Closing summary
It’s almost 5.30am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv and we’re about to close this blog. Our live coverage will resume later today. Here’s an overview of the latest key developments. And you can find all our Israel-Gaza war coverage here. Thank you for reading.
The Palestinian Authority “will look to ultimately have a role in Gaza” and that is something the US is talking about with them, according to a senior US official. The comments came as the US said the White House’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, would meet with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah on Friday.
US president Joe Biden and Sullivan discussed scaling back Israel’s high-intensity operations in Gaza with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Reuters reported a senior US official as saying. Sullivan told Israel’s Channel 12 television he had “constructive” talks with Netanyahu about Israel shifting to a more precise and targeted phase of operations, without giving details or a timeline. The New York Times reported the US was pushing for a shift by new year.
Biden has said he wants Israel to “be focused on how to save civilian lives” in Gaza. He said that meant “not stop going after Hamas, but to be more careful”. A White House spokesperson said it wanted Israel’s war in Gaza to “end as soon as possible” but that the US was not dictating a timeline to Israel.
All communication and internet services were completely cut off in Gaza on Thursday, Palestinian telecommunication companies said. The update came from the territory’s main telecommunication companies, Paltel and Jawwal.
The Israeli military said soldiers were facing disciplinary action after violating its code of conduct during an “operational activity” near a mosque in the West Bank city of Jenin. The soldiers were seen on video singing Hanukkah songs and mocking the Islamic call to prayer over loudspeaker in the mosque during a raid. The incident came during three days of raids in the occupied West Bank, during which Israeli troops killed 12 Palestinians, including one youth shot dead at a hospital, Palestinian officials and international health charities said.
The Palestinian Football Association says it has documented the killing of 85 Palestinian athletes, including 55 football players and 30 players in other sports, since the start of the war, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. The association said in a report on Thursday that Israeli forces “targeted Palestinian athletes and sports facilities, especially football players and club presidents, administrators, referees and others”, according to Wafa.
At least 18,787 Palestinians have been killed and 50,897 wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, a spokesman for the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said on Thursday.
Updated
Eighty-five Palestinian athletes killed in war, Palestinian report says
The Palestinian Football Association says it has documented the killing of 85 Palestinian athletes, including 55 football players and 30 players in other sports, since the start of the war, the Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting.
The association said in a report on Thursday that Israeli forces “targeted Palestinian athletes and sports facilities, especially football players and club presidents, administrators, referees and others”, according to Wafa.
The report said the football players killed included 18 children and 37 youths, including two in the West Bank, while four players were wounded in the Gaza Strip between 7 October and 6 December.
It said Israeli bombing had led to the destruction of nine sports facilities – four in the West Bank and five in the Gaza Strip.
The report said Israeli forces detained three athletes in the West Bank, while in the Gaza Strip the number “is infinite in light of the number of missing people there”.
Updated
Hospitals in southern Gaza are overwhelmed and staff are struggling to meet the needs of pregnant women and newborns, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA) says.
In a video the agency posted on X (formerly Twitter), it says just five hospitals are still functional in Gaza’s south, where most of the strip’s population of more than 2 million is now located.
In the video, which shows footage from inside Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza’s biggest city, a 19-year-old expectant mother says that “nowhere is safe”.
The area where we were staying was bombed, so we came to the hospital, but there was bombing in this area as well. I mean, there was bombing while we were on the street. There was barely any distance between us and the bombing yesterday.
"Nowhere is safe," says 6 months pregnant Nussaiba.
— UNFPA (@UNFPA) December 14, 2023
She places her life at risk every time she goes for check-ups at Nasser Hospital in #Gaza.
See how @UNFPA—the @UN sexual and reproductive health agency—is taking action to make #motherhood safer: https://t.co/ZUIn0Ek0JO pic.twitter.com/OnZ8XjlwFv
The woman says she also has a nine-month-old daughter she is breastfeeding.
When I’m out of milk, I can’t manage to get her more, not even diapers. I also need medication. There’s none in the hospital or in the clinic. ... and this also harms my fetus.
The woman says coming to the hospital for pregnancy check-ups is difficult and she needs to come on foot because “there is no functional transportation to get here” or to return home.
Because of the ongoing bombing, I could suffer a miscarriage at any moment ... There is no safety in the hospital, at home or at the school. Nowhere is safe.
The Israeli military has rounded up hundreds of Palestinians across northern Gaza, separating families and forcing men to strip to their underwear before transporting some to a detention camp where they spent hours or in some cases days subjected to hunger and cold, according to human rights activists, relatives and released detainees.
Associated Press reports that Palestinians freed from detention in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, the Jabaliya refugee camp and Gaza City said they were bound, blindfolded and bundled into the back of trucks. Some said they were taken to the camp at an undisclosed location, nearly naked and with little water.
Ibrahim Lubbad, a 30-year-old computer engineer arrested in Beit Lahiya on 7 December with a dozen other family members and held overnight, said:
We were treated like cattle, they even wrote numbers on our hands.
The roundups have laid bare an emerging tactic in Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza, experts say, as the military seeks to solidify control in evacuated areas in the north and collect intelligence about Hamas operations.
In response to questions about alleged mistreatment, the Israeli military said detainees were “treated according to protocol” and given enough food and water. Military spokesman R Adm Daniel Hagari said the men were questioned and then told to dress, and that in cases where that didn’t happen, the military would ensure it did not occur again.
Those believed to have ties to Hamas were taken away for further interrogation, and dozens of Hamas members had been arrested, he said.
Photos and video showing Palestinian men kneeling in the streets, heads bowed and hands bound behind their backs, have sparked outrage after spreading on social media.
Updated
Demonstrations are occurring across the United States calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, as we reported earlier.
The Jewish American group IfNotNow has just posted on X that in Boston, protesters shut down the city centre’s biggest intersection for all of peak hour.
Tonight hundreds of Jews + allies shut down the biggest intersection in downtown Boston for all of rush hour.
— IfNotNow🔥🕎 (@IfNotNowOrg) December 15, 2023
Until the U.S. government follows the will of the people and calls for a ceasefire, we have to keep being impossible to ignore.
