Closing summary
It’s approaching 4.45am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv and this blog is about to close. We’ll resume our live coverage later today. Here’s a roundup of the latest developments. And you can see all our Israel-Gaza war coverage here. Thanks for reading.
The Israel Defense Forces said it shot and killed three hostages after mistakenly identifying them as a threat during fighting in Gaza City. The three were named as Yotam Haim, 28, Samer Fouad Al-Talalka, 25, and Alon Shamriz, 26.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu mourned the accidental killings of the three Israeli hostages, saying on X (formerly Twitter): “Together with the entire people of Israel, I bow my head in deep sorrow and mourn the fall of three of our dear sons who were kidnapped.”
Israel reopened an aid crossing into the Gaza Strip on Friday after earlier approving the “temporary measure”. Netanyahu’s office said after weeks of pressure that the aid would be allowed to be delivered directly to Gaza through its Kerem Shalom border crossing.
Two of the world’s largest shipping firms, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, have said they are suspending passage through a Red Sea strait vital for global commerce after Yemeni rebel attacks in the area. The Iran-backed Houthis, who control much of Yemen but are not recognised internationally, say they are targeting shipping to pressure Israel during its war in Gaza.
The US should back the UN security council’s action to protect Gaza’s civilians, Human Rights Watch has said. HRW’s UN director, Louis Charbonneau, said on Friday that the US should act at the UN security council to “pressure Israel, as well as Palestinian armed groups, to comply with international humanitarian law and protect civilians”.
Al Jazeera says its journalist Samer Abudaqa was killed in an Israeli missile attack on Friday. It reports that Abudaqa was working alongside its bureau chief, Wael Al-Dahdouh, and both were reporting at Farhana school in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, when they were attacked by Israeli missiles. It said Abudaqa was trapped in the school for hours and unable to be reached by paramedics due to heavy Israeli shelling around the area.
The German airline carrier Lufthansa has said it will resume flights to Tel Aviv starting 8 January. In a statement released on Friday, Lufthansa said: “In a first phase, Lufthansa Airlines will initially offer four weekly flights from Frankfurt and three weekly flights from Munich. Austrian Airlines is planning eight weekly connections and SWISS five weekly flights.”
In his address at the Global Refugee Forum, Philippe Lazzarini, chief of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said that what continues to shock him is the “ever increasing level of dehumanization” with the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. He said: “The fact that people can laugh, cheer and mock any type of wrongdoing that we observe in this war, when in fact what is happening in Gaza should outrage anyone, should make us all rethink our values… This is also a make or break moment for all of us and for our shared humanity.”
Updated
Israel reopens aid crossing on Gaza border
Israel reopened an aid crossing into the Gaza Strip on Friday after earlier approving the “temporary measure”.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said after weeks of pressure that the aid would be allowed to be delivered directly to Gaza through its Kerem Shalom border crossing, Agence France-Presse reports.
Before Friday’s reopening, all aid entering the Palestinian territory had to pass through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt.
The UN has said the amount of aid reaching Gaza has been well below the 500 truckloads a day that entered before October 7. A UN official said hunger and desperation were driving people to seize the limited aid that is arriving.
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths earlier welcomed Israel’s decision to open the Kerem Shalom crossing, saying on X (formerly Twitter) that it would increase the flow of aid.
But what the people in Gaza need most is an end to this war.
Updated
Shipping companies suspend Red Sea traffic after Houthi attacks
Two of the world’s largest shipping firms, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, have said they are suspending passage through a Red Sea strait vital for global commerce after Yemeni rebel attacks in the area.
The Iran-backed Houthis, who control much of Yemen but are not recognised internationally, say they are targeting shipping to pressure Israel during its war with Hamas in Gaza, Agence France-Presse reports.
The maritime tensions have added to fears that the Gaza conflict could spread.
German transport company Hapag-Lloyd said on Friday it was halting “all container ship traffic across the Red Sea until Monday”, after the Houthis attacked one of its vessels.
The Danish firm Maersk made a similar announcement a little earlier.
It said:
We have instructed all Maersk vessels in the area bound to pass through the Bab al-Mandab Strait to pause their journey until further notice.
Maersk said that followed a “near-miss incident involving Maersk Gibraltar yesterday” as well as Friday’s attack, in which the rebels struck a Hapag-Lloyd cargo ship in the Red Sea.
Updated
Further to the protest in Tel Aviv, the Times of Israel has reported that anger among hostages’ families has mounted in recent days after reports that the Israeli government has been holding off on initiating a hostage deal proposal with Hamas on the grounds that it believes that only continued military operations in Gaza will “bring the terror group to its knees and back to the table with an offer Israel could accept”.
The report continues:
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly barred Mossad chief David Barnea from travelling to Qatar for that reason earlier this week.
However, Axios reports that Netanyahu has since changed his mind and has agreed to dispatch Barnea to meet Qatari prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Europe this weekend to discuss resuming negotiations toward another hostage deal.
At the Tel Aviv protest, in which large crowds blocked off a road to traffic as they marched towards the Israel Defence Forces’ Kirya military headquarters, the Times said the crowd was heard chanting:
Their time is running out! Bring them home now! There is no victory until every last hostage is released!
The IDF announced earlier that its troops shot and killed three hostages being held by Hamas after mistakenly identifying them as a threat during fighting in Gaza City.
Updated
Hundreds of protesters have blocked a major Tel Aviv intersection after the Israeli military said it accidentally killed three hostages in Gaza, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper is reporting.
The protesters are demonstrating in front of the Kirya military base, it said. They are waving signs with the names and pictures of many of the other hostages held by Hamas and are calling for their immediate release.
This is Adam Fulton picking up our live coverage – stay with us for all the latest news as it unfolds
Updated
Summary
Here is where the day stands:
The Israel Defense Forces announced on Friday that it “mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat, as a result the force fired at them and they were killed.” The hostages have been named as 28-year old Yotam Haim, 25-year old Samer Fouad Al-Talalka and 26-year old Alon Shamriz.
