WORLD BRIEFING: December 22, 2023
Israel - Hamas War
The UN Security Council adopts a watered down resolution on Gaza. It stopped short of calling for an immediate truce. The US and Russia both abstained. Curious bedfellows as earlier draft had language similar to Russian officials’ statements on pause in fighting & humanitarian needs
The final resolution calls "for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses" and asks the UN secretary-general to appoint a senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator with "responsibility for facilitating, coordinating, monitoring and verifying" humanitarian aid going to Gaza through states not party to the conflict. It also asks that the coordinator "expeditiously establish a UN mechanism for accelerating the provision of humanitarian relief consignments to Gaza." It demands that "the parties to the conflict cooperate with the coordinator to fulfill their mandate without delay or obstruction." - Axios
Another Israeli hostage has reportedly died while being held in captivity in Gaza
On Wednesday, the Hamas-run Gaza government said 20,000 people had been killed in the enclave since the war erupted
Ukraine War
Ukraine shot down 24 of 28 Shahed drones launched by Russia in an overnight attack that damaged residential buildings in Kyiv and an infrastructure facility and grain warehouse in southern regions, officials said. More than two dozen Russian drones targeted Ukraine’s capital, hitting the 24th, 25th and 26th storeys of an apartment building and injuring two people, and causing lesser damage to several other residential buildings, according to Reuters. In the south, Russia again tried to hit port infrastructure – a frequent target since it pulled out of a UN-brokered deal that allowed safe passage of Ukrainian grain shipments through the Black Sea - Independent
Responding to Ukraine’s move of listing China Railway Construction Corp as a so-called war sponsor, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that China always stands on the side of peace and justice on the issue of Ukraine. China urges the Ukrainian side to immediately correct its mistake and avoid negative consequences - Global Times
Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev allegedly ordered the assassination of the late head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) wrote on Dec. 22, citing Western intelligence and a former Russian intelligence officer. Prigozhin's Wagner Group became a crucial part of the Russian war machine after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Increasing tension between the mercenary group's head and the Russian Defense Ministry led Prigozhin to attempt a short-lived mutiny in Russia in June 2023 that sent shockwaves around the world.
Elsewhere
President Joe Biden is ramping up the pressure on Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to help with the migrant crisis at the US southern border. In a call between the two on Thursday, the presidents agreed that "additional enforcement actions are urgently needed" to reopen ports on the US-Mexico border where a migrant surge has strained federal resources and led to port closures, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters. Over recent days, more than 10,000 migrants have unlawfully crossed the US-Mexico border daily — numbers not seen since days before the lifting of a Covid-era restriction known as Title 42 that allowed authorities to turn back migrants at the border.