Middle East latest: US vetoes a Gaza cease-fire resolution

The United States vetoed a U.N. resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, with the Americans saying they the resolution Wednesday was not linked to an immediate release of hostages still held by Hamas.

Meanwhile in Lebanon, a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hezbollah was showing signs of progress. However Israel’s defense minister says his country insists on the right to act militarily against Hezbollah in any agreement to end the fighting.

Lebanon’s government is likely to view any such demand as an infringement on its sovereignty, complicating efforts to end more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that erupted into all-out war in September.

Israeli strikes and combat in Lebanon have killed more than 3,500 people and wounded 15,000, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The war has displaced nearly 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, 87 soldiers and 50 civilians, including some foreign farmworkers, have been killed by attacks involving rockets, drones and missiles. Hezbollah began firing on Israel the day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack triggered the conflict in Gaza.

Israel’s blistering war of retaliation in Gaza has killed nearly 44,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities. Some 1,200 people in Israel were killed in the Oct. 7 attack, mostly civilians, and another 250 were abducted. Around 100 hostages remain inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Here’s the Latest:

UNITED NATIONS — The United States vetoed a U.N. resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the war in Gaza on Wednesday because it is not linked to an immediate release of hostages taken captive by Hamas in Israel in October 2023.

The U.N. Security Council voted 14-1 in favor of the resolution sponsored by the 10 elected members on the 15-member council, but it was not adopted because of the U.S. veto.

The resolution that was put to a vote “demands an immediate, unconditional and permanent cease-fire to be respected by all parties, and further reiterates its demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”

The resolution had been sponsored by the 10 elected members on the 15-member council. Unlike the five permanent members – the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France – the elected members have no veto power.

The Security Council in June had adopted its first resolution on a cease-fire plan aimed at ending the war between Israel and Hamas. The U.S.-sponsored resolution welcomed a cease-fire proposal announced by President Joe Biden that the United States said Israel had accepted. It called on the militant Palestinian group Hamas to accept the three-phase plan – but the war goes on.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip killed 15 people Wednesday, including five children and three women, according to an AP journalist who counted the bodies.

An Israeli strike in the southern city of Khan Younis killed nine people, including four children and one woman, who were all taken to Nasser Hospital. Gaza’s Civil Defense said in an update on the social media platform Telegram that the strike hit a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians. Rescuers recovered two of those killed and two others who were injured in Khan Younis.

A separate Israeli airstrike hit a school-turned-shelter in Nuseirat in central Gaza, killing six people, including two women and one child, who were all taken to Awda and Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospitals.

The Gaza Health Ministry said earlier Wednesday that 43,985 Palestinians have been killed, and 104,092 others injured since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s government spokesperson has indicated that it is exploring the option of hiring a private contractor to deliver aid to war-ravaged Gaza.

Israel has come under heavy international criticism for a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The U.N. and international aid agencies say Israel is failing to ensure safe conditions allowing them to work, while Israel accuses the U.N. of logistical failures. Israel also claims Hamas has stolen much of the aid.

Israeli media reported Tuesday that the government is now looking into hiring private companies to deliver aid.

Asked about the government’s plans, spokesman David Mencer said: “Israel is looking at many creative solutions to ensure a better future for Gaza.” The army and COGAT, the military body responsible for Palestinian humanitarian affairs, declined comment.

Aid distribution is largely coordinated by UNRWA, the U.N. Agency for Palestinian refugees. Israel accuses the agency of cooperating with Hamas and has banned it from operating on Israeli soil. UNRWA denies the accusations.

“Certainly UNRWA has provided a failed past and we are ensuring that doesn’t continue into a failed future,” Mencer said. With the war in its 14th month, Israel has still not laid out a postwar plan for the territory.

Aid groups say the already grave humanitarian situation in Gaza has deteriorated in recent weeks. Their efforts suffered another blow this week when armed gangs looted nearly 100 trucks loaded with food and other supplies.

