Israel-Hamas war updates: Fierce battles rage in southern and northern Gaza
Heavy air attacks and ground fighting as fierce battles rage in southern and northern Gaza.
- “No safe place to go in the Gaza Strip,” Palestinian health ministry says, as deadly Israeli attacks continue.
- About 18,000 Palestinians have been killed and 49,500 wounded in Israeli attacks since October 7, including 297 in the past 24 hours.
- “No safe place to go in the Gaza Strip,” Palestinian health ministry says, as deadly Israeli attacks continue.
- About 18,000 Palestinians have been killed and 49,500 wounded in Israeli attacks since October 7, including 297 in the past 24 hours.
- More destruction across occupied West Bank as Israeli raids ramp up.
- World Food Programme says 36 percent of Gaza households now experiencing “severe hunger”.
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Here’s what happened today
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- Nearly 300 people have been killed and more than 550 wounded in 24 hours, according to Gaza’s health ministry, as Israel strikes more than 250 Hamas-related targets.
- “Food, water and fuel” are being used as “weapons of war in Gaza”, says UNRWA’s commissioner general.
- “The potential for a miscalculation that could trigger a wider conflict is increasing,” says the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon.
- The UN General Assembly is likely to vote on Tuesday on a draft resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, diplomatic sources say.
- Qatar’s prime minister tells the Doha Forum that the Gaza war risks radicalising a generation in the Middle East and the window is narrowing for a new truce.
- Jordan’s foreign minister accuses Israel of trying to “empty Gaza of Palestinians” in a campaign that amounts to “genocide”.
WATCH: World leaders meet at Doha Forum
The war in Gaza dominated the agenda at the Doha Forum this year.
You can watch more here:
Israeli forces storm occupied West Bank’s el-Bireh
Israeli forces fired live ammunition and tear gas as they stormed the Sateh Marhaba neighbourhood of the city of el-Bireh in the occupied West Bank.
According to the Wafa news agency, Israeli forces entered several buildings in the area but there were no immediate reports of arrests or casualties.
Israeli forces also stormed the village of Shuqba, to the west of Ramallah, according to videos obtained by Al Jazeera and validated by its verification unit, the Sanad news agency.
Sara Netanyahu meets rescued soldier
The official account of Israel’s prime minister has posted photographs of Sara Netanyahu meeting with Israeli soldier Ori Megidish.
In the post on X, Netanyahu said that Megidish’s release “in a daring military operation was a ray of light to the entire people of Israel in dark days”.
Megidish was rescued by an Israeli army operation at the end of October.
Sara Netanyahu met today, in Kiryat Gat, with IDF Lookout Ori Megidish, who was rescued by our forces from being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, and embraced her warmly and offered emotional support to her and to her entire family.https://t.co/1esYIB1sqz pic.twitter.com/11ESYy6v4i
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) December 10, 2023
Palestinians call for global strike to demand ceasefire
Palestinian activists and grassroots organisations have called for a global strike on Monday to demand an immediate ceasefire as Israel continues its aggression on Gaza.
“We expect the entire globe to join the strike, which comes in the context of a broad international movement involving influential figures. This movement stands against the open genocide in Gaza, the ethnic cleansing and the colonial settlement in the West Bank,” said a statement released by a coalition of groups.
Read the full story here.
UN General Assembly to vote on Gaza ceasefire demand: Report
The 193-member United Nations General Assembly is likely to vote on Tuesday on a draft resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
The Reuters news agency cited diplomats as saying the move comes after the US vetoed a UNSC demand for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Friday.
The General Assembly in October adopted a resolution – 121 votes in favour, 14 against and 44 abstentions – calling for “an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities”.
WATCH: US media has a Palestine problem
Sana Saeed looks at what US media coverage has gotten wrong about Gaza, Sheikh Jarrah and occupied Palestine, and offers her own media critique.
‘Searching for bread for my daughter’
The bombed-out ruins of Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital have at least 30,000 people taking refuge after Israeli forces raided the medical facility last month.
“Our life has become a living hell, there’s no electricity, no water, no flour, no bread, no medicine for the children who are all sick,” said Mohammed Daloul, 38, who fled there with his wife and three children.
In Rafah, in southern Gaza, one displaced woman said she has been stuck for 18 days despite having an Egyptian passport.
“Whenever I want to go somewhere, we hear bombing and shelling and feel scared and go back,” said Noura al-Sayed Hassan. “I’ve been searching for bread for my daughter for over a week now.”
Nearly 300 Palestinians killed in 24 hours as fighting intensifies
Fierce bombardment and ground assaults have killed nearly 300 Palestinians in the past 24 hours in Gaza as Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exchanged threats.