It's life and death. pic.twitter.com/RQzsxa1jXP
Updated
A ballistic missile attack launched from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen towards an international shipping lane in the Red Sea did not cause any damage or injuries, US Central Command (Centcom) says.
Following the missile launch, north of the Bab al-Mandab Strait on Thursday midday, “the M/V Maersk Gibraltar was hailed by the Houthis, who threatened further missile attacks”, Reuters quoted Centcom as saying later in the day on X (formerly Twitter).
It added:
While this incident did not involve US forces, we continue to closely monitor the situation.
A senior Houthi official on Tuesday warned cargo ships in the Red Sea to avoid travelling towards Israel and the occupied territories, after the Iran-aligned group claimed an attack on a commercial tanker earlier in the day.
In solidarity with Palestinians under attack from Israel in Gaza, the Houthis are using their control of Yemen’s western seaboard to mount attacks on what they regard as shipping linked to Israel.
They said last Saturday that they would target all ships heading to Israel, regardless of their nationality, and warned international shipping companies against dealing with Israeli ports.
Updated
Palestinian Authority 'will look to ultimately have role' in Gaza, says US official
The Palestinian Authority “will look to ultimately have a role in Gaza” and that is something the US is talking about with them, according to a senior US official.
The comments came as US officials said the White House’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, would meet with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah on Friday about the war in Gaza and ensuring that the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October is never repeated, Reuters reports.
Sullivan would discuss “ongoing efforts to revamp and revitalise” 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 needed to be connected under a refurbished Palestinian Authority.
The official said US-trained Palestinian security forces had performed “incredibly well” in preventing violence instigated by Hamas in the West Bank after the 7 October attack and there were a number of personnel there that could form “some sort of a nucleus” for a future force in the months following Israel’s military campaign.
The official said:
This is something we’re discussing with the Palestinians and with the Israelis and with regional partners. And it very much remains a work in progress. That is one idea of many.
The US president, Joe Biden, remained strongly committed to a two-state solution, but that could not happen as long as Hamas remained the dominant power in Gaza, the official added, also saying:
The Palestinian Authority will look to ultimately have a role there, and that is something we are talking about with them.
Updated
Israel will fight on until “absolute victory against Hamas”, the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has told a senior official from the Biden administration, as another minister said the war could last “more than several months”.
Netanyahu’s comments were made to Jake Sullivan, Joe Biden’s national security adviser, during a visit to Israel hours after its defence minister, Yoav Gallant, told Sullivan that many more months were needed to defeat Hamas in Gaza.
A statement from Netanyahu’s office said:
I told our American friends our heroic fighters have not fallen in vain. From the deep pain of their falling, we are more determined than ever to continue to fight until Hamas is eliminated – until absolute victory.
Gallant earlier told Sullivan, apparently contradicting bullish daily updates from Israel’s military about the progress of its campaign, that the war “will require a period of time – it will last more than several months”. He said Hamas had “built infrastructure under the ground and above the ground and it is not easy to destroy them”.
The comments were a clear rebuff to the Biden administration, which has been pressing Israel to wind down its offensive, after the US president warned earlier this week that Israel was losing international support.
The full report is here:
Updated
The Turkish president has said the United States has a “historic responsibility” to ensure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, warning of the “negative regional and global consequences” of the conflict.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke on the phone with the US president, Joe Biden, in their first talks since 7 October, when Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel sparked the war, Agence France-Presse reports.
The Turkish presidency said in a statement after the call:
President Erdogan stated that the intensification and prolongation of Israeli attacks could have negative regional and global consequences.
Withdrawal of the United States’ unconditional support for Israel can guarantee a rapid ceasefire.
Erdogan has been one of the Muslim world’s most vocal critics of Israel’s military tactics in Gaza.
This is Adam Fulton picking up our live coverage. Keep with us for all the latest developments as they unfold
Updated
Summary
It is just after 1.00 am in Gaza.
Here’s what happened today:
Joe Biden said that he wants Israel to stay focused on how to save civilian lives in Gaza. “I want them to be focused on how to save civilian lives, not stop going after Hamas, but to be more careful,” the US president said on Thursday.
Biden’s national security adviser advised Israel to end its ground campaign in Gaza, and carry out a more targeted offensive in its war in Gaza, the New York Times reported. Jake Sullivan advised Israel to change its war tactics within three weeks or less.
A spokesperson for the White House said that it wants Israel’s war in Gaza to “end as soon as possible”, but added that the US is not dictating a timeline on when the fighting should end to Israel.
All communication and internet services were completely cut off in Gaza, Palestinian telecommunication companies announced on Thursday. The latest update came from the territory’s main telecommunication companies, Paltel and Jawwal.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Thursday that soldiers faced discipline after violating the IDF’s code of conduct during an “operational activity” near a mosque in the city of Jenin. The IDF soldiers were seen on video singing Hanukkah songs in a mosque they had raided.
Thank you for reading.
My colleague in Australia will now be handling updates to this blog.
Unguided bombs are used in nearly half of all Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, the Washington Post reports.
A US intelligence assessment found that Israel has been using “dumb bombs”, also known as unguided bombs, in almost half of all airstrikes fired in Gaza.
The use of the unguided munition may explain the staggering civilian death toll in Gaza, where nearly 18,000 Palestinian people have been killed in the territory.
According to unnamed officials familiar with the assessment, only 55 to 60% of all airstrikes used in Gaza have been precision guided.
Read the full article here [pay wall].
Here is a separate protest happening in Washington DC, where 8 bridges have been shut down by Jewish Voice for Peace protestors.
From the organization’s X account:
BREAKING: DC joins nation-wide protests to shut down 8 bridges on the 8th night of Hanukkah.
— Jewish Voice for Peace (@jvplive) December 14, 2023
Over 90 Jews and allies in the struggle for Palestinian liberation are blockading the overpass to New York Ave with @JVPDCMetro to say: ceasefire now! Free Palestine! pic.twitter.com/2VFM79GyOP
Protests are happening across the US in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza.
