U.S. Rejects "Unbalanced" Gaza Resolution

Israeli soldiers sit atop a tank at a staging area near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel.

GAZA CITY (CBS/AP) January 1, 2009 — The Security Council held an emergency meeting on New Year's Eve on an Arab request for a legally binding and enforceable U.N. resolution that would condemn Israel and halt its military attacks on Gaza.

But the draft resolution circulated by Libya on behalf of the 22 member Arab League Wednesday night was immediately rejected by the United States as "unbalanced" and "one-sided" because it made no mention of halting the Hamas rocketing of southern Israel which led to the Israeli offensive.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the United States is working very hard to achieve an immediate cease-fire implemented by both sides - but he said Washington has not seen "any evidence" yet that Hamas is willing to end its rocket attacks.

The best way to move forward, he said, would be to get an agreement among the parties for a cease-fire and humanitarian access to Gaza through diplomacy, "and for that agreement to be enshrined in a Security Council resolution if necessary."

Britain's U.N. Ambassador John Sawers also called the resolution "one-sided" but he told reporters a balanced resolution would have "a good chance of support" in the council.

No vote was taken Wednesday.

As diplomatic efforts offered little promise of imminent peace, Israel and Hamas continued assaulting each other, with both munitions and aggressive rhetoric.

Israeli jets bombed the Palestinian parliament building in Gaza early Thursday and navy ships opened fire at Hamas positions along the coastline.

Explosions shook Gaza City as Israeli planes targeted three government buildings, including the parliament. Hospital officials said 25 wounded were evacuated from nearby houses. The military said aircraft also bombed smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border, part of an ongoing attempt to cut off Hamas' last lifeline to the world outside the embattled Palestinian territory.

The Israelis say until Hamas rockets stop landing in border cities like Sederot, they won't stop bombing Hamas, reported CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips. Sederot is a frequent Hamas target, where the bus shelters are also bomb shelters.

Despite the loss of civilian life the bombing has caused, Phillips reported, the Israelis say there's another reason they think it's too soon to stop.

"Terror cannot work," said Israel's Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni. "Targeting Israel doesn't mean that they are going to get something that even can be perceived as a victory."

Victory is just what Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh promised Wednesday night in a broadcast speech, reported Phillips. It is closer, he claimed, than some people may think.

Separate from the fruitless Security Council meeting, U.N. officials warned Wednesday that Gaza's 1.5 million residents are facing an "alarming" humanitarian situation under constant Israeli bombardment, with the main power plant shut down, overcrowded hospitals struggling to cope and very limited food supplies.

The Gaza power plant shut down on Tuesday because Israel has blocked fuel delivery through the main pipeline since Dec. 26, U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said. This has forced hospitals to use generators, which have limited fuel supplies, and left many of the 650,000 people in central and northern Gaza with power cuts of 16 hours a day or more, he said.

The warning from the U.N. challenged Israel's official, often repeated stance that "there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza."

"The situation remains alarming," Holmes said. "Hospitals are obviously still struggling very much to cope with the number of casualties. We have continued to get some medical supplies in and to help them cope, but this remains difficult and fragile."

Karen Abu Zayd, commissioner of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which helps Palestinian refugees, told reporters by video link from Gaza that the agency has not distributed any food for two weeks because of the shortage of supplies and the Israeli bombardment.

"I think that means that 20,000 people a day have been without food that they expect - and probably is the bulk of what they get," she said. "So people are doing pretty badly. Everyone we know is sharing whatever they have, not just with their families but with their neighbors."

"We haven't seen widespread hunger. We do see for the very first time ... people going through the rubbish dumps looking for things, people begging, which is quite a new phenomenon as well," she said.

Israeli senior military spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovitch told CBS News partner network Sky News on Thursday "there is no humanitarian crisis," a claim that she and other Israeli officials have made since missile strikes began on Saturday.

Leibovitch said "at least 360 trucks" carrying humanitarian aid had been allowed into Gaza during the last five days, and, "as far as I know, the warehouses are full of food."

She said Hamas was to blame for not distributing stockpiled food aid to Gazans.

Holmes said the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel was open, with 55 trucks of food and medical supplies and five ambulances getting into Gaza on Tuesday, and about 60 trucks on Wednesday. That compares to 125 truckloads a day in October 2008 and 475 truckloads a day in May 2007, just before Hamas took control of Gaza, he said.

Some medical supplies, ambulances and generators also got into Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah border crossing, he said.

In Crawford, Texas, President Bush's spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters that officials are seeing "a good flow" of medical and food supplies into Gaza.

Abu Zayd stressed that her U.N. agency needs 100 trucks of flour a day to meet the needs of refugees. But she said Israel has closed down the Karni crossing, the main gateway for cargo into Gaza where it is normally delivered, for security reasons.

She said UNRWA was told by the Israeli humanitarian coordinator that all other crossings aren't open because "there is intelligence about serious preparations for security operations."

"We wonder if it's serious enough to really keep things completely closed and to keep people on their edge of subsistence," she said.

Holmes said "the major needs, apart from medical supplies, remain ... grain and wheat flour and fuel - also cash would be very helpful to enable people to buy supplies."

He said the Israelis have been "cooperative in principle about these supplies but we need to see more results."

UNRWA launched an emergency appeal on Tuesday for $34 million for food, medical supplies and other goods, he said, and "there are good indications that the donors will respond generously."