In a tweet on Friday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu mourned the accidental killings of three Israeli hostages by the Israel Defense Forces, saying: “Together with the entire people of Israel, I bow my head in deep sorrow and mourn the fall of three of our dear sons who were kidnapped, among them Yotam Chaim and Samer Fouad al-Talalka.”
The US should back the UN security council’s action to protect Gaza’s civilians, Human Rights Watch has said. HRW’s UN director, Louis Charbonneau, said on Friday that the US should act at the UN security council to “pressure Israel, as well as Palestinian armed groups, to comply with international humanitarian law and protect civilians.”
Al Jazeera has announced that its journalist Samer Abudaqa has been killed in an Israeli missile attack on Friday. It reports that Abudaqa was working alongside its bureau chief, Wael Al-Dahdouh, and both were reporting at Farhana school in Khan Younis in southern Gaza when they were attacked by Israeli missiles. It added that Abudaqa was trapped in the school for hours and was unable to be reached by paramedics due to heavy Israeli shelling around the area.
The German airline carrier Lufthansa has announced that it will resume flights to Tel Aviv starting 8 January 2024. In a statement released on Friday, Lufthansa said: “In a first phase, Lufthansa Airlines will initially offer four weekly flights from Frankfurt and three weekly flights from Munich. Austrian Airlines is planning eight weekly connections and SWISS five weekly flights.”
In his address at the Global Refugee Forum, Philippe Lazzarini, chief of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said that what continues to shock him is the “ever increasing level of dehumanization” with the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. He said: “The fact that people can laugh, cheer and mock any type of wrongdoing that we observe in this war, when in fact what is happening in Gaza should outrage anyone, should make us all rethink our values… This is also a make or break moment for all of us and for our shared humanity.”
US senator Elizabeth Warren has issued a letter to Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg in which she demanded answers on reports of Meta censoring pro-Palestinian content.
The Guardian’s Kari Paul reports:
Warren cited a statement co-signed by more than 90 human rights and civil rights organizations and listed various media reports and concerns about Meta’s censorship, removal and mistranslation of Palestine-related content since Hamas attacks on Israel escalated conflict there in October.
“Amidst the horrific Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel, a humanitarian catastrophe including the deaths of thousands of civilians in Gaza, and the killing of dozens of journalists, it is more important than ever that social media platforms do not censor truthful and legitimate content, particularly as people around the world turn to online communities to share and find information about developments in the region,” Warren said in the letter, first published by the Intercept.
Hundreds of users have reported that posts on Instagram related to Palestine were limited or removed with little explanation, while others have found their accounts entirely suspended. Meta previously attributed these removals to glitches in its systems, but an independent analysis commissioned by the company in 2021 found that it had previously violated Palestinian human rights by censoring content related to previous Israeli attacks on Gaza.
For the full story, click here:
Here are some images coming through the newswires from Gaza where Israeli strikes have killed nearly 19,000 Palestinians while survivors grapple a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation amid shortages in food, water, fuel and medical supplies:
US urged to back UN security council to protect civilians in Gaza
The US should back the UN security council’s action to protect Gaza’s civilians, Human Rights Watch has said.
HRW’s UN director, Louis Charbonneau, said on Friday that the US should act at the UN security council to “pressure Israel, as well as Palestinian armed groups, to comply with international humanitarian law and protect civilians”.
Charbonneau added that the US should also support calls to restore essential services to Gaza and allow humanitarian aid to reach all those in need.
He went on to criticize what he called the US’s “double standards”, saying:
The US voting record at the UN has highlighted double standards in Washington’s commitment to the laws of war. While blocking two security council resolutions in October and December, the US abstained from a November vote on a resolution focused on the plight of children in Gaza, which enabled it to pass.
All three security council resolutions – the two that were vetoed and the one adopted – called on Israel to protect civilians and allow aid into Gaza and on Palestinian armed groups to release civilians held hostage. The one that passed is legally binding but Israel and Palestinian armed groups have defied it.
He added:
No permanent security council member – not the US, not Russia – should veto resolutions aimed at stopping mass atrocities.
Updated
The third Israeli hostage who was mistakenly killed by the Israel Defense Forces has been identified.
The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum has identified 26-year old Alon Shamriz, who lived in the Young Generation neighborhood of Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
He was described as a dedicated basketball fan who played on the Sha’ar Hanegev basketball team. The forum reports that Shamriz had been accepted to study computer engineering at Sapir College and was about to begin his first year there.
The other two hostages who were mistakenly killed by the Israel Defense Forces have been identified as 25-year old Samer Fouad Al-Talalka and 28-year old Yotam Haim.
Updated
Benjamin Netanyahu: 'I bow my head in deep sorrow' over accidental Israeli hostages' deaths
In a tweet on Friday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu mourned the accidental killings of three Israeli hostages by the Israel Defense Forces, saying:
Together with the entire people of Israel, I bow my head in deep sorrow and mourn the fall of three of our dear sons who were kidnapped, among them Yotam Chaim and Samer Fouad al-Talalka.
This is an unbearable tragedy. The entire state of Israel will mourn this evening. My heart goes out to the grieving families in their difficult time.
I strengthen our brave warriors who penetrate the sacred mission of returning our abducted, even at the cost of their lives.
Even on this difficult evening, we will bind up our wounds, learn the lessons and continue with a supreme effort to return all our abductees home safely.
יחד עם כל עם ישראל אני מרכין ראש בצער עמוק ומבכה את נפילתם של שלושה מבנינו היקרים שנחטפו, וביניהם יותם חיים וסאמר פואד אל-טלאלקה.
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) December 15, 2023
זוהי טרגדיה קשה מנשוא. מדינת ישראל כולה אבלה בערב זה. ליבי עם המשפחות הדואבות בשעת יגונן הקשה.
אני מחזק את לוחמינו האמיצים שחדורים במשימה הקדושה…
Updated
The US senator Bernie Sanders is demanding answers on Israel’s “indiscriminate” bombing across Gaza.
The Guardian’s Stephanie Kirchgaessner reports:
The US’s support for Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza is facing new scrutiny in Washington following a proposed resolution by the independent senator Bernie Sanders that could ultimately be used to curtail military assistance.
