Israel-Hamas conflict
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Lufthansa to resume flights to Tel Aviv from Jan 8
German airline group Lufthansa has said it planned to resume flights to Tel Aviv from January 8, after the service was suspended in early October following the Hamas attacks on Israel, AFP reports.
The Lufthansa Group airlines will initially “offer a total of 20 weekly connections to and from Tel Aviv,” it said in a statement, corresponding “to around 30 percent of the regular flight schedule”.
Hamas turns Gaza streets into deadly maze for Israeli troops
The Israeli army’s death toll in Gaza is already almost twice as high as during a ground offensive in 2014, a reflection of how far it has pushed into the enclave and of Hamas’ effective use of guerrilla tactics and an expanded arsenal, Reuters reports.
Israeli military experts, an Israeli commander, and a Hamas source described how the Palestinian group has used a big weapons stockpile, its knowledge of the terrain, and a vast tunnel network to turn Gaza’s streets into a deadly maze.
At their disposal, they have arms ranging from drones rigged with grenades to anti-tank weapons with powerful twin charges.
Yemen’s Houthis attack two ships with missiles: spokesperson
Yemen’s Houthis fired naval missiles at two ships they said were heading to Israel, the Iran-allied group’s military spokesman said.
The Houthis identified the two vessels as MSC Alanya and MSC Palatium III, spokesman Yahya Sarea said, according to Reuters.
Yemen's Houthi rebels 'threat' to navigation: top US official
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that Yemen’s Houthi rebels are a “threat to freedom of navigation to commercial shipping” after the group claimed a series of attacks.
Britain, partners call on Israel to tackle settler violence
Britain, the European Union and more than a dozen partner countries including Australia and Canada, called on Israel to take immediate and concrete steps to tackle settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
"This rise in extremist settler violence committed against Palestinians is unacceptable," the statement added.
Death toll in Khan Younis rises to 33: report
The death toll from an Israeli attack near a UNRWA school in Khan Younis has gone up to 33, according to the Nasser Medical Complex officials tell.
Hospitals in Deir el-Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah have reported more casualties after strikes early in the morning.
Israel should ‘fully occupy’ Gaza after war ends
Israel “should fully occupy” Gaza after the war, Israeli media has reported the far-right Israeli Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu as saying.
“Anyone who is today selling the idea that [Palestinians] can go back to running things doesn’t remember what happened on [October 7],” Eliyahu also told Kan Radio.
Israel removed settlements and withdrew its forces from inside Gaza in 2005 but maintains control of most of Gaza’s land, sea and air access.
Dutch court clears export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel
The Netherlands can continue to deliver parts for F-35 fighter jets used by Israel in the Gaza Strip, after a Dutch court has thrown out a case brought by a group of human rights organisations.
“The considerations that the minister makes are to a large extent of a political and policy nature and judges should leave the minister a large amount of freedom,” the district court in The Hague ruled.
The organisations, including the local branch of Amnesty International, had argued that supplying the parts contributed to alleged violations of international law by Israel in its war with Hamas.
The US-owned F-35 parts are stored at a warehouse in the Netherlands and then shipped to several partners, including Israel, via existing export agreements.
Heavy exchange of fire taking place in Rafah
There are reports of heavy exchange of fire in the eastern part of Rafah city.
This is not the first time it happened. In the past few days, there has been an increase in the exchange of fire. There is growing concern among the residents of Rafah and the one million displaced people that there might be an expansion of Israel’s military operations to include parts of Rafah, if not all of it.
Control of Gaza has to transition to the Palestinians: Sullivan
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has wrapped up his visit to Israel before leaving for the occupied West Bank.
Here are some key takeaways from his briefing prior to his departure:
On post-war scenarios:
The Israeli government indicated it does not have long-term plans to occupy Gaza
The control of Gaza has to transition to Palestinians and there is need to work through a timeline
Palestinian Authority needs to be revamped and revitalised
On fighting in Gaza:
There will be a new phase in the war focused on targeting Hamas leadership
Had valuable discussions in Israel about moving to a less intense military operation
We agree with Israel that the fighting will take months, but in different stages
We are working to release the remaining Israeli captives in Gaza
‘You cannot bypass Hamas’, the US plan for Gaza is doomed: Analyst
Tamer Qarmout, assistant professor of public policy at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, has told Al Jazeera that the United States does not have a sincere will to empower the Palestinian Authority and give it some “peace dividends”.
“[US National Security Adviser] Jake Sullivan is there in Israel to discuss the future of Gaza, but what about the [illegal Israeli] settlements expansion [in the occupied West Bank]?! Can the Americans pressure the Israelis to freeze and stop the settlement expansions immediately now until they sort out the entire mess in the occupied Palestine?” he said.
Qarmout said the US backing of the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank would give the entity “peace dividends”, encouraging the Palestinians to support its potential governance in Gaza.
But the chances of that happening is “zero”, he said.
“What we have seen so far … Americans do the talk but they do nothing to pressure Israel to change its political and military conduct. When it comes to the war in Gaza, they are fully committed behind Israel for eroding Hamas,” he said.
Qarmout also said that it was unlikely for the Palestinian Authority to consider ruling Gaza without Hamas’ approval as it would prompt a civil war in the enclave as the PA lacks legitimacy.
“You cannot bypass Hamas. You are creating a scenario of a civil war in the Gaza Strip, because any Palestinian party that would come and take over Gaza on top of the Israeli tanks would be illegitimate in the eyes of Palestinians,” he said.
Jenin refugee camp becomes a scene of desolation
An Israeli army raid in the Jenin refugee camp, occupied West Bank, that went on for 60 hours left a scene of desolation, Al Jazeera’s Hoda-Abdel Hamid says.
“This is a desolate city, everything is shut down,” Abdel-Hamid said, reporting at the entrance of the refugee camp where Israeli soldiers were stationed.
Walls of shops at the site show drawings of the Star of David and other Israeli symbols, while sewage water fills the streets as the camp’s infrastructures were destroyed.
“Bulldozers were the first to go in and destroyed everything on their way to make people’s life here more difficult,” she said.
At least 12 people were killed and more than 500 arrested in the raid. Many of those detained were later released, Abdel-Hamid said, adding that some of those were badly beaten during questioning.
Funerals in Khan Younis
More than 18,700 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israeli attacks since October 7.
The latest attack in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on a UN school and houses is believed to have killed several people.
We will bring you updates on those attacks shortly.
More displacement, hunger for Palestinians across Gaza
Displaced people are arriving from Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, where heavy artillery shelling took place last night and in the early morning hours.
There are reports of people having been killed and critically injured in raids across Gaza, mainly in Khan Younis, where fierce fighting between the Israeli military and the Qassam Brigades is taking place under the cover of heavy aerial bombardment.
We don’t know the number of victims in Khan Younis, but there are reports of women and children being seriously injured and taken to Nasser hospital.
The result of the ongoing bombardment is that more people are becoming displaced. They are hungry and thirsty and queue all day long to get some water and bread.
RISING SUPPORT FOR HAMAS
Israel might have hoped that the war and its hardships would turn Palestinians against Hamas, hastening its demise. But a poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found 44% of respondents in the occupied West Bank said they supported Hamas, up from 12% in September. In Gaza, the militants enjoyed 42% support, up from 38% three months ago.
That’s still a minority in both territories. But even many Palestinians who do not share Hamas’ commitment to destroying Israel and oppose its attacks on civilians see it as resisting Israel’s decades-old occupation of lands they want for a future state.
Israelis, meanwhile, remain strongly supportive of the war and see it as necessary to prevent a repeat of Oct. 7, when Palestinian militants attacked communities across southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking some 240 hostage. A total of 116 soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive, which began Oct. 27.
Around half the hostages, mostly women and children, were released last month during a weeklong cease-fire in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Gaza ceasefire protests held in eight major US cities
Jewish protesters demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza have held demonstrations in eight US cities, blocking rush hour traffic on busy streets and bridges in Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, according to reports.
The lobby group, Jewish Voice for Peace, said about 90 protesters blocked the overpass to New York Avenue in Washington, DC.
More than 30 protesters were arrested in Philadelphia when an estimated 200 people briefly blocked the I-76 highway holding signs and banners that read: “Let Gaza Live” and “Not in our name”.
Hundreds of protests blocked a busy intersection in downtown Boston, stopping vehicles travelling on 15 traffic lanes.
“On the 8th night of Hanukkah, 8 cities, 8 bridges,” Jewish Voice for Peace wrote of the protests on social media. “We are here, gathering across the country in massive, growing numbers, to say no more,” the group said.
Demonstrations also occurred in Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle and Portland, Oregon.
In San Francisco, hundreds gathered outside the headquarters of Google to admonish the tech company for signing a $1.2bn deal for artificial intelligence with the Israeli government, the protest group said.
HAPPENING NOW
— Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area (@JVPBayArea) December 15, 2023
Hundreds of people here in San Francisco outside Google’s headquarters yelling “shame!” at Google’s $1.2 BILLION artificial intelligence contract w/the Israeli gov.
