There are clear demands coming from the UN. The situation is getting worse in the south of the Gaza Strip. The war in Israel in the news ticker.
- Gaza border regions: Israel is probably equipping security forces with weapons
- Israel reports breakthrough in Chan Junis: Attacks against Hamas positions
- Historic step by UN chief: Guterres activates Article 99
- The information processed here about the war in Israel and the Gaza Strip come from local and international media and news agencies. Much of the information cannot be independently verified. We remain transparent in these cases too.
Update from December 7, 2023, 10:45 a.m.: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Hamas fired 12 rockets from humanitarian zones in the Gaza Strip. The targets were Israeli civilians, they said Times of Israel. The airstrikes appeared to have come from “near the tents of evacuated Gaza civilians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and near United Nations facilities,” the IDF said.
Israel’s Defense Ministry is equipping security forces in border regions
Update from December 7, 2023, 10 a.m.: Israel’s Defense Ministry probably wants to arm security forces in the border regions with the Gaza Strip with military equipment. It was announced today that the ministry plans to equip 12 security personnel every week. The program aims to “enable better conditions for residents to return to their communities in the coming weeks,” according to the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz reported.
UN chief Guterres calls for ceasefire
Update from December 7th, 8:19 a.m: UN chief Guterres has war on Israel Article 99 activated – and thus received sharp criticism from Israel. “His request to activate Article 99 and the call for a ceasefire in Gaza constitutes support for the terrorist organization Hamas,” Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen wrote on X.
Israel News: Security Cabinet allows “minimal” fuel addition
Update from December 7th, 6:45 a.m.: The Israeli security cabinet allows a “minimal addition” of fuel to enter the Gaza Strip. This is intended to prevent “a humanitarian collapse and outbreak of disease” in the south of the coastal area. This was announced by Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, according to the news agency Reuters with.
Israel reports breakthrough in Khan Yunis: attacks against Hamas positions
Update from December 6th, 10:08 p.m.: According to the Israeli army, soldiers have surrounded the largest city in the south of the Gaza Strip. The military announced on Wednesday evening that they had broken through the defenses of the Islamist Hamas in Khan Yunis within a few hours. The army launched attacks against central Hamas positions there and is now advancing deeper into the city. Israel’s chief of staff Herzi Halevi had already announced on Tuesday that soldiers were in the process of encircling Khan Yunis. The army is looking for Hamas chief Jihia al-Sinwar, among others, in Khan Yunis, who is considered to be the mastermind of the massacre on October 7th. According to reports, he is hiding in the terrorist organization’s tunnel system.
Update from December 6th, 8:53 p.m.: Benjamin Netanyahu’s vague formulation suggested what has since been confirmed. Jahja Sinwar, the top Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, has gone into hiding and was probably not in his house surrounded by the IDF. “Sinwar is not above ground. He is underground. “I don’t want to say where and what insights we gained,” said Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the Israeli army.
War in Israel: UN Secretary General calls for ceasefire
Update from December 6th, 7:49 p.m.: UN Secretary-General António Guterres is taking a historic step in view of the situation in Gaza and Israel. For the first time in his term of office, which has lasted since 2017, he invokes Article 99 of the UN Charter. Specifically, the article states: “The Secretary-General may draw the attention of the Security Council to any matter which, in his opinion, is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security.”
The move makes it clear how seriously Guterres views the situation. He also warned of the “serious risk of a collapse in humanitarian assistance” if “the situation rapidly escalates into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible consequences for the Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region.”
UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said of the “dramatic constitutional step” that Guterres hopes to increase pressure on the UN Security Council and the international community to push for a ceasefire. Dujarric also described Article 99 as “the most powerful instrument he (Guterres; ed.) has.”
Update from December 6th, 7:12 p.m.: The home of the top Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, Jahja Sinwar, was surrounded. This was announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Last night I said that our forces can reach any place in the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu said in a short video. “Now they have surrounded Sinwar’s house. His house is not his fortress, and he can escape. But it’s only a matter of time before we get him.”
Israel advances further in the war – UN commissioner warns
Update from December 6th, 6:06 p.m.: While Major General Yaron Finkelman, head of the IDF Southern Command, reported further progress in the fight for Khan Yunis, UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk warned of the “increased risk of atrocities.” At a press conference, he called on all parties and “those with influence” to take measures to prevent crimes in the Gaza Strip.
Update from December 6th, 4:27 p.m: Armored vehicles, ammunition, medical equipment: According to Israeli information, more than 10,000 tons of military equipment have been delivered to Israel since the start of the war. The Defense Ministry announced today that the 200th cargo plane had landed. This is a joint initiative with the USA.
Update from December 6, 2023, 2:30 p.m.: According to the army, several Hamas commanders were killed in an air strike in the north of the Gaza Strip. The attack occurs after AFP information near an Indonesian-run hospital. Most of the commanders of Hamas’ armed wing are now believed to have been killed by Israeli attacks. The information could not initially be independently verified.
War in Israel expands: population flees Khan Yunis
Update from December 6th, 2 p.m.: Within 24 hours, the Israeli army is said to have attacked 250 targets across the Gaza Strip, according to the news agency AFP reported. There were particularly heavy battles around the city of Khan Yunis. Large parts of the population have fled the increasingly violent fighting towards the border town of Rafah. The area in the south of the Gaza Strip is surrounded by Israeli units, according to the Chief of General Staff of the Israeli Army, Herzi Halevi.
Israeli army discovers weapons cache in Gaza Strip
Update from December 6, 2023, 1:30 p.m.: Israeli soldiers say they have dug up the largest weapons cache ever discovered in the Gaza Strip. Long-range missiles are also said to be among the weapons found. The army located the camp in the north of Gaza, the news portal said Haaretz.
First report: Tel Aviv/Gaza – Three weeks after the attack by the terrorist organization Hamas, Israel began its ground offensive in the north of the Gaza Strip – and expanded it to the south a few days ago. The situation of the civilian population in the densely populated Palestinian area is precarious.
Ground offensive in Khan Yunis: Israel’s military advances
The Israeli military says it is engaged in the heaviest fighting with Hamas since the ground offensive began. The military said on Wednesday that the troops were involved in fierce fighting in Khan Yunis.
The largest city in the south of the Gaza Strip has been surrounded since Tuesday by Israeli soldiers who have already advanced into the center. Hundreds of Hamas targets were attacked, it said. The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said its fighters were taking part in the fighting with Israeli troops.
War in Israel: Army captures Hamas leader in Khan Yunis
The television station al-Arabiya Meanwhile, it is said that the Israeli army has surrounded a Hamas leader in the city of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip. The leader of the terrorist organization, Yahya Sinwar, was surrounded by soldiers in his house, according to the news portal Haaretz communicates.
For the Gaza border area: rocket warning in the Israel war
Meanwhile, rocket sirens can be heard again in a community bordering the Gaza Strip. They are supposed to warn residents about rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. So far, no reports of injuries or damage have been reported from the Kissufin community Times of Israel reported. (with news agency material)