But the proposal was stripped of language calling for "an urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities" in order to allow aid deliveries after the United States threaten to veto the motion.

Instead, it calls for steps to "create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities." This change frustrated other UN members.

Here's the United Arab Emirates envoy to the UN, Lana Nusseibah:

"We know this is not a perfect text. We know only a ceasefire will end the suffering."

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Israel's operation was the primary obstacle in delivering desperately needed assistance:

"A humanitarian ceasefire is the only way to begin to meet the desperate needs of people in Gaza and end that ongoing nightmare."

Nowhere is the dire need for aid more apparent than here in Deir al-Balah, in the Gaza Strip, where a school has been transformed into a field hospital.

Surgeon Bashir al-Hourani said this patient should be in a proper hospital, but because of overcrowding, he was transferred here:

"We have nothing. Medical supplies are not available, beds for patients are not available, sterilization tools are not available. We are suffering from the (lack) of medical staff, medical supplies and medicine."

Aid trucks lined up at the Kerem Shalom crossing from Egypt into Gaza on Friday.

Israel says since the start of the latest conflict, more than 5,400 vehicles carrying humanitarian aid have been allowed in.

Here's Israeli Colonel Moshe Tetro:

"Our war is with Hamas and we seek to reduce the impact on the people of Gaza. Since the beginning of the war we have set up several mechanisms for continuous assessments of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip."

Israel launched a massive military retaliation against Hamas fighters after the Palestinian militants attacked Israeli communities on October 7, killing 1,200, mostly civilians, and taking hundreds captive.

The death toll has been staggering. Doctor Marwan al-Hams is the director of the Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital.

He said that Friday marked the 77th day of fighting, and the number of Palestinians killed had topped 20,000.

Israel's defense minister, Yoav Gallant, on Friday said the military operation was gradually completing its goals in the Northern Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has vowed to eradicate Hamas. Washington has regularly backed Israel's right to defend itself, but has grown increasingly concerned at the suffering of Gaza's 2.3 million people.