Closing summary
It’s turned 5.30am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv and we’ll shut this blog shortly – our live coverage will resume later today. Here’s a rundown on the latest developments. And you can see all our Israel-Gaza war coverage here. Thanks for reading.
Israel ordered residents out of the centre of Gaza’s main southern city, Khan Younis, as it pounded the length of the territory. Israel’s Arabic-language spokesperson posted a map on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday highlighting six numbered blocks of Khan Younis that residents were told to evacuate “urgently”. They included parts of the city centre that had not been subject to such orders before. Israel issued similar warnings before storming eastern parts of the city and residents said they feared new evacuation orders heralded a further assault.
The Israeli military says five of its soldiers have died in the war. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) named the five in a post on X and said four of them died in battle in southern Gaza and one succumbed to his wounds after fighting on 7 October.
A United Nations peacekeeping position in southern Lebanon was hit without causing casualties, the UN force said, adding it was seeking to verify the source of the fire. Lebanon’s national news agency reported that an “Israeli Merkava tank” targeted the UN interim force in Lebanon (Unifil) position near the border across from Metula in northern Israel on Saturday. An Israeli army spokeswoman said it : “did not aim at Unifil, we did not hit a Unifil position.”
The Biden administration has used an emergency authority to sell about 14,000 tank shells to Israel without congressional review. The state department on Friday used an Arms Export Control Act emergency declaration for the tank rounds, worth $106.5m, for immediate delivery to Israel, the Pentagon said in a statement.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said it had only been able to distribute aid in a very small part of southern Gaza “because of the intensity of the fighting and the bombardment since the humanitarian pause stopped”. Its deputy executive director, Carl Skau, said earlier: “About half the population in Gaza are starving … The humanitarian operation is collapsing. With the chaos with this active fighting it’s not possible to do the work that is needed.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu applauded the US for vetoing a UN security council resolution which called for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, where more than 17,700 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces. In an address on Saturday, Netanyahu said: “I greatly appreciate the correct stance that the US has taken in the UN security council. Other countries need to understand that.”
Israeli fighter jets “completed an attack on Lebanese territory during which targets of the terrorist organisation Hezbollah was attacked”, the Israeli Defense Forces’ spokesperson tweeted on Saturday. Daniel Hagari added: “Among the targets that were attacked, a number of military positions from which launches were made into the territory of the country, military sites where the organisation’s terrorists operated and other terrorist infrastructures.”
The Gulf Cooperation Council is holding Israel legally responsible for killing thousands of Palestinians in Gaza. The GCC countries said on Saturday that they had renewed their condemnation of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza strip and were holding Israel legally responsible for ongoing attacks that resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians in Gaza.
Israeli forces shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian boy in the West Bank town of Azzun, in Qalqilya, on Saturday, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The boy has been identified as Mahmoud Abu Haniya by the Palestinian news agency Wafa. Local reports say Haniya was caught up in gunfire by an Israeli military unit and was fatally shot in the back.
Scotland’s first minister has criticised the UK government for its abstention in the United Arab Emirates-led UN security council resolution that called for an humanitarian ceasefire on Friday. Humza Yousaf said in a tweet on Saturday: “How can you choose to be complicit in the killing of thousands of children? Shame on the UK Government & Keir Starmer’s Labour Party who refuse to back a #CeasefireNow.”
The Palestinian foreign ministry has reported that more than 130 Palestinian families have been forcibly displaced from Bedouin communities by Israeli forces and extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank since 7 October. At least 260 Palestinians had been killed in the West Bank by such settlers since then, Palestinian health minister Mai al-Kaila said.
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The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) says 133 of its staff have been killed in Israeli bombardments during the war.
The agency posted on X:
Our staff in #Gaza take their children to work so they know they are safe, or can die together.
133 colleagues have been confirmed killed in bombardments, most with their families.
The situation of civilians in #Gaza is untenable, we are reaching a point of no return.
Our staff in #Gaza take their children to work so they know they are safe, or can die together.
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 9, 2023
133 @UNRWA colleagues have been confirmed killed in bombardments, most with their families.
The situation of civilians in #Gaza is untenable, we are reaching a point of no return. pic.twitter.com/IIu5nAcSrB
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Israel orders new evacuations in Khan Younis
Israel has ordered residents out of the centre of Gaza’s main southern city, Khan Younis, as it pounds the length of the territory, Reuters reports.
Israel’s Arabic-language spokesperson posted a map on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday highlighting six numbered blocks of Khan Younis that residents were told to evacuate “urgently”.
They included parts of the city centre that had not been subject to such orders before.
Israel issued similar warnings before storming eastern parts of the city and residents said they feared new evacuation orders heralded a further assault.
Zainab Khalil, a 57-year-old who has been displaced with 30 of her relatives and friends in Khan Younis near Jalal Street, where troops told people to leave, said:
It might be a matter of time before they act against our area too. We have been hearing bombing all night.
We don’t sleep at night, we stay awake, we try to put the children to sleep and we stay up fearing the place would be bombed and we’ll have to run carrying the children out. During the day begins another tragedy, and that is: how to feed the children?
In central Gaza, Israeli tank shelling resumed on Bureij and Maghazi refugee camps, local residents said.
Seven Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Bureij, according to Palestinian health officials. Israeli forces could not immediately be reached for comment.
Updated
Nine out of 10 Palestinian families in some areas of Gaza are spending “a full day and night without any food at all”, the UN World Food Program has posted on X.
Its deputy executive director, Carl Skau, said earlier:
About half the population in Gaza are starving … The humanitarian operation is collapsing.
