Closing summary
It’s 4.15am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv and this blog will close in a few minutes. We’re resume our live coverage later in the day. Here’s a recap of the latest developments.
Talks in Cairo attended by the political head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, on Wednesday ended “without results”, according to reports. His arrival in Egypt had been seen as a positive sign of a possible truce, but Hamas reportedly rejected an Israeli proposal for a week-long ceasefire in exchange for the release of dozens of hostages held in Gaza, insisting Israel must implement a truce before talks on a hostage release could begin. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to rule out a ceasefire on Wednesday as he vowed Israel would continue its war against Hamas “to the end”.
Joe Biden has said he does not expect an imminent deal between Israel and Hamas over the release of hostages. “We’re pushing it … There’s no expectation at this point,” the US president said.
At least 12 people were killed in a series of explosions in Rafah in southern Gaza, near the border with Egypt, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said. Dozens of people, including women and children, were wounded when the blasts occurred near the Kuwaiti hospital on Wednesday, it said. An Al Jazeera broadcast captured a strike near the hospital while one of its correspondents was live on air.
Israel ordered the evacuation of large areas of southern Gaza’s main city on Wednesday, the United Nations has said. Israel had released maps showing new areas covering about 20% of Khan Younis that had been marked for evacuation, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
The Palestinian death toll in Gaza has passed 20,000, Hamas says. According to the latest figures from the media office of the territory’s government, those killed since the war began on 7 October included about 8,000 children and 6,200 women.
The UN security council has postponed a vote calling for a ceasefire in Gaza until Thursday as diplomats struggle to agree on the language of the draft resolution. The UN resolution, drafted by the United Arab Emirates, has been changed several times amid reported policy differences inside the Biden administration.
The Israeli military says it has uncovered a major Hamas command centre in the heart of Gaza City, inflicting what it described as a serious blow to the militant group. The army had exposed the centre of a vast underground network used by Hamas to move weapons, militants and supplies throughout the Gaza Strip, it said on Wednesday.
The first aid convoy to travel direct from Jordan to Gaza since the start of the war has delivered 750 metric tonnes of food to the Palestinian territory, the UN World Food Programme has said. The 46-truck convoy travelled through the Israel-Gaza Kerem Shalom border crossing, through which Israel last week approved the temporary delivery of aid into Gaza, opening a new route for supplies. Meanwhile, Israel’s foreign minister has said it wants to fast-track the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza through a maritime corridor from Cyprus.
Emmanuel Macron has said that Israel’s goal of fighting terrorism did not mean it had to “flatten Gaza”, referring to its response to Hamas’s attack on 7 October. The French president called on Israel “to stop this response because it is not appropriate, because all lives are worth the same and we defend them”.
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) has said it received “disturbing” information alleging that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) summarily killed at least 11 Palestinian men in front of their family members in Gaza. A report by the OHCHR in the occupied Palestinian territory said the incident took place on 19 December in the Al Remal neighbourhood in Gaza City, and warned that the allegations “raises the alarm about the possible commission of a war crime”. The Guardian was unable to confirm the claims. The IDF has not responded to them.
The head of the UN World Health Organisation has said he is “deeply concerned” about the “toxic mix of disease, hunger and lack of hygiene and sanitation” that people in Gaza are facing. The territory was “already experiencing soaring rates of infectious disease outbreaks”, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned, adding that cases of diarrhoea among children aged under five were “25 times what they were before the conflict”. He also the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City – northern Gaza’s last functioning hospital until earlier this week – was a “shell” of its former self due to lack of fuel, staff and supplies, and bodies had been placed in rows in its courtyard “as they couldn’t be given safe and dignified burials”.
The political leaders of Hamas have begun talks with the group’s military wing about how to govern Gaza and the West Bank after the war with Israel ends, according to a report. “We want the war to end,” Husam Badran, a member of Hamas’s political bureau in Qatar, told the Wall Street Journal, amid sharpening divisions with Hamas’s military faction.
Amnesty International has called for an urgent investigation into what it called Israel’s “enforced disappearance” of Palestinian detainees from Gaza, after reports of deaths in military detention centres. The Israeli army said it was investigating the deaths.
Israel orders new evacuations from Khan Younis, says UN
Israel ordered the evacuation of large areas of southern Gaza’s main city on Wednesday, the United Nations has said.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Israel had released maps showing new areas covering about 20% of Khan Younis that had been marked for evacuation, Agence-France-Presse reports.
Before fighting broke out, the area was home to more than 110,000 people, OCHA said. The area now included 32 shelters that housed more than 140,000 internally displaced people, the vast majority from the north, it added.
The Israeli army said on Wednesday that “ground, aerial and naval operations were carried out on dozens of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure” on military command and control centres in Khan Younis.
Israel uncovers Hamas command centre in Gaza City, military says
The Israeli military says it has uncovered a major Hamas command centre in the heart of Gaza City, inflicting what it described as a serious blow to the militant group.
The army said it had exposed the centre of a vast underground network used by Hamas to move weapons, militants and supplies throughout the Gaza Strip.
Associated Press reports that the Israeli military escorted Israeli journalists into Palestine Square in the heart of Gaza City on Wednesday to show off what it described as the centre of Hamas’s tunnel network.
Military commanders boasted that they had uncovered offices, tunnels and elevators used by Hamas’s top leaders. The military released videos of underground offices and claimed to have found a wheelchair belonging to Hamas’s military commander, Mohammed Deif, who has not been seen in public in years.
The army’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm Daniel Hagari, said it had located a vast underground complex.
They all used this infrastructure routinely, during emergencies and also at the beginning of the war on October 7.
Hagari said the tunnels stretched across Gaza and into major hospitals.
The claims could not be independently verified.
Updated
The al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City is a “shell” of its former self due to lack of fuel, staff and supplies, and bodies have been placed in rows in its courtyard “as they couldn’t be given safe and dignified burials”, the head of the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said WHO and UN had undertaken another joint visit to the al-Ahli and al-Shifa hospitals in northern Gaza, delivering medical supplies and supporting women giving birth.
However, colleagues struggled to describe the immense impact recent attacks have had on these health facilities, and the catastrophic conditions remaining patients and health workers face.
The WHO chief also said on X (formerly Twitter) that al-Ahli had been overwhelmed with patients needing emergency care.
Until two days ago, al-Ahli was northern Gaza’s last hospital functioning where injured people could undergo surgery. But our team learned today that its operating theatres are no long functioning due to the depletion, or complete absence, of specialists, power, fuel, water, food and medical supplies.
That has left north Gaza with no functional hospital. Only four hospitals operate at a minimum level, providing very limited care.
