Senin, 18 Desember 2023

Israel-Gaza war live: US support for Israel 'unshakeable' but protecting Gaza civilians 'a moral duty', says defence secretary - The Guardian

The UN security council has postponed a vote calling for a sustainable cessation of hostilities to give more time to meet US objections to the wording of the draft resolution.

The vote was due on Monday mid afternoon in New York but the US said it could not support a reference to a cessation of hostilities, but might accept suspension of hostilities.

The Arab countries negotiating the text said they had been encouraged by the US approach which suggested the White House was trying to find some wording that they could support as opposed simply to vetoing resolutions, the position it adopted on a humanitarian pause on 18 October and on an urgent humanitarian ceasefire on 9 December.

Divisions within the US administration have been growing with some officials saying the US is misunderstanding the scale of disillusionment in the Global South over US perceived hypocrisy in calling out Russian war crimes in Ukraine, but finding a multitude of reasons to justify the large scale killings of Palestinians in Gaza.

A range of US diplomats have visited Jerusalem to urge the Israeli government to adopt different military tactics, but with only limited success, and a US support for a suspension of hostilities at the UN, if it happened, would be a signal of US frustration with the Israeli government.

The US has also previously rejected cessation of hostilities resolutions at the 15 strong security council due to the absence of clear criticism of Hamas for its killing of more than 1,000 Israelis, including many women and children on 7 October. The latest draft prepared by the United Arab Emirates simply condemns all acts of terrorism, and calls for all hostages to be released unconditionally.

Pressure has been building on the US after the UN general assembly on 12 December voted by 153 to 10 with 23 abstentions to call for an urgent cessation of hostilities. Permanent members of the security council cannot apply their veto on the General Assembly votes as they can on those held at the security council.

But general assembly votes are expressions of world opinion and do not have the force of law supposedly attached to security council resolutions. In practice many resolutions are ignored.

The sense of US isolation at the General Assembly was a mirror image of the isolation Russia experienced at the Assembly last year over the invasion of Ukraine.

In a bid to win over the British foreign secretary, Lord Cameron, the draft resolution as prepared on Monday had called for a sustainable ceasefire, matching the wording he had used in a weekend article jointly penned with his German counterpart. The wording was designed to make it easier for the UK to move from an abstention, the UK position the last time the issue was debated at the Security Council, to a positive vote in favour.

The UK has on occasion on Middle East issues voted positively for resolutions initially opposed by the US, notably in January 2009 when Gordon Brown instructed the UK envoy to back a UN ceasefire resolution after 13 days of fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The UK stance helped force the US move from opposition to abstention.

A UN call for a suspension of hostilities would in conjunction with other parts of the resolution put pressure on Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza at scale, and by land sea and air. A monitoring process would be established to overcome blockages to aid reaching Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) appears to be denying responsibility for the deaths of two Christian women at the Holy Family Parish church complex on Saturday, which we reported earlier.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Catholic authority in the Holy Land, said the two women, named as Nahida Khalil Anton and her daughter Samar, were shot dead inside the compound by an Israeli sniper.

On Monday, a spokesperson for the IDF issued what CNN said was a “carefully worded"” statement in which it admitted a conversation with the church on Saturday about blasts in the area, but the church had not reported fatalities:

During the dialogue between the IDF and representatives of the community, no reports of a hit on the church, nor civilians being injured or killed, were raised. A review of the IDF’s operational findings support this.

Earlier Monday, the US raised concerns with Israel about the deaths, White House spokesperson John Kirby telling a media briefing: “We’ve been very clear that we believe every effort possible must be made to prevent civilian casualties”.

It’s 10.30pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

  • The UN security council has postponed a vote calling for a sustainable cessation of hostilities in Gaza to give more time to meet US objections to the wording of the draft resolution. The vote was due on Monday mid afternoon in New York but the US said it could not support a reference to a cessation of hostilities, but might accept suspension of hostilities.

