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Bein Harim Tourism Services

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Bein Harim Tourism Services - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

BEN-DOV ISRAEL TRAVEL

We create unique, life changing, immersive Israel experiences that transform our clients, engaging them with every aspect of Israel

Virtual Tours

During Corona, while Israel travel was paused, Gadi and Amy pivoted to create Virtual Israel experiences! Using incredible street-view technology, our virtual tours will allow you to visit some of our favorite places in Israel (and beyond!)

Guiding Services

Amy and Gadi Ben-Dov created this company to share their love of Israel with every traveler. From planning services to guiding, they will work with you to plan a spectacular, once-in-a lifetime trip for you. Both Amy and Gadi are licensed, experienced guides.

Trip Planning

We never create the same trip twice. Every itinerary is as unique as you. Our process of curating the perfect experience according to your interests, your expectations, and your budget has resulted in endless variations of an Israel experience. Get ready to create some unforgettable memories and don’t forget to send us a postcard!

Sample itineraries

Are you ready to experience moments that will last a lifetime? Take a look at our sample itineraries for trip ideas and to begin customizing one just for you. We will be here awaiting you once traveling is again possible!

WHY BEN-DOV ISRAEL TRAVEL?

We are passionate about Israel. Our goal is to give you the experience of a lifetime because we know firsthand the impact of your journey through this land. We are experts. We’ve been where you want to go, we’ve checked every aspect, and we know what to expect. Our experience and knowledge is what allows us to curate your unique trip.

With over two decades in the field, the Ben-Dov's are experts on every aspect of Israel Travel. From the most well-loved sites to the hidden gems, we can personalize your Israel trip.

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Hi, I'm Itamar Ben-David, VIP Tour Guide in Israel. I have been guiding tours in Israel, especially Jerusalem, for 16 years. If you are looking for a fun, knowledgeable, and friendly guide - I am the guide you are looking for! I give in-person and virtual tours - so call or text me and let's start our adventure!

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my contact information

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+972-547-707-368

Katamon, Jerusalem, Israel

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MY TOP 12 virtual tours on google earth or live! 300-600$

The temple mount - the cradle of the abrahamic faiths (available live on location), the city of david - ancient jerusalem (available live on location), biblical tel aviv - the hebrew city (available live on location), in the footsteps of baby jesus - christmas tour, the last week of jesus' life -easter tour (available live on location), jesus in the galilee, caesarea - rome the west and the jews (available live on location), masada - the last stronghold of the jewish revolt (available live on location), herodium - the tomb of king herod the great, welcome to gaza, the west bank and the initiative to "shrink the conflict", east jerusalem - between israel and the palestinians, itamar ben-david in the media, opinion on jerusalem post april 2024.

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-796430

Jewish Archeology on I24News

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLsqbrYrUsE

The Media Line about Tourism in Israel

https://themedialine.org/by-region/israeli-tourism-is-on-an-upswing-while-facing-political-infrastructure-challenges/

Jerusalem Post and The Media Line April 2nd 2023

https://themedialine.org/top-stories/jerusalem-prays-for-quiet-during-muslim-jewish-holidays/

Featured in Haaretz by Judy Maltz November 2021

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-israeli-tour-guides-got-crushed-by-covid-now-they-re-reinventing-themselves-1.10389003

Jerusalem Post about the Virtual Tourism in Israel

https://www.jpost.com/international/taking-the-world-to-visit-israel-despite-coronavirus-661150

israel21c article about Virtual Tourism in Israel

https://www.israel21c.org/armchair-travel-gets-a-covid-revamp-and-is-here-to-stay/

Haaretz story about my live virtual tours

  https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-how-tourists-are-still-visiting-jerusalem-s-holy-sites-during-the-coronavirus-1.8822048  

Aleteia story about my Live Virtual tours

  https://aleteia.org/2020/07/10/walk-through-jerusalems-holy-sites-from-the-comfort-of-your-home/  

At i24 NEWS about the 53rd Jerusalem Day

At il-tv about jerusalem syndrome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSWBQTRXUcQ

Ynet Interview about virtual tours under Lockdown (Hebrew)

https://www.ynet.co.il/vacation/israeltrips/article/SksU64el00

YNET story about my live virtual tours (Hebrew)

  https://www.ynet.co.il/vacation/flights/article/rycuqZn00U  

103FM Interview about virtual tours under Lockdown (Hebrew)

https://103fm.maariv.co.il/programs/media.aspx?ZrqvnVq=IFEGEK&c41t4nzVQ=FJF

Article about Arabic Speakers in YBZ (Hebrew)

https://www.ybz.org.il/_Uploads/dbsArticles/bendavid.pdf

singing to Chris Noth - Mr. BIG in Jerusalem

Copyright © 2023 Itamar Ben David - Israel VIP Tour Guide and Virtual Tours of Israel - All Rights Reserved.

Call or text me for your adventure in Jerusalem!

[email protected]  

+972-547707368

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Ben Gurion Hut

January 16th 2014

There’s something very special about walking into the modest southern kibbutz hut where the first Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben Gurion, lived his later years. The furnishings, books and clothes have been preserved exactly as they were when David and Paula Ben Gurion lived here while the State of Israel was still in its youth, from 1953 until his death in 1973. Touring the Ben Gurion hut is much like being invited into their home. Of particular interest is Ben Gurion’s private library, which contains thousands of books on a wide range of subjects that interested the former head of state. A new film about Ben Gurion and his relationship to the Negev uses innovative animation to show the Ben Gurions in their home environment. English translation of the film is available for tourists.

Ben Gurion’s Hut is located on Kibbutz Sde Boker in the northern Negev. David Ben Gurion is known to have been a major proponent of developing Israel’s sparsely populated Negev Desert region. After visiting the fledgling desert community on an official visit in 1952, he expressed his jealousy at their simple lifestyle in a letter he wrote to kibbutz founders. The following year, Ben Gurion and his wife Paula were accepted as members of the kibbutz and ultimately lived there for 20 years. He settled there as a way of leading by example. Sde Boker’s modesty also provided the Ben Gurions with a quiet retirement, away from the stresses of Jerusalem – at least until Ben Gurion was re-elected for a second term as Prime Minister in 1955.

