to economists and people involved with the film.
Perhaps the best clue to the family’s wealth is their spacious suburban home. The real house is in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka, one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the US. In 1990, the house would have been affordable only to residents in the top 1 percent of household incomes in Chicago, and that would still be the case today. case today.