Google workers are speaking out. Company shut front doors & told workers to use a back entrance. pic.twitter.com/bDJRqfy0AO
France says it is working to get journalists out of Gaza
The announcement from the French Foreign Ministry followed after France’s daily Le Monde published an op-ed urging French President Emmanuel Macron to help secure the evacuation of Palestinian journalists working with French media in war-torn Gaza.
“We are keeping up our efforts regarding AFP [Agence France-Presse] employees,” said Christophe Lemoine, deputy spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, adding that the evacuation operation is complicated.
“Since October, we have been working to allow French citizens on the ground to leave Gaza, as well as their dependents,” Lemoine was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.
One more Israeli soldier killed, several seriously injured in Gaza fighting
The Israeli military has identified the latest soldier to be killed in Gaza as a 19-year-old sergeant in the 603rd Engineer Battalion, who died in fighting in the southern Gaza Strip.
Several other Israeli troops were reported as seriously injured, including a reservist in the 710th Engineer Battalion and a reservist in Battalion 2855. The former was wounded in fighting in northern Gaza and the latter in southern Gaza.
A reserve officer with the 7029 Battalion was also seriously injured in southern Gaza and an officer with the Golani Brigade was seriously wounded in the north of the Palestinian territory.
At least 116 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the Gaza ground invasion so far and around 650 injured, the UN reported on Thursday, citing official figures.
Israeli military recovers body of captive from Gaza
The body of a 28-year-old Israeli captive has been recovered from the Gaza Strip, Israel’s military said.
After an identification process conducted by medical officials, a military rabbi and the Institute of Forensic Medicine, along with police, the body was confirmed to be that of captive Elia Toledano, who was taken by Hamas on October 7.
“We share in the family’s grief. The national mission before our eyes is to locate the missing and return all the abductees home,” the military said in a statement on social media.
Dutch court to rule on export of F-35 parts to Israel
A court in the Netherlands is expected decide on whether to force the Dutch government to stop supplying parts for F-35 fighter jets being used by Israel over the Gaza Strip, according to AFP news agency.
A group of human rights groups have challenged the government, saying that supplying the parts contributes to alleged violations of international law by Israel in its war with Hamas.
The case concerns US-owned F-35 parts stored at a warehouse in the Netherlands and then shipped to several partners, including Israel, via existing export agreements.
These parts “make it possible for real bombs to be dropped on real houses and on real families,” Michiel Servaes, director of Oxfam Novib and one of the plaintiffs, was quoted by AFP as saying.
Most of the weapons being used by Israel is supplied by the US, which also provides billions of dollars in military equipment and financial aid to its closest Middle East ally.
Top Biden adviser to meet Palestinian President Abbas today
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's national security adviser will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Friday about the war in Gaza and ensuring that the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7 is never repeated, senior U.S. officials said.
The adviser, Jake Sullivan, will discuss "ongoing efforts to revamp and revitalize" the Palestinian Authority and reining in "extremist settler violence" against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, said one of the officials, who declined to be named.
Sullivan said on Thursday that governance of the West Bank and Gaza Strip needs to be connected under a refurbished Palestinian Authority.
Israeli troops kill 12 Palestinians, desecrate West Bank mosque
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli troops killed a youth at a hospital and read out Jewish prayers at a mosque in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin during raids that Palestinian authorities said on Thursday killed 12 and that Israel said helped capture dozens of Hamas members.
The Palestinian government criticised the operation inside Jenin as a "dangerous escalation" and in a statement said the desecration of the mosque by some Israeli troops fanned religious tension. Israel's army said it would discipline the soldiers.
Palestinians see the West Bank as central to a future independent state. Allies of Israel backing its war against Hamas militants in Israeli-occupied Gaza have urged restraint, including punishing Israeli settlers in the West Bank accused of armed attacks on Palestinians.
US stresses safety for Gaza civilians as Israel unrelenting in attacks
CAIRO/GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A U.S. security envoy had talks with Israel about shifting its strategy in Gaza toward surgical operations against Hamas from a broad ground campaign, and President Joe Biden appealed for civilian lives in the Palestinian territory to be saved.
With nightfall on Thursday, Israeli tanks and planes intensified bombardment of the northern Gaza neighbourhoods of Shejaia, Zeitoun and Daraj as well as Khan Younis in the south of the enclave, residents said. Four people, including two children, were killed and several others wounded in an Israeli air strike on a house in Khan Younis in southern Gaza early on Friday, Palestinian health officials said.
Israel has been pounding the 25-mile (40-kilometer) length of Gaza with no sign of a pause in hostilities or a ceasefire that would enable delivery of more desperately needed basic supplies for civilians to survive as their homes have been destroyed.