"Fantastic Experience!"

"unbelievable week in israel", "great family private tour", "flawless tour of israel", "lifetime memories", "absolutely fabulous", "trip of a lifetime", "exceptional experience", "amazing trip", "perfect in every way".

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• Jerusalem Must See Day Trip
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• Masada and the Dead Sea Trip
• Sea Ports Throughout History
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Samantha Israel Tours

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Want a tour that is an absolute must?! Have to see the big sites of Israel? Here are some of those must see sites and trips!

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Have your perfect trip in Israel in mind?! Want to sit and plan your trip? Contact me now to plan you next trip in Israel!

Want some answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). Have a question of your own? Ask me here. Really, ask me!

HI! Welcome to Samantha Israel Tours,

meet your next private Israel tour guide!

ברוכים הבאים.

My name is Samantha Ben Avraham. I am an American-born private Israeli tour guide, and I am IN LOVE WITH ISRAEL! I believe that this is a wonderful, beautiful, and simply fantastic place. There is so much to see, to explore, and to learn about. After living in Israel since 2011, I am learning new things everyday. I love to learn, visit, and revisit every inch of this wonderful land.

As a result, my greatest goal as a tour guide is to show these beauties from the Biblical Period to modern culture of today’s State. I also aim to help my tourists to establish a relationship with Israel on their own terms, and allow it to flourish in its individual way. Each of us has different interests and things we connect to. Therefore, we need to use these interests to help you connect and create your own relationship with Israel. And so, I aim to help you with the establishment of your own relationship with the State of Israel.

if you are looking for a trip to Israel, you have come to the right place. If you are looking to design a more personalized trip, you have come to the right place. And if you love Israel much as me, you have come to the right place!! I’m not looking to take you on just any trip in Israel, but rather a trip that is perfect for you. A trip that is both meaningful and fun at the same time. THIS IS NOT YOUR BUBBIE’S ISRAEL!!!

In conclusion, take a look around and feel free to contact me with any questions or comments. I look forward to seeing and hearing from you. See you on the Israel side!

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Classical Israel Tour Package, 7 Days

• In-depth Cultural
• Fully Guided
• Sightseeing
• Christmas & New Year

Places You’ll See

• See world famous religious and historic landmarks
• Float in the Dead Sea at the lowest point on Earth
• Visit Masada, the symbol of the ancient kingdom of Israel
• Drive through farmlands and vineyards of Golan Heights
• Introduction
• Day 1 Welcome to Israel
• Day 2 Nazareth, Capernaum and Sea of Galilee
• Day 3 Caesarea, Acre and Rosh Hanikra
• Day 4 Golan Heights
• Day 5 Jerusalem Old and New
• Day 6 Masada and the Dead Sea
• Day 7 Last Day in Israel

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Download this tour’s PDF brochure and start tour planning offline

What's Included

• Accommodation
• Additional Services

Customer Photos

Operated by Bein Harim Tourism Services

Our company employs highly experienced government licensed tour guides. It offers tours in an extensive range of languages and all its vehicles are approved by the Ministry of Tourism to afford customers top comfort sightseeing. Bein Harim Tourism Services LTD provides tourists with an extensive range of creative solutions. The company’s competitive advantage is its flexibility, taking the form of personalized private car tours as well as the unique opportunity to join a small and intimate group tour. Yitzchak Ben Ari – the founder and the owner of the company, is a 30-year veteran of the field and brings with him a vast and rich accumulation of knowledge of the business.He established Bein Harim Tourism Services LTD in 1993 and the company has grown from strength to strength during its existence. Bein Harim Tourism Services is the perfect choice for you.

Your Peace of Mind Options

Cancellation policy.

A transparent overview of applicable fees.

Customer Reviews

• Overall Rating Excellent 4.5
• Itinerary Excellent 4.5
• Guide Excellent 4.8
• Transport Excellent 4.5
• Accommodation Excellent 4.7
• Food Excellent 4.2
• Tour Operator Bein Harim Tourism Services 4.3
• Most Recent
• Most Popular
• Highest First
• Lowest First

• EV Eric · 8th July 2022 The tour locations and guides were mostly excellent. The pickup bus was always 10 or more minutes late. Once dropped off at park, we waited another 30 minutes for our final bus. We were forced to go to the same Jericho gift shop twice on same day. One... Show more Trip date: June 2022

• A Anonymous · 28th October 2019 Great value for money. Very knowledgeable and professional guides. Trip date: October 2019

Dates & Availability

Pay-by-instalments

Take advantage of our 0% interest instalment plan on selected departures. Learn More

• Upcoming departures
• August 2024
• September 2024
• October 2024
• November 2024
• December 2024
• January 2025
• February 2025
• August 2025
• September 2025
• October 2025
• November 2025
• December 2025
• January 2026
• February 2026
• Get Instant Confirmation Thursday 1 Aug, 2024 Wednesday 7 Aug, 2024 English Multiple Room Types €1,403 Confirm Dates Hold space for 48h
• Get Instant Confirmation Friday 2 Aug, 2024 Thursday 8 Aug, 2024 English Multiple Room Types €1,403 Confirm Dates Hold space for 48h
• Get Instant Confirmation Saturday 3 Aug, 2024 Friday 9 Aug, 2024 English Filling Fast Multiple Room Types €1,403 Confirm Dates Hold space for 48h
• Get Instant Confirmation Sunday 4 Aug, 2024 Saturday 10 Aug, 2024 English Filling Fast Multiple Room Types €1,403 Confirm Dates Hold space for 48h
• Get Instant Confirmation Monday 5 Aug, 2024 Sunday 11 Aug, 2024 English Filling Fast Multiple Room Types €1,403 Confirm Dates Hold space for 48h
• Get Instant Confirmation Tuesday 6 Aug, 2024 Monday 12 Aug, 2024 English Filling Fast Multiple Room Types €1,403 Confirm Dates Hold space for 48h
• Get Instant Confirmation Thursday 8 Aug, 2024 Wednesday 14 Aug, 2024 English Filling Fast Multiple Room Types €1,403 Confirm Dates Hold space for 48h
• Get Instant Confirmation Friday 9 Aug, 2024 Thursday 15 Aug, 2024 English Filling Fast Multiple Room Types €1,403 Confirm Dates Hold space for 48h
• Get Instant Confirmation Saturday 10 Aug, 2024 Friday 16 Aug, 2024 English Filling Fast Multiple Room Types €1,403 Confirm Dates Hold space for 48h
• Get Instant Confirmation Sunday 11 Aug, 2024 Saturday 17 Aug, 2024 English Multiple Room Types €1,403 Confirm Dates Hold space for 48h

Frequently Asked Questions

We are there for you! If you have any questions about this tour, then please don't hesitate to contact us 24/7 and we will get back to you latest within 2 hours!

