The main facts of the day on Tuesday, December 12 in the conflict in the Middle East.
Fighting continues on the 67th day of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, sparked by the massacre of the terrorist group on October 7 on Israeli soil. According to Israeli authorities, 1,200 people – mostly civilians – were killed during this attack during which around 240 were kidnapped. Israeli bombings carried out in retaliation on the Gaza Strip have left more than 18,400 dead, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health. Find the facts from this Tuesday, December 12.
Biden castigates Netanyahu’s government. During a fundraising event for his 2024 re-election campaign, Joe Biden said Tuesday that Benjamin Netanyahu must change his hard line and that Israel will not “couldn’t say no” to the creation of a Palestinian state. According to the American president, the Israeli government “doesn’t want a two-state solution” with the Palestinians. “This is the most conservative government in the history of Israel,” said the American president again, calling on Netanyahu to “strengthen and change” the Israeli executive. “They’re starting to lose that support,” he added, referring to the international community’s concern over the Israeli army’s bombings.
Israel intensifies its operations against Hamas. The Israeli army once again increased the pressure this Tuesday, December 12 on Hamas, which it believes is “her breaking point”. “The Israeli army retakes its last bastions” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant assured Monday evening on television. A speech supported by army chief of staff Herzi Halevi, who clarified that the army “intensified” its operations in the south, while consolidating its presence in the north of the Gaza Strip. For its part, the Palestinian Islamist movement reported violent clashes during the night from Monday to Tuesday in the enclave, while the Palestinian Wafa agency reported 12 deaths and “tens” injured in an air raid in Rafah.
The IDF claims to have repatriated the bodies of two hostages. The Israeli army announced via a press release published on Tuesday that it had recovered the bodies of two hostages during a military operation in the Gaza Strip. “The bodies of hostages Eden Zakaria and (soldier) Ziv Dado were discovered and brought back to Israel,” details the press release, without immediately specifying when this operation took place. Eden Zakaria was 27 years old and was captured during the Tribe of Nova music festival, the IDF said. The second hostage, Ziv Dado, had already been mentioned by the Israeli army in Octoberwho presented him at the time as a 36-year-old sergeant major, killed during the attack on October 7.
A hospital in northern Gaza attacked according to Hamas. The Hamas health ministry accused the Israeli army of launching an assault on a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, “besieged and bombarded” for several days. Israeli forces “launched the assault on the Kamal Adwan hospital after having besieged and bombarded it for several days”said ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidreh, “They are rounding up men, including medical staff, in the hospital courtyard and we fear that the medical staff will be arrested or killed”. According to OCHA, the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, the maternity ward of the establishment was hit, two mothers were killed and several people injured.
More than 10% of Israeli soldiers are believed to have died in “friendly fire.” The Israeli army said on Tuesday that more than a tenth of its soldiers killed in the Gaza Strip were killed by “friendly fire”. “To date, there have been 105 deaths since the start of land operations, 20 of which are accidents,” a military spokesperson told AFP. Thirteen of them were reportedly killed by “friendly fire,” while the other seven died in accidents involving vehicles or weapons.
An “apocalyptic” situation. Monday evening, the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell warned of the level of destruction in the Gaza Strip, which would be “more or less, even greater” to that of Germany during the Second World War. In the Palestinian enclave, more than half of the homes have been destroyed or damaged by the war, estimates the UN.
A new checkpoint for aid trucks in Rafah. On Monday evening, the Israeli army announced the establishment of an additional checkpoint for the inspection of trucks before their entry into Gaza through the crucial Rafah crossing. A measure which, according to the same source “will double the amount of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip”.
This aims to improve the volume of security checks on aid entering Gaza through the Rafah crossing and will allow us to double the amount of humanitarian aid entering Gaza. 3/4
— IDF (@IDF_IDF) December 11, 2023
A decision which comes just hours before the special meeting this Tuesday of the UN General Assembly on the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Taking over after the American veto which paralyzed the Security Council on Friday, the Assembly must decide on a resolution – non-binding – demanding a “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in the Palestinian enclave.
A new attack in the Red Sea. This Tuesday, the Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a missile attack which hit a Norwegian-flagged oil tanker off the coast of Yemen the day before, without causing any casualties. On Saturday, the Houthis threatened to attack any ship in the Red Sea heading towards Israel if the population of the Gaza Strip did not receive emergency aid.
The White House is concerned about the use of white phosphorus. Washington says to himself “concerned” after the publication, on Monday, of an article from Washington Post which claims that Israel used American-made white phosphorus munitions in strikes on southern Lebanon in October. “We’re going to ask questions to try to find out a little more.”announced White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.