Former defense minister Yoav Gallant wrote on X that handing over aid distribution to a private company was a “euphemism for the beginning of military rule.” He said the move would prove dangerous for Israel’s military, which would have to secure the private company’s operations.

Gallant, who disagreed with Netanyahu’s management of the war in Gaza and plan for after the conflict, was dismissed by the prime minister earlier this month.

BEIRUT — Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said in a televised speech Wednesday that the Lebanese militant group supports the ongoing negotiation process for a cease-fire with Israel after more than 13 months of fighting but had given some “remarks” on the proposal. He added that the outcome depends on Israel’s response.

Kassem’s speech coincided with a two-day visit to Lebanon by U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein aimed at clinching a deal to halt the war that has killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon and more than 130 Israelis.

Speaking from an undisclosed location in a pre-recorded address, Kassem said, “We agree to the current negotiation process.”

Kassem also said that Hezbollah has “some reservations” on the cease-fire proposal, which it gave to the U.S. envoy.

“The cessation of fighting depends on Israel’s response and Netanyahu’s seriousness,” he added, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “No one can guarantee” whether this will lead to an actual cease-fire, Kassem said.

He said that any cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel must include “a complete and comprehensive end to the aggression,” preserving Lebanon’s sovereignty and ruling out any freedom of movement for Israel in Lebanese territory.

Kassem said that before his predecessor, longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike on Sept. 27, the militant group had given its “approval of the Biden-Macron proposal” for a 21-day truce, which was under discussion at the time.

DAMASCUS — An Israeli airstrike on the Syrian town of Palmyra, known for the historic Roman temple complex nearby, killed 36 people and wounded more than 50 Wednesday, Syrian state-run media said.

The SANA news agency said the strikes also led to “significant material damage to the targeted buildings and the surrounding area.”

The Israeli military declined to comment on the reported strike in Syria. Israel frequently targets military sites and facilities associated with Iran-linked groups in Syria but rarely acknowledges the strikes. The death toll from Wednesday’s strike was unusually high.

It was not immediately clear if the ruins were damaged. The temple complex already suffered significant damage years ago during the Islamic State group’s rampage across Syria. In 2015, the world watched in horror as the militants blew up an iconic arch and temple in Palmyra.

Since IS lost its hold on the area, restoration work on the site has been held up by security issues, leftover IS landmines and lack of funding.

The strike in Syria comes as negotiations are underway for a potential cease-fire between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, but it is unclear if the ceasefire would include Syria.

JERUSALEM — The Israeli parliament has passed a bill stripping some insurance benefits from families of minors convicted of security offenses.

A rights group denounced the legislation as a form of collective punishment of Palestinians.

The bill, which passed 29-8 late Monday, bans direct family members of minors convicted of security offenses from receiving a child allowance, study grants, or other welfare benefits under Israel’s National Insurance program while the minor is imprisoned.

It was passed to “cause parents to supervise their children and make sure that they do not engage in terrorist activity,” according to a press release on the website of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

Legal group Adalah, which called on Israel’s attorney general to withdraw the law, said the true aim of the legislation was “to impose punitive measures under the pretext of counterterrorism by denying welfare benefits.”

Adalah said that because the legislation only applies to those convicted of security offenses, who are overwhelmingly Palestinian, it “creates a distinction on the basis of nationality.”

It’s the latest in a series of measures passed by the Knesset that have been denounced by rights groups as draconian.

A law passed earlier this month would allow Israel to deport family members of Palestinian attackers to Gaza or other locations. In late October, the Knesset passed two laws banning UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, from operating on Israeli soil.

BEIRUT — A Lebanese army soldier was killed Wednesday by an Israeli airstrike that hit his vehicle on the road linking Burj al-Muluk and Qalaa in southern Lebanon, the army said in a statement. The Israeli military said it was looking into reports.