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Good to Know

• Currency ₪ New Israeli Sheqel Israel

As a traveller from USA, Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa you will need an adaptor for types C, E, F.

• These are only indications, so please visit your doctor before you travel to be 100% sure.
• Typhoid - Recommended for Israel. Ideally 2 weeks before travel.
• Hepatitis A - Recommended for Israel. Ideally 2 weeks before travel.
• Hepatitis B - Recommended for Israel. Ideally 2 months before travel.
• Unfortunately we cannot offer you a visa application service. Whether you need a visa or not depends on your nationality and where you wish to travel. Assuming your home country does not have a visa agreement with the country you're planning to visit, you will need to apply for a visa in advance of your scheduled departure.
• Here is an indication for which countries you might need a visa. Please contact the local embassy for help applying for visas to these places.
• For any tour departing before 18th July 2024 a full payment is necessary. For tours departing after 18th July 2024, a minimum payment of 20% is required to confirm your booking with Bein Harim Tourism Services . The final payment will be automatically charged to your credit card on the designated due date. The final payment of the remaining balance is required at least 60 days prior to the departure date of your tour. TourRadar never charges you a booking fee and will charge you in the stated currency.
• Some departure dates and prices may vary and Bein Harim Tourism Services will contact you with any discrepancies before your booking is confirmed.
• The following cards are accepted for "Bein Harim Tourism Services " tours: Visa, Maestro, Mastercard, American Express or PayPal. TourRadar does NOT charge you an extra fee for using any of these payment methods.
• Your money is safe with TourRadar, as we only pay the tour operator after your tour has departed.
• TourRadar is an authorised Agent of Bein Harim Tourism Services . Please familiarise yourself with the Bein Harim Tourism Services payment, cancellation and refund conditions .
• Insurance Unless otherwise mentioned, TourRadar does not provide travel insurance. We do however recommend purchasing it through our tried and trusted partner, World Travel Nomads .
• Accessibility Some tours are not suitable for mobility-restricted traveller, however, some operators may be able to accommodate special requests. For any enquiries, you can contact our customer support team , who are ready and waiting to help you.
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Israel Tours from Jerusalem

Visitors to Israel based in Jerusalem can join a wide variety of tours from Jerusalem to destinations across the country. There are one-day tours and multi-day tours that have pick-up points in Jerusalem. You will be met at the Jerusalem pick-up point and returned there at the end of the tour. For an additional fee, you could end the tour with a drop-off at the airport. Even if you are going on a tour within Jerusalem you will still get the complimentary pick-up and drop-off service. Among the destinations visited by tours from Jerusalem, there is Bethlehem, Jericho, the Dead Sea, Masada, and Tel Aviv. There are even tours from Jerusalem to destinations further away such as the Galilee, Golan Heights, Rosh HaNikra, Haifa, Acre, and Caesarea. There are tours from Jerusalem geared specifically towards Christian sites and others that focus on Jewish heritage sites. There are even tours from Jerusalem to Petra in Jordan. Tours from Jerusalem are available in English and with prior arrangement, there are also tours in Spanish, German, Russian, and French to most destinations. There are tours from Jerusalem every day of the week (depending on the destination). Standard-size group tours, smaller group tours, and private tours all travel in air-conditioned vehicles and are accompanied by a professional tour guide. When you take a tour from Jerusalem to Jordan or Bethlehem and Jericho that are under the Palestinian Authority tour representatives will assist with the border crossing and you will be in the safe hands of a licensed local tour guide. By basing yourself in Jerusalem you benefit from the incredible surroundings of the City of Gold and you can still take advantage of convenient tours across the country. For any inquiries, feel free to contact our 24/7 customer service staff.

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Departure Day

Jerusalem Old and New Day Tour

Nazareth and Sea of Galilee Tour

Jerusalem and Bethlehem Tour

Masada and Dead Sea Day Tour

Bethlehem & Church of the Nativity Day Tour

Jerusalem and Dead Sea Tour

Caesarea, Acre and Rosh Hanikra Tour

Golan Heights Tour

Christian Galilee Tour

Jerusalem Half Day Tour

Christian Jerusalem Jesus Tour

City of David Tour Jerusalem

Jericho, Dead Sea and the Jordan River Tour

Jerusalem Old City Tour

The Dead Sea Relaxation Experience

Christmas Eve in Bethlehem Tour

Jerusalem Palm Sunday Procession Tour

Bethlehem and Jericho Tour

Mount of Olives, Temple Mount, Dome of the Rock Tour

Judean Desert Jeep Tour

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AMY BEN DOV

Amy Ben-Dov immigrated to Israel from the US and has a background in informal education with more than 25 years of experience as a tour guide and educator. Together with her husband Gadi, Amy created a travel consultancy in Israel that specializes in creating unique, authentic and off-the-beaten-path experiences. They are based along with their two children (and rambunctious dog) in Modiin, Israel. With the current pause in travel, Amy is bringing her love of Israel right into your living room using new technologies.

Middle East Crisis Cease-Fire Talks Stall as Anger Flares Over Israel’s Incursion Into Rafah

• Share full article
• Displaced Palestinian families evacuate Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, amid the threat of an Israeli ground invasion. Reuters
• Palestinians heeding Israel's warning to evacuate Rafah, southern Gaza. Mohammed Salem/Reuters
• Israeli protesters blocked a road near Mitzpe Ramon, southern Israel, and scattered rocks to prevent aid trucks from entering the Gaza Strip. Tzav 9/Reuters
• Trucks lining up on a road in southern Israel after a protest to prevent humanitarian aid from arriving in Gaza. Shimon Bokshtein/Reuters
• Palestinians looking through the rubble of what remained of a house after an Israeli strike in Rafah. Reuters
• A Palestinian woman mourning her son killed in a strike in Rafah. Hatem Khaled/Reuters
• Israeli tanks and other military vehicles in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip. Ahmad Gharabli/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• Palestinians preparing to move in Rafah. Hatem Khaled/Reuters
• The site of a strike on a house in Rafah. Hatem Khaled/Reuters
• A displaced Palestinian preparing dough to make bread at a shelter in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Follow live news updates on the crisis in the Middle East .

