live blog
According to Israel’s Defense Minister Gallant, Hamas is “on the verge of dissolution.” According to Palestinian reports, four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli raid in the West Bank. The developments in the live blog.
The number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip has risen to 18,412 since the start of the war, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health. The ministry said more than 50,000 other people were injured. The number of deaths was recently put at around 18,200. The numbers cannot currently be verified. However, the UN and other observers point out that the authority’s figures have proven to be overall credible in the past.
According to a media report, Israel wants to insist on maintaining a buffer zone in the south of Lebanon after the end of the Gaza war. “Israel will insist on the existence of a real buffer zone on the northern border after the war,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told parliament’s defense committee, according to a report in the Israel Hayom newspaper. Israel prefers a diplomatic solution, but would also use military means if necessary.
More than two months after the start of the war against Hamas, Israel says it has increased pressure on the Islamists. The terrorist organization is “on the verge of dissolution,” said Defense Minister Joav Gallant. The last Hamas strongholds in the northern Gaza Strip are about to fall. Israel’s Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi made similar comments during a visit to the Hamas stronghold of Khan Yunis. The Israeli army is “intensifying” its operations in the south and at the same time expanding its presence in the north, “including deep underground,” said Halevi.
There have been renewed clashes on the border between Israel and Lebanon. After rocket fire from the neighboring country, Israel’s artillery attacked the site of the launch, the military said. There were previously rocket alarms in several cities in northern Israel. The Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon said it had targeted an Israeli town. Since the beginning of the Gaza war after the Hamas massacre in Israel, there have been repeated confrontations between Israel’s army and militant groups such as Hezbollah in the Israeli-Lebanese border region.
The World Health Organization (WHO) considers the death and injury figures provided by the Palestinian authorities to be reliable. Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, said WHO always relies on numbers from health authorities in conflict situations. The Palestinian authorities had previously proven themselves to be reliable. After previous conflict situations, their information about victims was subsequently checked and proved to be largely accurate. The authorities tended to underestimate rather than overestimate the number of victims. Peeperkorn referred to a study in the journal “The Lancet”. It reported on December 6 that there were no signs that the death or injury toll was being inflated by the Palestinian authorities.
The United Nations continues to report fighting near hospitals in the Gaza Strip. There were fatalities when health facilities were hit. The Al-Auda hospital in Jabalia has been surrounded by Israeli troops and tanks for six days, said the UN emergency relief office OCHA. According to reports, around 250 doctors, patients and their relatives are stuck in the hospital. Two medical workers were killed while on duty there in fighting in recent days.
The World Health Organization (WHO) criticizes Israeli controls of medical convoys in the Gaza Strip and the detention of medical staff as a threat to patient care. In one such incident on Saturday, a seriously injured patient died because his treatment was delayed, the WHO said.
The WHO-led operation to transfer patients and deliver surgical supplies to Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City was stopped at an Israeli army checkpoint on the way to the northern Gaza Strip and on the way back. Some employees of the Palestinian Red Crescent were temporarily detained and others were arrested. “We are deeply concerned about the ongoing controls and detention of medical workers, which endanger the lives of already weakened patients,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Platform X.
Israel has announced that it will open the Kerem Shalom border crossing to speed up the inspection of aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip and thus expand deliveries. ARD correspondent Tim Aßmann classifies the importance of the border crossing as well as the reports that Hamas’ effectiveness may be impaired.
According to Palestinian information, four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli raid and an attack on the city of Jenin and the refugee district there in the West Bank. Another person was injured, reports the Palestinian news agency Wafa. Israeli troops surrounded three hospitals in the area.
US President Joe Biden complained about a global increase in anti-Semitism at a reception at the White House to mark the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. The “wave of anti-Semitism in the United States and the rest of the world is sickening,” Biden told nearly 800 guests at the East Room event.
According to the Israeli Defense Minister, the last two strongholds of the terrorist organization Hamas in the northern part of the Gaza Strip are surrounded by Israeli units. The Hamas command centers in the Jabalia and Shejaiya districts are encircled and on the verge of collapse, Yoav Gallant said, according to Israeli media.
“The battalions that were considered invincible and have been preparing for years to fight us are on the verge of being destroyed,” he added. Hundreds of Hamas activists have surrendered to Israeli troops in recent days.
According to US reports, a Norwegian tanker was hit by a cruise missile fired by Houthi rebels off the coast of Yemen. The cruise missile hit the “Strinda” while passing through the strait between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden during the night and caused damage and a fire, said the US Central Command Centcom. But there are no reports of deaths or injuries.
The anti-ship cruise missile was fired from a Houthi-controlled area in Yemen, Centcom said on the short message service X, formerly Twitter. Accordingly, the Norwegian-flagged “Strinda” sent out a distress call and the US warship “USS Mason” rushed to the tanker to provide assistance.
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, the Houthi militia in Yemen has fired drones and rockets at Israel on several occasions and attacked ships in the Red Sea. The Iran-backed Houthis threatened on Saturday with further attacks on ships in the Red Sea bound for Israel if humanitarian aid did not reach the Gaza Strip. The Houthis see themselves as part of the self-proclaimed “Axis of Resistance” directed against Israel.
US President Joe Biden has pledged further support to Israel in the fight against Hamas terrorists. “As I said after the attack (on October 7th), my commitment to the security of the Jewish people (…) is unwavering,” Biden said at a reception for the Jewish festival of Hanukkah at the White House in Washington. The US would support Israel until the country got rid of Hamas.
According to the White House, Biden emphasized that the USA was working tirelessly to ensure the safe return of the hostages. “And I won’t stop until we get every one of them home.” He is also working to get more “humanitarian aid for innocent Palestinian civilians.”
Given the surrender of numerous Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military and the domestic intelligence service Shin Bet assume that the fighting spirit of the Islamist organization is breaking.
“We are exerting a lot of pressure. I think that they surrender and come out with their hands up shows that their fighting spirit is broken. This accelerates our successes, after all we want to move forward quickly,” said Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi at a meeting with the Head of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, in the Hamas stronghold of Khan Yunis. “We are securing our territorial gains in the north and south of the Gaza Strip.”
The US has expressed concern over a report that Israel used white phosphorus munitions in Lebanon. A UN delegation found out about the humanitarian situation at the Rafah border crossing. Monday’s developments to read.