Al-Ahli Arab Hospital is a “shell” of its former self due to lack of fuel, staff, supplies – @WHO/@UN mission to north #Gaza finds.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) December 20, 2023
WHO and UN partners undertook another high-risk joint mission today to Al-Ahli Arab and Al-Shifa hospitals in northern Gaza.
Our teams delivered… pic.twitter.com/tlSI3gbawA
Tedros also said 80 injured patients, including older people and small children, were sheltering in a church within the hospital grounds and in its orthopedic section.
They included a 10-year old girl who lost her leg and had no family left to care for her, and an older man awaiting surgery for a gun wound to the chest he may never get, whose entire family had been killed.
Without medicines and other essential needs, “all patients will die slowly and painfully”, Tedros said.
A humanitarian ceasefire was needed now “more than ever”.
Updated
Continuing from our earlier post on French president Emmanuel Macron saying fighting “terrorism” does not mean to “flatten Gaza or attack civilian populations indiscriminately”, here’s a full report on his comments.
Macron urged Israel to “stop this response because it is not appropriate, because all lives are worth the same and we defend them”.
In the interview with broadcaster France 5, the French leader acknowledged “Israel’s right to defend itself and fight terror”, while also calling for the protection of civilians and “a truce leading to a humanitarian ceasefire”.
Macron has repeatedly criticised Israel’s execution of its military campaign in Gaza, warning earlier this month that its stated objective of the elimination of Hamas could take a decade and stoke “the resentment of all public opinion in the region”.
See the full report here:
Amnesty International has called for an urgent investigation into Israel’s “enforced disappearance” of Palestinian detainees from Gaza, after reports of deaths in military detention centres.
Hundreds of Palestinians are being held in detention centres in southern Israel, having been arrested in military operations across Gaza since war erupted on 7 October.
“The Israeli military must urgently disclose the fate and whereabouts of everyone that it has detained since 7 October,” Heba Morayef, Amnesty’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement on Wednesday.
Israeli forces must specify the grounds of arrest for those detained and make every effort to provide families of those in its custody with information, particularly in light of the telecommunications blackouts that have cut off Gazans.
Agence France-Presse also reports that Amnesty demanded an investigation into the “inhumane treatment and enforced disappearance” of the detainees from Gaza.
The Israeli army said on Tuesday said it was investigating the deaths of detainees arrested in Gaza.
It did not provide details regarding how many detainees had died or the circumstances of their deaths.
On Tuesday the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that “several of them have died” in these detention facilities. The prisoners died at the Sde Teiman base near the city of Beersheva, it said.
The detainees held at that facility were “blindfolded and handcuffed for most of the day and the lights are on at the facility throughout the night”, the report said.
This is Adam Fulton picking up our live coverage – stay with us for all the latest developments
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s 1am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
At least 12 people were killed in a series of explosions in Rafah in southern Gaza, near the border with Egypt, Gaza’s health ministry has said. Dozens of people, including women and children, were wounded when the blasts occurred near the Kuwaiti hospital on Wednesday, it said. An Al Jazeera broadcast captured a strike near the hospital in southern Gaza, while one of its correspondents was live on air.
At least 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began on 7 October, according to the latest figures by the Palestinian government’s media office. Among those killed include about 8,000 children and 6,200 women, it said.
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) has said it received “disturbing” information alleging that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) summarily killed at least 11 Palestinian men in front of their family members in Gaza. A report by the OHCHR in the occupied Palestinian territory said the incident took place on 19 December in the Al Remal neighbourhood in Gaza City, and warned that the allegations “raises the alarm about the possible commission of a war crime”. The Guardian was unable to confirm the claims. The IDF has not responded to them.
Talks in Cairo attended by the political head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, on Wednesday ended “without results”, according to reports. The arrival in Egypt of Haniyeh had been seen as a positive sign of a possible truce, as the last time he came it was ahead of the first deal last month which involved the release of 110 hostages and a week-long ceasefire. Hamas reportedly rejected an Israeli proposal for a week-long truce in exchange for the release of dozens of hostages, insisting that Israel must implement a ceasefire before negotiations on a hostage release could begin. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, appeared to rule out a ceasefire on Wednesday as he vowed that Israel will continue its war against Hamas “to the end”.
Joe Biden has said he does not expect an imminent deal between Israel and Hamas over the release of hostages held in Gaza. “We’re pushing it. I don’t … there’s no expectation at this point,” the US president told reporters. The White House earlier on Wednesday said there are “very serious” discussions over a humanitarian pause in Gaza and hostage release between Israel and Hamas.
The UN security council has postponed a vote calling for a new ceasefire in Gaza until Thursday as diplomats struggle to agree on the language of the draft resolution. The UN resolution, drafted by the United Arab Emirates, has been changed several times amid reported policy differences inside the Biden administration.
Emmanuel Macron has said that Israel’s goal of fighting terrorism did not mean it had to “flatten Gaza”, referring to its response to Hamas’s attack on 7 October. The French president called on Israel “to stop this response because it is not appropriate, because all lives are worth the same and we defend them”.
The first aid convoy to travel direct from Jordan to Gaza since the start of the war has delivered 750 metric tonnes of food to the Palestinian territory, the UN World Food Programme has said. The 46-truck convoy travelled through the Israeli-Gaza Kerem Shalom border crossing, through which Israel last week approved the temporary delivery of aid into Gaza, opening a new route for supplies. Meanwhile, Israel’s foreign minister has said it wants to fast-track the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza through a maritime corridor from Cyprus.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said he is “deeply concerned” about the “toxic mix of disease, hunger and lack of hygiene and sanitation” that people in Gaza are facing. Gaza is “already experiencing soaring rates of infectious disease outbreaks”, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned, adding that cases of diarrhoea among children aged under five are “25 times what they were before the conflict.”
The political leaders of Hamas have begun talks with the group’s military wing about how to govern Gaza and the West Bank after the war with Israel ends, according to a report. “We want the war to end,” Husam Badran, a member of Hamas’s political bureau in Qatar, told the Wall Street Journal, amid sharpening divisions with Hamas’s military faction.
Updated
UN says it has 'disturbing' information alleging IDF soldiers killed 11 Palestinians in front of their families
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) has said it received “disturbing” information alleging that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) summarily killed at least 11 Palestinian men in front of their family members in Gaza.
A report by the OHCHR in the occupied Palestinian territory says the incident took place on 19 December in Al Remal neighbourhood in Gaza City, and come “in the wake of earlier allegations concerning the deliberate targeting and killing of civilians at the hands of Israeli forces”.
Israeli soldiers reportedly surrounded and raided a building where several families were sheltering that night, the report says.
The Guardian was unable to confirm the report’s allegations. The IDF has not responded to them.
