Closing summary
It’s jut after 4am in Israel and Gaza and we’ll be closing the blog soon. In the meantime here’s a summary of the latest developments:
Israel continued with its intense bombing campaign across the north and south of Gaza for a third day since the end of the truce with Hamas and on Sunday night said it had expanded its ground operation to all of Gaza. “The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] continues to extend its ground operation against Hamas centres in all of the Gaza Strip,” spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters in Tel Aviv.
The Jabalia refugee camp in the north of Gaza was among the sites reported hit from the air as were the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah in the south of Gaza. Israeli government spokesperson, Eylon Levy, said the military had struck more than 400 targets over the weekend “including extensive aerial attacks in the Khan Younis area” and had also killed Hamas militants and destroyed their infrastructure in Beit Lahiya in the north.
Over 15,500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes in the last two months, Gaza’s health ministry announced on Sunday. According to ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra, 70% of the Palestinians killed were women and children. He said that 41,316 had been injured.
During “the past hours” 316 dead and 664 wounded were removed from the rubble and taken to hospitals, al-Qudra said, adding that “many others are still under the rubble”.
The UN humanitarian agency (OCHA) said that about 1.8 million people – roughly 75% of Gaza’s population – are internally displaced, up from a previous figure of 1.7 million. “However, obtaining an accurate count is challenging,” it said.
Hospitals in southern Gaza overflowed with dead and wounded, amid what Uncief spokesperson James Elder said was “the worst worst bombardment of the war right now in south Gaza” on Sunday evening. “I feel like I’m almost failing in my ability to convey the endless killing of children here,” Elder said in a video from Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.
Qatar is demanding an “immediate, comprehensive and impartial international investigation” into what its prime minister called Israeli crimes in Gaza, according to Al Jazeera. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani also said Qatar would continue its efforts towards facilitating another truce and reaching a permanent ceasefire in the besieged enclave, Al Jazeera added.
Israel’s military (UDF) claimed to have found about 800 shafts leading to Hamas tunnels and bunkers since the IDF began its Gaza ground operation on 27 October. It said it had destroyed more than half of them.
The IDF also said it had killed Hamas commander Haitham Khuwajari in an airstrike. It said Khuwajari, the leader of the Shati battalion, was responsible for “numerous acts of terror” against Israel and under his command “Hamas terrorists carried out raids into Israeli territory on October 7th”.
The Israeli army reported 17 rocket salvos from Gaza into Israel on Sunday, adding that most were intercepted and there was only slight material damage. Israel said two of its soldiers had died in combat, the first since the week-long truce expired on Friday.
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) called on Israel to respect the international rules of war and said he was accelerating his investigation into violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. In a video address following a visit to Israel and Palestine, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan added, “In Gaza, there is no justification for doctors to perform operations without light, for children to be operated upon without anaesthetics. Imagine the pain … I was crystal clear, that this is the time to comply with the law. If Israel doesn’t comply now, they shouldn’t complain later.”
Israeli settlers attacked two Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank late on Saturday, killing one man and torching a car, Palestinian authorities said. The Palestinian ambulance service said a 38-year-old man in the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan, in the northern West Bank, was shot in the chest and died as residents confronted settlers and Israeli soldiers.
Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group said it had struck Israeli positions near the Lebanon-Israel border. Eight soldiers and three civilians were wounded by Hezbollah fire in the area of Beit Hillel, Israeli army radio reported. The IDF said its artillery struck sources of fire from Lebanon and its fighter jets struck other Hezbollah targets.
A US air strike killed five Iraqi militants near the northern city of Kirkuk as they prepared to launch explosive projectiles at US forces in the country, three Iraqi security sources told Reuters, identifying them as members of an Iran-backed militia. A US military official confirmed a “self-defense strike on an imminent threat” that targeted a drone staging site near Kirkuk on Sunday afternoon.
Three commercial vessels came under attack in international waters in the southern Red Sea, the US military said Sunday, as Yemen’s Houthi group claimed drone and missile attacks on two Israeli vessels in the area. The USS Carney, an American destroyer, responded to distress calls and provided assistance following missile and drone launches from Houthi-controlled territory, according to US Central Command.
James Elder, a spokesman for the UN’s children’s agency Unicef, has posted several tweets from Gaza, including this video inside Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Israel had told Palestinians to flee to Khan Younis for safety in the early weeks of the war, but has now told them to flee to specific smaller areas as it intensifies its campaign in the south. Elder says:
I feel like I am running out of ways to describe the horrors hitting children here.
I feel like I’m almost failing in my ability to convey the endless killing of children here.
Another intense evening of attacks here in Khan Younis, in #Gaza pic.twitter.com/682rHFai4l
— James Elder (@1james_elder) December 3, 2023
Hamas commander Haitham Khuwajari has been killed in an Israeli airstrike, the Israeli military (IDF) has said in a statement on Telegram.
The IDF said that he was the leader of Hamas’ Shati battalion and that under his command “Hamas terrorists carried out raids into Israeli territory on October 7th” and that Khuwajari had also “secured Hamas terrorist activity in the Shifa hospital”.
Khuwajari was responsible for “numerous acts of terror” against Israel and was in command of Hamas forces fighting Israel in the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza.
Israeli troops raided al-Shifa, the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, last month, drawing international condemnation.
A bit more from the US military statement on the Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea, which says that the US has “every reason to believe that these attacks … are fully enabled by Iran”. It continued:
The United States will consider all appropriate responses in full coordination with its international allies and partners.