With the chaos with this active fighting it’s not possible to do the work that is needed.
Skau posted on X about his visit to Gaza, saying there was “chaos, desperation, families living on the streets as storms close in”.
WFP has reached over 1 million people, but the situation is untenable. We need to get our supplies in & a humanitarian ceasefire.
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Five Israeli troops killed in war, IDF says
The Israeli military says five of its soldiers have died in the Israel-Gaza war.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) named the five in a post on X (formerly Twitter) and said four of them died in battle in southern Gaza and one succumbed to his wounds after fighting on 7 October, when Hamas attacked southern Israel.
It said four were aged in their 20s and one was 19.
The post said:
The IDF expresses its deepest condolences to the families and will continue to stand by them.
Today, we announce the death of 5 IDF soldiers:
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 10, 2023
🕯️MSG (Res.) Liav Atiya, a 25-year-old combat soldier in the 6623 Battalion, fell in battle in southern Gaza.
🕯️MSG (Res.) Omri Ben Shachar, a 25-year-old combat soldier in the 6623 Battalion, fell in battle in southern Gaza.… pic.twitter.com/T74gp00f0e
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A North Korean senior official has criticised the US for blocking the United Nations resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war, claiming the veto showed Washington’s “double standards”, North Korean state media KCNA said.
The US vetoed the resolution at the UN security council on Friday. The resolution failed to pass after the US vetoed the proposal and the UK abstained.
Reuters reports that Kim Son Gyong, North Korea’s vice-foreign minister for international organisations, said via KCNA:
The United States’ abuse of its veto power to protect an ally that massacred tens of thousands of civilians is not only a manifestation of illegal and unreasonable double standards, but also the height of inhumane evil.
Kim said the US was contradicting itself by condoning continued fighting in Gaza while condemning North Korea’s recent satellite launch that caused no harm to any other country.
A United Nations peacekeeping position in southern Lebanon was hit on Saturday without causing casualties, the UN force said, adding it was seeking to verify the source of the fire.
Lebanon’s national news agency reported that an “Israeli Merkava tank” targeted the UN interim force in Lebanon (Unifil) position near the border across from Metula in northern Israel, Agence France-Presse reports.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said: “We did not aim at Unifil, we did not hit a Unifil position.”
Unifil spokesman Andrea Tenenti said the force was “verifying” the source of the fire and that the incident caused “no casualties” but damaged a watchtower at the base.
Since the Israel-Hamas war began on 7 October, the frontier between Lebanon and Israel has seen intensifying exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and Shia Muslim movement Hezbollah, raising fears of a broader conflagration.
More than 120 people have been killed on the Lebanese side since October, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also including more than a dozen civilians, according to an AFP tally.
This is Adam Fulton picking up our live coverage – stay with us for all the latest developments as they unfold
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Summary
Here is where the day stands:
The Biden administration has used an emergency authority to sell around 14,000 tank shells to Israel without congressional review. The state department on Friday used an Arms Export Control Act emergency declaration for the tank rounds worth $106.5m for immediate delivery to Israel, the Pentagon said in a statement, Reuters reports.
The Gulf Cooperation Council is holding Israel legally responsible for killing thousands of Palestinians in Gaza. In a statement released on Saturday, the GCC countries said that they have renewed their condemnation of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza strip, holding Israel legally responsible for the ongoing attacks that have targeted innocent civilians and resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians in Gaza.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has applauded the US for vetoing a UN security council resolution, which called for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza where more than 17,700 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces. In an address on Saturday, Netanyahu said: “I greatly appreciate the correct stance that the US has taken in the UN security council. Other countries need to understand that.”
Scotland’s first minister Humza Yousaf has criticized the UK government for its abstention in the United Arab Emirates-led UN security council resolution that called for an humanitarian ceasefire on Friday. In a tweet on Saturday, Yousaf said: “How can you choose to be complicit in the killing of thousands of children? Shame on the UK Government & Keir Starmer’s Labour Party who refuse to back a #CeasefireNow.”
Israeli fighter jets “completed an attack on Lebanese territory during which targets of the terrorist organization Hezbollah was attacked”, Daniel Hagari, the spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces, tweeted on Saturday. He added: “Among the targets that were attacked, a number of military positions from which launches were made into the territory of the country, military sites where the organization’s terrorists operated and other terrorist infrastructures.”
Israeli forces shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian boy in the West Bank town of Azzun, in Qalqilya, on Saturday, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The boy has been identified as Mahmoud Abu Haniya by the Palestinian news agency WAFA. Local reports say that Haniya was caught up in gunfire by an Israeli military unit and was fatally shot in the back.
UNRWA said that it has only been able to distribute aid in a very small part of southern Gaza. “Because of the intensity of the fighting and the bombardment since the humanitarian pause stopped, we have only been able to distribute food in a very small part of southern Gaza, in Rafah. There are many, many people who are not in Rafah and whom we have not been able to access for the last few days,” the UNRWA spokesperson Tamara Alrifai told the BBC.
The Palestinian foreign ministry has reported that more than 130 Palestinian families have been forcibly displaced from Bedouin communities by Israeli forces and extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank since 7 October. Since 7 October, said Palestinian health minister Mai al-Kaila, at least 260 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by extremist Israeli settlers.
Here are some images coming through the newswires of pro-Palestine protests from around the world this weekend, in which tens of thousands of demonstrators demanded a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israeli forces have killed more than 17,700 Palestinians, including more than 7,100 children, in the last two months:
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Biden administration to sell 14,000 tank shells to Israel without congressional review
The Joe Biden administration has used an emergency authority to sell around 14,000 tank shells to Israel without congressional review.