The halt in talks is a setback amid hopes for an agreement to free hostages.

High-level hostage negotiations in Cairo were put on hold Thursday, according to officials briefed on the negotiations and Egyptian state media, with one official saying that anger had flared among participants over Israel’s incursion into the southern Gazan city Rafah.

The pause is a setback given that some people watching the negotiations closely had seen signs that an agreement might be in reach this week. Still, one official briefed on the talks said that negotiators did not believe Hamas or Israel were leaving the negotiations permanently and were interpreting the suspension as a temporary pause rather than a derailment.

William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director and top American negotiator, and other senior officials departed Cairo, according to multiple officials. The officials all spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic negotiations.

Mr. Burns, who has been involved in daylong negotiating sessions, had extended his trip, moving between Egypt and Israel on Wednesday to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in an effort to persuade Israel not to dismiss Hamas’s most recent cease-fire counterproposal and to continue negotiating over it.

While midlevel Egyptian, Qatari and American officials remain in Cairo for discussions, both Hamas and Israeli delegations left on Thursday, Hamas and Israeli officials said. A senior Egyptian official told state-owned television that mediation efforts were still underway to bridge the difference between the most recent proposals by Israel and Hamas.

American officials said they believed that the differences between Hamas and Israel still could be resolved, at least enough to begin the first phase of hostage negotiations. One proposal called for Hamas to free hostages in return for a 42-day cease-fire and the release of a much larger number of Palestinian prisoners. That would be the first of three phases of reciprocal actions from each side.

On Thursday, Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesman, said that work was continuing to finalize the text of an agreement, but that it was “incredibly difficult.”

Egyptian and Hamas negotiators have been enraged by Israel’s military operations in Rafah. And the United States has argued that the military operation is threatening the hostage talks. The Biden administration announced it would withhold 3,500 bombs from Israel until it ended military operations in Rafah.

The Israeli ambassador to Washington, Michael Herzog, said on Thursday that Mr. Biden’s decision to withhold some weapons from Israel “sends the wrong message to Hamas and to our enemies in the region.” He added, “It puts us in a corner.”

Speaking in a public conversation hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, Mr. Herzog said, “It will be impossible to establish a postwar government in Gaza unless Hamas is completely vanquished. He added, “Nobody presented to me or to us a strategy of defeating Hamas without dealing with Rafah.”

On Monday, Israeli tanks and troops seized the border crossing in the Gazan city, shutting off the flow of aid from Egypt. American officials had hoped the incursion was not the start of a larger ground invasion in Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians are crammed into tent cities and temporary shelters in the city.

The United States believes that such an operation would weaken Israel’s position in cease-fire negotiations and diminish its international standing, Mr. Miller said on Thursday. The United States also believes that the operation, “in addition to all the harm it would cause to the Palestinian people, actually weakens Israel’s security,” he added.

Israeli officials have reacted with defiance, saying the invasion is necessary to dismantle Hamas as a fighting force in Rafah.

Anushka Patil and Michael Crowley contributed reporting.

— Julian E. Barnes ,  Vivian Yee ,  Aaron Boxerman and Adam Rasgon

The White House tries to assuage concerns about U.S. support of Israel.

White house warns israel against rafah attack, john f. kirby, a white house national security spokesman, said president biden is concerned that an israeli assault on rafah would strengthen hamas..

President has tasked his team to continue to work with Israel to refine their strategy to inflict an enduring defeat on Hamas. And I want to repeat that: An enduring defeat on Hamas certainly remains the Israeli goal, and we share that goal with them. Smashing into Rafah, in his view, will not advance that objective, will not get to that sustainable, enduring defeat of Hamas. Our view is that Rafah operations certainly — any kind of major Rafah ground operation would actually strengthen Hamas’s hands at the negotiating table, not Israel’s. That’s our view.

A White House spokesman warned on Thursday that Israel “smashing into Rafah” would not eradicate Hamas as he urged the country to find alternatives to the long-threatened assault on a city where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering.

John F. Kirby, a White House national security spokesman, said President Biden shares Israel’s goal of eradicating the terrorist group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages.

But Mr. Biden has grown increasingly wary of a major assault in the densely populated city of Rafah in southern Gaza. Since the war began, more than 34,000 people have died in Gaza, according to local health authorities. The United States fears an operation in Rafah would lead to widespread civilian casualties.

“An enduring defeat of Hamas certainly remains the Israeli goal, and we share that goal with them,” Mr. Kirby said. “Smashing into Rafah, in his view, will not advance that objective, will not get to that sustainable and enduring defeat of Hamas.”

Those concerns led Mr. Biden last week to pause the delivery of 3,500 bombs to Israel — the first time he had leveraged U.S. arms to try to influence how the war is waged. On Wednesday, he said he would also withhold artillery if Israel went ahead with a major operation in Rafah.

“If they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, that deal with that problem,” Mr. Biden said in an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett .

He also acknowledged that Israel had used American bombs to kill civilians in Gaza, reflecting his growing unease with the mounting death toll as the war grinds on.

Mr. Kirby also tried to assuage concerns that the United States was breaking with its closest ally in the Middle East.

“The argument that somehow we’re walking away from Israel fly in the face of the facts,” Mr. Kirby said Thursday, citing Mr. Biden’s visit to Israel within the days of the Oct. 7 attack, providing money and military expertise for its war, and putting American fighter pilots in the sky to shoot down Iranian drones.

He said the United States believes that Israel has “put an enormous amount of pressure on Hamas, and that there are better ways to go after what is left of Hamas in Rafah than a major ground operation.”

Mr. Kirby said the United States was still working with Israel on ways it can help it defeat Hamas, such as ensuring that the border between Gaza and Egypt cannot be used for smuggling weapons and targeting Hamas’s leaders.

