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According to the WHO, the number of malnourished children has risen sharply as a result of the war.
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No breakthrough at the UN for the time being: the resolution calling for a Gaza ceasefire failed because of the USA.
The news at a glance.
Tel Aviv/Gaza/New York - A draft resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip has failed in the UN Security Council.
In New York, the USA vetoed Council Member Algeria's proposed resolution.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army has urged residents of two neighborhoods in Gaza city to flee.
The call, issued in Arabic by an Israeli military spokesman, urged residents of the Al-Saitun and Al-Turkman neighborhoods to immediately move to a designated area further south on the Mediterranean.
This was seen as a sign of impending new Israeli military operations in the neighborhoods.
International concern is growing over the looming Israeli ground offensive in the refugee-crowded city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Today the UN Security Council is expected to vote on a resolution submitted by Algeria calling for an immediate ceasefire.
If the US, as Israel's ally, vetoes it as announced, it would have to "take responsibility for everything that happens afterwards," said a diplomat.
“If Rafah happens, there is no going back.”
Meeting in Cairo: Efforts for ceasefire
Meanwhile, Hamas leader Ismail Haniya traveled to the Egyptian capital Cairo for talks on the Gaza war.
Egypt, Qatar and the USA are continuing to negotiate to achieve a longer ceasefire and an exchange of more hostages from Hamas' violence against Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
The Islamist group said via its Telegram channel that Haniya would speak to Egyptian officials about the political conditions in the Gaza war.
He is said to have traveled to Egypt with a delegation.
The German Press Agency learned from informed circles at Cairo Airport that a high-ranking Israeli delegation had also arrived in the Egyptian capital for a visit lasting several hours.
EU foreign ministers call for an immediate ceasefire
Germany and 25 other EU states are calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
This should lead to a sustainable ceasefire, the unconditional release of the hostages and the provision of humanitarian aid, according to a statement made after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
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The decision of the International Court of Justice of January 26th is also cited as the background to the demand, with which Israel was bindingly ordered under international law to do everything possible to prevent genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The foreign ministers also called on Israel not to take military action in Rafah that would worsen the already catastrophic humanitarian situation and prevent the urgent provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance.
Israel's army wants to submit an operational plan to the war cabinet
In Rafah, the Israeli army is preparing to move in to destroy the remaining Hamas battalions and free suspected hostages there.
However, the Israeli government has not yet issued an operational order in this regard.
Military action in the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip is highly controversial because 1.5 million Palestinians, most of whom have fled fighting in other parts of the coastal area, are crowded into a small area.
Israel's army plans to present a developed operational plan to the war cabinet this week, the news site Axios reported, citing Israeli officials.
According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, civilians in the combat zones should be given the opportunity to move to safe areas before a ground offensive begins.
Israel's army: Dozens of Hamas fighters killed again
According to its own statements, the Israeli military has continued its attacks against the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The army said that dozens of terrorist militia fighters had been killed in the past 24 hours during ongoing "intensive operations" in the west of the city of Chan Yunis in the south of the coastal area, which has been hotly contested for weeks.
A large weapons depot in the city was also hit.
The Israeli army also said terrorists were killed in the center of the sealed-off Gaza Strip over the past day.
All information provided by the military could not initially be independently verified.
Netanyahu: Control over Palestinian territories remains
Netanyahu emphasized at the weekend that they would not bow to international pressure: “Anyone who wants to prevent us from operating in Rafah is ultimately telling us “lose the war,” said Netanyahu.
In a video message, the right-wing politician also emphasized his tough stance on the question of a two-state solution after the end of the war: Even if an agreement is reached with the Palestinians, Israel will claim comprehensive military control over all Palestinian areas.
“In any case, with or without a permanent solution: Israel will maintain full security control over all areas west of the Jordan,” Netanyahu said.
This “of course” includes the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
“Everyone knows that it was I who for decades blocked the creation of a Palestinian state that would threaten our existence,” Netanyahu said.
The USA, as Israel's ally, is increasingly supporting the two-state solution, which envisages the peaceful coexistence of Israel and a future Palestinian state.
This should largely extend to the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967, i.e. the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups on October 7th in Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip.
More than 1,200 people were killed in Israel and another 250 hostages were taken to the Gaza Strip.
Israel responded with massive air strikes and a ground offensive.
Since then, more than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of malnourished children has risen sharply.
Studies in the north of the region have shown that 15.6 percent of children there - or one in six children under the age of two - are acutely malnourished.
dpa