Reuters reports:
The state department on Friday used an Arms Export Control Act emergency declaration for the tank rounds worth $106.5m for immediate delivery to Israel, the Pentagon said in a statement.
The shells are part of a bigger sale that was first reported by Reuters on Friday that the Biden administration is asking the US Congress to approve. The larger package is worth more than $500m and includes 45,000 shells for Israel’s Merkava tanks, regularly deployed in its offensive in Gaza, which has killed thousands of civilians.
As the war intensified, how and where exactly the American weapons are used in the conflict has come under more scrutiny, even though US officials say there are no plans to put conditions on military aid to Israel or to consider withholding some of it.
Rights advocates expressed concern over the sale, saying it doesn’t align with Washington’s effort to press Israel to minimize civilian casualties.
A state department official said on Saturday that Washington continues to be clear with the Israeli government that it must comply with international humanitarian law and take every feasible step to avoid harm to civilians.
For the full story, click here:
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The Gulf Cooperation Council is holding Israel legally responsible for killing of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza.
In a statement released on Saturday, the GCC countries said they have renewed their condemnation of the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, holding Israel legally responsible for the ongoing attacks that target innocent civilians and have resulted in the deaths of thousands of Gaza civilians.
GCC Countries Hold Israel Legally Responsible for Killing Thousands of Civilians in Gaza
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) December 9, 2023
🔗To learn more: https://t.co/0XFKoIzbxi#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/MhyifO4tUI
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Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has applauded the US for vetoing a UN security council resolution, which called for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, where tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces.
In an address on Saturday, Netanyahu said:
I greatly appreciate the correct stance that the US has taken in the UN security council. Other countries need to understand that. On the one hand, it is impossible to support the elimination of Hamas while, on the other hand, calling for a halt to the war, which will prevent the elimination of Hamas. Therefore, Israel will continue our just war to eliminate Hamas.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) December 9, 2023
"I greatly appreciate the correct stance that the US has taken in the UN Security Council. pic.twitter.com/IYMbc5BGH4
Netanyahu’s comments and the US veto came despite a warning from UN chief António Guterres that civil order was breaking down in Gaza, where Israeli forces have killed more than 17,700 Palestinians in the last two months, including more than 7,100 children.
The US’s justification for vetoing the resolution – which 13 other UN security members voted in favor of, while the UK abstained – was that a ceasefire now “would only plant the seeds for the next war because Hamas has no desire to see a durable peace”, according to Robert Wood, the US’s deputy ambassador to the UN.
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Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf: UK 'complicit in the killing of thousands of children'
Scotland’s first minister Humza Yousaf has criticized the UK government for its abstention in the United Arab Emirates-led UN security council resolution – which the US vetoed – that called for an humanitarian ceasefire on Friday.
In a tweet on Saturday, Yousaf said:
I find it incomprehensible that the UK did not vote for a ceasefire.
How can you choose to be complicit in the killing of thousands of children? Shame on the UK Government & Keir Starmer’s Labour Party who refuse to back a #CeasefireNow.
I agree with @savechildrenuk
— Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) December 9, 2023
I find it incomprehensible that the UK did not vote for a ceasefire. How can you choose to be complicit in the killing of thousands of children?
Shame on the UK Government & Keir Starmer's Labour Party who refuse to back a #CeasefireNow https://t.co/TXLSZiwIKI
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A team from the World Health Organization has visited the Cairo administrative capital hospital, which is currently caring for babies in critical condition who were transferred from Gaza. The WHO said:
The state-of-the-art hospital opened just 6 months ago and continues to receive babies in critical condition from Gaza. It is also well-equipped and prepared to soon receive adults from Gaza suffering from war related injuries.
The state-of-the-art hospital opened just 6 months ago and continues to receive babies in critical condition from #Gaza. It is is also well-equipped and prepared to soon receive adults from Gaza suffering from war related injuries. pic.twitter.com/bVyPDb4SaU
— WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (@WHOEMRO) December 9, 2023
It added that more than 30 hospitals across Egypt have been prepared to receive evacuated patients fleeing from Israeli bombardment in Gaza.
This is part of a national response by #Egypt to support health needs of people in #Gaza. More than 30 hospitals across the country have been prepared to receive evacuated patients. pic.twitter.com/EVTF9dgtZ5
— WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (@WHOEMRO) December 9, 2023
In an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, UNRWA commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini warned that humanitarian assistance in Gaza is being “manipulated to serve political and military objectives, another breach among many in the war”.
He went on to add:
For many Palestinians the only option for a better future is to leave Gaza altogether. Judging by policy and humanitarian discussions underway, it is hard to believe that the Palestinians of Gaza who are displaced today will be allowed – or even willing – to return to their destroyed homes any time soon.
If this path continues, leading to what many are already calling a second Nakba, Gaza will not be a land for Palestinians anymore.
In a post on Saturday, Médecins Sans Frontières reiterated its calls for an “immediate and sustained” ceasefire in Gaza as its patients and staff continuously are killed by Israeli forces.
“Nowhere is safe,” the organization said.
For two bloody months, we have seen the Israeli forces' indiscriminate attacks on Gaza target Palestinian civilians and healthcare workers. Our patients and staff have been killed. Nowhere is safe.
— MSF International (@MSF) December 9, 2023
We call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza.