He also noted that while the United States has temporarily paused the transfer of bombs, Israel was “still getting the vast, vast majority of everything that they need to defend themselves,” and that a recent funding package passed by Congress will continue to send billions to Israel.

Mr. Biden’s decision to pause certain weapons shipments to Israel underscored brewing frustrations between Mr. Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.

Mr. Netanyahu has said that Israel would move forward with its invasion in Rafah even without global support. In the last week, Israeli forces have carried out a number of targeted strikes in Rafah, and showed other signs of a major ground invasion, including the evacuation of more than 100,000 people.

On Thursday, the Israeli leader said : “If we need to stand alone, we will stand alone. I have said that, if necessary, we will fight with our fingernails. But we have much more than fingernails and with that same strength of spirit, with God’s help, together we will win.”

— Erica L. Green Reporting from Washington

A Satellite View of Israel’s New Front in Gaza

Widespread damage, flattened structures and clusters of Israeli tanks were seen in eastern Rafah after Israel’s incursion.

News Analysis

Biden’s threat sharpens a problem for Netanyahu.

President Biden’s warning over halting weapons supplies has tightened the bind that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel faces, as he is increasingly caught between international calls for a cease-fire and right-wing Israeli demands to proceed with a wide-scale invasion of Rafah, in southern Gaza.

Mr. Netanyahu, who has insisted over American objections that invading Rafah is necessary, now finds the U.S.-Israel relationship at a moment of crisis that could affect how he conducts the next phase of the war against Hamas.

On Thursday, the Israeli leader, alluding to Mr. Biden’s remarks, said in a statement: “If we need to stand alone, we will stand alone. I have said that, if necessary, we will fight with our fingernails. But we have much more than fingernails and with that same strength of spirit, with God’s help, together we will win.”

With Mr. Biden threatening for the first time to withhold more American weapons, including heavy bombs and artillery shells, if Israel carries out a major operation in Rafah, a city crammed with about a million Palestinians, analysts say that the Israeli military risks losing the support of its most important supplier of foreign arms.

“The United States provides Israel with a steel dome — it’s not only military support; it’s strategic and political; it’s at the United Nations, the international court, and so on,” said Amos Gilead, a former senior Israeli defense official who worked closely with American security officials for decades.

“If we lose the United States with the unbelievable friendship of President Biden, it won’t be forgiven,” he added.

But Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the Israeli military, said on Thursday that the military had sufficient “munitions for its planned operations, including operations in Rafah.”

While Israel has enough weapons in its stockpiles to conduct a wide-scale invasion of the Gazan city, U.S. restrictions could force the Israeli military to cut back on deploying specific munitions, experts said.

“It’s possible we’ll have to economize the way we use our arms and hit more targets without precision bombs,” said Jacob Nagel, a former national security adviser.

Avi Dadon, a former leader of procurement at Israel’s Defense Ministry, told Kan, the Israeli public broadcaster, that he “could be worried” if American arms were withheld. But outwardly, at least, key members of Mr. Netanyahu’s government said the war effort would not be affected.

“I turn to Israel’s enemies as well as to our best of friends and say: The state of Israel cannot be subdued,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said at a memorial ceremony, adding that the country would do “whatever is necessary” to defend its citizens and “to stand up to those who attempt to destroy us.”

Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right finance minister, declared that Israel would achieve “complete victory” despite what he described as Mr. Biden’s “pushback and arms embargo.”

American-made weapons, including heavy bombs, have been essential to Israel’s war effort since the country was attacked by Hamas and other militant groups on Oct. 7. But Mr. Biden has been under growing domestic pressure to rein in Israel’s military as the death toll has risen in Gaza. It is now more than 34,000, according to local health authorities.

And in his comments on Wednesday in an interview with CNN, Mr. Biden acknowledged for the first time that U.S. bombs had killed innocent civilians in the conflict.

The American concerns have only grown since the Israeli army sent tanks and troops into the eastern part of Rafah on Monday night, taking over the main border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Israeli forces have stopped short of entering built-up parts of the city, but Mr. Netanyahu and others have signaled that such an operation is necessary to eliminate Hamas battalions there.

On Tuesday, American officials said Mr. Biden had withheld 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs that he feared could be dropped on Rafah. The administration was reviewing whether to hold back future transfers, including guidance kits that convert so-called dumb bombs into precision-guided munitions, the officials said.

In addition to the bombs, Mr. Biden said the United States would not supply artillery shells if Israel invaded population centers in Rafah.

Gilad Erdan, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, described the Biden administration’s decision as “very disappointing” and “frustrating.”

“We have a cruel enemy here,” he said. “Is this the time to put restrictions on Israel’s weapons?”

Nadav Eyal, a prominent columnist for a centrist Israeli newspaper, said Mr. Biden had essentially decided to declare an end to the war. Writing on the social media platform X, he called it “the most serious clash between an American administration and the government of Israel since the first Lebanon war.”

The Israeli ambassador to Washington, Michael Herzog, said on Thursday that Mr. Biden’s decision “sends the wrong message to Hamas and to our enemies in the region.”

“It puts us in a corner,” he said in a public conversation hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. He added, “Nobody presented to me or to us a strategy of defeating Hamas without dealing with Rafah.”

Some analysts, however, downplayed the significance of the crisis, arguing it wasn’t as bad as past fissures between the United States and Israel. The rupture in relations over the Iran nuclear deal in 2015 was “much worse,” said Mr. Nagel.

Amid the tense state of affairs, Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, thanked the United States for supporting Israel and appeared to lash out at Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, who had posted on X, “Hamas ♥ Biden.”

“Even when there are disagreements and moments of disappointment between friends and allies, there is a way to clarify the disputes,” Mr. Herzog said.

Myra Noveck , Michael Crowley and Johnatan Reiss contributed reporting.

— Adam Rasgon Reporting from Jerusalem

A Japanese American civil rights group pushes for a cease-fire, breaking with its Jewish allies.

The Japanese American Citizens League, one of the oldest and largest Asian American civil rights organizations, called on Thursday for a negotiated cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, following months of pressure from younger members who believed the group had a duty to advocate for Palestinians.