According to witness accounts, Israeli troops allegedly “separated the men from the women and children, and then shot and killed at least 11 of the men, mostly aged in their late 20s and early 30s, in front of their family members”, the report says. It continues:
The IDF then allegedly ordered the women and children into a room, and either shot at them or threw a grenade into the room, reportedly seriously injuring some of them, including an infant and a child.
The OHCHR said it has confirmed the killings at the buildings, although the details and circumstances of the killings are still under verification.
It warned that the allegations “raises the alarm about the possible commission of a war crime”, and called for the Israeli authorities to immediately open an independent investigation.
Updated
At least 12 people killed in explosions near Rafah hospital, says Gaza health ministry
Gaza’s health ministry has said at least 12 people were killed and dozens wounded in a series of explosions in Rafah in southern Gaza, near the border with Egypt.
In a statement, the ministry said:
Twelve martyrs and dozens of wounded, including women and children, were recovered from under the rubble when a house and a mosque were targeted hundreds of metres from Kuwaiti hospital.
Video footage, which has been geolocated by CNN, show a series of powerful explosions and extensive damage to what appears to be a residential building. A mosque close to the Kuwaiti hospital was also struck, according to geolocated video.
AFP has said its correspondents witnessed more than 10 airstrikes that hit several houses near the border.
An Al Jazeera broadcast captured an explosion near the hospital in southern Gaza, while one of its correspondents was live on air.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said he is “deeply concerned” about the “toxic mix of disease, hunger and lack of hygiene and sanitation” that people in Gaza are facing.
In a social media post, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that Gaza is “already experiencing soaring rates of infectious disease outbreaks”.
Cases of diarrhoea among children aged under five are “25 times what they were before the conflict,” he said, adding:
Such illnesses can be lethal for malnourished children, more so in the absence of functioning health services.
I am deeply concerned about the toxic mix of disease, hunger and lack of hygiene and sanitation that people in #Gaza are facing right now.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) December 20, 2023
Hunger weakens the body’s defenses and opens the door to disease.
Gaza is already experiencing soaring rates of infectious disease… pic.twitter.com/NVJdAt9KvZ
Updated
Talks in Egypt attended by the political head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, ended “without results”, a senior Palestinian official has said.
The official told the BBC that Egypt “offered a proposal for another humanitarian truce” but that Hamas rejected the idea of a “temporary solution” to the war.
Hamas has told Egypt that its position remains that “no exchange deal would happen before a final ceasefire”, the official said, adding:
Talks will continue, the Egyptians are optimistic about the possibility of a breakthrough in the coming days, but they are convinced that the situation is difficult, and the negotiations will be difficult and long.
Hamas rejects Israeli offer for seven-day truce for release of hostages – report
Hamas has said Israel must implement a ceasefire before negotiations on a hostage release can commence, rejecting an Israeli proposal for a week-long truce in exchange for the release of dozens of hostages, according to a report.
The head of Hamas’s political wing, Ismail Haniyeh, told intelligence officials in Cairo today the group would not discuss releasing Israeli hostages until a ceasefire first goes into effect, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Egyptian officials.
The paper says Hamas rejected an offer by Israel to pause its ground and air operations in Gaza for a week and allow further humanitarian aid to enter the territory, in return for freeing 40 hostages, including all the remaining women and children abducted during the 7 October attacks.
Hamas also said that Israel must free all of its thousands of Palestinian prisoners in return for the over 100 hostages remaining in Gaza, the report said.
The hostage negotiations were set to include, for the first time, representatives of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the report said.
Updated
'Fighting terror does not mean to flatten Gaza,' says Macron
France’s president Emmanuel Macron has said that fighting “terrorism” does not mean to “flatten Gaza or attack civilian populations indiscriminately”.
Macron, in an interview with France 5 broadcaster, said:
We cannot let the idea take root that an efficient fight against terrorism implies to flatten Gaza or attack civilian populations indiscriminately.
He urged Israel to “stop this response because it is not appropriate, because all lives are worth the same and we defend them”.
While he acknowledged “Israel’s right to defend itself and fight terror”, the French leader called for the protection of civilians and “a truce leading to a humanitarian ceasefire”.
Updated
The prospect of a second hostage deal between Israel and Gaza appeared to draw a step closer with the visit of a Hamas leader to Egypt on Wednesday.
The arrival in Egypt of Ismail Haniyeh, a Qatar-based Hamas political leader, was seen as a positive sign of a possible truce, as the last time he came it was ahead of the first deal last month which involved the release of 110 hostages and a week-long ceasefire.
A leader of Islamic Jihad, a smaller Palestinian militant group also holding hostages in Gaza, was also expected to arrive in Egypt on Thursday, for talks on which hostages would be freed in return for how many Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
However, the two sides remained far apart on the question over the lull in fighting to accompany a prisoner exchange. Hamas officials made clear they wanted it to mark the start of a longer truce, while the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he only saw it as a short pause in a continuing military campaign to destroy Hamas militarily and as a political force in Gaza.
The letter to US secretary of defence Lloyd Austin from Doctors Without Borders’ US operation and other US humanitarian groups on Wednesday urges the US, as the principal international ally of Israel, to take several “immediate steps”.
These include categorically opposing “indiscriminate attacks that fail to distinguish between civilian and military objects” by Israeli forces in Gaza.
The letter highlights the signatory groups’ concern with “Israel’s continued restriction of humanitarian assistance and deprivation of the resources essential for survival”, noting that “international law requires that parties to conflict allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need.”
It then urges the US to withhold such assistance from Israel “that would facilitate violations of international humanitarian law” and says the country has a responsibility to do so.
The letter notes that “despite well-documented and credible allegations of gross violations of human rights by units of Israeli security forces, no unit has ever been restricted from receiving US security assistance as required by the Leahy Law”. Here’s a US state department note on that law.
And it plainly asks the US to “Refrain from transferring explosive weapons to Israel for use in Gaza.”
Updated
In the US, humanitarian organisations Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International USA, Human Rights Watch and others have sent a letter to US defence secretary Lloyd Austin urging him to “take urgent steps to ensure the protection of civilians in US-supported Israeli military operations in Gaza” amid the “devastating levels of civilian harm”.
The letter is pointed about the US’s firm support for Israel in its punishing war in Gaza, where the Israeli government has pledged to destroy the controlling-force Hamas after the latter’s murderous attack on southern Israel on October 7.
The letter “cc’s” US secretary of state Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan and demands that Biden administration “rhetoric on the protection of civilians must be backed by action and leverage” in Gaza.
Open letter to Secretary Austin: Act now to protect civilians in Gaza
— Doctors w/o Borders (@MSF_USA) December 20, 2023
Today we joined @CivCenter @hrw @amnestyusa and other orgs in calling on @SecDef Lloyd J. Austin III to take urgent steps to ensure the protection of civilians in US-supported Israeli military operations in… pic.twitter.com/ZI6vIOzrcV
The letter says, in part: “We appreciated your recent comments emphasizing the critical importance of protecting civilians and ensuring the free flow of humanitarian aid in Gaza. However, these comments appear detached from the ongoing reality of Israel’s operations, which continue to cause devastating levels of civilian harm and destruction and inhibit the provision of life-saving humanitarian aid – all using US support.”
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s 9.45pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
At least 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began on 7 October, according to the latest figures by the Hamas government’s media office. Among those killed include about 8,000 children and 6,200 women, it said.
The UN security council has postponed a vote calling for a new ceasefire in Gaza until Thursday as diplomats struggle to agree on the language of the draft resolution. The UN resolution, drafted by the United Arab Emirates, has been changed several times amid reported policy differences inside the Biden administration.
Joe Biden has said he does not expect an imminent deal between Israel and Hamas over the release of hostages held in Gaza. “We’re pushing it. I don’t … there’s no expectation at this point,” the US president told reporters. The White House earlier on Wednesday said there are “very serious” discussions over a humanitarian pause in Gaza and hostage release between Israel and Hamas.
The leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, made his first visit to Egypt for more than a month on Wednesday, a rare personal intervention in diplomacy amid what a source described as intensive talks on a new ceasefire to let aid reach Gaza and get hostages freed. But Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, appeared to rule out a ceasefire as he vowed that Israel will continue its war against Hamas “to the end”.
The first aid convoy to travel direct from Jordan to Gaza since the start of the war has delivered 750 metric tonnes of food to the Palestinian territory the UN World Food Programme has said. The 46-truck convoy travelled through the Israeli-Gaza Kerem Shalom border crossing, through which Israel last week approved the temporary delivery of aid into Gaza, opening a new route for supplies after weeks of pressure. Meanwhile, Israel’s foreign minister has said it wants to fast-track the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza through a maritime corridor from Cyprus.
Israeli forces have said they shot dead a Palestinian man who tried to carry out a “car ramming attack” in the occupied West Bank. Basel Wajeeh al-Muhtasib “died as a result of being shot by occupation [Israeli army] bullets” as he drove through Bayt Inun junction, north of the city of Hebron, official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
The political leaders of Hamas have begun talks with the group’s military wing about how to govern Gaza and the West Bank after the war with Israel ends, according to a report. “We want the war to end,” Husam Badran, a member of Hamas’s political bureau in Qatar, told the Wall Street Journal, amid sharpening divisions with Hamas’s military faction.
The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, has held talks with his Jordanian counterpart, Ayman Safadi, in Amman. On his second trip to the Middle East since being appointed to his role last month, Cameron is seeking to make Britain’s argument for a sustainable ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. He will also visit Egypt this week.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has said Israeli forces are besieging its ambulance centre in Jabalia in northern Gaza.
In a social media post, it said Israeli snipers are on the roofs of surrounding buildings, “posing a threat to the safety” of 127 people including paramedics, volunteers and their families.
🚨Urgent: Occupation forces are still besieging the PRCS ambulance center 🚑 in #Jabalia, northern #Gaza. ⚠️Artillery shelling continues in the vicinity of the center, with the sounds of explosions heard. Israeli snipers are positioned on the roofs of surrounding buildings,…
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 20, 2023
In an earlier post, the PRCS said it had received several calls regarding shelling in Jabalia, adding that its teams had been unable to reach individuals besieged there.
Updated
The UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories has pleaded with Joe Biden for a ceasefire in Gaza.
In a post on social media, Francesca Albanese addressed the US president directly, asking him to “please, please intervene to stop this senseless carnage of innocent civilians in Gaza”.
Every additional day the international society fails to stop the war is “another nail in the coffin of humanity and the international law base order,” she added.
President Biden, @potus, please, please intervene to stop this senseless carnage of innocent civilians in Gaza.
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) December 20, 2023
Every additional day the int'l community doesnt act to stop Israel's extermination campaign is another nail in the coffin of humanity & the int'l law based order. https://t.co/9FJFfvWu2W
Israel’s military is at “another significant phase” of its offensive in Gaza, the head of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) southern command has said.
Maj Gen Yaron Finkelman, at a tour of the frontline in southern Gaza, said:
This offensive will continue and keep moving forward. It will continue with pressure against the enemy above ground and underground.
From the Times of Israel’s Emanuel Fabian:
The head of the IDF Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, says the military is at "another significant phase of the offensive, in new areas."
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) December 20, 2023
"This offensive will continue, and keep moving forward. It will continue with pressure against the enemy above ground, and… pic.twitter.com/RPLAZ4lNxR
UN ceasefire vote delayed until tomorrow
The UN security council has again postponed a vote calling for a new ceasefire in Gaza as diplomats struggle to agree on the language of the draft resolution.
The Guardian has been told that the vote has now been scheduled for Thursday in New York.
The UN draft resolution, drafted by the United Arab Emirates, has been changed several times amid reported policy differences inside the Biden administration.
The vote was initially scheduled for Monday but it has been repeatedly delayed in an effort to avoid a third US veto since the conflict began more than two months ago.
Divisions between Hamas’s Doha-based political wing and its officials inside Gaza, including the military faction, have sharpened since the war began in October.
According to the Wall Street Journal report, talks between the Hamas political leadership and Fatah, the dominant faction of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, have created tensions.
Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas’s military wing based in Gaza, does not want Hamas to continue to govern Gaza, but believes the war has not been lost yet and that it is too early to compromise, the report said. Sinwar demanded that the talks be halted when he found out about them, sources told the paper.
Updated
The political leaders of Hamas have begun talks with the group’s military wing about how to govern Gaza and the West Bank after the war with Israel ends, according to a report.
The talks, reported by the Wall Street Journal, are the clearest sign that Hamas’ political wing is beginning to plan for what happens after the conflict ends.
“We want the war to end,” Husam Badran, a member of Hamas’s political bureau in Qatar, told the paper, adding:
We don’t fight just because we want to fight. We are not partisans of a zero-sum game.
He said Hamas’s political faction wants to “establish a Palestinian state” in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Hamas’ political leaders have reportedly said they would be willing to join the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO). “It will be a national dialogue,” Badran said.
We have always said the PLO should contain any Palestinian faction.
Hamas is not interested in “playing a game” of releasing hostages held in Gaza and pausing hostilities just for Israel to begin a new round of fighting, a senior Hamas official has said.
Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, told Al Jazeera that the militant group’s “priority” amid the ongoing talks is an end to the war. He told the outlet:
Our vision is very clear: We want to stop the aggression.
“What is going on in the ground is a big catastrophe,” added Hamad, noting the “mass destruction and mass killing” caused by the Israeli attacks on Gaza.
