By Zaheena Rasheed
   The United Nations Security Council is set to vote on a new resolution that demands Israel halt its deadly attacks on a devastated Gaza, after Russia and China vetoed an earlier document drafted by the US.

    Antony Blinken, the US’s top diplomat, again left the Middle East empty-handed as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Washington’s appeals to shelve a planned ground invasion of southern Rafah, where 1.5 million Palestinians have taken refuge.

    UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will visit the Gaza border city of Rafah on Saturday to reiterate his call for an urgent humanitarian truce.

    At least 32,070 Palestinians have been killed and 74,298 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attack stands at 1,139, with dozens taken captive.