The organization’s leaders and some older members were reluctant to take a position on the war, in part because of the league’s longstanding ties with prominent Jewish civil rights groups in the United States. In the 1970s, the American Jewish Committee was the first national organization to endorse the push by Japanese Americans for reparations for their incarceration during World War II.

But younger members of the Japanese American group said that Palestinians were suffering from human rights violations and that their organization had long stood up for such victims.

The league, in a statement on Thursday, pointed to the conflict’s “staggering” death toll of Palestinians and Israelis and the immense and continuous humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

As a group “dedicated to safeguarding the civil liberties of not only Japanese Americans but all individuals subjected to injustice and bigotry,” the group said, “we must denounce these egregious human rights violations.”

The organization did not call for an unconditional cease-fire, but instead said it wanted Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement and urged President Biden to advance such negotiations.

The rift within the league was another example of how the Israel-Hamas war has cleaved cultural, academic and political institutions far beyond the Middle East, and not just among groups with direct ties to the region. As in many organizations, the divide within the league has mostly been along generational lines.

In its cease-fire statement, the group did not address one of the young activists’ primary demands: cutting ties with Jewish organizations they labeled “Zionist.” David Inoue, the league’s executive director, said in an interview on Thursday that the group was not considering that option.

“That’s not how we work in coalition,” Mr. Inoue said. “I think it’s inherently unfair for anyone to make demands like that.”

An American aid ship heads toward Gaza, but the system for unloading it still isn’t in place.

An American vessel carrying aid intended for Gaza has departed from Cyprus, the Pentagon said on Thursday, but a temporary floating pier constructed by the U.S. military is not in place to unload the food and supplies meant for the enclave.

Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, said in a news briefing on Thursday afternoon that while the construction of the floating pier and the causeway has been completed, weather conditions have made it unsafe to actually place them off the coast of Gaza.

General Ryder said that the aid on the vessel, called Sagamore, eventually would be loaded onto another American motor vessel docked at Ashdod, the Roy P. Benavidez. That second vessel would take the aid to the floating pier system as soon as it is installed off the coast in northern Gaza, he said, allowing it to be delivered to the enclave.

Sagamore appeared to be anchored at the Israeli port of Ashdod by late Thursday evening, according to VesselFinder, a ship tracking website. For now, the aid for Palestinians, desperately needed, is roughly 20 miles from the nearest Gazan border crossing.

“While I’m not going to provide a specific date, we expect these temporary piers to be put into position in the very near future, pending suitable security and weather conditions,” General Ryder said.

Israel has prevented the construction of Gaza’s own international seaport, prompting the United States and another aid group, the World Central Kitchen , to create their own systems for getting aid into the enclave by sea.

But aid groups and experts have frequently criticized the maritime efforts as costly and complicated ways to deliver aid, citing trucking as a more efficient way to get food inside Gaza. After Israeli strikes killed seven World Central Kitchen workers , the group paused its maritime operations there. The food charity has since said it would restart operations in Gaza with the help of Palestinian aid workers.

More food is needed in Gaza. The director of the World Food Program, Cindy McCain, said recently that some areas are already experiencing a famine.

— Gaya Gupta

UNRWA says it closed its headquarters in East Jerusalem after attacks and a fire.

The main United Nations agency that aids Palestinians, known as UNRWA, said on Thursday that it would temporarily close its headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem for the safety of its staff after parts of the compound were set on fire following weeks of attacks.

“This evening, Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of the UNRWA Headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem,” said the leader of the agency, Philippe Lazzarini, on social media .

The fire caused extensive damage to the outdoor areas of the compound, Mr. Lazzarini said, but there were no injuries to workers there from UNRWA or other U.N. agencies. He added that some of the workers “had to put out the fire themselves as it took the Israeli fire extinguishers and police a while before they turned up.”

On Friday, Israeli police said in a statement that an investigation was started on “suspicion of a brush fire ignition” next to the UNRWA facility and that preliminary findings suggested it was started by minors and was therefore not subject to criminal prosecution. It offered no further details, but said the investigation was still going on.

The attack put the lives of U.N. staff at “serious risk” and comes two days after protesters threw stones at staff members at the compound, Mr. Lazzarini said.

Protests by Israeli settlers calling for UNRWA’s closure have been continuing for months. “On several occasions, Israeli extremists threatened our staff with guns,” Mr. Lazzarini said in Thursday’s social media post, adding that under international law, it is Israel’s responsibility “as an occupying power to ensure that United Nations personnel and facilities are protected at all times.”

Many Israeli officials have called for years for UNRWA to be dismantled, and the agency lost funding from some donor countries earlier this year after Israel accused a dozen of its employees of being involved in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7. An independent review commissioned by the U.N. and released in April found that Israel had not provided any evidence to support its further accusations that many UNRWA staff members are members of terrorist organizations.

— Anushka Patil

Biden’s decision to block some bomb shipments isn’t the first time the U.S. has withheld weapons from Israel.

President Biden’s decision this week to block the shipment of certain munitions to Israel because of concerns over the widening war in Gaza represented a rare, but not unprecedented, decision by a U.S. administration to suspend weapons deliveries to its closest ally in the Middle East.

In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan made a similar decision during an Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Israel’s siege of Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, in 1982, caused an extended rift with the United States. Relations between the two countries soured as Israel escalated its attacks, including by bombing Beirut, while the United States was trying to broker a peace agreement.

Israel was attempting to drive the Palestine Liberation Organization out of Lebanon, but the civilian toll prompted an angry call from Mr. Reagan to Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel to stop. The United States feared that the fighting might spark a regional conflict, and Mr. Reagan decided to suspend the delivery of F-16 fighter jets and shipments of cluster ammunition.

The Americans refused to deliver 75 F-16 fighters for roughly a year as Israel continued its operations in Lebanon, with the United States reminding its ally that the weapons were ostensibly for defensive purposes only.

The United States had earlier suspended the delivery of at least four jet fighters to Israel for two months in 1981 after Israel bombed a nuclear reactor under construction in Iraq, but the Americans blocked further sanctions by the United Nations.

At the time of the Lebanon crisis, U.S. officials said privately that the planes would not be released as long as Israel was attacking targets in Lebanon with American planes. But the planes were not released immediately even after the fighting stopped.