From IfNotNow’s chapter in Boston:
HAPPENING NOW: Boston Jews & allies with IfNotNow and @JVPBoston are at City Hall Plaza, lighting candles to mark the 8th night of Chanukah + demanding an end to the massacre in Gaza thru an immediate, lasting ceasefire. Follow our IG livestream: https://t.co/atOhv1rG6A pic.twitter.com/0e8FaFvZx8
— IfNotNow Boston 🔥 (@IfNotNowBoston) December 14, 2023
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) announced on Thursday that they have completely lost contact with operating rooms in Gaza amid a telecommunications blackout.
PRCS posted the latest update on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“We feel extreme concern about the possibility of our teams continuing to provide emergency services, especially as this disruption affects the central 101 operation room and hinders the arrival of ambulances to the injured and wounded,” the organization posted.
Read the full post below:
🚨PRCS: We have completely lost contact with the operations room in the #Gaza Strip and all our teams operating there due to the fifth telecommunication blackout during the ongoing aggression on the #Gaza Strip.
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 14, 2023
⚠️We express our concern for the safety of our teams working in the… pic.twitter.com/LQCygratx3
Biden: I want Israel to stay focused on how to save civilian lives in Gaza
Joe Biden has said that he wants Israel to stay focused on how to save civilian lives in Gaza, Reuters reports.
Biden’s latest remarks on the war in Gaza came after he finished speaking at an event to promote lowering the cost of prescription drugs.
Biden said: “I want them to be focused on how to save civilian lives, not stop going after Hamas, but to be more careful.”
From CBS News’ Ed O’Keefe:
After speaking at @NIH on lowering prescription drug prices, @POTUS Biden asked if he wants #Israel to scale back its military campaign against Hamas by year's end:
— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) December 14, 2023
"I want them to be focused on how to save civilian lives, not stop going after Hamas, but to be more careful."
Updated
US advises Israel to end Gaza ground campaign, reports say
US president Joe Biden’s national security adviser advised Israel to end its ground campaign in Gaza, and carry out a more targeted offensive in its war in Gaza, the New York Times reported.
Biden reportedly wants Israel to switch to this new phase of war within three weeks or sooner, said an unnamed US official.
More from the Times:
The new phase that the Americans envision would involve smaller groups of elite forces that would move in and out of population centers in Gaza, carrying out more precise missions to find and kill Hamas leaders, rescue hostages and destroy tunnels, the officials said.
The call for a change in tactic comes as differences between the United States and Israel have widened as the conditions in Gaza turn catastrophic. Mr. Biden said this week that Israel was beginning to lose international support because of the “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza, a much harsher assessment than his earlier public statements urging greater care to protect civilians.
Read the full article here.
Updated
US national security adviser says Israel urged to lower intensity of military operation
A US adviser has discussed transitioning Israel’s military operations in Gaza to “low intensity” during a visit to Israel on Thursday, Reuters reports.
From Reuters.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser spoke with Israeli officials during a visit to the country on Thursday about possibly transitioning from high-intensity to “lower-intensity” military operations in Gaza, the White House said.
The adviser, Jake Sullivan, spoke about a possible transition “in the near future, but I don’t want to put a time stamp on it,” White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at a regular press briefing.
Kirby did not elaborate on what low-intensity military operations would look like.
Updated
Kirby’s comments on a two-state solution come after several, high-ranking Israeli officials have spoken out against a two-state solution after the war in Gaza.
Israel’s president Isaac Herzog spoke out against a two-state solution on Thursday.
From ABC News:
Israel’s president has joined the ranks of high-ranking Israeli officials to speak out against a two-state solution after the war in Gaza.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, Isaac Herzog said it is not the time to be talking about establishing an independent state when the country’s pain from Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack is still fresh.
“What I want to urge is against just saying two-state solution. Why? Because there is an emotional chapter here that must be dealt with. My nation is bereaving. My nation is in trauma,” said Herzog.
“In order to get back to the idea of dividing the land, of negotiating peace or talking to the Palestinians, etc., one has to deal first and foremost with the emotional trauma that we are going through and the need and demand for full sense of security for all people,” he said.
Read the full article here.
Updated
Kirby also reiterated the Biden administration’s commitment to a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.
“We still adhere to the promise and the vision of a two state solution. Nothing has changed about policy. We’ll let the Israelis speak for themselves,” Kirby said during Thursday’s briefing.
Kirby: "We still adhere to the promise and the vision of a two state solution. Nothing has changed about policy. We'll let the Israelis speak for themselves."
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) December 14, 2023
Kirby added that the US supports a “reformed and revitalized Palestinian Authority” to govern Palestine.
“We believe that the Palestinian Authority should be involved in the governance of the Palestinian areas, including Gaza,” Kirby said.
From the Guardian’s David Smith:
Kirby: "We believe that the Palestinian Authority should be involved in the governance of the Palestinian areas, including Gaza." The Palestinian Authority needs to be reformed. "Again, we're not dictating who's in charge."
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) December 14, 2023
Kirby: "Hamas does not represent the aspirations of the Palestinian people. The best way to get at that governance is through a reformed and revitalised Palestinian Authority."
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) December 14, 2023
White House says it wants Israel’s war in Gaza to ‘end as soon as possible’
The White House said that it wants Israel’s war in Gaza to “end as soon as possible”, but added that the US is not dictating a timeline on when the fighting should end to Israel.
White House spokesperson John Kirby made the remarks during a briefing on Thursday.
While providing an update to reporters, Kirby said of the war: “We all want it to end as soon as possible... We’re not dictating terms to the Israelis about how long it has to be”.
From the Guardian’s David Smith:
Kirby: "We still adhere to the promise and the vision of a two state solution. Nothing has changed about policy. We'll let the Israelis speak for themselves."
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) December 14, 2023
Updated
Four people were arrested in Germany and the Netherlands on Thursday on suspicion of being part of a cross-border Hamas terror plot that German prosecutors said aimed to target Jewish institutions in Europe.