As Israel continues to bomb Gaza, killing hundreds of people, Associated Press has spoken to Palestinians whose lives have been devastated: The news wire reports:
Outside a Gaza City hospital, a dust-covered boy named Saaed Khalid Shehta dropped to his knees beside the bloodied body of his little brother Mohammad, one of several bodies laid out after people said their street was hit by airstrikes. He kissed him.
“You bury me with him!” the boy cried. A health worker at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital said more than 15 children were killed.
Israel’s military said its fighter jets and helicopters struck targets in Gaza including “tunnel shafts, command centers and weapons storage facilities.” It acknowledged “extensive aerial attacks in the Khan Younis area.”
The bodies of 31 people killed in the bombardment of central Gaza were taken to the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, said Omar al-Darawi, a hospital administrative employee. One woman wept, cradling a child’s body. Another carried the body of a baby. Later, hospital workers reported 11 more dead after another airstrike. Bloodied survivors included a child carried in on a mattress.
Outside a hospital morgue in Khan Younis, resident Samy al-Najeila carried the body of a child. He said his sons had been preparing to evacuate their home, “but the occupation didn’t give us any time. The three-floor building was destroyed completely, the whole block was totally destroyed.” He said six of the bodies were his relatives.
“Five people are still under the rubble,” he said. “God help us.”
Updated
Four attacks on three separate ships in Red Sea on Sunday, US military says
An update on attacks against ships in the Red Sea, where the US military has said in its latest statement that there were four attacks against three separate commercial ships on Sunday.
The ships were connected to 14 different countries and the US destroyer USS Carney responded to distress calls from the ships, US Central Command said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.
The Unity Explorer was targeted by a ballistic missile launched from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen which landed “in the vicinity of the vessel” at around 9.15 am, the US said. Three hours later it was targeted again and this time was struck. The statement continued:
CARNEY responded to the distress call. While assisting with the damage assessment, CARNEY detected another inbound UAV, destroying the drone with no damage or injuries on the CARNEY or UNITY EXPLORER. UNITY EXPLORER reports minor damage from the missile strike.
Hours after that attack, at around 3.30pm, another ship, the Number 9, was also struck by a missile launched from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen. The bulk carrier reported damage but no casualties.
An hour later, a third ship, the Sophie II, sent a distress call saying they had been struck by a missile, Central Command said.
CARNEY again responded to the distress call and reported no significant damage. While en route to render support, CARNEY shot down a UAV headed in its direction.
The Carney had also shot down a drone at around midday, the US military said, adding: “The drone was headed toward CARNEY although its specific target is not clear.”
Today, there were four attacks against three separate commercial vessels operating in international waters in the southern Red Sea. These three vessels are connected to 14 separate nations. The Arleigh-Burke Class destroyer USS CARNEY responded to the distress calls from the…
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 3, 2023
A US air strike has killed five Iraqi militants near the northern city of Kirkuk as they prepared to launch explosive projectiles at US forces in the country, three Iraqi security sources have told Reuters, identifying them as members of an Iran-backed militia. The news wire reports:
A US military official confirmed a “self-defense strike on an imminent threat” that targeted a drone staging site near Kirkuk on Sunday afternoon.
A statement by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group representing several Iraqi armed factions with close ties to Tehran, said five of its members had been killed, and vowed retaliation against US forces.
The group had claimed several attacks against US forces throughout Sunday.
Earlier Sunday, the US military official said US and international forces were attacked with multiple rockets at the Rumalyn Landing Zone in northeastern Syria, but there were no casualties or damage to infrastructure.
Iraqi armed groups have claimed more than 70 such attacks against US forces since 17 October over Washington’s backing of Israel in its bombardment of Gaza.
The attacks paused during the recent Israel-Hamas ceasefire but have since resumed.
This is Helen Livingstone taking over from my colleague Maya Yang.
Here are some images coming through the newswires from Gaza where over 15,500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes in the last two months while survivors grapple with a scarcity in food, water, medical supplies and fuel across the strip:
Updated
Paramedics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society are communicating with their families via radios amid frequent communication outages conducted by Israel, the PRCS revealed on Sunday:
The video highlights the challenges faced by PRCS paramedics in Jabalia, working tirelessly around the clock, separated from their families with communication interruptions, wireless devices become their only means to connect with their children.💔
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 3, 2023
A salute to the humanitarian… pic.twitter.com/dPKplFOlCc
Qatar’s prime minister and its foreign minister received a phone call from the US secretary of state on Sunday, in which they discussed “means of de-escalation and ceasefire” in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
A statement released by the Qatari foreign ministry on Sunday said:
HE prime minister and miniser of foreign affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani received on Sunday a phone call from HE secretary of state of the United States of America Antony Blinken.
During the call, they discussed the latest developments in the Gaza strip and the occupied Palestinian territories, means of de-escalation and ceasefire.
His Excellency confirmed that the state of Qatar is committed, with its mediation partners, to continue the efforts for the return of calm, stressing that the continued bombing of the Gaza strip after the end of the pause complicates mediation efforts and exacerbates the humanitarian catastrophe in the strip.
Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Receives Phone Call from US Secretary of State#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/zgnnO7sMEI
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) December 3, 2023
Updated
Israeli forces fired upon two ambulances in the Faluja area of the north of Gaza, injuring two paramedics and an accompanying injured person on Sunday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said.