At a news conference in April 1983, Mr. Reagan was asked why the planes had not been released.

“While those forces are in the position of occupying another country that now has asked them to leave, we are forbidden by law to release those planes,” he said, referring to the Israeli military. “It’s as simple as the other forces returning to their own countries and letting Lebanon be Lebanon.”

Mr. Reagan also warned Israel that to achieve real security it “doesn’t have to remain an armed camp far beyond what its size warrants.”

In May 1983, Mr. Reagan formally lifted the yearlong ban on delivering the jet fighters, after Israel and Lebanon signed a troop withdrawal agreement. The United States said it wanted Israel to retain its military edge over all Arab states, especially since the Soviet Union was supplying Syria with an advanced air defense system at that time.

The U.S. ban on the sale of cluster munitions to Israel lasted until 1988.

Susan C. Beachy contributed research.

— Neil MacFarquhar

Tens of thousands of people have fled Rafah since Monday, the U.N. says.

Tens of thousands of people have fled since an Israeli call this week to evacuate part of the southern Gazan city of Rafah , the United Nations said on Thursday, as Israeli airstrikes intensify and fears grow that an incursion by Israeli ground forces to take over a border crossing could lead to a full-scale invasion.

The mass flight from the east of the city, a major hub for people displaced from their homes along Gaza’s border with Egypt, is just the latest time that people have been forced to flee since Israel launched a war to dismantle Hamas , the armed group that led the deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

Louise Wateridge, a spokeswoman for the main U.N. agency that aids Palestinians, UNRWA, said on Thursday that an estimated 79,000 people had left Rafah since Monday. She posted a video on social media of small vans loaded with mattresses driving slowly down a street lined with tents.

“Extreme fear from significant bombardment in Rafah overnight & continuing throughout this morning,” Ms. Wateridge wrote , noting that “those staying collecting water” were “surviving.”

Rafah’s population had increased to more than one million in recent months as people moved south. Hundreds of thousands of people live in tents or makeshift shelters. Residents and aid workers describe grim conditions and severe shortages of food , clean water and access to medical supplies.

Riyad al-Masry, a sign language interpreter, said on Thursday that he and his extended family had decided to evacuate from Rafah because they feared an Israeli advance into the city. He said that he had already moved five times since leaving Gaza City when the war began and described the prospect of a sixth upheaval to another tented camp as “torture beyond torture.”

But he said he had little choice because he could hear military clashes and Israeli bombardment, airstrikes and artillery fire. “We are almost in the middle of danger,” he said.

Israel on Monday began what it called a limited operation to secure the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt and destroy Hamas positions after a rocket attack in another area killed four Israeli soldiers the day before. The Israeli authorities warned around 110,000 people in Rafah to evacuate, calling on them to go to what they characterized as a humanitarian zone on Gaza’s coast where they said they could get food, medicine and other basics.

Many aid workers have argued that the area, which includes the village of Al-Mawasi , is already crowded with people living in tents and is not able to accommodate another influx, not least because it has inadequate water and sanitation.

Many aid agencies are based in Rafah and several said on Wednesday that their operations were imperiled by the proximity of the fighting and by the closure by Israel this week of two southern border crossings , which have been the principal conduits for humanitarian supplies.

Israel said on Wednesday that it had reopened one of those, the crossing at Kerem Shalom, which it had shut down over the weekend, but the United Nations said it was still very difficult for aid to transit.

Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the U.N. humanitarian office in Geneva, described Rafah as a “highly active war zone” and said that this presented “serious challenges” not just in shepherding goods through Kerem Shalom, but also in trying to move them through southern Gaza and further into the enclave.

“We reiterate that the parties’ obligation to facilitate aid does not end at the border or in a drop-off zone,” he said. “Aid must safely reach those who need it.”

— Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Iyad Abuheweila

Rafah’s hospitals are running out of fuel as Israeli forces move in, the W.H.O. says.

Time is running out for hospitals and all humanitarian aid operations in southern Gaza as Israel continues to strike Rafah and keep the critical border crossing there closed, the World Health Organization and humanitarian aid agencies have warned.

As of Wednesday, hospitals in southern Gaza had only three days of fuel supplies left, and fuel that the U.N. expected would be allowed into Gaza that day had not been allowed in, according to the director-general of the W.H.O., Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Without fuel, he said on Wednesday , “all humanitarian operations will stop.”

No aid trucks have entered Gaza since Sunday through the two main border crossings, the United Nations said on Wednesday in its own warning about the dire implications of Israel seizing the Rafah crossing with Egypt on Tuesday and closing the Kerem Shalom crossing between Gaza and southern Israel over the weekend. Israel said it had reopened Kerem Shalom on Wednesday, but as of about midnight on Thursday, no fuel or other humanitarian aid had entered Gaza through the crossing, according to UNRWA, the main U.N. agency aiding Palestinians in the enclave.

Already, the Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital — one of three major hospitals in Rafah that has been partially functioning before the Israeli military’s operation this week — has entirely shut down and emptied out, according to Dr. Marwan al-Hams, the hospital’s director.

Speaking by phone from a field hospital in southern Gaza, Dr. al-Hams said that all patients and doctors at Al-Najjar had fled or been transferred to other medical facilities and that a few health workers had risked their lives to return to the hospital complex to try to salvage medical equipment and supplies.

When Israel banned the entry of any fuel into Gaza for several weeks at the start of the war, it plunged the entire enclave into darkness and turned hospitals into places of cascading horrors . Surgeons at the Kamal Adwan Hospital, in northern Gaza, were forced to operate by cellphone flashlight and premature infants who needed incubators died at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

All humanitarian operations across the Gaza Strip are at imminent risk of collapse because of the lack of fuel, international aid groups said at a joint news conference on Wednesday.

“If the fuel is cut off, the aid operation collapses, and it collapses quickly,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, the president of Refugees International. “That means water can’t be pumped, lights can’t be kept on in hospitals, vehicles cannot distribute aid.”

The lack of fuel is also further threatening the availability of food in Gaza, where local health officials say that dozens of children have already died of starvation .

Rafeek El Madhoun, a program manager for the aid group Rebuilding Alliance, said on Wednesday that some of its kitchens in Gaza had been unable to cook for two days, even as Israeli military operations in Rafah were causing a “crazy increase” in the number of hungry and displaced people arriving in western parts of the city and in central Gaza.