It is far from clear whether Sanders has the support to pass the resolution, but its introduction in the Senate this week – by an important progressive ally of the US president, Joe Biden – highlights mounting human rights and political concerns by Democrats on Capitol Hill.
Citing the killing of nearly 19,000 people and wounding of more than 50,000 in Gaza since Hamas’s brutal 7 October attack, Sanders said it was time to force a debate on the bombing that has been carried out by the rightwing government of the Israel prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the US government’s “complicity” in the war.
For the full story, click here:
Updated
Psychosocial support teams from the Palestine Red Crescent Society have visited Palestinians displaced by Israeli strikes at al-Amal hospital and the PRCS headquarters in Khan Younis.
The teams sought to provide patients with psychological first aid to “alleviate their anxiety amid the continuous bombardment in the governate”, the PRCS said.
🫶The PRCS Psychosocial support team reassures displaced people at PRCS Al-Amal Hospital and the PRCS headquarters in #KhanYounis, providing them with initial psychological first aid❤️to alleviate their anxiety amid the continuous bombardment in the governorate.#Gaza pic.twitter.com/PyvEDN1bgR
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 15, 2023
Updated
Al Jazeera has released a full statement on the killing of its journalist Samer Abudaqa in an Israeli airstrike:
Al Jazeera Media Network condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli drone attack on a Gaza school that resulted in the killing of cameraman Samer Abudaqa.
The Network holds Israel accountable for systematically targeting and killing Al Jazeera journalists and their families. In today’s bombing in Khan Younis, Israeli drones fired missiles at a school where civilians sought refuge, resulting in indiscriminate casualties. Following Samer’s injury, he was left to bleed to death for over 5 hours, as Israeli forces prevented ambulances and rescue workers from reaching him, denying the much-needed emergency treatment.
Al Jazeera Media Network extends its sincere condolences to the family in Gaza and in Belgium of the late colleague Samer Abudaqa.
With the killing of Samer Abudaqa number of journalists and media workers killed in Gaza reached over 90.
Al Jazeera urges the international community, media freedom organisations, and the International Criminal Court to take immediate action to hold the Israeli government and military accountable for these acts of carnage and crimes against humanity.
Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Samer Abu Daqa has been killed, and his colleague Wael al-Dahdouh was wounded in an Israeli attack in Gaza's Khan Younis https://t.co/ARxWAoA2WM pic.twitter.com/EBc2yAe8WB
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) December 15, 2023
Updated
Details are starting to emerge of the Israeli hostages who were mistakenly killed by the Israel Defense Forces on Friday.
According to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, Samer Fouad Al-Talalka, who was kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October, was 25 years old when he was killed.
Al-Talalka lived in Hura, a Bedouin town in southern Israel. He had worked with his father and brothers at a chicken hatchery near Kibbutz Nir Am and was the eldest of 10 children.
The forum also reports that Yotam Haim, another hostage who was mistakenly killed by the IDF, was 28 years old.
Haim lived in Kibbutz Kfar Aza and was a dedicated metal music fan. He had played the drums for 20 years and was part of a band called Persephore. Haim is survived by two parents, as well as a brother and a sister.
Details have yet to be revealed about the third hostage who was killed.
Updated
Al Jazeera says journalist killed in Israeli missile attack in Khan Younis
Al Jazeera has announced that its journalist Samer Abudaqa has been killed in an Israeli missile attack on Friday.
The outlet reports that Abudaqa was working alongside its bureau chief, Wael Al-Dahdouh, and both were reporting at Farhana school in Khan Younis in southern Gaza when they were attacked by Israeli missiles.
Al Jazeera reports that Abudaqa was trapped in the school for hours and was unable to be reached by paramedics due to heavy Israeli shelling around the area.
Meanwhile, Dahdouh, who was hit by shrapnel on the upper arm, was able to reach Nasser hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries, Al Jazeera reports.
Dahdouh, whose wife, son, daughter and grandson were killed in an Israeli airstrike in October, had warned that Abudaqa was “critically injured”.
Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqa has been killed in an Israeli strike that targeted a school in Gaza's Khan Younis.
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) December 15, 2023
Medical teams were prevented by Israeli forces from reaching him after he was critically wounded ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/oWLeNll8F4
At least 63 journalists and media workers in Gaza have been killed by Israeli strikes since 7 October, according to data from the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The Israel Defense Forces has said it cannot guarantee the safety of journalists operating in Gaza.
Last week, in reference to two Israeli strikes in Lebanon in October, which killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and injured six other journalists, the Human Rights Watch condemned the attacks as an “unlawful and apparently deliberate attack on a very visible group of journalists”.
“This is not the first time that Israeli forces have apparently deliberately attacked journalists, with deadly and devastating results,” Ramzi Kaiss, an HRW Lebanon researcher said in last week’s HRW report.
Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders concluded that two journalists who were killed last month in Israeli strikes in Lebanon were “explicitly targeted”.
Updated
Lufthansa to resume flights to Tel Aviv on 8 January 2024
The German airline carrier Lufthansa has announced that it will resume flights to Tel Aviv starting 8 January 2024.
In a statement released on Friday, Lufthansa said:
In a first phase, Lufthansa Airlines will initially offer four weekly flights from Frankfurt and three weekly flights from Munich. Austrian Airlines is planning eight weekly connections and SWISS five weekly flights.
In a first step, the Lufthansa Group airlines will thus offer a total of 20 weekly connections to and from Tel Aviv. This corresponds to around 30 percent of the regular flight schedule. Aircraft from the Airbus A320 family will be used.
It added that the flight schedule offers “good transfer connections from Israel to North America and back via the hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Zurich”.
The flight schedule will be published on 18 December and flights will be able to be booked from that date.
Lufthansa suspended its flights to and from Tel Aviv on 9 October. Its flights to Beirut, Lebanon, were also suspended and were resumed today by Lufthansa, Swiss and Eurowings, the carrier announced.
Updated
Israel Defense Forces: IDF mistakenly kills three Israeli hostages
The Israel Defense Forces announced on Friday that it “mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat, as a result the force fired at them and they were killed”.