🚨Urgent: Two PRCS paramedics and an accompanying injured person were wounded as IOF fired upon two ambulances 🚑 in the Faluja area, north of the #Gaza Strip, while transporting an injured individual.#Gaza#NotATarget pic.twitter.com/pEqhOxFkX8
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 3, 2023
Updated
The Israeli bombardment of southern Gaza is the “worst bombardment of the war right now”, Unicef spokesperson James Elder said on Sunday.
“I am seeing massive casualties. We have a final warning to save children; and our collective conscience,” he added.
— James Elder (@1james_elder) December 3, 2023
Updated
A US warship has shot down at least two drones in the Red Sea, according to a US defense official speaking to the Washington Post.
Initial assessments reportedly indicated that at least one of the drones came from a Houthi-controlled area in Yemen.
According to the official, the Unity Explorer commercial vessel sent a distress call to the USS Carney. While the USS Carney was near the Unity Explorer, a drone approached the two ships and the USS Carney shot it down, Washington Post reports the official saying.
Earlier today, Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed drone and missile attacks on two Israeli vessels in the Red Sea.
However, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that the two ships had no connection to Israel.
Updated
In a video address following his visit to Israel and Palestine, International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan said: “If Israel doesn’t comply [with international law] now, they shouldn’t complain later.”
He said:
In Gaza, there is no justification for doctors to perform operations without light, for children to be operated upon without anaesthetics. Imagine the pain …
I was crystal clear, that this is the time to comply with the law. If Israel doesn’t comply now, they shouldn’t complain later.
Some brief reflections yesterday before departing Ramallah at the end of the first mission by a Prosecutor of the ICC to Israel or the State of Palestine. Too many have died, too many are being injured & too many suffering trauma & heartbreak. It’s time to respect the law if we… https://t.co/XWrf4m0gcQ
— Karim A. A. Khan KC (@KarimKhanQC) December 3, 2023
The Israeli military says it has expanded its ground operation against the Hamas militant group to “every part” of the Gaza Strip.
The Associated Press reports:
The army resumed its offensive Friday after a weeklong cease-fire expired. After focusing its ground operation on the northern part of Gaza in recent weeks, the military began carrying out airstrikes in southern Gaza as well. The vast majority of Gaza’s population has fled to the south in search of safety.
But late Sunday, Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said ground troops were also pushing into the south.
‘The Israeli army is continuing and expanding the ground operation against the Hamas presence in every part of the Gaza Strip,’ he said.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said that Palestinians in Gaza have “undergone amputations without anesthesia and others have tragically lost their lives post-amputation”.
In a statement released on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the PRCS added:
Alarming: 80% of cases in children under 5 result in severe burns, often leading to limb amputations. Rising disability rates are linked to weapon types, challenges in transportation to hospitals, and shortages of vital medications and supplies.
🚨 Alarming: 80% of cases in children under 5 result in severe burns, often leading to limb amputations. Rising disability rates are linked to weapon types, challenges in transportation to hospitals, and shortages of vital medications and supplies.
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 3, 2023
Updated
The two ships hit in the Red Sea on Sunday had no connection to Israel, according to an Israeli military spokesperson, Reuters reports.
Earlier today, Yemen’s Houthis claimed that they had attacked the two ships off the Yemeni coast, adding the “Israeli” vessels were targeted over the war in Gaza.
The US also said that it was “aware of reports” surrounding attacks in the Red Sea and said that it will provide information “as it becomes available”.
Updated
Gaza health ministry: 15,523 Palestinians killed, 41,316 wounded
Over 15,500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes in the last two months, Gaza’s health ministry announced on Sunday.
According to ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra, 70% of the Palestinians killed were women and children, Agence France-Presse reports. He said that 41,316 have been injured.
“During the past hours, only 316 dead and 664 wounded were removed from rubble and taken to hospitals, but many others are still under the rubble,” al-Qudra added.
Updated
Israel will hunt down Hamas even in Qatar, Turkey and Lebanon even if it takes years, the head of Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet said in a recording aired by Israel’s public broadcaster Kan on Sunday, Reuters reports.
It was unclear when Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar made the remarks or to whom. The agency itself declined to comment on the report.
White House national security council spokesperson John Kirby said that the US is having discussions with Israel every day about being “careful, precise and deliberate in their targeting”.
In a new interview with CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, Kirby responded to a question from Margaret Brennan on whether there should be “red lines” between the US and Israel on their military strategy.
In response, Kirby said:
That’s why we continue to work, as [defense] secretary [Lloyd] Austin said, with our Israeli counterparts, to get them to be as careful and as precise and as deliberate in their targeting as possible.
Over 15,200 Palestinians have been killed in the last two months by Israeli airstrikes, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Meanwhile, more than 41,300 Palestinians have been injured in the attacks.
Updated
Yemen's Houthis claim Red Sea ship attacks as US says it's "aware of reports" on attacks
Here are more details on Yemen’s Houthis claims of attacking Red Sea ships over the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas on Sunday.
Agence France-Presse reports:
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Sunday said they had attacked two ships off the Yemeni coast, adding the ‘Israeli’ vessels were targeted over the war in Gaza.
A US defense official told AFP that Washington was ‘aware of reports’ regarding attacks in the Red Sea, and hours earlier a maritime security group said a UK-owned ship had reportedly been hit by rocket fire.
In a statement posted on social media, the Houthis said they carried out an ‘operation against two Israeli ships in the Bab al-Mandab Strait,’ a strategic waterway connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, targeting one with a ‘missile and the second ship with a drone.’