Israeli raids continued across the beleaguered territory on Sunday including in northern Gaza, where entire neighbourhoods have been flattened by air strikes and where ground troops operating for more than six weeks continue to face heavy resistance from Hamas soldiers.
Read the full story here.
Syria says shot down Israeli missiles fired near Damascus
Syria’s army says its air defence shot down Israeli missiles fired at the surroundings of the capital Damascus from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Other missiles not intercepted caused some damage, it said in a statement without elaborating.
Israel hit the airports in Damascus and Aleppo in October twice after it started its war on Gaza, putting them out of service.
Israeli air raids have repeatedly targeted the two airports in the past, causing flights to be grounded and inflicting human casualties and material damage.
Food shortages grip Gaza as war rages unabated
Much of Gaza faces severe shortages of everything now. Abdulsalam al-Majdalawi says he came every day for nearly two weeks to a UN distribution centre, hoping to get food for his family of seven.
“Every day, we spend five or six hours here and return home [empty handed],” he said. “Thank God today they drew our name.”
Israel has faced rising international outrage and calls for a permanent ceasefire after the killing of 18,000 Palestinians, mostly children and women. About 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced with UN agencies saying there is no safe place to flee.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the Security Council is “paralysed by geostrategic divisions” that are blocking solutions to the war.
The body’s “authority and credibility were severely undermined” by its delayed response to the conflict, he said, two days after the US blocked a resolution calling for a ceasefire.
WATCH: Israeli designated ‘safe zone’ another ‘death zone’?
Rights groups are criticising an Israeli move to displace Palestinians into a tiny and barren area.
Another wave of Palestinians were forced from their homes in Gaza, this time to a small slice of land in the south designated by Israel as a “safe zone”.
But conditions in al-Mawasi are bleak and for those living in its makeshift camps, bitterly cold.
Gaza armed group claims deadly attack on Israeli commandos
The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, says more than a dozen Israeli special forces commandos were killed and wounded when a home they took over in Gaza City was blown up.
“We demolished a house in the Shujayea neighbourhood containing more than 13 Zionist soldiers who were attempting to locate a tunnel,” it said in a statement. “One of our fighters managed to emerge from the tunnel, killing two Israeli soldiers before completely detonating the house, causing casualties among the force.”
Islamic Jihad is the smaller of the two main Palestinian armed groups in Gaza but has been described as extremely efficient and highly organised militarily. It was founded in 1981 by Palestinian students in Egypt with the aim of establishing a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank, Gaza and other areas.
Nearly impossible to deal with Gaza medical crisis: WHO boss
The World Health Organization chief says it will be all but impossible to improve the “catastrophic” health situation in Gaza even as the board passed an emergency WHO motion to secure more medical access.
“I must be frank with you: These tasks are almost impossible in the current circumstances,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Still, he commended countries for finding common ground, saying it is the first time any UN motion has been agreed by consensus since the war on Gaza began.
Tedros told the 34-member board in Geneva that medical needs in Gaza have surged and the risk of disease has grown, yet the health system has been reduced to one-third of its pre-conflict capacity.
US should not have vetoed UN resolution: Bernie Sanders
The senator from the state of Vermont says the US should do “everything possible” to ensure children in Gaza have access to food, water and medical supplies.
In a post on X, he said Washington should not have vetoed the UN Security Council resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire and the release of all Israeli captives.
At a time when Palestinians in Gaza are facing horrific conditions, the U.S. should not be vetoing a UN resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire and the release of all hostages. The children in Gaza need food, water, and medical supplies. We must do everything possible to… https://t.co/hGTKbN1X43
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) December 10, 2023
Violence escalates between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah
Violence has escalated at Lebanon’s border with Israel as Hezbollah launched explosive drones and missiles at Israeli positions, while Israeli air strikes rocked several towns and villages in south Lebanon.
An Israeli air attack on the town of Aitaroun destroyed five homes and damaged many more, Ali Hijazi, a local official, said.
Read more here.
‘Who’s alive?’ Palestinians scour the rubble for survivors of Israeli attacks
The main hospital in Khan Younis, Nasser Hospital, has been overrun with dead and wounded.
No floor space was left in the emergency room as people carried in more wounded wrapped in blankets and carpets. Mohamed Abu Shihab wailed and swore revenge for his son he said was killed by an Israeli sniper.
At one Khan Younis home destroyed by bombing, relatives of the dead combed the debris in a daze. They dragged the body of a middle-aged man in a yellow T-shirt from under the concrete.