In a statement released on Friday, the IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari wrote:
During the fighting in Shejaiya, an IDF force mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat. As a result the force fired at them and they were killed.
During a scan and inspection of the area of the incident, a suspicion arose regarding the identity of the dead. The bodies were taken for examination in Israeli territory, after which it turned out that they were three Israeli hostages.
במהלך הלחימה בשג׳עייה, כוח צה״ל זיהה בשוגג שלושה חטופים ישראלים כאיום. כתוצאה מכך הכוח ירה לעברם והם נהרגו.
— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי - Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) December 15, 2023
במהלך סריקה ובדיקה של מרחב האירוע עלה חשד לגבי זהות ההרוגים. הגופות נלקחו לבדיקה בשטח ישראל ולאחריה התברר כי מדובר בשלושה חטופים ישראלים >>
Two of the hostages who were killed have been identified as Yotam Haim and Samer Fouad Al-Talalka, according to the IDF. It added that a “message was also given to the family of the third abductee, at whose request his name will not be given now”.
גופותיהם נבדקו ב״מרכז הצבי״ שבמחנה שורה, שם זוהו החטופים:
— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי - Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) December 15, 2023
יותם חיים ז״ל, אשר נחטף מכפר עזה על ידי ארגון הטרור חמאס ב-7 באוקטובר.
סאמר טאללקה ז״ל, אשר נחטף מניר עם על ידי ארגון הטרור חמאס ב-7 באוקטובר.
הודעה נמסרה גם למשפחת החטוף השלישי, שלבקשתה שמו לא ימסר כעת >>
The IDF said that it had begun “investigating the incident immediately”.
ההודעות נמסרו למשפחותיהם על ידי נציגי צה״ל ומשטרת ישראל.
— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי - Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) December 15, 2023
צה״ל החל לתחקר את האירוע באופן מיידי. מדובר באזור לחימה שהיו בו התקלויות רבות בימים האחרונים. לקחים מידיים מהאירוע מועברים כעת לכלל הכוחות הלוחמים בשטח >>
Updated
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths has welcomed Israel’s announcement that the Kerem Shalom border crossing will be open for aid delivery but noted that “what the people in Gaza need most is an end to this war”.
In a post on X, Griffiths wrote:
We welcome the announcement today that the border crossing at Kerem Shalom will be open for direct delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza.
The fast implementation of this agreement will increase the flow of aid.
But what the people in Gaza need most is an end to this war.
We welcome the announcement today that the border crossing at Kerem Shalom will be open for direct delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza.
— Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) December 15, 2023
The fast implementation of this agreement will increase the flow of aid.
But what the people in Gaza need most is an end to this war.
Updated
A delegation from the International Red Cross, headed by ICRC president Mirjana Spoljaric, visited the Palestine Red Crescent Society headquarters in Al Bireh, West Bank today.
According to the PRCS, the two humanitarian organizations discussed various topics including strengthening cooperation under “increasingly challenging conditions” as well as enhancing humanitarian responses.
An ICRC Delegation, headed by ICRC President Ms. Mirjana Spoljaric, visited PRCS HQ today in Al Bireh and met the PRCS President Dr. Younis Alkhatib and the team. The discussions tackled a range of topics incl. Strengthening cooperation under increasingly challenging conditions,… pic.twitter.com/jOmQ6Hkl1A
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 15, 2023
Updated
Médecins Sans Frontières has said that its teams are witnessing “a shocking increase in Israeli attacks against civilians in Jenin, the West Bank”.
“Attacks on healthcare have also increased dramatically and become systematically,” the humanitarian organisation said, adding that this year has been the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank.
Our teams are witnessing a shocking increase in Israeli attacks against civilians in Jenin, the West Bank. Attacks on healthcare have also increased dramatically and become systematic... pic.twitter.com/RXHFkvxhsg
— MSF International (@MSF) December 15, 2023
Updated
The ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza as a result of Israel’s attacks across the strip is worsening due to dire humanitarian conditions, lack of aid and cold weather, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said on Friday.
In a video posted onto X, Hasan Abualamren, a displaced Palestinian resident, told PRCS:
Airstrikes were on top of … the heads of my kids when we left the house. My house is made of asbestos and all of it fell on my kids’ heads and they sustained head injuries. I then took my kids and evacuated towards the south and I found that the safest place was the PRCS headquarters.
It is cold and the water floods from under us. We try to find something to elevate our clothes on a surface to prevent the water from reaching them.
The suffering of displaced individuals, especially children, increases at PRCS headquarters in #KhanYounis due to the dire humanitarian conditions, lack of aid, and the cold weather ❄️.#Gaza pic.twitter.com/ZiDk1oBur8
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 15, 2023
Updated
Here is additional reporting from Reuters on the World Health Organization welcoming Israel’s announcement of temporarily allowing aid into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing:
WHO called for the aid to be distributed throughout the embattled Palestinian territory.
“That’s, of course, very good news,” said Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territory, of the Israeli announcement.
But he added: “How can we make sure that these trucks can go everywhere in Gaza, and not just in the southern Gaza, but also to the northern Gaza?”
There were still three functioning hospitals in the north of the territory, he added, speaking by video conference from Jerusalem.
“We’re talking about getting supplies to the people all over Gaza,” he said.
Updated
UNRWA chief: 'What continues to shock me is the ever increasing level of dehumanization' of Gaza
In his address at the Global Refugee Forum, Philippe Lazzarini, chief of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said that what continues to shock him is the “ever increasing level of dehumanization” with the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
He said:
“The fact that people can laugh, cheer and mock any type of wrongdoing that we observe in this war, when in fact what is happening in Gaza should outrage anyone, should make us all rethink our values… This is also a make or break moment for all of us and for our shared humanity.”
"The fact that people can laugh, cheer and mock any type of wrongdoing that we observe in this war, when in fact what is happening in Gaza should outrage anyone, should make us all rethink our values"- @UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini pic.twitter.com/dXnn3dRGnF
— UN News (@UN_News_Centre) December 15, 2023
In his closing remarks at the second Global Refugee Forum, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, said:
“Indeed, Palestine refugees there are enduring unparalleled and unprecedented levels of suffering, and the UN system is doing its utmost to support them, particularly through your sister agency.”