The Houthis identified the vessels as Unity Explorer and Number Nine, saying the attack came after the two ships ‘rejected warning messages’ from its forces. The Houthis said they would continue to target Israeli vessels ‘until the Israeli aggression against our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip stops.’
A US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said ‘we’re aware of reports regarding attacks on the (US Navy’s) USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available.’
Earlier on Sunday, maritime security firm Ambrey said, citing reports, that an unnamed Bahamas-flagged vessel was ‘struck by a rocket’while sailing south around 35 nautical miles off Yemen’s western coast.
‘The affected vessel was issuing distress calls relating to piracy/missile attack,’ the UK-based company added. It noted reports that ‘an international naval asset in the vicinity of the incident’ was likely proceeding to the ship’s location.
Updated
“Gaza’s population will soon begin dying from diseases as well as Israeli bombardment,” UNRWA said on Sunday.
“People have lost everything and they need everything,” the UN agency for Palestinian refugees added.
Over 15,000 Palestinians have been killed in📍#Gaza - including over 6,000 children and 4,000 women - since the war began.
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 3, 2023
People have lost everything and they need everything.
Gaza’s population will soon begin dying from diseases as well as Israeli bombardment. pic.twitter.com/nt6vebmdri
Israeli strikes have disrupted health facilities, water and sanitation systems which the World Health Organization (WHO) warned will increase the risk of disease spread.
“The situation is particularly concerning for almost 1.5 million displaced people across Gaza, especially those living in severely overcrowded shelters with poor access to hygiene facilities and safe water, increasing risk of infectious diseases transmission,” the WHO said last month.
Updated
Yemen’s Houthi movement targeted two Israeli ships on Sunday with an armed drone and a naval missile, a spokesperson for the group’s military said, Reuters reports.
The spokesperson said the two ships, Unity Explorer and Number Nine, were targeted after they rejected warnings from the group’s navy.
ICC prosecutor to 'intensify' investigations into Israel and Gaza
International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan said that he will “intensify its efforts to advance its investigations” of possible crimes committed by Israel and Hamas following a visit to Israel and Palestine.
In a statement released on Sunday, Khan said that he witnessed “scenes of calculated cruelty” at locations of Hamas’s 7 October attacks on Israel.
He added:
The attacks against innocent Israeli civilians on 7 October represent some of the most serious international crimes that shock the conscience of humanity, crimes which the ICC was established to address.
In my meeting with the families of the victims of these attacks, my message was clear: we stand ready to work in partnership with them as part of our ongoing work to hold those responsible to account.
Khan, who also visited Ramallah, said that he spoke with the families of Palestinian victims and said: “We must never become numb to such suffering.”
He added:
In relation to Gaza, and notwithstanding any ongoing violations of international humanitarian law by Hamas and other armed groups in the Gaza Strip, the manner in which Israel responds to these attacks is subject to clear legal parameters that govern armed conflict.
Conflict in densely populated areas where fighters are alleged to be unlawfully embedded in the civilian population is inherently complex, but international humanitarian must still apply and the Israeli military knows the law that must be applied.
Khan also added:
All actors must comply with international humanitarian law. If you do not do so, do not complain when my office is required to act.
Updated
A US warship and multiple commercial ships came under attack Sunday in the Red Sea, according to the Pentagon, the Associated Press reports.
“We’re aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available,” the Pentagon said.
The British military earlier said there had been a suspected drone attack and explosions in the Red Sea, without elaborating.
The Pentagon did not identify where it believed the fire came from. However, Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been launching a series of attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, as well as launching drones and missiles targeting Israel as it wages war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Updated
Qatar is demanding an “immediate, comprehensive and impartial international investigation” into what its prime minister called Israeli crimes in Gaza, according to Al Jazeera, Reuters reports.
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani also said Qatar would continue its efforts towards facilitating another truce and reaching a permanent ceasefire in the besieged enclave, Al Jazeera added.
Updated
One of the three Palestinian students shot in Vermont last month has been left paralysed from the chest down after a bullet lodged in his spine, Reuters reports the student’s family saying.
Last month, Hisham Awartani, a 20-year-old junior at Brown University, was walking to his grandmother’s house for dinner in Burlington, Vermont, alongside his friends Tahseen Aliahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid, when the three students were shot.
In a statement released by Awartani’s family, they said:
“Hisham’s first thoughts were for his friends, then for his parents who were thousands of miles away. He has demonstrated remarkable courage, resilience and fortitude – even a sense of humour – even as the reality of his paralysis sets in.
We, his family, believe that Hisham will change the world. He’ll change the world through his spirit, his mind and his compassion for those much more vulnerable than himself, especially the thousands of dead in Gaza and many more struggling to survive the devastating humanitarian crisis unfolding there.”
According to charging documents filed in court, the students were wearing Palestinian keffiyeh scarves and speaking a mix of English and Arabic when police say the gunman, 48-year old Jason Eaton, shot them with a handgun.
The shootings came amid a surge in anti-Arab, anti-Islamic and antisemitism sentiments across the US as the war between Israel and Hamas escalates.
Updated
Israel’s airstrikes are leaving no safe place for Palestinians in southern Gaza while a health crisis across the strip continues to grow due to a scarcity in basic services.
The Guardian’s Kaamil Ahmed reports:
Mounds of rubbish now dot the landscape of southern Gaza, sprouting in the areas where the enclave’s population has clustered in search of safety from Israeli airstrikes.