It all #MustStopNow. pic.twitter.com/F9N8J7dt6v
Here are some images coming through the newswires from London, where tens of thousands of pro-Palestine demonstrators took to the streets in calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, where more than 17,700 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes in the last two months:
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Israeli fighter jets “completed an attack on Lebanese territory during which targets of the terrorist organization Hezbollah was attacked”, Daniel Hagari, spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces, tweeted on Saturday.
He added:
Among the targets that were attacked, a number of military positions from which launches were made into the territory of the country, military sites where the organization’s terrorists operated and other terrorist infrastructures.
לפני זמן קצר, מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר השלימו תקיפה בשטח לבנון, במהלכה הותקפו מטרות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה.
— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי - Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) December 9, 2023
בין המטרות שנתקפו, מספר עמדות צבאיות מהן בוצעו שיגורים לשטח הארץ, אתרים צבאיים בהם פעלו מחבלי הארגון ותשתיות טרור נוספות.
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17-year-old Palestinian boy shot and killed by Israeli forces in West Bank
Israeli forces shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian boy in the West Bank town of Azzun, in Qalqilya, on Saturday, according to the Palestinian health ministry, Reuters reports.
The boy has been identified as Mahmoud Abu Haniya by the Palestinian news agency WAFA. It went on to cite local sources, saying:
The sources told WAFA that an Israeli military unit stormed Azzun, sparking confrontations with local residents, during which the Israeli occupation soldiers fired live ammunition and toxic gas canisters. This resulted in Abu Haniya sustaining critical gunshot wounds to the back.
He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was announced dead of his wounds by the Ministry of Health.
Updated
Adina Moshe, a 72-year-old Israeli woman who was held captive by Hamas and later freed, has released the following testimony via the Hostages and Missing Families Forum:
My name is Adina Moshe and I returned from Hamas captivity but I left behind my close friends from Kibbutz Nir Oz there.
They are all very old with serious underlying medical conditions and without proper medications. When I was there, the food situation kept deteriorating. We ended up eating only rice.
I beg and plead: Please do everything for their release, also so that I can recover. Until they return, I will not be able to recover.
🔴 Adina Moshe, 72, was released after 49 days in Hamas captivity
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) December 9, 2023
'My friends are still there, elderly, ill, without proper medications. The food situation was deteriorating until we only had rice. Please set them free, I cannot begin my recovery without them' pic.twitter.com/MPgxbTUwiz
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Yemen’s Houthi rebels threatened on Saturday to attack vessels heading to Israeli ports unless food and medicine is allowed into the besieged Gaza Strip.
Agence France-Presse reports:
The latest warning comes amid heightened tensions in the Red Sea and surrounding waters following a series of maritime attacks by Houthi rebels since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7.
In a statement posted on social media, the Houthis said they “will prevent the passage of ships heading to the Zionist entity” if humanitarian aid is not allowed into Hamas-ruled Gaza.
The Houthis have recently attacked ships they claim to have direct links to Israel, but their latest threat expands the scope of their targets.
Regardless of which flag ships sail under or the nationality of their owners or operators, Israel-bound vessels “will become a legitimate target for our armed forces”, the statement said.
Last week, the Houthis attacked two ships off the Yemeni coast, including a Bahamas-flagged vessel, claiming they were Israeli owned.
And last month, the rebel forces seized Galaxy Leader, an Israeli-linked cargo vessel.
“We warn all ships and companies against dealing with Israeli ports,” the latest Houthi statement said.
It added that all “ships linked to Israel or that will transport goods to Israeli ports” are not welcome in the Red Sea, a vital channel for global trade linked to the Suez Canal.
UNRWA: "We have only been able to distribute food in a very small part of southern Gaza"
Speaking to the BBC, UNRWA spokesperson Tamara Alrifai said that the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has only been able to distribute aid in a very small part of southern Gaza.
Alrifai said:
The humanitarian situation is catastrophic in Gaza … Over the last few days, we have seen a big reduction in the number of trucks coming in and the number of liters of fuel coming in, which is necessary for the trucks and for the water desalination plants and also for the electricity generators …
Because of the intensity of the fighting and the bombardment since the humanitarian pause stopped, we have only been able to distribute food in a very small part of southern Gaza, in Rafah. There are many, many people who are not in Rafah and whom we have not been able to access for the last few days, so they’re left with nothing.
"The humanitarian situation is catastrophic in📍#Gaza" @TamaraAlrifai tells @BBCNews that because of the intensity of ongoing bombardments, @UNRWA has only been able to distribute aid in a very small part of southern #Gaza - there are many people we have not been able to reach. pic.twitter.com/I0fIJaWoTz
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 9, 2023
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In a new interview with PBS NewsHour on the ongoing Israel-Gaza war, Saudi foreign minister Sheikh Faisal bin Farhan said that in his engagements with the Biden administration and the US Congress, he hears a “clear message that peace is the answer”.
Bin Farhan said:
We are focused on ending the war now but we are also very, very interested in moving the cause of peace forward.
Both in my engagements with the administration and Congress, I hear a clear message that peace is the answer, and that will need a Palestinian element that will need us to move irrevocably to a Palestinian state.
“Both in my engagements with the administration and Congress, I hear a clear message that peace is the answer, and will need a Palestinian element that will need us to move irrevocably to a Palestinian state.”
— Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) December 9, 2023
- Foreign Minister HH @FaisalbinFarhan interview with PBS @NewsHour. pic.twitter.com/ZEPDVrTzZQ
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Palestinian foreign ministry: more than 130 Palestinian families forcibly displaced from West Bank
The Palestinian foreign ministry has reported that more than 130 Palestinian families have been forcibly displaced from Bedouin communities by Israeli forces and extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank since 7 October.