He said “some people” were looking for brief pauses in fighting but that that was not in the interest of Hamas or Palestinians, adding:
Israel will take the card of the hostages and after that they will start a new round of mass killing and massacres against our people. We will not play this game.
He added that once the war stopped, Hamas was “ready to negotiate with all” and reach a “big compromise” for the hostages in Gaza.
Updated
UN ceasefire vote delay confirmed
We reported earlier that a UN security council vote on a Gaza ceasefire resolution has again been delayed at the request of the US.
A UN diplomat has now told Reuters:
Negotiations are ongoing and need more time. A rushed vote does not seem like it will end well.
The vote on the draft resolution, drafted by the United Arab Emirates, was initially scheduled for Monday. It has been repeatedly delayed in an effort to avoid a third US veto since the conflict began more than two months ago.
Updated
Joe Biden says US 'pushing' for new hostage deal but does not expect imminent agreement
Joe Biden has said he does not expect an imminent deal between Israel and Hamas over the release of hostages held in Gaza.
The US president, during a trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, told reporters:
We’re pushing it. I don’t … there’s no expectation at this point. But we are pushing it.
Updated
Gaza death toll passes 20,000, says Hamas
At least 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began on 7 October, according to figures by the Hamas government’s media office.
Among those killed include about 8,000 children and 6,200 women, AFP reported that Hamas said.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said it was clear that the conflict in Gaza “needs to move to a lower intensity phase”.
Speaking at a briefing, he told reporters:
We expect to see, and want to see, a shift to more targeted operations with a smaller number of forces, dealing with the leadership, the tunnel network, and a few other critical things. And as that happens, I think you’ll see the harm done to civilians also decrease significantly.
We’ve said all along – and we have these conversations almost every day – that it is vitally important Israel conduct operations with a focus on protecting civilians, minimizing harm to them, maximizing assistance getting to them.”
Updated
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is speaking at the state department in an end-of-year press conference.
Blinken spoke about the negotiations at the UN over a ceasefire and aid resolution. He confirmed the US wanted to keep talking.
We continue to engage extensively and constructively with a number of countries to try to resolve some of the outstanding issues in this security council resolution.
Blinken said the US shared the aim underlying the UAE resolution, to get more aid into Gaza.
We continue to work on this every day, for example making sure that once the assistance gets into Gaza, it can actually move around and be distributed safely and securely with predictable routes.
We’ve been at the forefront of all of these efforts, and we want to make sure that the resolution, in what it calls for and requires, actually advances that effort and doesn’t do anything that could actually hurt the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
Updated
The White House has said there are “very serious” discussions over a humanitarian pause in Gaza and hostage release between Israel and Hamas.
“These are very serious discussions and negotiations, and we hope that they lead somewhere,” the White House’s national security spokesperson, John Kirby, told reporters onboard Air Force One.
Updated
US asking for another delay to UN security council vote
The US is asking for another delay in a UN security council vote on a suspension of hostilities in Gaza, amid continuing resistance from Washington and reports that the US would veto the UAE resolution on the table.
“They are trying to avoid [another veto] if at all possible,” one diplomat said.
The vote has already been postponed twice this week to allow for negotiations on its text. The UAE envoy, Lana Nusseibeh, has declared herself open to 11th-hour talks to find compromises in the interests of boosting aid deliveries to people in Gaza, who are facing starvation and disease.
It is not clear the US will get another significant delay. The council presidency is held by Ecuador this month. They may go into closed consultations, but they could still go ahead with a vote today.
Updated
Israeli forces have said they shot dead a Palestinian man who tried to carry out a “car ramming attack” in the occupied West Bank.
Basel Wajeeh al-Muhtasib, 28, “died as a result of being shot by occupation [Israeli army] bullets” as he drove through Bayt Inun junction, north of the city of Hebron, official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Israeli security forces cordoned off the area, preventing the man from being taken to hospital, it said.
The Israeli army said troops had opened fire on the vehicle after the driver attempted to carry out a “car ramming attack”. It did not give further details.
Updated
Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest statement – in which he said Israel would not stop fighting until Hamas is destroyed – appears to rule out a ceasefire.
The Israeli prime minister’s remarks came after the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, travelled to Cairo today for talks with the Egyptian intelligence chief, Abbas Kamel, to discuss a possible truce in Gaza.
Updated
Netanyahu vows Israel will continue fighting 'until Hamas is destroyed'
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has vowed that Israel will continue its war against Hamas “to the end”, until the militant group is “destroyed”.
In a statement, reported by the Times of Israel, Netanyahu said:
We’re continuing the war to the end. It will continue until Hamas is destroyed – until victory … until all the goals we set are met: destroying Hamas, releasing our hostages and removing the threat from Gaza.
He added:
Anyone who thinks we’ll stop is unmoored from reality … We’re raining fire on Hamas, hell fire. All Hamas terrorists, from first to last face death. They have two options only: surrender or die.
Updated
Here’s more on the first aid convoy to travel direct from Jordan to Gaza since the start of the war, sent by the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP).
The 46-truck convoy, carrying more than 750 tonnes of goods, travelled through the Israeli-Gaza Kerem Shalom border crossing.
It comes after Israel last Friday approved the temporary delivery of aid into Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing, opening a new route for supplies after weeks of pressure.
In a statement, the WFP said delivering food through the Kerem Shalom crossing “will increase the volume and speed of food reaching the Gaza Strip, as millions face the risk of starvation”.
Samer AbdelJaber, WFP representative in the Palestinian territories, said:
Establishing a corridor through Jordan will increase the flow of aid and remove some of the pressure and congestion we are currently facing. This will allow us to secure more supplies and have more trucks on the road.
We are very grateful to everyone who made this possible. This is a promising step that will hopefully grant us more sustained and scaled-up access to reach more people in Gaza, faster.
Updated
The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, has held talks with his Jordanian counterpart, Ayman Safadi, in Amman, where he pressed for an increased flow of aid and fuel into Gaza.
On his second trip to the Middle East since being appointed to his role last month, Cameron is seeking to make Britain’s argument for a sustainable ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. He will also visit Egypt this week.
Officials said that during his trip, he will seek to advance efforts towards securing the release of all hostages by Hamas, stepping up aid into Gaza, and putting a stop to rockets being fired into Israel by Hamas, PA reported.
While in Jordan, Cameron is also expected to visit the Jordanian Hashemite charity organisation, a focal point of Jordanian humanitarian support for Gaza.
The UK and Jordan are working together to get as much aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza as possible.
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) December 20, 2023
In Amman, I thanked Foreign Minister @AymanHsafadi for his support on humanitarian deliveries.