"Indeed, Palestine refugees there are enduring unparalleled and unprecedented levels of suffering, and the UN system is doing its utmost to support them, particularly through your sister agency @UNRWA" - UN chief @antonioguterres at the closing of the second Global Refugee Forum pic.twitter.com/hDt3a7AIqA
— UN News (@UN_News_Centre) December 15, 2023
Updated
The World Health Organization has called the reopening of the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza “good news”, Reuters reports.
Reuters reports that rocket sirens and the booms of at least three interceptions by Israel’s Iron Dome air defences were heard over Jerusalem on Friday for the first time in recent weeks, witnesses told the outlet.
Updated
More aid to be delivered into Gaza after crossing reopens
Israel has approved the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing, the Israeli prime minister’s office said on Friday, Reuters reports.
The office said in a statement the opening would allow Israel to maintain its commitments to permit the entry of 200 trucks of aid a day, agreed upon in a hostage deal brokered and implemented last month.
The crossing had been closed since the 7 October attack by Hamas. Aid was being delivered solely through Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt which, Israel said, could only facilitate the entry of 100 trucks a day.
Summary
As the time approaches 5pm in Jerusalem, here’s a roundup of today’s news in the Israel and Gaza war.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has met US national security adviser Jake Sullivan, a day after the Biden government official met Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Abbas told Sullivan that Gaza was an “integral” part of the Palestinian state. He called for the aggression to stop, and for civilians to not be targeted by Israel.
Sullivan told a press conference that Israel will begin to target its war efforts at the leadership of Hamas, and on intelligence-led operations.
At least three people have been killed in Israeli shelling of a UN-run school in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza. The death tolls vary, with Al Jazeera citing doctors who said that 33 have died in the attack.
Two journalists for Al Jazeera have been injured while covering the attack in Khan Younis. Wael Al-Dahdouh and Samer Abu Daqqa were hurt after a drone fired a missile at the area. The attack has been condemned by several journalists’ bodies, including the Committee to Protect Journalists who said the war is “the deadliest conflict for journalists” in three decades.
The bodies of three Israelis who were kidnapped and killed by Hamas have been returned to Israel.
Elya Toledano, 28, who was attending the Nova Music festival with friends, as well as two army soldiers Corporal Nick Beizer, 19,and Sergeat Ron Sherman, 19, have been confirmed to have died after being taken hostage.
Israeli special forces also recovered the body of a 28-year-old hostage, who has not been named. 130 remain in Gaza.
The Israeli army has dropped leaflets on southern Lebanon warning residents not to help Hezbollah.
The UK has joined calls for settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank to stop. It signed a statement alongside the EU, Australia and Canada. Our reporter Chris McGreal reports on how US citizens are leading the rise of the attacks.
I’m now handing the blog across to Sammy Gecsoyler, who will be taking you through the latest news for the rest of the evening.
Israel’s security cabinet is expected to approve the introduction of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing on Friday, Haaretz reports.
The move will ease the load at the Rafah checkpoint and allow more extensive humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza.
According to the proposal, the trucks will be brought from Egypt to the Kerem Shalom crossing, and will be searched at a checkpoint in Israeli territory and then allowed through to the Gaza Strip.
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Abbas tells US official Gaza is an 'integral' part of Palestinian state
More from Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’s meeting with the US national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Friday.
Abbas told Sullivan that Gaza was an “integral part” of the Palestinian state, according to Agence France Presse.
His office said in a statement that “the president underscored that separation or any attempt to isolate any part of it is unacceptable”.
Abbas “emphasised the urgent need to halt the ongoing Israeli aggression, particularly the genocide being carried out these days upon the Palestinian people in Gaza”, the statement added.
He said it was crucial to “spare civilians from the woes and devastation caused by the Israeli war machine”.
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The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has responded to the news that two Al Jazeera journalists have been injured while covering the shelling of a school in Gaza.
The group called for journalists’ lives to be safeguarded.
#Palestine🇵🇸: We are deeply shocked to learn that journalist @WaelDahdouh and camera operator Samer Abu Daqqa have been injured while covering an earlier Israeli attack on a school. We condemn the attack and reiterate our demand that journalists' lives must be safeguarded. https://t.co/mjJvgEXJ3z
— IFJ (@IFJGlobal) December 15, 2023
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Washington’s ban on travel to the US by extremist Jewish settlers who attack Palestinians in the West Bank has one gaping loophole.
American citizens have been at the forefront of the rise of settler violence in the occupied territories, and the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land, but as US passport holders they cannot be barred from their own country.
Many of the estimated 60,000 Americans living in the West Bank outside of occupied East Jerusalem moved to settlements for the lifestyle and have little to do with the Palestinians on whose land they live. But a core of ideologically driven US citizens were at the forefront of building religious settlements on land expropriated from Palestinians while others have led the rise of what has been described as “settler terrorism”.
Read more:
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has told the US national security advisor Jake Sullivan that Israel’s attack on Palestinian people, especially in Gaza, must stop, the official WAFA news agency reports.
Abbas told Sullivan during their meeting in Ramallah that the U S must “intervene to force Israel to stop its aggression against our people in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem,” WAFA said.
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Two Al Jazeera journalists – Wael Al-Dahdouh and Samer Abu Daqqa – have been wounded by a missile fired from a drone in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, their colleague has said.
Dahdouh was injured in his hand and was being treated, while Abu Daqqa’s whereabouts were unknown, Heba Akila, who was also reporting live from elsewhere in Khan Younis, told the channel’s live feed.
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The Israeli army has dropped leaflets on parts of southern Lebanon warning residents not to help Hezbollah for the first time since the war with Hamas began, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
The frontier between Lebanon and Israel, which is about 100 miles from Gaza, has seen deadly exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, which says it is acting in support of Hamas.
A resident of the border town of Kfarshuba, who requested anonymity due to security concerns, told AFP the leaflets were dropped by a drone early on Friday morning. Another said leaflets were dropped twice after the wind blew many from the initial batch away. A copy of a leaflet, seen by AFP, reads:
To the residents of south Lebanon, we inform you that the terrorist Hezbollah is infiltrating into your homes and your lands. You must stop this terrorism for your own security.