Since 7 October, said Palestinian health minister Mai al-Kaila, at least 260 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by extremist Israeli settlers. According to UN data, their attacks against Palestinians have more than doubled in the last two months.
Ongoing ethnic cleansing crimes... More than 130 Palestinian families have been forcibly displaced from Bedouin communities in various areas of the occupied #WestBank since the beginning of the aggression. This is due to the escalating crimes and attacks by the occupation forces… pic.twitter.com/ujMRWpFmSM
— State of Palestine - MFA 🇵🇸🇵🇸 (@pmofa) December 9, 2023
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The Palestine Red Crescent Society’s psychosocial support term carried out support sessions for children wounded by Israeli strikes at the al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis.
Pictures posted online showed the PRCS team celebrating the birthdays of the children and distributing various toys.
The psychosocial support team at the PRCS carried out psychological support sessions for wounded children❤️in the PRCS’s Al-Amal Hospital in #KhanYounis. It celebrated the birthdays of the wounded children and distributed gifts 🎁to the children to bring them joy amid their… pic.twitter.com/MwK6BnT3Dl
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 9, 2023
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An Israeli hostage was reported killed in Gaza while two Palestinian men were reported killed in the West Bank. All three men were 25 years old.
In a joint statement, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum and the Be’eri kibbutz said that Sahar Baruch was killed in Hamas captivity after he was kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Baruch was an electrical engineering student at Ben-Gurion University.
“We will demand the return of Sahar’s body as part of any hostage exchange agreement,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man in the West Bank on Saturday, and another Palestinian man who was shot by Israeli forces the day before died on Saturday, the Associated Press reports, citing the Palestinian health ministry.
Rami Jamal al-Jundub was shot by Israeli forces in Faraa refugee camp on Friday and died from his wounds on Saturday, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA. AP reports that the circumstances were not immediately clear on Saturday’s fatal shooting of the second Palestinian man by Israeli forces near the city of Hebron.
Updated
Today so far
An Israeli hostage was reported killed in Gaza. Sahar Baruch, 25, was an electrical engineering student at Ben-Gurion University. Hamas released a video earlier depicting Baruch with his hair shaven, saying he had been held hostage for 40 days (today is day 63 of the conflict). The video then showed his battered body covered in blood. Hamas has claimed Baruch’s death was caused by the Israel Defense Forces. Previously, the IDF said two Israeli soldiers had been seriously wounded in a failed hostage rescue mission on Friday, but Haaretz reports that the IDF puts the blame solely on Hamas for Baruch’s death.
Rights groups and world leaders reacted to the US for blocking a UN security council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, with Avril Benoît, the executive director of Médecins Sans Frontières US, saying the US decision “makes it complicit in the carnage in Gaza”.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the president of Turkey, called for the UN security council to be reformed. “The United Nations security council demand for ceasefire is rejected only by US veto. Is this justice?” Erdoğan said at a human rights conference in Istanbul.
Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, said the US vetoing a UN security council resolution for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza made it complicit in Israel’s “genocide, ethnic cleansing and war crimes” against Palestinians, Reuters reports.
Gaza’s health ministry, which is run by Hamas, is reporting a total of 133 people killed in Israeli strikes over the past day, with 160 injured people arriving at al-Aqsa hospital another 99 wounded at Nasser hospital.
Heavy fighting continued overnight in northern Gaza, both from the air and on the ground, the Israel Defense Forces said on Saturday. According to the IDF, fighters from the battle team of the Kafir brigade fought and killed a group in the area of a school in the Shejaiya neighbourhood. IDF forces later found a number of Kalashnikov weapons, grenades and ammunition inside the classrooms.
The IDF said they attacked the operational headquarters of Hezbollah in Lebanese territory following a number of launches into northern Israel earlier today. There were no casualties in Israel from the launches.
Updated
Israel Defense Forces say the air force attacked the operational headquarters of Hezbollah in Lebanese territory in response to a number of launches into northern Israel earlier today.
Updated
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the president of Turkey, said in a speech on Saturday that a fairer world was possible “but not with America because the USA stands with Israel”, the AP reports.
Erdoğan used his speech on human rights to accuse the west of “barbarism” for its stance on the Israel-Hamas war and what he alleged was its toleration of Islamophobia.
“Israel has carried out atrocities and massacres that will shame the whole of humanity,” Erdoğan told a packed hall in Istanbul the day before the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“All the values relating to humanity are being murdered in Gaza. In the face of such brutality, international institutions and human rights organisations are not taking any concrete steps to prevent such violations.”
The human rights declaration, proclaimed by the UN general assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948, enshrines a standard for human rights and freedoms for all people.
“From now on, humanity won’t think the USA supports the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Erdoğan said.
He said Islamophobia and xenophobia “engulf western societies like poison ivy” and are the greatest threats to human rights. He told the cheering audience that the only value “the west holds on to is its barbarism. We have seen this example of the west’s barbarism in all those unfortunate events that they either supported or perpetrated.”
Turkey’s human rights record during Erdogan’s two decades in power has come under frequent criticism over the targeting of government critics and political opponents, the undermining of judicial independence and the weakening of democratic institutions.
Turkey withdrew from the Istanbul convention on preventing and violence against women and has failed to implement European court of human rights judgments.
Updated
According to the UN secretary general, António Guterres, more than 60% of Gaza’s housing has reportedly been destroyed or damaged, and 85% of the population has been forced from their homes.