Israel has repeatedly warned residents of northern Gaza to move south, forcing the population into an even smaller living space, where food and water shortages have combined with a breakdown of services, including rubbish collection, that threatens a health crisis.
Evacuees have had to deal with these living conditions while still facing danger. Airwars, which monitors harm to civilians, said last week that it had documented reports of 127 incidents involving explosive weapons within the “safe zone” in the first week after Israel’s warning on 14 October.
For the full story, click here:
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
It is 5pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here are the latest headlines …
The UN humanitarian agency (OCHA) said that about 1.8 million people – roughly 75% of Gaza’s population – are internally displaced, up from a previous figure of 1.7 million. “However, obtaining an accurate count is challenging,” it said.
A Gaza health ministry spokesperson has said that several people were killed by an Israeli airstrike on Jabaliya refugee camp. Local media reported: “A residential square containing at least 300 people, half of whom are children, was just completely flattened to the ground.”
On Saturday evening, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, held a press conference vowing to continue the ground assault “with increasing force”, saying it was the only way to achieve Israel’s goal of “eliminating Hamas and releasing our hostages”. He said the IDF and security forces were continuing the ground incursion while upholding international law – a claim that has been repeatedly called into question by some human rights observers and world leaders.
Israel’s military claims to have found about 800 shafts leading to Hamas tunnels and bunkers since the IDF began its Gaza ground operation on 27 October. It said it had destroyed more than half of them.
Israeli settlers attacked two Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank late on Saturday, killing one man and torching a car, Palestinian authorities said. The Palestinian ambulance service said a 38-year-old man in the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan, in the northern West Bank, was shot in the chest and died as residents confronted settlers and Israeli soldiers.
Seven Palestinians were killed and several others were injured in an Israeli raid on a house east of Rafah city in southern Gaza, the Hamas-led interior ministry said on Sunday. Hamas and Palestinian group Islamic Jihad also announced “rocket barrages” against a number of Israeli cities and towns, including Tel Aviv. The IDF announced the deaths of two soldiers – the first since the end of the week-long truce on Friday.
The deputy Hamas chief, Saleh al-Arouri, told Al Jazeera on Saturday that no more hostages would be exchanged with Israel until there was a ceasefire in Gaza, Reuters reports. According to Arouri, the hostages still held by Hamas were Israeli soldiers and civilian men who had previously served in the Israeli army.
The chief prosecutor of the international criminal court said on Sunday that his office would “further intensify its efforts to advance its investigations” in the occupied Palestinian territories, after he visited the region for the first time since his appointment. There have been widespread claims of breaches of international law by Hamas and Israeli forces since war erupted.
Israel’s military has reported that “several IDF soldiers were lightly injured” as a result of anti-tank fire at a vehicle in the area of Beit Hillel in northern Israel.
Two rockets have hit a residential area in Sderot in southern Israel. There are no reports of any casualties.
Updated
A Gaza health ministry spokesperson has said that several people were killed by an Israeli airstrike on Jabaliya refugee camp.
Footage obtained by Reuters of the aftermath of the strike showed a boy covered in grey dust, sitting weeping amid crumbled cement and rubble from collapsed buildings.
“My father was martyred,” he cried.
A girl in a pink sweatshirt, also coated with dust, stood between piles of rubble saying: “No, no, no.”
The Quds News Network has published footage of what appears to be the aftermath of the strike. It reports: “A residential square containing at least 300 people, half of whom are children, was just completely flattened to the ground.”
The Guardian has not independently verified the footage.
Updated
Halima Abdel-Rahman, a widow and mother of four in Gaza, has told Associated Press that she won’t heed Israeli evacuation orders any more. She told the news agency that she fled her home in October to an area outside Khan Younis, where she stays with relatives.
“The occupation tells you to go to this area, then they bomb it,” she said by phone. “The reality is that no place is safe in Gaza. They kill people in the north. They kill people in the south.”
The Israeli military has issued some more photographs of what it claims are Hamas tunnels and infrastructure within the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s military has been reporting intermittent siren alerts in communities near the Gaza Strip during the last hour-and-a-half.
The chief prosecutor of the international criminal court said on Sunday that his office would “further intensify its efforts to advance its investigations” in the occupied Palestinian territories, after he visited the region for the first time since his appointment.
There have been widespread claims of breaches of international law by Hamas and Israeli forces since war erupted after the deadly 7 October attacks by Hamas and other militants that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel, AP reported. Around 240 others were taken hostage.
The Hague-based court has been investigating crimes in the Palestinian territories committed by both sides since 2021 but has yet to announce any charges. Israel is not a member state of the court and does not recognise its jurisdiction.
Prosecutor Karim Khan said in a written statement issued after his visit that he witnessed “scenes of calculated cruelty” at locations of the 7 October attacks.
“The attacks against innocent Israeli civilians on 7 October represent some of the most serious international crimes that shock the conscience of humanity, crimes which the ICC was established to address,” he said, adding that he and his prosecutors are working “to hold those responsible to account”.
He added that he is ready to engage with local prosecutors in line with the principle of complementarity - the ICC is a court of last resort set up to prosecute war crimes when local courts cannot or will not take action.
Khan also visited Palestinian officials in Ramallah, including the president, Mahmoud Abbas.