We’ll continue to press for an increased flow of aid and fuel into Gaza. pic.twitter.com/m04G1d8E7M
Updated
An Al Jazeera broadcast captured the moment an airstrike hit a building in the southern Gaza town of Rafah as the network’s correspondent Hani Mahmoud made a live report.
According to Al Jazeera, the missile strike hit near the Kuwaiti hospital.
The head of Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Wednesday his group would start firing missiles at US warships if Washington got more involved in its affairs or targeted Yemen.
Abdel-Malek al-Houthi also warned other countries not to get involved in a multinational operation launched by the US on Tuesday to safeguard commerce in the Red Sea after a surge in Houthi attacks on vessels.
If the US gets more involved, the Houthis “will not stand idly by and will target them and their battleships and interests with missiles,” Abdel-Malek al-Houthi said in a televised speech.
Updated
Source: Hamas and Israel envoys discuss which hostages could be freed in new truce
The leader of Hamas made his first visit to Egypt for more than a month on Wednesday, a rare personal intervention in diplomacy amid what a source described as intensive talks on a new ceasefire to let aid reach Gaza and get hostages freed.
Ismail Haniyeh, who normally resides in Qatar, typically intervenes in diplomacy publicly only when progress seems likely. He last travelled to Egypt in early November before the announcement of the only agreement on a ceasefire in the war so far, a week-long pause during which more than 100 hostages were released.
Islamic Jihad, a smaller Palestinian militant group which is also holding hostages in Gaza, said its leader would visit Egypt in the coming days to discuss a possible end to the war, according to AP.
A source briefed on negotiations said envoys were discussing which of the hostages still held by militants in Gaza could be freed in a new truce, and what prisoners Israel might release in return.
Israel was insisting all remaining women and infirm men among hostages be released, the source said, declining to be identified. Palestinians convicted of serious offences could be on the list of prisoners to be freed. The source described the negotiations as intensive and said a breakthrough could be possible within days.
But there remains a huge gulf between the two sides’ publicly stated positions on any halt to fighting. Hamas rejects any further temporary pause and says it will discuss only a permanent ceasefire. Israel has ruled that out and says it will agree only limited humanitarian pauses until Hamas is defeated.
“Hamas’s stance remains: they don’t have a desire for humanitarian pauses. Hamas wants a complete end to the Israeli war on Gaza,” a Palestinian official said.
Haniyeh was “in Cairo today to listen to whether Israel has made new proposals or whether Cairo has some too. It is early to speak of expectations,” the Palestinian official said.
A senior Israeli official repeated the government’s position that the war could end only with the release of all hostages and the destruction of Hamas. “As the prime minister has said, the war will end with total victory,” said the official.
Updated
Here are the latest images coming across the wires from Gaza and Israel:
Israel’s foreign minister says Israel wants to fast-track the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza through a maritime corridor from Cyprus, bolstering stability in the region.
Eli Cohen told reporters Wednesday after a visit to a centre of operations in the coastal town of Larnaca that the well-supervised aid to Gaza would help the region to gain more stability, AP reports.
Speaking after talks with his Cypriot counterpart, Constantinos Kombos, he said technical teams would spend Wednesday and Thursday hammering out the details to start aid shipments as soon as possible.
Updated
First direct aid convoy from Jordan reaches Gaza
The first aid convoy to travel direct from Jordan to Gaza since the start of the war has delivered 750 metric tonnes of food to the Palestinian enclave, the UN World Food Programme has said.
“This crucial first step could pave the way for a more sustainable aid corridor through Jordan and allow for the delivery of more aid at scale,” it added.
Updated
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has visited the Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and thanked its crew for their role in helping prevent a broader conflict in the Middle East during the Israel-Hamas war.
The nuclear-powered Ford, a small, floating city of more than 4,000 people with eight squadrons of aircraft, became a powerful symbol of American resolve by rushing closer to Israel after it was attacked by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on 7 October, Reuters reported.
Austin has extended the Ford’s deployment three times, hoping its presence would make Iran and Iran-aligned groups – particularly Lebanon’s Hezbollah – think twice before joining the fight against Israel.
“This carrier and crew are making history. Sometimes our greatest achievements are the bad things that we stop from happening. And at a moment of huge tensions in the region, you all have been the lynchpin to preventing a wider regional conflict,” Austin said, addressing the ship.
Updated
Afternoon summary
The leader of Hamas made his first visit to Egypt for more than a month on Wednesday, a rare personal intervention in diplomacy amid what a source described as intensive talks on a new ceasefire to let aid reach Gaza and get hostages freed. The Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who normally resides in Qatar, typically intervenes in diplomacy publicly only when progress seems likely. He last travelled to Egypt in early November before the announcement of the only agreement on a ceasefire in the war so far, a week-long pause during which more than 100 hostages were released. A source briefed on negotiations said envoys were discussing which of the hostages still held by militants in Gaza could be freed under a new truce agreement, and what prisoners Israel might release in return.
Israel was insisting that all remaining women and infirm men among hostages be released, the source said, declining to be identified. Palestinians convicted of serious offences could be on the list of prisoners to be freed. The source described the negotiations as intensive and said a breakthrough could be possible within days. A Palestinian official said Haniyeh was keen to listen to Egyptian officials for a possible new approach and noted that the official position of Hamas was to reject any new temporary ceasefire and demand a permanent halt to fighting.
Intensive Qatari and Egyptian-mediated talks are under way for a possible second Gaza truce under which Hamas would return some hostages in exchange for Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. While the number of people slated to go free was still being discussed, Israel is insisting that women and infirm male hostages be included, said the source, adding that Palestinians jailed for serious offences could also be on the roster.
Israel appears to be nearing the final stages of its clearing operation in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the Institute for the Study of War. The US-based thinktank said Israel had degraded Hamas’s north Gaza brigade, with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announcing on Tuesday that it had completely “dismantled” Hamas’s three battalions operating in Jabaliya, just north of Gaza City. It said in its update with the Critical Threats Project that about 500 suspected Palestinians fighters had surrendered to Israeli forces in the Jabaliya refugee camp.
At least 66% of jobs have been lost in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas conflict erupted in October, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Wednesday, warning that employment losses could continue to increase in the enclave. The losses amount to a total of 192,000 jobs in the small Palestinian territory, the ILO said in its second assessment of the impact of Israeli ground and airstrikes on Gaza which began after a deadly cross-border incursion by Hamas. In a first assessment released in early November, ILO estimated that 182,000 jobs had been lost in Gaza, a figure representing more than 60% of employment.
TikTok moderators have struggled to assess content related to the Israel-Gaza conflict because the platform removed an internal tool for flagging videos in a foreign language, the Guardian has been told. The change has meant moderators in Europe cannot flag that they do not understand foreign-language videos, for example, in Arabic and Hebrew, which are understood to be appearing more frequently in video queues. The Guardian was told that moderators hired to work in English previously had access to a button to state that a video or post was not in their language.