Updated
Two Palestinians killed in the West Bank
Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man in the West Bank on Saturday and another died from his wounds sustained in an Israeli raid the day before, the AP reports.
The Palestinian health ministry said the 25-year-old man who died from his wounds had been shot during an arrest raid in the Faraa refugee camp on Friday. Seven had been killed in this raid, including a local commander of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.
The circumstances were not immediately clear, however, on Saturday’s fatal shooting of a 25-year-old Palestinian near the city of Hebron. The Israeli military did not respond to the AP’s request for comment.
A total of 274 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank since the start of the conflict two months ago – most were killed during shootouts that the Israeli military says began during operations to arrest suspected militants.
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Israeli hostage killed in Gaza, kibbutz says
Sahar Baruch, 25, one of the estimated 240 hostages taken during the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel, was killed in Hamas captivity, according to a joint statement from his community, the Be’eri kibbutz, and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
“It is with great sadness and a broken heart that we announce the murder of Sahar Baruch who was kidnapped from his home by Hamas terrorists to Gaza on Black Saturday and murdered there. His brother Idan was murdered by Hamas on October 7. We share in the unbearable grief of his parents, Tami and Roni, his brother, Guy and Niv, his family and all his loved ones. We will demand the return of his body as part of any hostage return deal. We will not stop until everyone is at home.”
Hamas released a video earlier depicting Baruch with his hair shaven, saying he had been held hostage for 40 days (today is day 63 of the conflict). The video then showed his battered body covered in blood. Hamas has claimed Baruch’s death was caused by the Israeli Defence Forces. Previously, the IDF said two Israeli soldiers had been seriously wounded in a failed hostage rescue mission on Friday, but Haaretz reports that the IDF puts the blame solely on Hamas for Baruch’s death.
The army said in a statement: “Our hearts go out to the family of Sahar Baruch, who was brutally kidnapped by the terrorist organization Hamas, which continues to use psychological terror and behave inhumanely. We consider the terrorist organization Hamas responsible for the safety of the abductees and anticipate that it will continue to try to use psychological terror against the citizens of Israel and the world through the distribution of such documents, for its murderous purposes.”
Sahar Baruch, 25, was killed in Hamas captivity in Gaza after being kidnapped on October 7, according to a joint statement from his community, Kibbutz Be'eri, and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.https://t.co/NBnwW7gADO
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) December 9, 2023
Baruch was an electrical engineering student at Ben-Gurion University, his family told Israeli media. He had been at his mother’s home with his brother Idan when the attack took place and assailants tossed three grenades into the safe room. Idan had been hit, and his brother stayed and treated him for hours until the house began to burn and they had to escape, an aunt said.
Sahar had survived the attack only because he stayed behind longer after Idan jumped out of the burning house to find an inhaler for his brother, who was asthmatic. Idan was shot and killed, and Sahar taken hostage.
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Erdoğan: UN security council needs to be reformed
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the president of Turkey, called for the UN security council to be reformed, following the US vetoing a ceasefire proposal for Gaza despite the the 15-member council voting 13-1 for the resolution, Reuters reports.
“The United Nations security council demand for ceasefire is rejected only by US veto. Is this justice?” Erdoğan said at a human rights conference in Istanbul.
“The UN security council needs to be reformed,” he added.
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A new process for inspecting aid for Gaza at the Kerem Shalom crossing is being tested, but efforts to increase relief levels are still ongoing, a senior UN official has told Reuters.
Under the new system, trucks would arrive at the Kerem Shalom crossing on the border between Israel, Gaza and Egypt for the first time from Jordan, before entering Gaza from Rafah, about 3km away.
Carl Skau, the deputy executive director of the UN World Food Programme, has said trucks must be allowed to enter Gaza directly at Kerem Shalom to ease the territory’s deepening crisis.
Israel has so far rejected pleas from the United Nations and others to open Kerem Shalom, but there were signals on Thursday that Kerem Shalom could soon help process the delivery of humanitarian supplies into Gaza.
A process to test the inspection system at Kerem Shalom for trucks arriving from Jordan is under way, said Skau, who visited Gaza on Friday.
“It’s good, it’s useful because it would also be the first time that we can then bring in a pipeline from Jordan. But we need that entry point as well because that would make all the difference,” he said in an interview.
“If you get that open, then it’s just a matter of how much is available and how much can be absorbed on the other side in an orderly fashion, but then certainly that capacity would not be the issue,” he added.
“We have front-loaded with our internal resources so that we have food available in Egypt and in Jordan to reach some 1 million people in one month. We are ready to roll. The trucks are ready to move.”
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The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, thanked his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, for his help in evacuating Russian citizens from Gaza in a call where he wished him well on the eve of the Egyptian election, the Kremlin said.
The Kremlin said Putin updated Sisi on his talks this week with leaders from Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Reuters reports. Putin announced on Friday that he too would seek another term in March, in an election where there will be little question about the result.
Putin has repeatedly blamed the Israel-Hamas war on the failure of years of US diplomacy in the Middle East, while aiming to position Russia as an important player in the region.
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Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, said the US vetoing a UN security council resolution for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza made it complicit in Israel’s “genocide, ethnic cleansing and war crimes” against Palestinians, Reuters reports.
Abbas said he held the US responsible for the bloodshed of Palestinian children, women and elderly people in Gaza.
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Here is video footage of the US vetoing a UN call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.
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Israeli Defense Forces say they have detected a number of launches coming from Lebanon near the northern community of Misgav Am. No casualties were reported, and the IDF said its troops responded by attacking the sources of the shooting.