It adds a warning that assisting Hezbollah would expose the population “to danger”.
Residents along the Lebanese border have said the Israeli army has stepped up its bombardment of frontier villages in recent days.
Israel also dropped leaflets over parts of south Lebanon during a 2006 war with Hezbollah.
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The humanitarian situation in Gaza is getting “worse by the day”, a Unicef spokesperson has told Sky News.
James Elder, who has recently been to Gaza, and previously warned of the perilous situation facing Palestinians said the Israeli bombardment has been “unrelenting” and there is now a “grave threat of disease” in the Gaza Strip after a spell of rain.
“With no sanitation, middle-class people who previously had a home with three bedrooms and two bathrooms – there is nowhere to go to the toilet so they have to find a place,” he says.
“Water will then throw that sewage through. The sewage system has broken down and at the same time children are down to less than a litre of clean safe water.
“Disease is rushing through with water, diarrhoea is off the charts, and they can’t go to hospitals because they are treating children with mortar [injuries] and amputations, and so they know that is not a place [to go].”
He said there is not enough aid reaching Gaza, adding: “Getting to the north is very difficult, and you now have a million children displaced.
“Only a ceasefire enables us to get that aid at the scale we need to.”
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The pope denounced the deaths of thousands of children in a “whirlwind of violence” in the Gaza Strip, Ukraine and Yemen in an address on Friday.
Francis has issued multiple appeals for peace and on Wednesday called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas militants.
“Do you know how many children have died in Gaza in this last war? More than 3,000. It is incredible, but it is the reality,” Francis said, Reuters reports.
“And in Ukraine there are more than 500, and in Yemen, in years of war, thousands,” he added.
“Their memory leads us to be ourselves lights for the world, to touch the hearts of many people, especially those who can stop the whirlwind of violence.”
His remarks were part of a pre-written speech that was not read out, but handed over to members of the Azione Cattolica, the Vatican said in a statement.
UN children agency Unicef said on Wednesday that more than 5,000 children have reportedly been killed in the Gaza Strip and thousands more wounded.
The UK has released a statement alongside the EU, Australia, and Canada calling for Israel to stop settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
“Since the start of October, settlers have committed more than 343 violent attacks, killing eight Palestinian civilians, injuring more than 83, and forcing 1,026 Palestinians from their homes.
“We strongly condemn the violent acts committed by extremist settlers, which are terrorising Palestinian communities.
“We reiterate our position that Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law and remind Israel of its obligations under international law.”
It went on to describe the violence as “unacceptable”.
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An Israeli attack on a school in Khan Younis, south Gaza, has killed at least three, including a child, according to Agence France Presse.
The death toll is disputed. Al Jazeera said 33 died after the shelling just after 7am, according to Nasser Medical Complex officials. The Guardian has not been able to verify this.
People were using the UNRWA-run school for shelter, the broadcaster added.
It comes as the death toll in Gaza already numbers more than 18,700 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
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My colleagues Julian Borger, Elena Morresi and Ashley Kirk have written this piece on how Gaza’s main street has become a “landscape of debris”.
Amar al-Mukhtar road used to be Gaza City’s high street. It was lined with shops and hotels, the main mosques, the city hall and the public library, leading from Palestine Square to the Port of Gaza. It was the main artery through Zeitoun, the commercial centre. This footage shows how the street looked before the war:
Now both the street and the surrounding district are a landscape of debris. Some buildings have collapsed under bombardment, the multiple storeys pancaked on top of each other.
This annotated satellite image shows the neighbourhood from above on 6 December. The yellow labels show some of the damaged and destroyed buildings:
This footage from 12 October shows the area in the satellite image to the south of Amar al-Mukhtar Road covered by the largest white circle:
The damage to the buildings around Amar al-Mukhtar Road is just one example of the destruction across Gaza since the conflict began.
The Netherlands can continue to deliver parts for F-35 fighter jets being used by Israel in the Gaza Strip, after a Dutch court threw out a case brought by a group of human rights organisations.
The district court in The Hague said that supplying the parts was primarily a political decision that judges should not interfere with, Agence France Presse reports.
“The considerations that the minister make are to a large extent of a political and policy nature and judges should leave the minister a large amount of freedom,” the court ruled.
The organisations, including the local branch of Amnesty International, had argued that supplying the parts contributed to alleged violations of international law by Israel in its war with Hamas.
The US-owned F-35 parts are stored at a warehouse in the Netherlands and then shipped to several partners, including Israel, via existing export agreements.
These parts “make it possible for real bombs to be dropped on real houses and on real families”, said Michiel Servaes, director of Oxfam Novib, one of the groups that brought the case.
Dutch authorities said it was not clear whether they even had the power to intervene in the deliveries, part of a US-run operation that supplies parts to all F-35 partners.
“On the basis of current information on the deployment of Israeli F-35s, it cannot be established that the F-35s are involved in serious violations of humanitarian law of war,” the government said in a letter to parliament.
War to move to targeting Hamas leadership, US adviser says
We’re starting to get information through from US national security adviser Jake Sullivan’s press conference in Tel Aviv.
He said the war in Gaza will transition to a new phase focused on precise targeting of the Hamas leadership and on intelligence driven operations.
Sullivan gave no details on the timing of a shift in the war’s intensity.
“The conditions and the timing for that was obviously a subject of conversation that I had with prime minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu,” the war cabinet, Israel’s military leaders and the defence minister, Sullivan said in a news conference.
Sullivan accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields, and using schools and hospitals as protection from attacks.
He repeated the US’s position that the Palestinian Authority needed to be “revamped and revitalised”. He saidultimately the war would end with a “negotiated outcome” but that Gaza needed to be under Palestinian control.
He will meet the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank later on Friday. He met Netanyahu yesterday.
“We will discuss ongoing efforts to promote stability in the West Bank, including through efforts to confront terrorism, to support the Palestinian Authority security forces through the US security co-ordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority,” Sullivan said.
