Spokesperson adds ‘we’re not dictating terms … about how long it has to be’ as Jake Sullivan says Israel being urged to lower intensity of military operations
A pro-Palestinian group temporarily hacked into the Israeli army website on Wednesday.
The group, calling themselves Anonymous Jo, left a message on the homepage of the website warning of further attacks against Israeli forces.
Continue reading...Relatives of the abductees say they are shocked, as reports say David Barnea was stopped from visiting Qatar
Israel’s war cabinet has blocked a planned visit to Qatar by the head of the country’s foreign intelligence service that was aimed at kickstarting negotiations over a new hostage release deal.
According to several reports, David Barnea, the head of Mossad, had wanted to travel to Qatar but was blocked by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and other cabinet ministers.
Continue reading...US navy request comes as Iran-aligned militia wade into the Israel-Hamas conflict, attacking vessels in commercial shipping lanes
The United States has asked Australia to send a warship to the Red Sea amid ongoing attacks on commercial shipping from Iran-backed militia.
The request, made recently, came from the US navy which wants the vessel to join an international taskforce, of which Australia is one of 39 member nations.
Continue reading...Conditions deteriorate amid floods, escalating food shortages and waves of disease
Heavy winter rains have lashed Gaza, washing out tents and flooding some areas, as the head of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees described deteriorating conditions in the coastal strip as a “living hell”.
Amid escalating shortages of food, spreading waves of communicable disease and the near collapse of Gaza’s health system, the winter storm turned large areas to mud and drenched many of those sleeping in makeshift plastic tents.
Continue reading...UAE and Qatar say they will not again fund Gaza reconstruction without Israeli concession, as US isolation grows
Gulf states are capitalising on the resounding vote at the UN general assembly in favour of calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza by warning the US they will not once again fund the reconstruction of Gaza unless Israel agrees to a published roadmap to a two-state solution.
In Israel the general assembly vote was dismissed as a further sign of anti-Israeli bias at the UN. But with the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, due to visit the region, pressure is building on Israel to show greater flexibility about what will constitute a military victory and how Gaza will be administered once the war ends.
Continue reading...Senior officer from Golani Brigade dies after failed attempt to rescue injured troops in Shejaiya area
Two senior Israeli commanders and seven other soldiers have been killed by Hamas in a complex ambush in the Gaza City suburb of Shejaiya, an area that has seen intense urban fighting in recent days.
The latest Israeli combat deaths came amid fears of a rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza as heavy winter rains lashed the region and after reports by aid agencies of dwindling food stocks for the vast number of Palestinians who have been displaced to southern Gaza.
Continue reading...Members of his own party among those critical of Israeli PM’s efforts to improve his dire ratings
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been accused of breaking with convention by campaigning while his country is at war after a series of controversial statements in recent days.
A number of senior Israeli political figures have been making moves before what are seen as inevitable elections when the war is over, but Netanyahu’s efforts to improve his dire ratings with the Israeli electorate – many of whom blame him for catastrophic intelligence failures in the run-up to the Hamas attack on 7 October – are regarded as the most blatant.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed. See all our Israel-Gaza war coverage here
The Times of Israel is reporting a little more detail on the incident in the Red Sea earlier, which caused the UK maritime trade operations (UKMTO) agency to issue a warning. [See 7.46 GMT]
Citing US officials, it reports that two missiles fired from Yemen missed a commercial tanker near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. It also reports that a US navy vessel shot down a drone that was heading towards it.
Continue reading...Washington-based development organisation providing $20m for citizens suffering ‘multidimensional poverty’
The economy of Gaza has ground to an almost total standstill as a result of the war between Israel and Hamas that has left about 85% of workers without jobs, the World Bank has said.
In an assessment of the economic impact of the two-month-long conflict, the Washington-based development organisation said Gaza was operating at only 16% of its productive capacity and was in “deep recession”.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed. See all our Israel-Gaza war coverage here
Reports are coming in from the Reuters news agency that three Palestinians were killed on Tuesday during an Israeli raid on the occupied West Bank city of Jenin – that’s according to the Palestinian health ministry.
An Israeli drone attack killed the three Palestinians and injured others, medical sources say, adding that the Israeli raid included the city of Jenin and its refugee camp.
Between the afternoons of 10 and 11 December, 208 Palestinians were killed and another 416 were injured, according to the [Hamas run] Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza. Heavy Israeli bombardments from air, land, and sea across Gaza continued, especially in the central part, including Al Maghazi and An Nuseirat Refugee Camps, as well as in parts of northern Gaza. Meanwhile, intense ground operations and fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups continued, especially in Khan Younis, Jabalya, and the northern parts of Gaza Strip. Additionally, air strikes have reportedly targeted residential homes in the western and central parts of Rafah, areas designated as safe for displaced Palestinians by the Israeli army. The firing of rockets by Palestinian armed groups into Israel also continued.
Limited aid distributions are taking place in Rafah governorate. In the rest of the Gaza Strip, aid distribution has largely stopped over the past few days, due to the intensity of hostilities and restrictions of movement along the main roads, except for limited fuel deliveries to key service providers and a one-off high-risk mission on 9 December to Al Ahli hospital.