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In Khan Younis on Saturday, residents said that Israeli forces were ordering people out of another district just west of positions the Israelis stormed earlier this week, Reuters is reporting.
These reports suggest that another attack on the area may be imminent. Zainab Khalil, 57, who has been displaced with 30 of her relatives and friends in Khan Younis west of the Israeli positions, said troops had ordered people in nearby Jalal Street to leave, “so it might be a matter of time before they act against our area too. We have been hearing bombing all night.
“We don’t sleep at night, we stay awake, we try to put the children to sleep and we stay up fearing the place would be bombed and we’ll have to run carrying the children out. During the day begins another tragedy, and that is: how to feed the children,” Khalil told Reuters.
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The Arab-Islamic Summit ministerial committee met the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, in Washington, where committee members called on the US to pressure Israel into a ceasefire.
“Members of the ministerial committee stressed their call for the United States to play a broader role in pressuring the Israeli occupation for an immediate ceasefire, expressing their disappointment at the failure of the UN security council, for the second time, to vote on a resolution for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip for humanitarian reasons, after the United States used its veto power,” Qatar’s ministry of foreign affairs said.
The members of the ministerial committee renewed their unified position regarding their rejection of the continuation of military operations by the Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip, renewing their call for the necessity of an immediate and complete ceasefire to ensure the protection of civilians, an end to the humanitarian tragedy in the Gaza Strip, and the lifting of all restrictions that hinder the entry of humanitarian aid into the strip.
The members of the ministerial committee expressed their total rejection of all forced displacement, stressing the importance of adhering to international law and international humanitarian law.
They reiterated their emphasis on creating a real political climate that leads to a two-state solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state along the lines of June 4, 1967, in accordance with the relevant international resolutions, expressing their rejection of dividing the Palestinian issue and discussing the future of the Gaza Strip separately from the overall Palestinian issue.
Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Participates in Talks Session Between Arab-Islamic Summit Ministerial Committee with US State Secretary#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/WCCiSPEGZB
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) December 9, 2023
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Here are some of the latest images coming in via news agency wires from Deir al-Balah, a city in central Gaza.
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Heavy fighting taking place in Gaza, IDF says
Heavy fighting continued overnight in northern Gaza, both from the air and on the ground, the Israel Defense Forces said on Saturday.
According to the IDF, fighters from the battle team of the Kafir brigade fought and killed a group in the area of a school in the Shejaiya neighbourhood. IDF forces later found a number of Kalashnikov weapons, grenades and ammunition inside the classrooms.
An armoured force from the paratroopers’ brigade combat team destroyed a shaft in the Shejaiya neighbourhood that was part of an extensive underground route, the IDF said, with forces locating another shaft containing weapons and an elevator.
In the Beit Hanoun area, fighters of the 5th brigade’s combat team attacked a group that allegedly fired at them from a UNRWA mosque and school, the IDF said.
הכוחות המשיכו בסריקות במרחב בית הספר ואיתרו בתוך כיתות הלימוד מספר כלי נשק מסוג קלצ'ניקוב, רימונים ותחמושת.
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) December 9, 2023
כוח שיריון מצוות הקרב החטיבתי של הצנחנים איתר והשמיד במרחב שכונת שג'עייה פיר שהיה חלק מתוואי תת קרקעי נרחב, הכוחות איתרו פיר נוסף ובו אמצעי לחימה רבים ומעלית >> pic.twitter.com/CeTOuVdRtT
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Gaza’s health ministry, which is run by Hamas, is reporting that another 71 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on the region, with 160 injured people arriving at al-Aqsa hospital in the past day.
In Khan Younis, 62 dead and another 99 wounded were taken to Nasser hospital, the ministry said.
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Amnesty International is among the rights groups condemning the US for blocking a UN security council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, with Paul O’Brien, the executive director of Amnesty International USA, accusing the US government of “shamefully turning its back on immense civilian suffering”.
With this veto, the US government is shamefully turning its back on immense civilian suffering, staggering death toll, and unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. And civilians are paying the price with their lives. https://t.co/n9gL03O6uL
— Paul O'Brien (@dpaulobrien) December 9, 2023
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Iran warns of risk of 'uncontrollable explosion' of situation in Middle East
Iran has warned of the threat of an “uncontrollable explosion” of the situation in the Middle East, after the US vetoed a UN security council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, reports Agence France-Presse.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the top diplomat of the Islamic republic, also appealed for the immediate opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt to enable humanitarian aid to be sent into the Gaza Strip.
“As long as America supports the crimes of the Zionist regime [Israel] and the continuation of the war … there is a possibility of an uncontrollable explosion in the situation of the region,” Amir-Abdollahian told the UN secretary general António Guterres in a phone call, according to a foreign ministry statement.
The Iranian foreign minister praised the UN chief’s decision to use article 99 of the UN charter as “brave action to maintain international peace and security”.
Fighting resumed between Israel and Hamas on 1 December after a one-week truce that Israel says Hamas violated.
“The Israeli regime’s claim that Hamas has violated the ceasefire is completely false,” Amir-Abdollahian told Guterres, adding that US support for Israel “has made it difficult to achieve a lasting ceasefire”.
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Israel struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon overnight, including a site used as operational headquarters, an IDF spokesperson said.
Israel also responded to launches from Lebanon into Israeli territory during the night, the spokesperson said.
Avril Benoît, the executive director of Médecins Sans Frontières US, has said the US decision to veto a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire “makes it complicit in the carnage in Gaza”.
