UN official says Gaza may need a special tribunal to investigate Israel’s atrocities. An Israeli official claim there are “no churches, no Christians” in Gaza, and Doctors Without Borders warn of increased attacks on healthcare centers in Jenin.
- 19,453+ killed* and more than 52,286 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
- 301 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
- Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.
- 461 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 1,831 injured.
*This figure was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health on December 19. Due to breakdowns in communication networks within the Gaza Strip, the Ministry of Health in Gaza has not been able to regularly and accurately update its tolls since mid-November. Some rights groups put the death toll number closer to 20,000.
- UN official Martin Griffiths says aid workers “do not have places of safety from which to operate, where people can gather safely to receive aid and be protected” in Gaza.
- Gaza Ministry of Health says Israeli forces turned Al-Awdeh Hospital into military barracks, arresting 240 people, 40 medical staff, 40 patients, and 120 displaced Palestinians.
- Adel Zurob one of 94 Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza since October 7.
- Israeli official denies military targeted Holy Family Catholic parish, claiming “no churches, no Christians” in Gaza Strip.
- Al-Qassam Brigades released video of firing a Kornet missile on Israeli Humvee in Beit Lahia; released video of three elderly Israeli captives pleading with government to free them.
- Palestinian Prisoners Club says Israeli forces arrested 4,605 people in West Bank and Jerusalem since October 7.
- Doctors without Borders (MSF) warns of increased death toll in West Bank and Jenin, following repeated Israeli raids and damages to hospitals and healthcare centers.
ISRAEL Genocide Against Gaza Continues
Israel will gradually move to the next phase in the war, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said yesterday, following talks with U.S. officials on moving to lower intensity combat. Gallant said the local population will be able to return to the north of Gaza, although no timeline was provided. Gallant added, “Soon we will be able to distinguish between different areas of Gaza.” Phil Stewart reports for Reuters.
The U.N. Security Council is due to hold a second ceasefire vote today, following yesterday’s delay to allow redrafting the resolution’s language from calling for an “urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities” to a “suspension of hostilities, in hopes of avoiding another veto by the US. Yolande Knell reports for BBC News.
Three Israeli hostages who were mistakenly killed by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers on Friday used leftover food to write signs saying “SOS” and “Help, 3 hostages” on white cloth, Israel said. The head of the IDF told troops they are “absolutely not” permitted to shoot those surrendering as “The IDF doesn’t shoot a person who raises their hands.” Herzi Halevi added that Gazans with a white flag must be arrested, and not shot, “if they lay down their arms and raise their hands.” One of the IDF soldiers felt threatened by the men before declaring them “terrorists” and opening fire, as a nearby battalion commander heard a cry for help in Hebrew. BBC News reports.
Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza is no longer functioning and patients including babies have been evacuated, a W.H.O. representative said yesterday. Israel claims the hospital is used by Hamas, and Gazan authorities reported last week that Israeli forces used a bulldozer to smash through the outside of the hospital. Reuters reports.
At least 13 Palestinians have been killed and 75 wounded in an Israeli strike on Jabalia refugee camp, the Hamas-run health ministry said. Jabalia refugee camp is the largest of eight camps in Gaza and houses approximately 116,000 registered refugees. BBC News reports.
REGIONAL RESPONSE
Gas stations in Iran have been targeted in a cyberattack causing nationwide disruption to fuel stations, Iran’s Oil Minister Javad Owji said yesterday. The hacking group — named as Gonjeshke Darande or “predatory sparrow” — accuses Iran of having links to Israel, according to Iranian state media. The cyberattack was “in response to the aggression of the Islamic Republic and its proxies in the region,” the group said in a statement on Telegram. Israeli government spokesperson Tal Heinrich said in response, “We have nothing to say about Iran’s claims.” Reuters reports.
Turkey has “carefully reviewed the financial activities and status of all relevant real and legal persons” of a U.S.-sanctioned company who is alleged to have provided aid to Hamas, and said there is no evidence of “abuse of our nation’s financial system.” Turkey shared their assessment with the US, including Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson, during his most recent visit to Turkey. Reuters reports.
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told reporters yesterday that Israel has the right to defend itself “but it must do that in accordance with humanitarian law.” “It’s clear that too many civilian lives have been lost. And that’s why we’ve been consistent…in calling for a sustainable ceasefire, whereby hostages are released, rockets stop being fired into Israel by Hamas and we continue to get more aid in.”