Three others were also arrested in Denmark on apparently related terror offences, and while police in Copenhagen were more circumspect about details, the country’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen said the threat was “as serious as it gets”.
Germany’s federal prosecutor said three men were detained in Berlin and the fourth in Rotterdam and were described as “longstanding members of Hamas” with links to its military wing, and who “have participated in Hamas operations abroad”.
One of the group, named only as Abdelhamid Al A, was accused by the prosecutor of having “started searching for an underground weapons cache in Europe no later than spring 2023” on the orders of Hamas leaders based in Lebanon.
“The weapons were due to be taken to Berlin and kept in a state of readiness in view of potential terrorist attacks against Jewish institutions in Europe,” the prosecutor continued in a statement released on Thursday afternoon.
Then, in October 2023, the month of Hamas’s deadly assault on Israel, three of the four men “travelled repeatedly from Berlin to look for the weapons,” the prosecutor continued, with a fourth accused of providing assistance.
The German authorities gave the first names and initials of the surname of the four arrested. They were Abdelhamid Al A., born in Lebanon, Mohamed B., an Egyptian National, and Nazih R, a Dutch national who police in the Netherlands said was aged 57. The fourth man Ibrahim El-R., was born in Lebanon.
Danish police said that their investigation revealed “a network of people has been preparing a terrorist act,” which ran across international borders, according to Flemming Drejer, a police chief superintendent.
Frederiksen, at a meeting with EU leaders in Brussels, offered more context. “It is of course - in relation to Israel and Gaza - completely unacceptable for someone to bring a conflict elsewhere in the world into Danish society,” she said.
Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency said that police in Denmark had “arrested seven terrorists acting on behalf of the Hamas terrorist organisation” and had “thwarted an attack, the goal of which was to kill innocent civilians on European soil”.
Here are videos from protesters outside of RSA’s venue, where the fundraiser was being held.
Crowds can be heard chanting “shame on you” as cars honk in the background in a show of support.
Right now: RSA hosting Israel fundraiser with Tzipi Hotovely. After concerns raised, a Director wrote to all staff apologising, claims the client never disclosed details. They had to book it secretly! RSA should end the event immediately. Come down the picket now: 8 John Adam St! pic.twitter.com/b2sAlau1qY
— ashok kumar 🇵🇸 (@broseph_stalin) December 14, 2023
Updated
The Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in London issued an apology and said it will hold an investigation after its venue was used for a fundraiser allegedly attended by Israeli ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, and the UK deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden.
Crowds of pro-Palestine protesters gathered outside RSA after learning that that the fundraiser was being held at the charity organisation’s venue.
RSA provided an update via X, formerly known as Twitter, saying that an “external client” did not disclose the event’s full details in advance.
An update. pic.twitter.com/IF91G0tUCQ
— The RSA (@theRSAorg) December 14, 2023
Updated
David Cameron, the foreign secretary said he was disappointed the Israeli ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, had ruled out a two-state solution.
Giving evidence to a Lords select committee, he said he had read the transcript of Hotoely’s interview with Sky News, and said he did not know if she was acting under instruction.
Cameron said: “True long term security of Israel requires there to be a state for Palestine as well.
“I think it is best not to put too much weight on one interview and make this thing happen.
The ambassador’s remarks, largely reflecting official Israeli government policy, are hardly a surprise, but they are difficult for the UK government that has been trying to entice Israeli down the route of a twostate solution, even though the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has long been opposed to such an outcome.
One of the UK’s stated reasons for abstaining on a fully fledged ceasefire during a vote at the UN general assembly last week, is that it would leave Hamas, a group opposed to a two-state solution, in power, making a political outcome more difficult. The UK does not make the same point about the Israeli government.
Explaining the abstention vote, Cameron said: “An immediate ceasefire, but two state solution: those two things don’t go together. If you have Hamas armed to the teeth launching rockets into Israel and trying to repeat 7 October, you will never have a two-state solution. I know the British can be annoyingly sort of logical factual and down to earth about it. I totally understand countries just want to sign up to a ceasefire and say they want a two-state solution, and don’t reconcile the two things. But I think you should reconcile those two things.
“A sustainable ceasefire is one in which Hamas is not at risk of repeating 7 October.”
He insisted he remained hopeful that a two-state solution was achievable, but admitted it was extremely difficult, though not physically impossible.
Updated
Here are images of Palestinians queuing up to receive food from a charity kitchen, as many on the ground have described the challenges of gaining access to food and widespread hunger in the territory.
Mohammad tells Reuters that Israel’s military activity in Gaza is a “war of starvation”.
“It is a war of starvation. They [Israel] forced us out of our homes, they destroyed our homes and businesses and drove us to the south where we can either die under their bombs or die of hunger,” he said.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), has testified to the extreme hunger many are facing. Lazzarini told Reuters that many people had been stopping UN aid trucks to take feed and eat it right away.
Journalist Youssef Fares, from Jabalia in Gaza’s northern region, said that food costs have soared since fighting began.
“This morning I went in search of a loaf of bread and I couldn’t find it. What is left in the market is candy for children and some cans of beans, which have gone up 50 times in price,” Fares wrote in a post on Facebook.
“I saw someone who slaughtered a donkey to feed it to hundreds of his family members,” he said.
Updated
Amid a territory-wide blackout, the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to dissolve as aid cannot reach much of the territory.
People in Gaza have said they are forced to beg for bread and pay exorbitant rates for basic goods, as aid fails to reach much of the territory, Reuters reports.
Abdel-Aziz Mohammad, 55, is sheltering with his family and three others in a house in southern Gaza.
Mohammad told Reuters that him and the other families have been forced to beg for food as aid has not been delivered.
“Aid? What aid? We hear about it and we don’t see it,” Mohammad said to Reuters.
“I used to have a big house, two fridges full of food, electricity and mineral water. After two months of this war, I am begging for some loaves of bread,” he added.
Below is Paltel’s statement on the territory-wide blackout, posted to Facebook.
Our honourable people in our beloved homeland. We regret to announce a complete disruption of all communication and Internet services with the Gaza Strip, due to continuous aggression.