Benoît said in a statement:
Israel has continued to indiscriminately attack civilians and civilian structures, impose a siege that amounts to collective punishment for the entire population of Gaza, force mass displacement, and deny access to vital medical care and humanitarian assistance. The US continues to provide political and financial support to Israel as it prosecutes its military operations regardless of the terrible toll on civilians. For humanitarians to be able to respond to the overwhelming needs, we need a ceasefire now.
The US veto makes it complicit in the carnage in Gaza.
Read the Guardian’s full report on the recent events at the security council here.
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Here are some images we have received over the news wires, taken on Saturday in the southern city of Khan Younis, Gaza’s second biggest urban concentration, where Israel’s offensive has intensified over recent days.
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The US decision to block a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire has been strongly condemned by rights groups.
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said the US decision to veto the resolution was “morally indefensible”. Callamard said:
By vetoing this resolution, the US has displayed a callous disregard for civilian suffering in the face of a staggering death toll, extensive destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe happening in the occupied Gaza Strip.
The US has brazenly wielded and weaponized its veto to strongarm the UN Security Council, further undermining its credibility and ability to live up to its mandate to maintain international peace and security.
There can be no justification for continuing to block meaningful action by the UN Security Council to stop massive civilian bloodshed. The use of the veto is morally indefensible and a dereliction of the US duty to prevent atrocity crimes and uphold international law.On top of blocking the adoption of a ceasefire that would end mass humanitarian suffering in Gaza, aid the return of hostages, and calm tension multiplying in the region, the US continues to transfer US-made munitions to the government of Israel that contribute to the decimation of entire families.
As the only state to veto, it’s clear the US stands isolated from much of world, and a large portion of its own population. It is displaying a complete absence of global leadership and failing to understand the historical significance of the moment.”
The US was the only member of the Security Council to vote against the draft resolution, while the UK abstained.
Israeli strike on Khan Younis kills six - Hamas-run health ministry
An Israeli strike on the southern city of Khan Younis killed six people, while five others died in a separate attack in Rafah, the Hamas-run health ministry said on Saturday. It has put the latest death toll in Gaza at 17,487 people, mostly women and children.
US risks complicity in war crimes, says Human Rights Watch
Here starts our continuing live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. It’s just past 7.20am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Rights groups have condemned the US for blocking a UN security council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, with Human Rights Watch saying the US risked “complicity in war crimes” by continuing to provide Israel with weapons and diplomatic cover.
The US on Friday defied appeals from its Arab allies and the UN secretary general to back an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, instead vetoing the resolution. The vote in the 15-member council was 13-1 with the UK abstaining. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has reportedly asked Congress to approve the sale of 45,000 shells for Israel’s Merkava tanks to be used in its offensive in Gaza.
The Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, said the US decision to block the resolution was “a turning point in history”. In a strongly worded address to the security council after the vote, Mansour said the results of the vote were “regrettable” and “disastrous”, warning that prolonging the war in Gaza “implies the continued commission of atrocities, the loss of more innocent lives, more destruction”.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, thanked the US and Joe Biden for vetoing a draft security council resolution. Posting to social media, Erdan praised the US president for “standing firmly by our side” and for showing “leadership and values”.
Hamas condemned the US veto at the UN security council, describing it as “unethical and inhumane”. “The US obstruction of the ceasefire resolution is a direct participation with the occupation in killing our people and committing more massacres and ethnic cleansing,” said Ezzat El-Reshiq, a member of the group’s political bureau.
The UN security vote came after a dramatic warning from UN chief António Guterres that civil order in Gaza was breaking down. With the UN claiming its relief operation was grinding to a halt and its staff being killed, Guterres chose earlier this week to take the extremely rare step of invoking article 99 of the UN charter, which permits him to bring a threat to world security to the attention of the security council.
The head of the main UN agency in Gaza (UNRWA) has said it was “the darkest hour” in the organisation’s history. Philippe Lazzarini said the agency is “barely” operational in Gaza, and that its staff – at least 130 of whom have been killed – “take their children to work, so they know they are safe or can die together.” “We are hanging on by our fingertips,” he said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has said it is concerned by images of semi-naked Palestinian men being paraded by the Israeli military in Gaza. While Israeli media initially suggested that the images, apparently filmed by at least one Israeli soldier, showed the surrender of Hamas fighters, several of the men pictured were identified as civilians, including a journalist.
The European Commission has announced it will provide €125m (£107.2m, $134m) in humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people in 2024. The funds will go toward supporting humanitarian organisations working in both Gaza and the occupied West Bank, the commission said in a statement on Friday.
Tributes poured in for the Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer on Friday after friends said he was killed in a strike on Gaza. Alareer, who fiercely denounced Israel and its policies towards the Palestinians, was one of the leaders of a young generation of writers in Gaza who chose to write in English to tell their stories, with friends describing his defiance in the face of the Israeli army’s assault on the Gaza Strip.
More journalists have been killed during Israel’s war with Hamas than in any other conflict in more than 30 years, a leading organisation representing journalists worldwide said. In its annual count of media worker deaths, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said 94 journalists had been killed so far this year and almost 400 others had been imprisoned.
Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed remarks by the Palestinian Authority (PA) prime minister that Hamas could serve as a junior partner in governing Gaza after the war. The authority’s prime minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, said in an interview that the PA is working with US officials on a plan to run Gaza after the current conflict ends. “The Palestinian Authority is not the solution,” the Israeli prime minister responded.
More than a dozen member states of the World Health Organization submitted a draft resolution on Friday that urged Israel to respect its obligations under international law to protect humanitarian workers in Gaza. Separately, the UN said late on Thursday that only 14 of the 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip were functioning in any capacity.
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