A day earlier, three soldiers were killed by an airstrike that targeted an army post in the town of Sarafand, near the coastal city of Saida.

Wissam Khalifa, a resident of Sarafand who lives next to the army post and was injured in the strike, said he was shocked that it was targeted.

“It’s a safe residential neighborhood. There is nothing here at all” that would present a target, he said. “Regarding the martyred soldiers, I don’t even know if there was a gun in the center. Why did this strike happen? We have no idea.”

The Lebanese army has not been an active participant in the fighting between Israeli forces and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah over the past 13 months, but more than 40 soldiers have been killed in the conflict.

Altogether, more than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since Oct. 8, 2023, the vast majority of them in the past two months.

AMMAN, Jordan: Israel has allowed an Al Jazeera journalist wounded in an airstrike in Gaza last month to be evacuated to Jordan for medical treatment.

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that Ali al-Attar had been transferred to the kingdom with his sister in coordination with the World Health Organization. There was no immediate comment from Israel.

Al-Attar was wounded by shrapnel when Israeli forces struck makeshift points used by Hamas-run police outside a hospital in central Gaza early on Oct. 7. There were no police present at the time.

Israel banned Al-Jazeera earlier this year, accusing it of serving as a mouthpiece of Hamas. It has also accused six Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza of being current or former fighters for Hamas and another armed group.

Al Jazeera has denied the allegations and accused Israel of trying to silence critical coverage. The Qatar-based network has reported round-the-clock from Gaza since the start of the war, with its field correspondents focusing on the killing of civilians in Israeli strikes. Several Al Jazeera reporters have themselves been killed or wounded.

Al Jazeera has also regularly broadcast videos released by militant groups in their entirety, including some that show Israeli hostages speaking under duress.

A Palestinian paramedic checks a body of a person killed during an Israeli bombardment in Nuseirat, central Gaza, at a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians mourn over relatives killed in an Israeli bombardment in Nuseirat, central Gaza, as they stand in a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Lebanese Army Intelligence members inspect an army position that was damaged in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday night, in Sarafand, southern Lebanon, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A man wounded in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday night, receives treatment at a hospital in Sarafand, southern Lebanon, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A woman wounded in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday night, receives treatment at a hospital in Sarafand, southern Lebanon, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

An explosion can be seen along Israel's northern border with Lebanon, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

A woman rests in an ambulance at the site where a rocket, fired from Lebanon, hit a kindergarten in Acre, northern Israel, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Israeli Defense Forces soldiers mourn at the grave of Sgt. First Class (res.) Roi Sasson, who was killed in action in the Gaza Strip, during his funeral at Mt. Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Palestinians carry a body of a person killed during an Israeli bombardment in Nuseirat, central Gaza, at a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A general view shows a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Palestinians mourn over relatives killed in an Israeli bombardment in Nuseirat, central Gaza, as they stand in a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Damage is seen at the site where a rocket fired from Lebanon hit a residential building in Kiryat Shmona, a town located near the border with Lebanon, in northern Israel, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

A resident enters the apartment he rents after a rocket fired from Lebanon hit a residential building in Kiryat Shmona, a town located near to the border with Lebanon, in northern Israel, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Amos Hochstein, center, a senior adviser to President Joe Biden, arrives ahead of a meeting with Lebanese Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A destroyed building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Amos Hochstein, center, a senior adviser to President Joe Biden, is escorted by bodyguards as he leaves his meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to President Joe Biden, speaks during his meeting with Lebanese Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A Palestinian woman queues for food in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians queue for food in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A Palestinian little girl queues for food in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to President Joe Biden, gives a statement to the media after his meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to President Joe Biden, gives a statement to the media after his meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Relatives of Hezbollah's chief spokesman Mohammed Afif who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Sunday, mourn during his funeral in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Maxim Timchenko, who runs the largest private energy company in Ukraine, pulls out a piece of paper with bar charts showing how much new electricity his company has brought online this year in the country versus how much Russian bombs have destroyed.

Total electricity goes up, then down, then up, then down — capturing the company's constant rebuilding each time Russian missile attacks take out a facility, which include wind and solar farms and thermal (coal or gas-fired) generating stations. The Russian strikes are part of a campaign to target energy infrastructure to reduce power in Ukraine as winter looms.

“What other choice do we have?” Timchenko, CEO of DTEK, said during an interview on the sidelines of this year's U.N. climate talks in Azerbaijan. “Sit and wait and pray that they don't hit us, or do our job and bring lights back to our people?”

The nearly three-year-long Russia-Ukraine war, which has destroyed large swaths of Ukraine, has accelerated a transition to clean energy. Ukraine's pavilion at COP29 displays a large smashed solar panel that was destroyed in an attack this year.

Russian forces continue to make small but steady gains in capturing Ukrainian territory at a time when there are questions about how much the United States, which has been providing weapons and money, will continue to support the country once President-elect Donald Trump assumes office in January. During the campaign, Trump repeatedly said he could quickly end the war if elected, although he hasn't said how.

Whatever the future, the decentralized nature of some clean energies, in particular wind and solar, has allowed Ukraine to quickly restore power in ways that would be impossible with Ukraine's more traditional energy sources, such as coal-fired power plants.

In centralized systems, all power is generated and sent to the grid over transmission lines from the same area. That means if the plant goes down, say in an attack, a large section of grid, or even the entire grid, comes to a halt. By contrast, wind and solar installations are usually more scattered, so less of the system goes down with one hit, and if the solar is on rooftops, the impact can be even more limited.

Attacks on two DTEK solar farms last spring are a good example. They destroyed many solar panels and some of the transformers, which step up voltage for long distances or step it down for use in homes. Replacing the transformers and swapping out destroyed panels allowed the farms, which generate 400 megawatts, to be back up in seven days.

Timchenko said an attack on a thermal generating station, which experienced a similar amount of damage, took three to four months to rebuild.

“That's the difference between centralized and so-called decentralized generation. It's much more resistant and difficult to destroy,” said Timchenko.

Geoffrey Pyatt, assistant secretary of the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Energy Resources, said that Russian attacks on energy infrastructure have evolved. In 2022 and 2023, they focused on transformers.

“The Ukrainians were incredibly efficient in working around those attacks. So Putin changed his tactics beginning in March to go after generation capacity," said Pyatt, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Since then, about 50% of Ukraine's total power generation has been knocked out, leaving mostly nuclear, some hydropower and large new renewable projects, like a wind farm being built by DTEK, he added.

Renewable and other infrastructure projects are financed by partnerships between governments and businesses, spreading out the risk, since there is no guarantee that something built isn't destroyed by missiles. In June, turbine maker GE Vernova and manufacturer Honeywell announced plans to partner with DTEK for major wind and battery storage projects in Ukraine.

Roger Martella, chief sustainability officer for GE Vernova, said that developing public-private partnerships was key to lowering risk and making investment more attractive. Ukraine's resistance was also an inspiration, Martella told a panel on Ukrainian renewables at COP29.

“We’re humbled by the fact that Ukraine has done something no one has ever done before, which is to maintain the grid in a war-torn environment,” said Martella.

Pyatt, a former ambassador in Ukraine, said he has seen widespread support for Ukraine's energy systems in the G7, a group of leading industrialized nations.

While making clear he couldn't speak for the incoming Trump administration, Pyatt said he believed support for Ukraine in the energy sector would “continue in any scenario.”

“If you start to get big American companies like GE and Fluxus and Honeywell involved in energy reconstruction, and there’s going to be billions of dollars of energy reconstruction," he said.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org

FILE - Workers walk inside DTEK's power plant which was destroyed by a Russian missile attack in Ukraine, April 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)

FILE - Solar panels sit in the yard of an apartment building in Lyman, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Nov. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko, File)