May Allah protect you and our country.
We regret to announce that all telecom services in Gaza Strip have been lost due to the ongoing aggression. Gaza is blacked out again.
Updated
Updated
Telecommunication services have been cut off in Gaza, say providers Paltel and Jawwal
All communication and internet services have been completely cut off in Gaza, Palestinian telecommunication companies announced today.
The latest update came from the territory’s main telecommunication companies, Paltel and Jawwal.
The companies said the communication services have gone down amid “ongoing aggression” in the territory.
Updated
Video posted to social media appears to explain the IDF’s previous announcement of soldiers facing discipline for violating the IDF’s “codes of conduct within a religious establishment”.
After raiding a mosque in Jenin, IDF soldiers are accused of entering the holy space with their shoes on and singing Hanukkah songs over the mosque’s loud speakers.
In a video posted to X, an IDF soldier is seen using the mosque’s loudspeaker system to sing Hanukkah songs, while another IDF soldier films on a cellphone.
The loudspeaker system in the mosque would typically be used to recite the Qur’an and deliver a call to prayer.
Many online have decried the videos as IDF soldiers intentionally degrading an Islamic holy place.
Israeli soldiers took over and desecrated a mosque in the Palestinian city of Jenin, located in the occupied West Bank. They were filmed singing through the mosque’s microphone, which is used to recite the Quran and the call to prayer. pic.twitter.com/nMuvkRGbs3
— IMEU (@theIMEU) December 14, 2023
The Guardian has not independently verified the video.
Updated
IDF: Soldiers face discipline for violating code of conduct during 'operational activity' in Jenin
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said soldiers faced discipline after violating the IDF’s code of conduct during an “operational activity” near a mosque in the city of Jenin, the military branch announced on Thursday.
The IDF said several soldiers were removed from the operational activity after the IDF received video of the soldiers’ conduct and upon further inspection from commanding officers.
The statement does not provide details on what the soldiers did or what “operational activity” was being performed in Jenin.
Footage posted to social media appears to explain the IDF’s announcement. After raiding a mosque in Jenin, IDF soldiers are accused of entering the holy space with their shoes on and singing Hanukkah songs over the mosque’s loud speakers.
“The behavior of the soldiers in the videos is serious and stands in complete opposition to the values of the IDF,” the IDF wrote in a post to X, formerly known as Twitter.
During IDF operational activity in close proximity to a mosque in Jenin, soldiers acted against IDF codes of conduct within a religious establishment.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 14, 2023
The soldiers were immediately removed from operational activity, after receiving the videos and after an initial inspection of…
Here is the IDF’s full statement on X:
During IDF operational activity in close proximity to a mosque in Jenin, soldiers acted against IDF codes of conduct within a religious establishment. The soldiers were immediately removed from operational activity, after receiving the videos and after an initial inspection of the incident by commanders.
The behavior of the soldiers in the videos is serious and stands in complete opposition to the values of the IDF. The soldiers will be disciplined accordingly.
Updated
Summary
As the time approaches 5pm in Jerusalem, here’s a roundup of today’s news.
The Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, told visiting White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, on Thursday that it will take several months to defeat Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has said he still believes in the two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. It comes after the Israeli ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, rejected the long-suggested plan in an interview with Sky News on Wednesday night.
The UN’s Palestinian refugee chief, Philippe Lazzarini, says people in Gaza are so hungry they are stopping aid trucks, taking the food and eating it right away. He said this was his third visit to Gaza since 7 October, and the situation there is declining rapidly.
The Palestinian prime minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, has said that pressure on the Palestinian Authority to reform is a distraction from the call for peace.
Israel’s parliament has approved a wartime budget that adds 25.9bn shekels (£5.5bn) to the national budget.
At least 18,787 Palestinians have been killed and 50,897 wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry spokesman, Ashraf Al-Qidra, said in a statement on Thursday.
The IDF have said that more than 70 militants were arrested during an intelligence operation at the Adwan hospital in Gaza City. It added that it had successfully carried out three operations on Hamas sites overnight, including one in a school.
The UK is banning Israelis responsible for violence against Palestinians in the West Bank from entering Britain. The foreign secretary, David Cameron, tweeted that “by targeting and killing Palestinian civilians, [they] are undermining security and stability for both Israelis and Palestinians”.
Support for Hamas has risen among Palestinians during the conflict, according to an opinion poll by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research that shows higher approval levels in the Gaza Strip, which has been hard hit by Israeli attacks.
Hamas should recognise Israel and follow the stance of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, according to senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk.
Three Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli raid on Jenin in the West Bank, the Hamas-led health ministry has reported. It means 11 people have now been killed since the Israeli operation began on Tuesday.
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The UK has introduced a series of new sanctions targeting Iran’s “decision makers and those doing its bidding”, including Hamas and other Palestinian militants.
The travel bans and asset freezes coordinated with Washington are aimed at disrupting what London calls Tehran’s “hostile activities in the UK and around the world”.
They target the leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and individuals linked to Iran’s allies Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Britain has long designated both Palestinian groups as terrorist organisations.
“The behaviour of the Iranian regime poses an unacceptable threat to the UK and our partners,” said the foreign secretary, David Cameron.
“It continues to threaten people on UK soil and uses its influence to destabilise the Middle East through its support to armed groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
“The UK’s new Iran sanctions regime gives us extensive new powers to tackle this appalling behaviour,” he added, arguing it sent “a clear message to the regime we will hold you to account for your actions”.
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A relative of two Israeli Arab Bedouins held hostage by Hamas in Gaza has pleaded for their release, saying they had “nothing to do” with the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group.
Speaking to Agence France-Presse on a visit to Paris, Noaf al-Zayadna said: “I urge all who can to help free my brother Youssef and my nephew Hamza because they are sick and have nothing to do with this.”
Among the hostages still believed to be held in Gaza are at least three Israeli Arab Bedouins, members of a small traditionally nomadic minority whose Palestinian ancestors remained on their land after Israel’s creation in 1948.