“Through ongoing efforts to revitalise and revamp the Palestinian Authority and through initiative to hold extremist settlers accountable for violence against Palestinian civilians.
“The Israeli people need and deserve to live in peace and security with their neighbours in a region that is integrated, dynamic and stable.”
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Body of French-Israeli hostage kidnapped during music festival recovered
The Israeli army said on Friday that it had recovered and returned to Israel the body of the French-Israeli hostage Elya Toledano, who was kidnapped and taken to Gaza by militants during the October 7 attacks.
Toledano, who turned 28 in captivity, was among an estimated 240 people taken hostage during the Hamas attacks in southern Israel. A resident of Tel Aviv, he was attending the Nova music festival along with friend and fellow French-Israeli, Mia Schem, who was released under a truce agreement at the end of November.
The two friends had tried to flee by car at the start of the attack on the Nova music festival, but their tyres had been shot out. Schem had messaged other friends: “They’re shooting at us, come to help us.”
Schem, 21, who was training to be a tattoo artist, was later shown in the first Hamas video of a hostage speaking from captivity. She was released on November 30.
“During an operation in Gaza, the body of the hostage Elya Toledano (28) was recovered by IDF Special Forces and brought back to Israel,” the Israeli army said in a statement, adding that forensic experts had identified the remains.
“The IDF sends the family its heartfelt condolences,” it said, adding that Toledano’s family had been notified prior to the public statement.
The families of hostages had said in recent weeks that they did not know whether Toledano was still alive.
The French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, said her country was “deeply saddened to hear the Israeli armed forces announce the death of our compatriot Elya Toledano, a Hamas hostage whose body was found in Gaza”.
“We share the grief of his family and loved ones. The release of all hostages is our priority,” she wrote on X.
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France’s foreign minister will travel to Lebanon on Saturday as part of diplomatic efforts by Emmanuel Macron’s government to help contain the Middle East conflict.
Fears of a widening war have been growing, with Iran-backed groups targeting US and allied forces in Iraq and Syria, and daily exchanges of fire along Israel’s border with Lebanon.
“We must avoid a regional eruption,” foreign ministry spokesperson Christophe Lemoine said before foreign minister Catherine Colonna’s trip, according to Agence France Presse.
Colonna will call for “restraint” and “responsibility” to avoid a new frontline on the Israeli-Lebanese border, he said.
There have been near-daily cross-border exchanges between Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Hamas ally in Lebanon, and Israel since the Palestinian group’s unprecedented 7 October attacks on Israel that Israeli officials say killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
In response, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas and launched an unrelenting military offensive on Gaza that has left swathes of the besieged Palestinian territory in ruins. The health ministry in the Hamas-run strip says more than 18,700 people have been killed.
Along the Israel-Lebanon border violence has remained relatively limited, with 128 killed in total, including 90 Hezbollah combatants and at least 11 Israelis.
French officials are also seeking the release of the French hostages among the about 240 seized by Hamas militants, as the Israeli army announced Friday that it had recovered the body of French-Israeli hostage Elya Toledano, a 28-year-old seized at a desert rave party when the attack occurred.
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The Israeli heritage minister, Amichai Eliyahu, of Otzma Yehudit, the far-right party led by Itamar Ben-Gvir, said in a radio interview that the Gaza Strip must be “fully” occupied.
In comments reported by Haaretz, Eliyahu said: “Anyone who sells an illusion that [Hamas] will return to manage things does not want to remember what happened on Simhat Torah.”
He called the Hamas attacks on 7 October “the most despicable thing that has happened in recent years since the Holocaust”, adding: “All day we are busy calming the world. Why don’t we create deterrence?”
When asked about the suspension of the reserve soldiers who was filmed singing in Hebrew on a mosque loudspeaker in the West Bank, Eliyahu said: “It’s as if for our morals we are not willing to be a little cruel. To win, you need a little cruelty. To win, you have to be a little scary.”
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Israel recover bodies of two soldiers kidnapped by Hamas
The bodies of hostages Nick Beizer and Ron Sherman have been recovered by the IDF, a spokesperson has confirmed.
They were soldiers in the Israeli army, holding the position of corporal and sergeant respectively.
Sherman was 19 on 7 October when he was kidnapped from his base. He had messaged his parents in the moments before he was taken saying “it’s over”.
He was later shown on social media in civilian clothing, being held by Hamas.
Beizer, also 19, was taken from the base near the Erez crossing.
He was part of the Erez District Coordination Office which works with the Palestinian Authority regarding import and export, training, escorting convoys and Palestinian businesses.
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IDF says it has destroyed 'battalion HQ' in Shejaiya
The IDF has destroyed the headquarters of a “battalion” in Shejaiya, a spokesperson for the Israeli army has said.
In a tweet, Avichay Adraee said the army discovered and destroyed a tunnel opening and killed a militant.
He added that in the last 24 hours soldiers had raided sites in Khan Younis, southern Gaza “eliminating tunnel openings belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation”.
Adraee added that during the raids they destroyed a weapons store, and found motorcycles used in the 7 October attacks in a tunnel.
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A court in the Netherlands will rule on Friday on whether to force the Dutch government to stop supplying parts for F-35 fighter jets being used by Israel over the Gaza Strip.
A group of human rights organisations has brought the case, arguing that supplying the parts contributes to alleged violations of international law by Israel in its war with Hamas, Agence France-Presse reports.
The case concerns US-owned F-35 parts stored at a warehouse in the Netherlands and then shipped to several partners, including Israel, via existing export agreements.
These parts “make it possible for real bombs to be dropped on real houses and on real families”, said Michiel Servaes, the director of Oxfam Novib, one of the plaintiffs.
Dutch authorities have said it is not clear whether they even have the power to intervene in the deliveries, part of a US-run operation that supplies parts to all F-35 partners.
The government said in a letter to parliament:
On the basis of current information on the deployment of Israeli F-35s, it cannot be established that the F-35s are involved in serious violations of humanitarian law of war.
But Liesbeth Zegveld, a human rights lawyer for the plaintiffs, dismissed that as “nonsense”.
Here are some of the latest images coming in from the Gaza Strip and Israel as Israeli forces continued their bombardment across the Palestinian territory on Friday.
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Israel intensifies Gaza barrage, Palestinian authorities say
Israeli tanks and planes intensified their bombardment of northern Gaza as well as Khan Younis and Rafah in the territory’s south, say residents, authorities and media.
Four people, including two children, were killed and several others wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Khan Younis early on Friday, Palestinian health officials said.
Reuters also reports that official Palestinian news agency Wafa said overnight Israeli airstrikes on Khan Younis and Rafah killed or injured tens of people.
One of the strikes hit a housing block near the Kuwaiti hospital in Rafah, Wafa added.
Live video footage looking into southern Gaza from Israel after dawn on Friday showed thick, black plumes of smoke rising into the air. The cause of the smoke was not immediately known.
Israel has been pounding the 40km (25-mile) length of Gaza with no sign of a pause in hostilities or a ceasefire that would enable delivery of more desperately needed basic supplies for civilians to survive as their homes have been destroyed.
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Biden in a bind as Netanhayu ready to flout any US attempt to rein in Israel
US efforts to show it retains significant influence over the Israeli government were dealt a double blow on Thursday when the Israeli defence minister said it would take months to complete the task of rooting out Hamas, and a leaked US intelligence assessment revealed up to 45% of the 29,000 air-to-ground munitions that Israel has dropped on Gaza since 7 October have been unguided “dumb bombs”.
The predictions of a months-long campaign were delivered on camera by Yoav Gallant to a stony-faced Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, who had arrived in Israel to convey a message that its campaign needed to change – and preferably be wrapped up in weeks. They were later reinforced by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Neyanyahu, who said Israel would not stop until complete victory.
The leak about the munitions contradicted claims by the US state department that it had no concerns and no assessment whether Israeli bombing could be in breach of international humanitarian law.
More broadly the two issues highlight questions about the nature of the control America has over Israel’s political and military response to Hamas’s bloody attacks of 7 October.
For the rest of this analysis, click here:
Israel recovers body of hostage, 28
Israeli special forces have recovered the body of a 28-year-old hostage who was held in the Gaza Strip by Hamas since its 7 October rampage in southern Israel, the military has said.
An “identification procedure” had been carried out by medical officials, military rabbis and forensic experts, Reuters reports a military statement as saying on Friday.
The man was taken by Hamas from an outdoor music festival that turned into a massacre, Israeli media reported.
More than 130 hostages remain in Gaza. Some have been declared dead in absentia by Israeli authorities.
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Palestinian Authority 'will look to ultimately have role' in Gaza, says US official
The Palestinian Authority “will look to ultimately have a role in Gaza” and that is something the US is talking about with them, according to a senior US official.
Reuters reports that the comments came as the US said the White House’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, would meet with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah on the occupied West Bank on Friday about the war in Gaza and ensuring the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October is never repeated.
Sullivan would discuss “ongoing efforts to revamp and revitalise” the Palestinian Authority and reining in “extremist settler violence” against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, said a US official, who declined to be named.
Sullivan said on Thursday that governance of the West Bank and Gaza Strip needed to be connected under a refurbished Palestinian Authority.
The official said US-trained Palestinian security forces had performed “incredibly well” in preventing violence instigated by Hamas in the West Bank after the 7 October attack and there were a number of personnel there that could form “some sort of a nucleus” for a future force in the months following Israel’s military campaign.
The official said:
This is something we’re discussing with the Palestinians and with the Israelis and with regional partners. And it very much remains a work in progress. That is one idea of many.
The US president, Joe Biden, remained strongly committed to a two-state solution, but that could not happen as long as Hamas remained the dominant power in Gaza, the official added, also saying:
The Palestinian Authority will look to ultimately have a role there, and that is something we are talking about with them.
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Opening summary
Welcome to a new blog in our continuing live coverage of Israel-Gaza war. This is Adam Fulton and here are the latest developments.
A senior United States official has said the Palestinian Authority “will look to ultimately have a role in Gaza” and that is something the US is talking with the authority about.
The comments came ahead of a planned meeting between the White House’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Friday to discuss the war in Gaza.
Washington has previously suggested it sees the Palestinian Authority returning to Gaza and playing a key role in any postwar scenario if Hamas is removed from power.
Meanwhile, Israeli special forces have recovered the body of 28-year-old hostage who was held in Gaza by Hamas since its 7 October attack in southern Israel, the Israeli military said.
More on those stories soon. In other news:
US president Joe Biden and Jake Sullivan discussed scaling back Israel’s high-intensity operations in Gaza with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Reuters reported a senior US official as saying. Sullivan told Israel’s Channel 12 television he had “constructive” talks with Netanyahu about Israel shifting to a more precise and targeted phase of operations, without giving details or a timeline. The New York Times reported the US was pushing for a shift by new year.
Biden has said he wants Israel to “be focused on how to save civilian lives” in Gaza. He said that meant “not stop going after Hamas, but to be more careful”. A White House spokesperson said it wanted Israel’s war in Gaza to “end as soon as possible” but that the US was not dictating a timeline to Israel.
All communication and internet services were completely cut off in Gaza on Thursday, Palestinian telecommunication companies said.
The Israeli military said soldiers were facing disciplinary action after violating its code of conduct during an “operational activity” near a mosque in the West Bank city of Jenin. The soldiers were seen on video singing Hanukkah songs and mocking the Islamic call to prayer over loudspeaker in the mosque during a raid. The incident came during three days of raids in the occupied West Bank, during which Israeli troops killed 12 Palestinians, including one youth shot dead at a hospital, Palestinian officials and international health charities said.
The Palestinian Football Association says it has documented the killing of 85 Palestinian athletes, including 55 football players and 30 players in other sports, since the start of the war, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. The association said in a report on Thursday that Israeli forces “targeted Palestinian athletes and sports facilities, especially football players and club presidents, administrators, referees and others”, according to Wafa.
At least 18,787 Palestinians have been killed and 50,897 wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said on Thursday. The strikes followed Hamas’s attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel, with more than 200 others taken hostage.
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