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