“We prayed the nighttime prayer and went to sleep, then woke up to find the house on top of us. ‘Who’s alive?'” said resident Ahmed Abdel Wahab.
Israeli media echoes official stance on Palestinian detainees: Analyst
Ismat Mansour, a researcher on Israeli affairs, says the Israeli media presented the issue of Palestinian detainees in Gaza as an achievement for the army.
In recent days, footage emerged of Palestinians being rounded up by Israeli forces in Gaza City, stripped and blindfolded. Many who were released later on said they were numbered and tortured while detained.
“The Israeli media echoed what the army said: that this is a process of mass submission, surrender and laying down of arms by Hamas fighters. It was shown as an image of victory for the army and it showed signs of defeat among Hamas ranks,” Mansour told Al Jazeera.
LISTEN: What is behind the US warning Israel to protect civilians?
The Israeli army has expanded its attacks in central and southern Gaza.
Nearly two months into the conflict, the United States has used some of its strongest language to date, warning Israel to protect civilians.
But just how long can the war go on? And what would a victory look like?
‘Die here as martyrs or they will leave us alone’
As battles rage across Gaza, Israel indicated it is willing to attack the besieged enclave for months – or longer.
In Khan Younis, the constant rattle of machinegun fire could be heard. Streets there were deserted except for an old woman and a girl riding on a donkey cart.
“It was one of the most dreadful nights. The resistance was very strong. We could hear gunshots and explosions that didn’t stop for hours,” said a father of four, who was displaced from Gaza City and is sheltering in the southern city, declining to be identified for fear of reprisals.
At the opposite end of the Gaza Strip, in northern areas where Israel previously said its troops largely were in control, residents also described some of the most intense fighting of the war so far.
“I daresay it is the strongest battle we have heard in weeks,” said Nasser, 59, a father of seven sheltering in Jabaliya after his house was destroyed in Beit Lahiya, another northern area.
Explosions could be heard as he spoke. “We are not going to leave Jabaliya regardless of everything. We shall die here as martyrs – or they will leave us alone.”
UN forces in Lebanon warn of ‘wider conflict’
The UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon says “the potential for a miscalculation that could trigger a wider conflict is increasing”.
UNIFIL said shelling damaged a watchtower at one of its positions on Saturday. Nobody was injured and the source of the fire is under investigation, it said.
The UN force said targeting of its positions “and any use of the vicinity of our positions to launch attacks” is unacceptable.
Hezbollah said it fired Burkan (Volcano) missiles, which carry hundreds of kilogrammes of explosives in one attack. Israeli air strikes were also reported.
‘We will act’: Concerns of regional escalation rise amid attacks
The war on Gaza has raised tensions across the Middle East with Hezbollah trading fire with Israel and other Iran-backed armed groups targeting American forces in Syria and Iraq.
France says one of its warships in the Red Sea shot down two drones that approached it from Yemen, where Iran-backed Houthi rebels have promised to halt Israeli shipping through the key waterway.
Israel’s national security adviser says Israel would give Western allies “some time” to organise a response, but if the threats persist, “we will act to remove this blockade”.
Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been trading fire since the war in Gaza erupted two months ago – their worst hostilities since a 2006 conflict. The violence has largely been contained to the border area.
142 female detainees from Gaza in Israeli prisons: NGOs
The number includes babies and elderly women being kept in various prisons including Hasharon and Damon, the Prisoners Society and the Prisoners Commission say.
The groups said Israeli authorities are not disclosing the numbers, fate, location or medical state of these women and children.
Human rights groups have reported the Israel Prison Service has taken measures against Palestinian prisoners since the start of the war including physical abuse.
It has reportedly restricted access to water, food, medical care and communal items for prisoners, and has restricted or completely stopped family and lawyer visits.
Attacks and counter-strikes between Israel and Hezbollah
Violence escalated at Lebanon’s border with Israel as Hezbollah launched explosive drones and powerful missiles at Israeli positions, and Israeli air strikes rocked several towns and villages in south Lebanon.
An Israeli air strike on the town of Aitaroun destroyed five homes and damaged many more, said Ali Hijazi, a local official. “Divine intervention prevented anyone from being martyred. Three women and two men were wounded.”
Senior Hezbollah politician Hassan Fadlallah said Israeli air strikes are a “new escalation” to which the group is responding with new types of attacks, be it “in the nature of the weapons [used] or the targeted sites”.
The Israeli army earlier said “suspicious aerial targets” crossed from Lebanon and two were intercepted. Two Israeli soldiers were moderately wounded and a number of others were lightly injured from shrapnel and smoke inhalation, it said.