Mr. El Madhoun, who said he has been making daily trips between Rafah and Deir al Balah, roughly 12 miles north, said the coastal road between southern and central Gaza had become increasingly crowded as people fled, and that transportation costs to move supplies from one place to another had tripled.

The immediate and wide-ranging threat to already overwhelmed humanitarian operations in Gaza undermines the Israeli military’s claim that its offensive in Rafah has been “limited,” the director of the W.H.O.’s health emergencies program, Dr. Michael Ryan, said at a separate news conference on Wednesday.

He said that Israel’s “first act” of the Rafah incursion has been to close the two border crossings that serve as a lifeline for Palestinians in Gaza — to “stop the fuel, stop the food, stop the medicine at source, at the border.”

“I don’t call that ‘limited’ and I don’t call that ‘restricted.’ I call that a re-imposition of total blockade on nearly 2.5 million civilians who are already starving, who are already dying from preventable diseases, and who need our protection,” he said.

Iyad Abuheweila contributed reporting.

The U.N. General Assembly adopts a resolution in support of Palestinian statehood.

U.n. general assembly backs palestinian membership bid, the united nations general assembly approved the resolution by a vote of 143 to 9 with 25 nations abstaining. the assembly can only grant full membership with the approval of the security council..

“A ‘yes’ vote is a vote for Palestinian existence. It is not against any state, but it is against the attempts to deprive us of our state. That is why the Israeli government is so opposed to it. Because they oppose our independence and the two-state solution altogether.” “This is your mirror. So that you can see exactly what you are inflicting upon the U.N. charter with this destructive vote. This is — You are shredding the U.N. Charter with your own hands.” “The result of the vote is as follows: in favor 143, against nine, abstentions 25. Draft resolution A/ES10/L30/Rev1 is adopted.” [cheering]

The United Nations General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly adopted a resolution declaring that Palestinians qualify for full-members status at the United Nations, a highly symbolic move that reflects growing global solidarity with Palestinians and is a rebuke to Israel and the United States.

The resolution was approved by a vote of 143 to 9 with 25 nations abstaining. The Assembly broke into a big applause after the vote.

But the resolution does not mean a Palestinian state will be recognized and admitted to the United Nations as a full member anytime soon. The Assembly can only grant full membership with the approval of the Security Council, and, if history is a guide, the United States would almost inevitably wield its veto power to kill such a measure, as it did in April.

Even though a majority in the General Assembly have long supported Palestinian statehood, the resolution was the first time the body had voted on the issue of full membership. The resolution declares that “the State of Palestine is qualified for membership in the United Nations” under its charter rules and recommends that the Security Council reconsider the matter with a favorable outcome.

The resolution was prepared by the United Arab Emirates, the current chair of the U.N. Arab Group, and sponsored by 70 countries. The United States voted no, along with Hungary, Argentina, Papua New Guinea, Micronesia and Nauru.

“The vast majority of countries in this hall are fully aware of the legitimacy of the Palestinian bid and the justness of their cause, which faces fierce attempts to suppress it and render it meaningless today,” said the U.A.E. ambassador, Mohamed Abushahab, as he introduced the resolution on behalf of the Arab Group.

Though largely symbolic, the resolution does provide Palestinians with new diplomatic privileges. Palestinians can now sit among member states in alphabetical order; they can speak at General Assembly meetings on any topic instead of being limited to Palestinian affairs; they can submit proposals and amendments; and they can participate at U.N. conferences and international meetings organized by the Assembly and other United Nations entities.

The 193-member General Assembly took up the issue of Palestinian membership after the United States in April vetoed a resolution before the Security Council that would have recognized full membership for a Palestinian state. While a majority of council members supported the move, the United States said recognition of Palestinian statehood should be achieved through negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.

Frustration with the United States has been brewing for months among many senior U.N. officials and diplomats, including from allies such as France, because Washington has repeatedly blocked cease-fire resolutions at the Security Council and has staunchly supported Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, even as civilian suffering has mounted.

“The U.S. is resigned to having another bad day at the U.N.,” said Richard Gowan, an expert on the U.N. for the International Crisis Group, a conflict prevention organization. But he added that the resolution “gives the Palestinians a boost without creating a breakdown over whether they are or are not now U.N. members.”

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the U.N., told the Assembly ahead of the vote that Palestinians’ right to full membership at the U.N. and statehood “are not up for negotiations, they are our inherent rights as Palestinians.” He added that a vote against Palestinian statehood was a vote against the two-state solution.

Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Gilad Erdan, a sharp critic of the U.N., said voting for a Palestinian state would be inviting “a state of terror” in its midst and rewarding “terrorists” who killed Jewish civilians with privileges and called member states endorsing it “Jew haters.”

Robert A. Wood, a U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said that while the U.S. supported a two-state solution as the only means for sustainable peace, “it remains the U.S. view that unilateral measures at the U.N. and on the ground will not advance this goal.”

Mr. Wood said that if the Assembly referred the issue back to the Council, it would have the same outcome again with the U.S. blocking the move.

The Palestinians are currently recognized by the U.N. as a nonmember observer state, a status granted to them in 2012 by the General Assembly. They do not have the right to vote on General Assembly resolutions or nominate any candidates to U.N. agencies.

France, a close U.S. ally and one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, has supported the Palestinian bid for statehood breaking away from United States’ stance at the U.N. both at the Council and the Assembly vote. “The time has come for the United Nations to take action with a view to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, on the basis of the two-state solution,” said Nicolas de Rivière, France’s ambassador to the U.N., in his address on Friday.

The Assembly session, which was expected to flow over to Monday because of the long list of speakers, was not without moments of performative drama.

Mr. Erdan, Israel’s ambassador, held up the picture of Hamas’s military leader, Yahya Sinwar, considered the architect of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, with the word “President,” and then a transparent shredder, inserting a piece of paper inside it, and said the member states were “shredding the U.N. charter.”

Mr. Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador, at the end of his speech raised his fist in the air, visibly chocking back tears, and said “Free Palestine.” The Assembly broke into applause.

— Farnaz Fassihi

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