Closing summary
It’s just turned 5.20am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv and we’re about to shut this blog. Our live coverage will resume later in the day. Here’s an overview of the latest developments. And you can see all our Israel-Gaza war coverage here. Thanks for reading.
The White House went on the defensive over President Joe Biden’s comments to Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel was losing international support because of its “indiscriminate bombing” and that Netanyahu should change his hard-right dominated government. US security spokesman John Kirby was evasive at a press briefing when asked if Biden’s comments were the official position of the US government.
Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant acknowledged the differences with the US but said he was confident the two sides would find a way for Israel’s military operation to continue. Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen said earlier that his country would continue its war in Gaza “with or without international support”.
The Biden administration is delaying the sale of more than 20,000 US-made rifles to Israel over concerns about attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, two sources familiar with the matter have said. The state department sent an informal notification for the sale to Congress several weeks ago but the sale has not gone ahead, despite being cleared by Senate and House committees.
Israel has announced its worst combat losses in six weeks after an ambush in the ruins of Gaza, saying on Wednesday that 10 of its soldiers had been killed over the past 24 hours. Two senior Israeli commanders and seven other soldiers were killed by Hamas in a complex ambush in the Gaza City suburb of Shejaiya, in one of the most lethal incidents for Israeli soldiers during the two-month-long war.
The head of the United Nations relief and works agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said conditions in Gaza were “a living hell”. Philippe Lazzarini told a meeting of the UN global refugee forum in Geneva that his third visit to Gaza since 7 October was distressing. “There is no more food to buy, even for those who can pay. In the shops, the shelves are empty,” he said. Lazzarini’s comments came amid fears of a rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis in the territory as heavy winter rains and cool weather hit.
Israel’s army website was briefly hacked on Wednesday by a pro-Palestinian group that warned of more attacks against Israeli forces, including further cyber-attacks.
Family members of Israeli hostages held in Gaza say they are “shocked” by a report that Israel’s war cabinet has decided against sending the head of Mossad to Qatar for negotiations on a new hostage deal and are demanding an “immediate explanation” from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Times of Israel is reporting.
US president Joe Biden was “moved” by a White House meeting with families of some of the eight US hostages being held by Hamas, said John Kirby, the US security spokesman. Secretary of state Antony Blinken was also present. Jonathan Dekel-Chen, father of hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen, told reporters: “It was a terrific meeting and conversation.”
Discussions over a possible ceasefire hit a dead end, according to a “senior US official” quoted by CNN. The news network said Qatar, which helped broker the previous week-long pause in hostilities that led to the release of more than 100 hostages, had been active in pursuing a new deal but Hamas had “not been responsive”.
A United Nations study said economic cost of the war on Arab neighbours Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan could rise to at least $10bn (£7.9bn) this year and push more than 230,000 people into poverty. The cost for the three states in terms of loss of GDP may amount to $10.3bn, or 2.3%, and could double if the conflict lasts another six months, the UN development program (UNDP) paper reveals.
Updated
In case you missed this report from Peter Beaumont and Julian Borger earlier, 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 while heavy fighting continues across the territory, the winter storm turned large areas to mud and drenched many of those sleeping in makeshift plastic tents.
The rapidly worsening humanitarian situation comes as Israel’s air and ground war – after Hamas’s attack on 7 October – has pushed nearly 85% of Gaza’s population from their homes.
Among those caught in the open was Ameen Edwan, camped with thousands of others in the grounds of al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in central Gaza, who said his family had been unable to sleep.
“Rainwater seeped in. We couldn’t sleep,” he told the AFP news agency. “We tried to find nylon covers but couldn’t find any so we resorted to stones and sand” to keep the rain out.
See the full report here:
