Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Saturday said he appreciated the US veto at the UN Security Council, which blocked a call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Israel will continue the war against Hamas, said Netanyahu, as the military pressed up with relentless bombardments in Gaza. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).
This blog is no longer being updated. For more of our coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, please click here.
Summary:
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Israeli warplanes on Saturday pounded northern and southern Gaza, including areas in the south that were designated as safe areas for fleeing civilians.
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Prime Minister Binjamin Netanyahu on Saturday said he appreciated the US veto at the UN Security Council, blocking a demand for an immediate ceasefire and declared the war in Gaza would continue.
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The death of an Israeli hostage in Gaza was confirmed by his kibbutz and a hostage group on Saturday. Hamas on Friday said he was killed in a foiled Israeli rescue bid. The report was not confirmed.
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Bypassing Congress, the Biden administration on Saturday said it approved the emergency sale of tank ammunition worth more than $106 million to Israel.
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Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas condemned the US UN Security Council veto, declaring that it made the US complicit in war crimes against Palestinians.
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Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages, according to the Israeli government. Since then, at least 17,700 people have been killed in Israel's ensuing assault on the Gaza Strip, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. At least 48,780 people have been injured and at least 7,600 people are missing, the Hamas media office said.
Key Developments from Friday, December 8:
- Heavy urban combat raged in and around Gaza's biggest cities on Friday, with major battles reported in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north and Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
- Israel and the UN signalled that the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel into the Gaza Strip might be opened soon to allow aid in. Since the start of the war, the tightly controlled Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt has been the only point of entry into the enclave.
- French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday urged Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to end violent attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the Israel-occupied West Bank.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)
Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”. The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.
In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN's counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies.
For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