U.S. RESPONSE
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Israel yesterday where he offered“thoughts about how to transition from high intensity operations to a lower intensity and more surgical operations.” Austin said the campaign shift “requires detailed planning” and told reporters that protecting civilians was a “moral duty and a strategic imperative.” “I’m not here to dictate timelines or terms,” Austin said. “Our support to Israel’s right to defend itself is ironclad.” The visit was Austin’s second to Tel Aviv since the war broke out. Miriam Berger and Louisa Loveluck report for the Washington Post.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby described the mistaken IDF killing of three Israeli hostages as “tragic” and said there is “no doubt” Israel “will do the forensics on this to learn what happened and how to avoid it happening again.” Kirby added that the rules of engagement are less important than “the way they’re enforced.” “That’s why doing the forensics on this is going to be so important for them to kind of figure out, is there a systemic issue … or was this an individual issue? Misunderstanding, miscalculation, fog of war? … I think we should be careful at this early stage, and certainly here from Washington, to point the fingers at the exact rules of engagement.” Justin Ryan Gomez reports for ABC News.
CIA Director Bill Burns met yesterday with the head of Mossad and the Qatari Prime Minister in Warsaw to discuss a potential new hostage release deal, according to two U.S. and Israeli officials. The meeting took place three days after Qatar and Mossad initially held bilateral talks to try to relaunch another deal. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
IRAN-BACKED MILITANTS
Israel is closer today to war with Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah than yesterday, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said yesterday. “If we look at the amount of attacks and aggression that Hezbollah has mounted against Israel, more than a thousand different pieces of [ammunition] that have been fired at Israel, specifically by Hezbollah, then by any means, we could have been at war with Hezbollah long, long ago. And based solely on their actions, their violation of Israeli sovereignty and the casualties that they have caused … I think that we are — and without being cheeky — we are closer today to war than we were yesterday.” ABC News reports.
Israel told the Biden administration it wants Hezbollah to move approximately six miles from the border — far enough away that they will not be able to fire at Israeli towns along the border — in a diplomatic deal to end the rising tensions with Lebanon, according to Israeli and U.S. officials. President Biden’s senior adviser, Amos Hochstein, has been working on a diplomatic solution which would allow evacuated Israeli citizens who moved from the border in response to the rising tensions to return to their hometowns. U.S. officials have asked Israel to not exacerbate the situation while diplomacy talks are continuing. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced yesterday a new multinational maritime security initiative named Operation Prosperity Guardian, aimed at protecting ships in the Red Sea from Houthi attacks. “The recent escalation in reckless Houthi attacks originating from Yemen threatens the free flow of commerce, endangers innocent mariners, and violates international law,” Austin said in a statement. Austin is due to attend a press conference in Tel Aviv today where he will meet with his regional counterparts to discuss the Houthi threat. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
Two commercial ships in the Red Sea were attacked with naval drones by the Houthis, with Houthi spokesperson Yahya Sarea identifying the vessels and saying the attacks were carried out after the naval crews failed to respond to his group’s warnings. A small fire was caused, according to the vessel’s operator, which denies ties to Israel, while both British and U.S. maritime officials verified the attacks. The rising attacks in the Red Sea have resulted in oil giant BP pausing all shipments of oil through the region due to the “deteriorating security situation” amid the rising escalation of tensions. Lora Jones reports for BBC News.
Hamas’s use of modified commercial drones to stage attacks — a strategy also used by Ukraine in the early days of Russia’s invasion — exposed a significant vulnerability in Israel’s vaunted air and ground defenses. The emergence of a new generation of cheap systems, like the ones used in the Oct. 7 attack, is challenging some of the world’s most technologically advanced militaries.
The most senior U.S. intelligence and defense officials are trying to restart talks to release hostages held by Hamas and bring the war in Gaza to an end. Israel’s freed child hostages are haunted by the trauma of being in captivity.
The Hamas massacres of Oct. 7 came at a moment when Israel’s population and economy seemed strong and poised to continue growing. Yet confidence in Israel’s security was misplaced, writes Eliot A. Cohen, a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. The legacy of Israel’s 1967 war, the emergence of an Iran-led “axis of irreconcilables” and domestic political problems converged to leave Israel vulnerable, and now, as it wages war in Gaza, the country is left with immense uncertainty.
Israel-Hamas conflict: Israel has edged closer to an all-out war with the Lebanese Hezbollah movement as Israeli forces engage in the most intensive conflict to date in Gaza, an IDF official said. Meanwhile, the U.S. announced a new maritime task force in the Red Sea as countries try to protect commercial vessels under fire from Yemen-based rebels in shipping channels.
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