Updated
Here is the latest AP report from Khan Younis:
Israel’s military on Sunday ordered more areas in and around Gaza’s second-largest city of Khan Younis to evacuate, as it shifted its offensive to the southern half of the territory where it says many Hamas leaders are hiding.
Heavy bombardments were reported overnight and into Sunday in the area of Khan Younis and the southern city of Rafah, as well as parts of the north that had been the focus of Israel’s blistering air and ground campaign.
The UN human rights chief urged for an end to the war, saying the suffering of civilians was “too much to bear.”
Many of the territory’s 2.3 million people are crammed in the south after Israeli forces ordered civilians to leave the north in the early days of the 2-month-old war, sparked by an 7 October attack by Hamas and other militants that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel. Around 240 more were taken hostage.
With the resumption of fighting, hopes for another temporary truce receded. A weeklong cease-fire, which expired Friday, had facilitated the release of dozens of Gaza-held Israeli and foreign hostages and Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Reports of fresh strike on Jabaliya refugee camp
Hani Mahmoud has been reporting from Khan Younis for Al Jazeera during the course of the war, and he says that the recent strike on Jabaliya refugee camp by Israel has left “tens of people killed and more buried under the rubble”.
He reports: “The number is rapidly increasing because these are very densely populated areas. It is difficult for rescuers to reach these people. They are also being targeted.”
Another Al Jazeera reporter has told the network “the scale of destruction is beyond description”, and that an entire residential block was levelled to the ground with many people inside.
More details soon …
Updated
Haaretz reports that two rockets have hit a residential area in Sderot in southern Israel. There are no reports of any casualties.
Israel’s military has reported that “several IDF soldiers were lightly injured” as a result of anti-tank fire at a vehicle in the area of Beit Hillel in northern Israel. It said that several launches were detected from inside Lebanon, and that Israeli forces were now striking at the launch site.
Al Jazeera is reporting that Israel has again targeted the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza. It reports that there are Palestinian casualties.
More details soon …
Updated
Israel claims to have destroyed 500 Hamas tunnel shafts in Gaza
Israel’s military claims to have found about 800 shafts leading to Hamas tunnels and bunkers since the IDF began its Gaza ground operation on 27 October. It said it had destroyed more than half of them.
“The tunnel shafts were located in civilian areas, many of which were near or inside civilian buildings and structures, such as schools, kindergartens, mosques and playgrounds,” Reuters reports the military said in a statement on Sunday.
Of about 800 shafts discovered, the military said, 500 had been destroyed using a variety of operational methods, including by “detonation and by sealing off”. It added that “many miles” of main tunnel routes had also been destroyed.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
It has just gone 1.30pm in Gaza City and in Tel Aviv. Here are the latest headlines …
The UN humanitarian agency (OCHA) said that about 1.8 million people – roughly 75% of Gaza’s population – are internally displaced, up from a previous figure of 1.7 million. “However, obtaining an accurate count is challenging,” it said.
On Saturday evening, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, held a press conference vowing to continue the ground assault “with increasing force”, saying it was the only way to achieve Israel’s goal of “eliminating Hamas and releasing our hostages”. He said the IDF and security forces were continuing the ground incursion while upholding international law – a claim that has been repeatedly called into question by some human rights observers and world leaders.
Israeli settlers attacked two Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank late on Saturday, killing one man and torching a car, Palestinian authorities said. The Palestinian ambulance service said a 38-year-old man in the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan, in the northern West Bank, was shot in the chest and died as residents confronted settlers and Israeli soldiers.
Seven Palestinians were killed and several others were injured in an Israeli raid on a house east of Rafah city in southern Gaza, the Hamas-led interior ministry said on Sunday. Hamas and Palestinian group Islamic Jihad also announced “rocket barrages” against a number of Israeli cities and towns, including Tel Aviv. The IDF announced the deaths of two soldiers – the first since the end of the week-long truce on Friday.
The deputy Hamas chief, Saleh al-Arouri, told Al Jazeera on Saturday that no more hostages would be exchanged with Israel until there was a ceasefire in Gaza, Reuters reports. According to Arouri, the hostages still held by Hamas were Israeli soldiers and civilian men who had previously served in the Israeli army.
Israel’s military has issued a statement in which it says it has recently struck targets inside Syria and Lebanon.
In Dubai, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has warned that seeking the elimination of Hamas risked unleashing a decade of war. “I think we’re at a point where the Israeli authorities are going to have to define their objective and desired end state more precisely,” he said on the sidelines of the Cop28 forum.
Pope Francis on Sunday said it was “painful” to see that the truce between Israel and Hamas had been broken and called on all parties involved to reach a new ceasefire agreement as soon as possible.
The UK’s maritime trade operations agency (UKTMO) has issued a warning about a potential explosion in the Red Sea. Shipping in the area has been targeted by Yemen’s Houthis since the 7 October Hamas attack inside southern Israel.
The UK has announced that it will conduct surveillance flights over the eastern Mediterranean, including operating in airspace over Israel and Gaza “in support of hostage rescue activity”. In a statement released on Saturday, the UK government said, “Surveillance aircraft will be unarmed, do not have a combat role, and will be tasked solely to locate hostages. Only information relating to hostage rescue will be passed to the relevant authorities responsible for hostage rescue.”
Updated
Pope Francis on Sunday said it was “painful” to see that the truce between Israel and Hamas had been broken and called on all parties involved to reach a new ceasefire agreement as soon as possible.
Reuters reports the pontiff also said he was thinking about the people still held hostage in Gaza and the lack of basic necessities in the Palestinian territory. Pope Francis, who has been unwell, had his words read by an aide.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Gaza and Israel.