On 11 December, as of 22:00, 100 trucks carrying humanitarian supplies entered Gaza from Egypt, the same volume recorded on most days since the resumption of hostilities on 1 December. This is well below the daily average of 500 truckloads (including fuel) that entered every working day prior to 7 October. The ability of the UN to receive incoming aid has been significantly impaired over the past few days by several factors. These include a shortage of trucks within Gaza; the continuing lack of fuel; telecommunications blackouts; and the increasing number of staff who were unable to travel to the Rafah crossing due to the intensity of hostilities.
Continue reading...Fears raised as WHO says ambulance staff detained at gunpoint, stripped and beaten by Israeli troops
Palestinians who have been injured during the war in Gaza are facing potentially fatal delays both in getting treatment within the coastal strip as well as in being evacuated abroad, caused by Israeli bureaucracy and military checkpoints, the UN and aid organisations say.
The delays come amid a claim by the World Health Organization (WHO) that Palestinian ambulance staff involved in a recent high-risk evacuation were detained at gunpoint, stripped and beaten by Israeli soldiers.
Continue reading...Many say Germany’s historical responsibility for Nazi crimes makes it hard for people to criticise Gaza strategy
Lobna Shammout was initially only vaguely aware of the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October, because she had been celebrating her 40th birthday. “The breaking news was crashing my phone, I thought ‘please, not today’,” the Palestinian-German said. “When I finally checked … each newsflash was worse than the one before.”
In the following weeks, as Israel launched an all-out assault on Gaza in retaliation for the attacks, which killed 1,200 people, Shammout has waited anxiously for news of her relatives and friends in Gaza. Some have been killed, among the estimated 15,000 Palestinians who the Hamas-run health ministry says have lost their lives.
Continue reading...Paterson residents describe ‘anger, sadness, desperation’ after US vetoes UN resolution calling for ceasefire
A general strike called after the US blocked a UN resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza took hold across New Jersey’s Arab American communities on Monday, in the latest expression of opposition to Israel’s devastating military offensive in the Palestinian territory.
Along Palestine Way in the city of Paterson, dozens of business owners, community leaders and families with young children, swathed in keffiyeh scarves against the cold, heeded the call from Palestinian leaders to show, in symbolic, political and economic terms, deepening anger and distress about an Israeli military operation that began after a Hamas cross-border attack on 7 October.
Continue reading...Second pause may rely upon Israel proving it has captured or killed some of Hamas’s senior operatives
Diplomats at the annual Doha Forum conference in Qatar have said they are not expecting any reopening of Gaza ceasefire talks for some weeks and say their resumption may turn on Israel being able to point to the killing or capture of some of Hamas’s key leaders as a sign that its military operation has achieved its purpose.
The US believes this can be achieved as early as Christmas, but different timeframes are circulating.
Continue reading...WHO chief says Gaza’s health system is ‘on its knees and collapsing’ amid intensifying ground offensive
Israel has rejected suggestions it is trying to force Palestinians out of Gaza as Arab leaders and aid officials warn its intensifying ground offensive could leave civilians with few other options.
Some of the heaviest close-quarters fighting in more than two months of conflict took place over the weekend, as the Israel Defense Forces tried to consolidate control of urban centres in northern Gaza and pursued Hamas leaders in the heart of the biggest city in the south, Khan Younis.
Continue reading...Administration reportedly not carrying out continual assessments on whether war crimes being committed in Gaza
The Biden administration’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza has come under intensified scrutiny after it revealed it had bypassed Congress to supply tank shells, and was reported not to be carrying out continual assessments of whether Israel was committing possible war crimes.
Israeli tanks were reported to have reached the centre of Khan Younis on Sunday, after battling through stiff resistance in the southern city which is overcrowded by civilians who have fled fighting in the north. Israeli airstrikes pounded the city blocks west of the frontline.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed.
Mediation efforts are continuing to secure a new Gaza ceasefire and free more hostages held by Hamas despite the ongoing Israeli bombardment that is “narrowing the window” for a successful outcome, Qatar’s prime minister said Sunday.
“Our efforts as the state of Qatar along with our partners are continuing. We are not going to give up,” sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told the Doha Forum, adding that “the continuation of the bombardment is just narrowing this window for us”.
If Israel is above international law, sanctions should be put on it. Israel should not be allowed to continue violating international humanitarian law and international law.
Our main concern is not the day after. It is today. We want the stop of atrocities and genocide that is happening today.
Continue reading...When Joe Sacco created Palestine no one knew what ‘comics journalism’ was. Now his pioneering book has eager new readers
An acclaimed nonfiction graphic novel about Gaza, which pioneered the medium of “comics journalism”, has been rushed back into print after surging demand since the fresh outbreak of the conflict two months ago.
Palestine, by Joe Sacco, was originally released in comic book form by the American publisher Fantagraphics 30 years ago, then published as a single volume by the company, and by Jonathan Cape in the UK in 2003.
Continue reading...António Guterres says UN has no clear route map to stop conflict and world institutions are ‘caught in a time warp’
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has vowed he will not give up seeking a ceasefire in Gaza after the US wielded its veto to block the move at the security council on Friday, leaving the UN without a clear route map to stop the conflict lasting many months.
Speaking at the Doha Forum in Qatar, Guterres did not directly criticise the US in his address but said the security council was “paralysed by geostrategic divisions”. He added world institutions “are weak and outdated, caught in a time warp reflecting a reality of 80 years ago”.
Continue reading...