Four members of a single Bedouin family from the area of Rahat in the Negev desert were taken hostage on 7 October as they were working on a farm in kibbutz Holit, near the border with Gaza.
Youssef al-Zayadna, a 53-year-old father of 19, and his 22-year-old son Hamza, who has two children, remain captive.
His younger son Bilal, 18, and daughter Aisha, 17, were released on 30 November, on the last day of a one-week truce in fighting between Israel and Hamas during which 105 hostages returned from the Gaza Strip in exchange for 240 Palestinians jailed by Israel.
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Israel needs 'several months' to defeat Hamas - Israeli defence minister
Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant told visiting White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Thursday that it will take several months to defeat Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
In comments reported by Reuters, Gallant said that for over a decade Hamas has been building its “infrastructure under the ground and above the ground” and that to destroy the Islamist group “it will require a long period of time – it will last more than several months, but we will win and we will destroy them.”
The two also discussed the need to return Israelis to their homes near the border with Lebanon after tens of thousands of people were displaced due to fighting with Iran-backed Hezbollah, according to statement from Gallant’s office.
The Palestinian prime minister has said that pressure on the Palestinian Authority to reform is a distraction from the call for peace.
Speaking to Reuters, Mohammad Shtayyeh called for international intervention to end the conflict. He added that he thought the US had failed to use its influence effectively.
“What we need is a day-after for all the Palestinian Territories. What we need is to see an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the materialisation and implementation of a two-state [solution],” he said.
The Palestinian Authority has previously been criticised for corruption, with calls for a change of leadership. Mahmoud Abbas, 88, has been president since 2005.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said Washington sees a two-state solution, with an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, as the only viable option.
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At least 18,787 Palestinians have been killed and 50,897 wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said in a statement on Thursday.
People in Gaza are so hungry they are stopping aid trucks and eating food immediately, UNRWA chief says
The UN’s Palestinian refugee chief, Philippe Lazzarini, says people in Gaza are so hungry they are stopping aid trucks, taking the food and eating it right away.
“This is how desperate and hungry they are,” the UNRWA chief told reporters. “I witnessed this first hand. We meet more and more people who haven’t eaten for one, two or three days.”
He said this was his third visit to Gaza since 7 October, and the situation there is declining rapidly.
“Every time I go back, I think it cannot get worse but every time I see more misery, grief and sadness,” he said. “Gaza is not habitable as a place anymore.
“Rafah has quadrupled its numbers of people overnight. It lacks infrastructure and all the basics. It is not a place to hold more than one million people. One warehouse is home to 30,000 people. Families live in tiny spaces only separated by blankets and plastic sheeting.”
He said that his agency has almost no access to the north of Gaza anymore and the operating environment in Gaza is becoming “more and more impossible”. He added that people there feel betrayed and abandoned by the international community.
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The British maritime security company Ambrey said on Thursday it is aware of reports that a group claiming to be the “Yemeni Navy” is demanding a vessel sailing in the Bab al-Mandab Strait change course to head for Yemen, Reuters reports.
Ambrey and the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency are investigating the incident and another one in the Indian Ocean off Yemen, they said in advisory notes.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group has sought to support their ally Hamas in the war in Gaza by firing missiles at Israel and threatening shipping in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which lies next to Yemen at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.
The UN has said that it is now unable to take aid to the north of Gaza.
In an update posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, the UNRWA – its agency for Palestine – said that the spaces around its buildings are “congested with shelters and hungry people” so it is unable to get aid to those who were unable to flee south.
It adds that there is no more food to buy, even for those with the ability to pay.
Leo Varadkar has said the EU is losing credibility over its messaging on the Israel-Hamas war as he urged members to call for a humanitarian ceasefire.
The Irish prime minister said the EU should call for justice for Palestinians while also condemning “terrorism perpetrated by Hamas”. He was speaking at the beginning of an EU summit in Brussels.
The EU’s stance is that Israel has the right to defend itself in line with international humanitarian law. It has also expressed concern over the deteriorating conditions in Gaza.
The 27-nation bloc has little influence over Israel but is the country’s biggest trade partner.
Israel’s parliament has approved a wartime budget that adds 25.9bn shekels (£5.5bn) to the national budget.
The additional funds will help cover costs of the war in Gaza, such as compensation for military reservists and emergency housing for internally displaced people, Reuters reports.
The amendment, ratified by a vote of 59 lawmakers in favour and 45 opposed, increased the 2023 budget to 510bn shekels, a Knesset spokesperson said.
Israel passed the original 2023 budget along with a 2024 budget in May.
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The Israel Defense Forces have said that 36 of its soldiers have been injured in the last 24 hours, with seven seriously hurt.
The IDF updated the number of soldiers wounded since the beginning of the war to 1,740, an increase of 36 from yesterday, Haaretz reports.
According to the latest data, 17 are in a moderate condition and 12 are in a mild condition.
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The Israel Defense Forces have said that more than 70 militants were arrested during an intelligence operation at the Adwan hospital in Gaza city.
In footage posted on social media, several of the prisoners were shown exiting the building shirtless and placing weapons on the ground.
The exercise was carried out with the IDF and Shin Bet, Israel’s security service.
Gunmen were killed, the IDF said. Those arrested are being questioned by the Shin Bet.
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Masafer Yatta, the most rural and desolate area in the West Bank, is home to about 1,000 Palestinians. The community are mostly herders who raise goats and sheep, and have steadfastly refused to leave their homes despite the mounting difficulties posed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers on the one hand and radical Israeli settlers on the other.
But after weeks of intense settler violence in the aftermath of the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October – and despite the decades-long fight to remain in their homes – these communities are being forced off their land. Some have described it as “a new Nakba”.
The Guardian’s Bethan McKernan travelled to Masafer Yatta and heard from Palestinian families how armed settlers – some in reservist uniforms, others covering their faces – have begun breaking into their homes at night, beating up adults, destroying and stealing belongings, and terrifying children. These West Bank settlements are illegal under international law.
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The UK is banning Israelis responsible for violence against Palestinians in the West Bank from entering Britain.