Report: 75% of Gaza’s population internally displaced
The United Nations humanitarian agency (OCHA) said that at least 160 Palestinian fatalities were reported in two incidents in northern Gaza on Saturday: the bombing of a six-storey building in Jabaliya refugee camp, and of an entire block in a Gaza City neighbourhood.
“Prior to the bombings, Israeli forces dropped leaflets ordering the evacuation of these areas,” OCHA said in a report.
AFP reports that in a new estimate, OCHA said about 1.8 million people – roughly 75% of Gaza’s population – are internally displaced, up from a previous figure of 1.7 million.
“However, obtaining an accurate count is challenging,” it said.
Updated
Al Jazeera is carrying a quote from Unicef’s global spokesperson, James Elder, who had this to say about conditions inside al-Nassar hospital in Khan Younis:
Everywhere you turn to, there are children with third-degree burns, shrapnel wounds, brain injuries and broken bones. Mothers crying over children who look as if they are hours away from death. It seems like a death zone right now.
Updated
The UK’s maritime trade operations agency (UKTMO) has issued a warning about a potential explosion in the Red Sea.
It reports:
The UKTMO has received a report of Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) activity including a potential explosion in the vicinity of the Bab el Mandeb originating from the direction of Yemen.
Vessels in the vicinity are advised to follow industry guidance on loitering munitions and advised to exercise caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO.
UKMTO WARNING 001/ DEC/ 2023
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) December 3, 2023
INCIDENThttps://t.co/a6eYax4Zi0#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/l2NOZgflqU
Shipping in the area has been targeted by Yemen’s Houthis since the 7 October Hamas attack inside southern Israel.
Israel’s military has issued a statement in which it says it has recently struck targets inside Syria and Lebanon.
It wrote on its social media channels:
Earlier today, a launch was identified from Syria toward Israeli territory. The launch was not intercepted according to protocol. IDF artillery struck the source of the launch.
Additionally, earlier tonight, terrorists launched an anti-tank missile that fell in an open area in the area of Yiftah in northern Israel. No injuries were reported. Furthermore, IDF artillery struck a number of locations in Lebanon.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Israeli settlers attacked two Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank late on Saturday, killing one man and torching a car, Palestinian authorities said.
Reuters reports the Palestinian ambulance service said a 38-year-old man in the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan, in the northern West Bank, was shot in the chest and died as residents confronted settlers and Israeli soldiers.
The Israeli military said it broke up the confrontation between residents and settlers. It said Palestinians shot fireworks in response and an Israeli and four Palestinians were injured.
In another incident, Wajih Al-Qat, head of the local council of the village of Madama near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, said a group of about 15 settlers burned a car and broke the windows of a house with stones.
The claims have not been independently verified.
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
Updated
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization, has reiterated calls for a ceasefire, describing unimaginable scenes from a visit by a WHO team to a Gaza hospital.
“The reports of ongoing hostilities and heavy bombardment in Gaza are petrifying. Yesterday our team visited Nassar medical hospital in the south. It was packed with 1,000 patients – three times over its capacity.
Countless people were seeking shelter, filling every corner of the facility. Patients were receiving care on the floor, screaming in pain.
These conditions are beyond inadequate – unimaginable for the provision of healthcare. I cannot find words strong enough to express our concern over what we’re witnessing.
Ceasefire. NOW.”
Updated
Israel plan to eliminate Hamas risks a decade of war: Macron
A recap of the comments earlier by French president Emmanuel Macron, who appears to be pushing back on Israel’s stated plan to continue fighting until the total elimination of Hamas:
Speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of the UN’s COP28 climate talks in Dubai, Macron said Israel risked unleashing a decade of war.
Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas in response to the 7 October attack, and has unleashed an air and ground campaign that has killed more than 15,000 people, also mostly civilians, the Hamas authorities who run Gaza say.
“What is the total destruction of Hamas, and does anyone think it’s possible? If it is, the war will last 10 years,” Macron said on Saturday.
“I think we’re at a point where the Israeli authorities are going to have to define their objective and desired end state more precisely,”
After the Israeli army resumed shelling the Gaza Strip on Friday following the collapse of a week-long truce, Macron spoke of the need for “stepped-up efforts to reach a lasting ceasefire” in the conflict.
Macron travelled to Doha on Saturday to meet with Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, whose government has been central to diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.
But his five-hour stopover in Doha came just after the departure of the Israeli negotiators, with Israel citing a “stalemate” in the talks.
Israel and Hamas blamed each other for the breakdown of the truce, which before it expired had enabled the release of 80 Israeli hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
The Israeli army said it had carried out more than 400 strikes in Gaza since the collapse of the ceasefire, while Hamas announced “rocket barrages” against multiple Israeli cities and towns including Tel Aviv.
Macron had planned to make an extensive tour of the Middle East but instead held meetings about the conflict on the sidelines of UN climate talks.
Neither Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas attended the Dubai summit.
In October, Macron met with Netanyahu in Israel.
Analysts say Macron’s visits to Dubai and Doha illustrate the difficulty his government faces in finding a way to influence the conflict.
“France and Macron are not really finding their place in this crisis,” said Agnes Levallois, vice-president of the Institute for Mediterranean Middle East Research and Studies.
Updated
Seven Palestinians were killed and several others were injured in an Israeli raid on a house east of Rafah city in southern Gaza, the Hamas-led interior ministry said on Sunday.