Greece has advised commercial vessels sailing in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to avoid Yemeni waters, keep only the necessary crew on the bridge and follow alerts issued by maritime authorities to avoid attacks in the area. Greek ship-owners control about 20% of the world’s commercial vessels in terms of carrying capacity.
The US has announced the creation of an enhanced naval protection force operating in the southern Red Sea in an attempt to ward off mounting attacks from Yemen’s rebel Houthis on merchant shipping. Britain said it would be among the countries participating but notable absentees were Arab nations Egypt and Saudi Arabia, while analysts speculated that shipping would continue to be disrupted with attacks.
The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, will travel to Jordan and Egypt this week to push for a sustainable ceasefire and further humanitarian pauses in Gaza, the Foreign Office said on Wednesday. Cameron will travel with Britain’s Middle East minister, Tariq Ahmad, and “progress efforts to secure the release of all hostages, step up aid to Gaza and end Hamas rocket attacks and threats against Israel”.
Twelve Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on a house in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, health officials in the territory said. Residents on Wednesday reported intensifying gun battles between Hamas fighters and Israeli forces in the centre and eastern districts of the city. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said on Tuesday that 19,667 Palestinians had been killed and 52,586 wounded in the war.
The Israeli military attacked a military structure of the Hezbollah militant group after intercepting six rockets launched from Lebanon on Tuesday, the military said. It also attacked a squad that carried out a shooting at a Israeli military post in the Malkia border area which left two reserve soldiers “moderately injured”, Israel Defence Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said.
Updated
![]Smoke rises from different points of the city as Israeli attacks continue on Khan Yunis, Gaza on December 20, 2023.](https://media.guim.co.uk/e4dc92f9528279c91a66095c6e0598eb13def42b/0_95_2835_1701/1000.jpg)
TikTok moderators have struggled to assess content related to the Israel-Gaza conflict because the platform removed an internal tool for flagging videos in a foreign language, the Guardian has been told.
The change has meant moderators in Europe cannot flag that they do not understand foreign-language videos, for example, in Arabic and Hebrew, which are understood to be appearing more frequently in video queues.
The Guardian was told that moderators hired to work in English previously had access to a button to state that a video or post was not in their language.
Internal documents seen by the Guardian show the button was called “not my language”, or “foreign language”.
At least 66% of jobs have been lost in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas conflict erupted in October, the International Labour Organization(ILO) said on Wednesday, warning that employment losses could continue to increase in the enclave.
The losses amount to a total of 192,000 jobs in the small Palestinian territory, the ILO said in its second assessment of the impact of Israeli ground and airstrikes on Gaza which began after a deadly cross-border incursion by Hamas.
In a first assessment released in early November, ILO estimated that 182,000 jobs had been lost in Gaza, a figure representing more than 60% of employment.
“Today hardly anybody in Gaza is able to earn income from work,” said Peter Rademaker, ILO deputy regional director for the Arab states.
“It’s clearly a still growing curve,” he said of employment loss. “It might even get worse.”
Updated
Greece has advised commercial vessels sailing in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to avoid Yemeni waters, keep only the necessary crew on the bridge and follow alerts issued by maritime authorities to avoid attacks in the area.
Greek ship-owners control about 20% of the world’s commercial vessels in terms of carrying capacity.
A shipping ministry advisory was issued on Saturday, as recent attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthi militant group on vessels have forced leading shipping companies to reroute via the cape of Good Hope to avoid the Suez Canal, the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.
According to a document seen by Reuters, vessels should also conduct fire drills for regular checks of their safety equipment before they reach Yemeni shores, and are advised to sail through the southern Red Sea and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait at night.
The Houthis, who control much of Yemen, say the shipping attacks are a response to Israel’s military campaign in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and have said they will continue until Israel stops the offensive.
The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, will travel to Jordan and Egypt this week to push for a sustainable ceasefire and further humanitarian pauses in Gaza, the Foreign Office said on Wednesday.
Cameron will travel with Britain’s Middle East minister, Tariq Ahmad, and “progress efforts to secure the release of all hostages, step up aid to Gaza and end Hamas rocket attacks and threats against Israel”.
In Jordan, Cameron will meet his counterpart, Ayman Safadi, and in Egypt, he will travel to Al Arish, near the Egypt-Gaza border, to see the impact of UK aid being sent to Gaza.
Updated
Updated
Intensive talks underway on possible new Gaza truce, source tells Reuters
Intensive Qatari and Egyptian-mediated talks are under way for a possible second Gaza truce under which Hamas would return some hostages in exchange for Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.
While the number of people slated to go free was still being discussed, Israel is insisting that women and infirm male hostages be included, said the source, adding that Palestinians jailed for serious offences could also be on the roster.
Updated
Hamas leader arrives in Egypt
The Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, arrived in Cairo on Wednesday to hold talks with Egyptian officials, mainly on developments in the war with Israel in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian group said.
Updated
In case you missed it last night, the US has announced the creation of an enhanced naval protection force operating in the southern Red Sea in an attempt to ward off mounting attacks from Yemen’s rebel Houthis on merchant shipping.
Britain said it would be among the countries participating but notable absentees were Arab nations Egypt and Saudi Arabia, while analysts speculated that shipping would continue to be disrupted with attacks.
Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, said the new effort would be called Operation Prosperity Guardian and was necessary to tackle the “recent escalation in reckless Houthi attacks originating from Yemen”.
Other participants in the effort, Austin said, included Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain.
Updated
Updated
Israel appears to be nearing the final stages of its clearing operation in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
The US-based thinktank said Israel had degraded Hamas’s north Gaza brigade, with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announcing on Tuesday that it had completely “dismantled” Hamas’s three battalions operating in Jabaliya, just north of Gaza City.
It said in its update with the Critical Threats Project that about 500 suspected Palestinians fighters had surrendered to Israeli forces in the Jabaliya refugee camp.
#Israel–#Hamas War Update, Dec. 19, 2023: Israel has degraded Hamas’ North Gaza Brigade, which is consistent w/ CTP-ISW's observation that Israel appears to be nearing the final stages of its clearing operation in the northern #Gaza Strip.
— Institute for the Study of War (@TheStudyofWar) December 20, 2023
Full report: https://t.co/HG6aKFbPln pic.twitter.com/YGJDT7nM9Q
Israeli Army Radio reported that the IDF fought “hard battles” in Jabaliya against Palestinian militias for more than two weeks and Israeli forces had killed more than 1,000 fighters, the update said. It added that the IDF estimated there were only a few militia fighters left in the Jabaliya area.
The update also said Palestinian militias were continuing to use the “relative safe haven” of the Gaza Strip’s central governorate to attack Israeli forces south of Gaza City.
Updated
Circling back to the latest casualties in Gaza, Israeli missiles hit the southern city of Rafah on Tuesday, killing at least 20 people and wounding dozens as they slept at home, health officials in the Hamas-run territory said.
Hundreds of thousands of refugees have amassed in Rafah in recent weeks.
Reuters also reports that residents said they had to dig in the rubble with bare hands.
Mohammed Zurub, whose family lost 11 people in the attack, said:
This is a barbarian act.
In the north, another strike killed 13 people and wounded about 75 in the Jabaliya refugee camp, the health ministry said. Palestinians reported intensifying Israeli aerial and tank bombardment of Jabaliya as darkness descended late on Tuesday.
As reported earlier, Gaza health officials said 12 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on a house in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, while residents reported intensifying gun battles between Hamas fighters and Israeli forces in the city’s central and eastern districts.
Israeli military officials said on Tuesday that heavy civilian casualties were the cost of Israel’s campaign to destroy Hamas and the militants’ urban warfare strategy, despite global alarm at the huge human toll.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images coming in from the Gaza Strip and Israel over the newswires, as residents of Khan Younis in southern Gaza reported intensifying gun battles between Hamas militants and Israeli forces on Wednesday.
Updated
In case you missed this report from Julian Borger in Washington earlier, a vote on a Gaza ceasefire resolution has been postponed for a second time at the UN security council amid reported policy differences inside the Biden administration.
His report says:
The UN draft resolution, drafted by the United Arab Emirates, had been changed on Tuesday in an effort to avoid a third US veto since the conflict began more than two months ago. Instead of calling for an “urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities,” the amended text referred to “the urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and for urgent steps towards a sustainable cessation of hostilities”.
According to diplomatic sources, the US mission in New York believed it had negotiated a text that it could at least abstain on, but when Washington was consulted, new objections were raised, with the White House reportedly taking a more pro-Israel line than the state department.
The full report is here:
Updated
Hamas chief expected in Egypt for ceasefire talks as Israel open to new pause for hostage releases
The head of Hamas was due in Egypt on Wednesday for talks on a fresh ceasefire in Gaza, after Israel said it was willing to agree to another pause in exchange for more hostages.
Agence France-Presse reports that international pressure is mounting for a new truce that could ramp up aid to the besieged Palestinian territory, with the United Nations security council due to vote Wednesday on calling for a ceasefire.
The Qatar-based Hamas chief, Ismail Haniyeh, was expected to lead a “high-level” delegation to Egypt for talks with the country’s spy chief and others on “stopping the aggression and the war to prepare an agreement for the release of prisoners”, a source close to the group told the news agency.
Israel’s leaders are facing growing calls to secure the release of 129 hostages they say are being held in Gaza and, on Tuesday, signalled a willingness to return to the negotiating table with Hamas.
The Israeli president, Issac Herzog, said his country was “ready for another humanitarian pause and additional humanitarian aid in order to enable the release of hostages”.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he had recently sent his spy chief on two trips to Europe in an effort to “free our hostages”.
US news site Axios reported Monday that David Barnea, head of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, met with the Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and the CIA director, Bill Burns, in Europe to discuss a potential new deal to free hostages.
Axios also reported on Tuesday that Israel had offered to pause the fighting in Gaza for at least one week in exchange for more than three dozen hostages held by Hamas.
Updated
Opening summary
Welcome back to our live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war. This is Adam Fulton and here are the latest developments as it nears 7am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv.
The leader of Hamas is due in Egypt on Wednesday for talks on a fresh ceasefire in Gaza after Israel said it was willing to agree to another pause in exchange for more hostages.
The Qatar-based Hamas chief, Ismail Haniyeh, was expected to lead a “high-level” delegation for talks with the country’s spy chief and others on “stopping the aggression and the war to prepare an agreement for the release of prisoners”, a source close to the Palestinian militant group told Agence France-Presse.
International pressure is growing for a new truce that could ramp up humanitarian aid to the battered Palestinian territory, with the UN security council due to vote on Wednesday on a resolution for an urgent ceasefire after the vote was postponed for a second time amid reported policy differences within the US government.
More on those stories. In other news:
Twelve Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on a house in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, health officials in the territory said. Residents on Wednesday reported intensifying gun battles between Hamas fighters and Israeli forces in the centre and eastern districts of the city. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said on Tuesday that 19,667 Palestinians had been killed and 52,586 wounded in the war.
The Israeli military attacked a military structure of the Hezbollah militant group after intercepting six rockets launched from Lebanon on Tuesday, the military said. It also attacked a squad that carried out a shooting at a Israeli military post in the Malkia border area which left two reserve soldiers “moderately injured”, Israel Defence Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said.
Talks between Qatar’s prime minister and the heads of the CIA and Mossad spy agency on Monday were “positive”, a Qatari official said. But no imminent deal for a truce involving hostages releases was expected, he said.
The United States has launched a multinational operation to safeguard commerce in the Red Sea as attacks by Iran-backed Yemeni militants over Israel’s military offensive in Gaza forced major shipping companies to reroute, stoking fears of sustained disruptions to global trade. The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said Britain, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain were among nations involved in the Red Sea security operation, which would conduct joint patrols in the southern Red Sea and the adjacent Gulf of Aden.
Israeli forces raided one of the last remaining hospitals in northern Gaza, putting it out of action, according to the hospital’s director. The nighttime raid at al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City led to the arrest of doctors, medical staff and patients, according to reports, and damaged the hospital. Israeli forces took control of the facility after surrounding it for 12 days, according to medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières. The hospital still had dozens of patients inside, including 14 children, it said
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said the Israeli ground operation would “expand to additional areas” of the Gaza Strip. It is thought he was referring to the central Gaza Strip or the southern city of Rafah.
The military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad has released a video it claimed showed two hostages who were taken to Gaza during the 7 October attack on Israel. The video posted by the al-Quds Brigades comes a day after Hamas’s military wing released video footage it claimed showed three elderly Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
The International Committee of the Red Cross president has insisted on the organisation’s neutrality and said criticism was making it increasingly hard to operate in the Israel-Gaza war. The Swiss-based organisation has been accused by both sides in the conflict of not providing adequate help to those being held hostage. ICRC chief Mirjana Spoljaric Egger said in Geneva: “The pressure we experience now in the context of Gaza and Israel is so much more than what we experienced a year ago on Ukraine and Russia.”
The Israeli army has said it is investigating the deaths of Palestinian detainees who were arrested in military operations across Gaza. At least six Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons or Israel Defence Forces (IDF) detention facilities since the start of the war, including “several” held at the Sde Teiman base near the city of Be’er Sheva in southern Israel, according to a report in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.
Updated