The foreign secretary, David Cameron, tweeted that “by targeting and killing Palestinian civilians, [they] are undermining security and stability for both Israelis and Palestinians”.
The EU has said it is considering sanctions on Israeli settlers who are violent against Palestinians, and the US president, Joe Biden, has delayed selling M16 rifles to Israel over the issue.
The Israeli government has recently approved 1,700 more housing units in Jerusalem, which the EU considers a violation of international law.
Since the Hamas terror attack on Israel on 7 October, at least 275 people have been killed in the West Bank, including 63 children, and 3,365 have been injured
Cameron, the former UK prime minister, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, adding: “Israel must take stronger action to stop settler violence and hold the perpetrators accountable.
“We are banning those responsible for settler violence from entering the UK to make sure our country cannot be a home for people who commit these intimidating acts.”
Extremist settlers, by targeting and killing Palestinian civilians, are undermining security and stability for both Israelis and Palestinians.
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) December 14, 2023
Israel must take stronger action to stop settler violence and hold the perpetrators accountable.
We are banning those responsible for…
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Rishi Sunak reasserts backing for two-state solution after Israeli ambassador to UK says 'absolutely no' to plan
UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has said that he still believes in the two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.
It comes after the Israeli ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, rejected the long-suggested plan in an interview with Sky News on Wednesday night.
Speaking to the broadcaster on Thursday morning, Sunak said: “Our longstanding position remains that the two-state solution is the right outcome here. More immediately, what’s going on is incredibly concerning. I’ve said consistently far too many innocent people have lost their lives. Nobody wants this conflict to go on for a moment longer than is necessary.”
He defended Israel’s right to defend itself but added that he had told the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, last week that Israel must protect civilians.
It follows Hotovely’s interview with Mark Austin on Wednesday when asked about the two-state solution. She said: “Absolutely no. Israel knows today, and the world should know now that the Palestinians never wanted to have a state next to Israel.”
'Our long standing position remains that a two-state solution is the right outcome'
— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 14, 2023
PM Rishi Sunak responds after Israel's ambassador to the UK told Sky News her country would not accept a two-state solution when the war in Gaza endshttps://t.co/HwBO3ER5g4
📺 Sky 501 pic.twitter.com/RJQgCPDfoK
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Pro-Palestinian activists have blocked the entrances to the BP oil company’s offices in central London.
In a tweet, Fossil Free London said the company was “fuelling genocide” as they held up a Palestinian flag and a sign that said “Free Palestine”.
It comes after Israel recently awarded licences to several companies, including BP, to explore for natural gas off the country’s Mediterranean coast.
BREAKING All 3 entrances to @bp_plc London office are blocked! BP you can't hide, you're fuelling genocide. pic.twitter.com/lseWvajfeI
— Fossil Free London (@fossilfreeLDN) December 14, 2023
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IDF says it has successfully attacked three Hamas sites, including one it says was inside a school
The IDF has said it has successfully attacked three Hamas sites overnight.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the military said it had targeted the terrorist group in the eastern Gaza neighbourhood of Shejaiya. It said it had “dismantled their central operating site located inside a school”.
An airstrike was also carried out against a sniper in Jabalia, northern Gaza.
It added that it had discovered two tunnel shafts in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
The IDF continues operations against terrorists in:
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 14, 2023
🔴 Shuja’iyya
Our troops targeted the terrorists of Hamas’ Shuja’iyya Battalion and dismantled their central operating site located inside a school compound.
🔴 Jabalia
IDF forces directed the IAF to conduct a precise strike… pic.twitter.com/8hiNvDS9DN
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Member of Israeli tank brigade killed in southern Gaza, IDF says
A member of an Israeli tank brigade was killed during a battle in southern Gaza on Wednesday, the IDF has said.
It means the number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza during the conflict to 166, according to a CNN count.
More than 18,600 people have now been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry in the Gaza Strip.
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UK minister calls for two-state solution after Israeli ambassador to UK says 'absolutely no' to scheme
A UK government minister has backed the two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, despite a senior Israeli diplomat saying the country would not accept it after the end of the war.
Damian Hinds said the deal is needed “ultimately for lasting peace in the Middle East”.
He told Sky News: “Right now, it’s really important that Israel is able to defend itself. It must be able to remove the capability of Hamas, to attack it. We need the hostages to be free.
“But of course, everybody wants to be working towards lasting, permanent stability.”
On Wednesday night the Israeli ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, rejected the long-suggested plan. When she was pressed by the journalist Mark Austin, she said: “Absolutely no. Israel knows today, and the world should know now that the Palestinians never wanted to have a state next to Israel.”
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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.
It said the military’s “arrogance and injustice toward our people in Gaza will only harm you through terror, killing and war, whether by land, air or electronically”. It went on to call for the “liberation of Palestine”.
Not much is known about Anonymous Jo – it has suggested that it is of Jordanian origin, Sky News reported.
“From your brothers in Jordan to our people in Gaza and Palestine,” one of the lines read.
Jordan, which borders the occupied West Bank, has a large Palestinian population and many are sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians.
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Hamas should recognise Israel and follow the stance of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, according to a senior Hamas official.
Speaking in Doha, Qatar, Mousa Abu Marzouk told the Al-Monitor website: “You should follow the official stance … The official stance is that the PLO has recognised the state of Israel.”
The PLO is the officially recognised umbrella group for most Palestinian factions, apart from Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
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Support for Hamas has risen among Palestinians during the conflict, according to an opinion poll that shows higher approval levels in the Gaza Strip which has been hard hit by Israeli attacks.
The findings by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research found that a majority across the West Bank and Gaza supported launching the attacks on 7 October, but that the number in the Gaza Strip who did so was significantly lower.
The work was carried out alongside the German Konrad Adanaeur Foundation, a German political party foundation which describes itself as “advocates for peace, freedom and justice nationally and internationally through political education”. The PCPSR is funded by the EU and the Ford Foundation.
