Here’s how things stand on Saturday, December 23, 2023:
The latest developments
- The United Nations Security Council has passed a resolution allowing for more aid into the Gaza Strip, which is at “imminent risk of famine” and faces the spread of diseases. But rights groups call it “woefully insufficient” to address the growing humanitarian crisis in the enclave.
- The UN resolution did not demand a suspension of hostilities, which was opposed by the United States.
- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, says he welcomed the resolution but that an “immediate ceasefire” was the “most pressing requirement”.
- Israel presses on with its bombardment of the Strip, with the latest attacks reported in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza and Khan Younis in the south.
- Israeli troops backed by armoured vehicles and a bulldozer launched dawn raids across the occupied West Bank, searching homes and clashing with Palestinian youth in Jenin and a nearby refugee camp, according to local media reports.
- Strikes also continue along the Israel-Lebanon border with Israel’s air force attacking locations in southern Lebanon in what they say are operations against Hezbollah infrastructure. Meanwhile, Hezbollah fighters continue to target northern Israel with missiles.
Human impact and fighting
- At least 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office. The death toll from Hamas’s attack on Israel stands at nearly 1,140.
- At least 18 Palestinians, including children, were killed by Israeli attacks in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp.
- Approximately 70 percent of the people killed in Gaza as a result of Israel’s military onslaught were women and children, while another 53,320 Palestinians have been injured during the same period, according to the UN.
- The WHO chief has reiterated that “famine is looming in Gaza” as the continuous fighting has blocked access to food and other critical supplies.
- At least 10,000 children aged under five years face “life-threatening” malnutrition in Gaza, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned.
Diplomacy
- Despite international pressure, Israel’s foreign minister says the country will continue the war on Gaza “until the release of all the hostages and the elimination of Hamas”.
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the way Israel is waging war on Gaza has created “massive obstacles” for the delivery of humanitarian aid to the war-torn territory where people are facing famine.
- The Israeli military’s ability to avoid destroying civilian infrastructure funded by the US government in Gaza demonstrates that Israeli forces are practising “selective restraint” in what they target for destruction, Human Rights Watch’s ex-director Kenneth Roth said.
- The US has accused Iran of being “deeply involved” in attacks by the Yemen-based Houthis in the Red Sea.