Hamas and Palestinian group Islamic Jihad also announced “rocket barrages” against multiple Israeli cities and towns including Tel Aviv. It came as the IDF announced the deaths of two soldiers – the first since the end of the week-long truce on Friday. More than 200 Palestinians have been killed in the same timeframe, according to the health ministry in Gaza, adding to the total of more than 15,000 dead in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. The ministry, which is run by Hamas, does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths but has said 70% of those killed are women and children.
Updated
Netanyahu vows to continue Gaza assault with 'increasing force'
On Saturday evening the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, held a press conference vowing to continue the ground assault “with increasing force”, saying it was the only way to achieve Israel’s goal of “eliminating Hamas and releasing our hostages”.
He said the IDF and security forces were continuing the ground incursion while upholding international law – a claim which has been repeatedly called into question by some human rights observers and world leaders including the Spanish prime minister just last week.
Netanyahu said soldiers had prepared for ongoing fighting “with full force” during the pause in fighting.
“The day before yesterday I directed the IDF, together with the War Cabinet, to resume fighting, with increasing force. In the last 24 hours, we have destroyed over 400 Hamas terrorist targets. We carried out extensive aerial attacks in Khan Yunis. We eliminated terrorists and infrastructure in Beit Lahiya. We are continuing to act in the northern Gaza Strip.”
Meanwhile in Dubai, French president Emmanuel Macron has warned such an aim could bring a decade of conflict.
“What is the total destruction of Hamas, and does anyone think it’s possible? If it is, the war will last 10 years,” Macron said at a press conference on the sidelines of the UN’s COP28 climate talks in Dubai.
“I think we’re at a point where the Israeli authorities are going to have to define their objective and desired end state more precisely.”
Summary
Here is where things stand:
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed the IDF will continue its assault on Gaza with intensified force until they have achieved the total elimination of Hamas. Strikes on Palestinian territory continued overnight, according to Palestinian media.
In Dubai, French leader Emmanuel Macron has warned that seeking the elimination of Hamas risked unleashing a decade of war. “I think we’re at a point where the Israeli authorities are going to have to define their objective and desired end state more precisely,” he said on the sidelines of the COP28 forum.
The UK has announced that it will conduct surveillance flights over the eastern Mediterranean, including operating in air space over Israel and Gaza “in support of hostage rescue activity.” In a statement released on Saturday, the UK government said, “Surveillance aircraft will be unarmed, do not have a combat role, and will be tasked solely to locate hostages. Only information relating to hostage rescue will be passed to the relevant authorities responsible for hostage rescue.”
Two Qatar Armed Forces aircraft carried aid for Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday, the Qatari foreign ministry announced. The two aircraft carried 62 tons of aid consisting of food supplies and shelter equipment. Saturday’s delivery from Qatar brings the total amount of aid planes sent to Gaza from Qatar to 35.
The US defense secretary Lloyd Austin urged Israel to protect civilians on Saturday as Israel increases its attacks across Gaza, which have killed more than 15,200 Palestinians in the last two months. Speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California, Austin said, “In this kind of a fight, the center of gravity is the civilian population. And if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat.”
There are around 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza with more than 180 giving birth daily, according to UNRWA, the main UN agency for Palestinian refugees. “Post-natal care continues in shelters, but conditions are not at all suitable for newborns,” the agency said.
The deputy Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri told Al Jazeera on Saturday that no more hostages would be exchanged with Israel until there is a ceasefire in Gaza, Reuters reports. According to Arouri, the hostages still held by Hamas were Israeli soldiers and civilian men who had previously served in the Israeli army. The remaining hostages will not be released unless there is a ceasefire and all Palestinians held in Israeli prisons are also released.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society received 100 aid trucks through the Rafah border crossing on Saturday, the humanitarian organization announced. The trucks contained food, water, relief assistance, medical supplies and medicines, the PRCS said.
An Israeli military spokesman has defended the IDF’s use of artificial intelligence following reports by the Guardian and the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and partner Hebrew-language outlet Local Call about how it is using an AI-driven tool to select bombing targets in Gaza. Responding to a question from an X user in a Spaces conversation, IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus said, “In anything that is generated by a machine, there’s always a human in the loop that has definitive and executive say over whatever is generated by a machine … and they are accountable for their decisions.”
Unicef has condemned the “ongoing war on children” as Israel resumed strikes on Gaza swiftly after the truce between Israel and Hamas expired on Friday. Speaking to journalists at the UN office in Geneva via video link from Khan Younis, Unicef spokesperson James Elder said: “The bombs started just a few seconds after the ceasefire [ended],” before decrying the “ongoing war on children.”
The US vice-president, Kamala Harris, said on Saturday that “under no circumstance will the United States permit the forced relocation of Palestinians”, according to a statement released by the White House. It stated, “The vice president reiterated that under no circumstances will the United States permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, the besiegement of Gaza, or the redrawing of the borders of Gaza.”
Palestinian human rights groups refused to meet the international criminal court prosecutor Karim Khan on Saturday, accusing him of favouring Israeli accusations of rights abuses over longstanding Palestinian charges. Khan has been visiting Israel and the occupied West Bank following a request by a group representing families of victims of the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas gunmen, but he was also due to meet Palestinian officials in Ramallah. However, Palestinian activists said they would refuse to see him because they objected to what they saw as unequal treatment of Israeli and Palestinian cases, according to Reuters.