The poll also said that President Mahmoud Abbas should resign as 60% of the 1,231 adults polled said the Palestinian Authority should be disbanded, the highest level that the research centre has found. Marwan Barghouti, another member of Abbas’s Fatah party who has been jailed since 2002 for roles in violent uprisings, was found to be more popular than candidates linked to Hamas.
The survey was carried out during the ceasefire, with the participants interviewed face to face in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The report, published late on Wednesday night, said: “Support for Hamas has more than tripled in the West Bank compared to three months ago. In the Gaza Strip, support for Hamas increased but not significantly.
Despite the increase in its popularity, the majority in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip does not support Hamas. It is worth noting that support for Hamas usually rises temporarily during or immediately after a war and then returns to the previous level several months after the end of the war.”
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Three Palestinians killed in Israeli raid on Jenin in the West Bank, health ministry says
Three Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli raid on Jenin in the West Bank, the Hamas-led health ministry has reported.
Two had been killed overnight as Israeli forces raided the city, which has a refugee camp, in the occupied area.
It means that 11 people have now been killed since the Israeli operation began on Tuesday.
The Israeli army has said its troops were operating “to expose explosive devices planted under roads to attack the security forces”.
Before the latest operation, the Palestinian health ministry reported that 275 Palestinians had been killed in the occupied West Bank since the 7 October attack on southern Israel by gunmen of the Islamist movement Hamas.
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Here are some of the latest images coming in from Gaza and Israel as Israeli forces continued their bombardment of the territory on Thursday.
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Nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions that Israel has used in Gaza in its war with Hamas since 7 October have been unguided, otherwise known as “dumb bombs”, a new US intelligence assessment says, according to a report by CNN.
The network’s report says:
The assessment, compiled by the office of the director of national intelligence and described to CNN by three sources who have seen it, says that about 40-45% of the 29,000 air-to-ground munitions Israel has used have been unguided. The rest have been precision-guided munitions, the assessment says.
Unguided munitions are typically less precise and can pose a greater threat to civilians, especially in such a densely populated area like Gaza. The rate at which Israel is using the dumb bombs may be contributing to the soaring civilian death toll.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden said Israel has been engaged in “indiscriminate bombing” in Gaza.
Asked for comment on the assessment, the Israel Defence Forces spokesperson, Nir Dinar, told CNN: “We do not address the type of munitions used.”
Maj Keren Hajioff, an Israeli spokesperson, said on Wednesday that “as a military committed to international law and a moral code of conduct, we are devoting vast resources to minimising harm to the civilians that Hamas has forced into the role of human shields. Our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza.”
But experts told CNN that if Israel is using unguided munitions at the rate the US believes they are, that undercuts the Israeli claim that they are trying to minimise civilian casualties.
“I’m extremely surprised and concerned,” said Brian Castner, a former explosive ordnance disposal officer who now serves as Amnesty International’s senior crisis adviser on arms and military operations.
He said:
It’s bad enough to be using the weapons when they are precisely hitting their targets. It is a massive civilian harm problem if they do not have that accuracy, and if you can’t even give a benefit of the doubt that the weapon is actually landing where the Israeli forces intended to.
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Israeli strike in Rafah kills 24, Hamas media says, as Gaza barrage continues
Israel kept up its barrage of the Gaza Strip on Thursday despite intensifying international calls to reduce civilian casualties and address a mounting humanitarian catastrophe.
Reuters reports that in central Rafah, in the south, 24 people were killed in an Israeli strike that hit two houses, according to Hamas media early on Thursday.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Palestinian health ministry.
The White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, who is visiting the region and will be in Israel on Thursday and Friday, would discuss with the Israelis the need to be more precise with their strikes against Hamas targets, spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.
Sullivan met officials of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and discussed “broader diplomatic efforts to maintain stability across the region and prevent the Israel-Hamas conflict from expanding”, another US official said.
The conflict was sparked when Hamas fighters stormed into southern Israel on 7 October, killing 1,200 Israelis and seizing 240 hostages. Since then, Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed at least 18,608 people and injured 50,594, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
The coastal strip is now facing a public health disaster due to the collapse of its health system and the spread of disease, the UN humanitarian office said.
Lynn Hastings, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territory, said:
We’ve got a textbook formula for epidemics and a public health disaster.
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Gaza without Hamas is a ‘delusion’, says militant group's leader
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has said any plan for postwar Gaza that does not involve the Palestinian militant group is just a “delusion”.
“Any arrangement in Gaza or in the Palestinian cause without Hamas or the resistance factions is a delusion,” Haniyeh said in a televised speech on Wednesday.
Agence France-Presse also reports that his comments came a day after the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that he would not allow “the entry into Gaza of those who … support terrorism and finance terrorism”.
Haniyeh, however, said he was open for talks for ending the Israeli assault and “putting the Palestinian house in order both in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip”.
He said Hamas was ready for talks that could lead to a “political path that secures the right of the Palestinian people to their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital”.
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The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, has met with the Saudi crown prince and prime minister, Mohammed bin Salman, in Riyadh and they discussed the humanitarian response in Gaza, including efforts to increase the flow of critical aid, Reuters quoted the White House as saying.
Sullivan will also head to Israel this week to discuss a timetable for the Israel-Gaza war – and what happens if Hamas is defeated – with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, reports have said.
Opening summary
Welcome to our live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war – I’m Adam Fulton and I’ll be with you for the next couple of hours.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has said any plan for post-war Gaza that does not involve the Palestinian militant group is “a delusion”.
He said in a televised speech: “Any arrangement in Gaza or in the Palestinian cause without Hamas or the resistance factions is a delusion.”
The comments from the militant group’s most senior political leader came a day after the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he would not allow “the entry into Gaza of those who ... support terrorism and finance terrorism”.
Netanyahu said later that the military would fight on, telling soldiers in Gaza over radio: “I say this in the face of great pain but also in the face of international pressures – nothing will stop us.”
Haniyeh, however, said he was open for talks for ending the Israeli assault and “putting the Palestinian house in order both in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip”.
More on that story shortly. In other news as it just passes 7am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv:
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 tried to play down the remarks 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 hits the region.
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.”
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 saus.
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