  • The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has held talks with Israeli officials including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence counterpart, Yoav Gallant, in Tel Aviv on Monday. The discussions focused on Israel shifting away from large-scale aerial and ground operations in the Gaza Strip to a new phrase in the war focused on the precise targeting of Hamas leaders, the US official said.

  • At least 19,453 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the latest tally by the territory’s health ministry on Monday. 52,286 people have been injured, it said. Meanwhile, four Palestinians have been killed on Monday in the Faraa refugee camp, south of the West Bank city of Tubas, in an Israeli military raid, the Palestinian health ministry said.

  • The armed wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, has released a video of three elderly Israeli men being held hostage in Gaza. One man said he was being held in harsh conditions with other elderly hostages suffering chronic illnesses. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the video was “atrocious terror” that “shows the cruelty of Hamas against elderly civilians.”

  • The Qatari prime minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, met the heads of the CIA and Israel’s Mossad spy agency on Monday to discuss a potential new deal to secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, according to reports. But a Palestinian source familiar with the talks told the BBC that negotiations over a new temporary ceasefire “haven’t begun yet”.

  • The US has raised concerns with Israel after a mother and daughter were allegedly killed by an Israeli military sniper in a church compound in Gaza City, the White House said. The two women were killed inside the Holy Family parish in Gaza City on Saturday, according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Most of Gaza’s Christian families have taken refuge in the compound since the start of the war. The most senior Catholic cleric in England said the shooting was a “cold–blooded killing” that did “nothing to further Israel’s right to defend itself”.

  • Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of committing a war crime by starving people in the Gaza Strip who continued to face relentless attacks in the war with Hamas militants. “The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the occupied Gaza Strip,” HRW said in a report. “World leaders should be speaking out against this abhorrent war crime.”

  • BP has halted all shipments of oil and gas through the Red Sea after a step-up in attacks on cargo ships by Houthi militants. The British oil company said it had paused shipping in the region indefinitely, citing a “deteriorating security situation” amid tensions in the Middle East. BP becomes the first oil company to directly halt its own shipping, after five big shipping firms stopped their vessels passing through the waters between Asia and Africa that connect Asia and Europe.

  • The UK Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has joined the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, in calling for a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, as the political rhetoric continued to shift away from unqualified support for Israel’s assault in line with moves from the US and others.

The UN security council has postponed a vote calling for a sustainable cessation of hostilities to give more time to meet US objections to the wording of the draft resolution.

The vote was due on Monday mid afternoon in New York but the US said it could not support a reference to a cessation of hostilities, but might accept suspension of hostilities.

The Arab countries negotiating the text said they had been encouraged by the US approach which suggested the White House was trying to find some wording that they could support as opposed simply to vetoing resolutions, the position it adopted on a humanitarian pause on 18 October and on an urgent humanitarian ceasefire on 9 December.

Divisions within the US administration have been growing with some officials saying the US is misunderstanding the scale of disillusionment in the Global South over US perceived hypocrisy in calling out Russian war crimes in Ukraine, but finding a multitude of reasons to justify the large scale killings of Palestinians in Gaza.

A range of US diplomats have visited Jerusalem to urge the Israeli government to adopt different military tactics, but with only limited success, and a US support for a suspension of hostilities at the UN, if it happened, would be a signal of US frustration with the Israeli government.

The US has also previously rejected cessation of hostilities resolutions at the 15 strong security council due to the absence of clear criticism of Hamas for its killing of more than 1,000 Israelis, including many women and children on 7 October. The latest draft prepared by the United Arab Emirates simply condemns all acts of terrorism, and calls for all hostages to be released unconditionally.

Pressure has been building on the US after the UN general assembly on 12 December voted by 153 to 10 with 23 abstentions to call for an urgent cessation of hostilities. Permanent members of the security council cannot apply their veto on the General Assembly votes as they can on those held at the security council.

But general assembly votes are expressions of world opinion and do not have the force of law supposedly attached to security council resolutions. In practice many resolutions are ignored.

The sense of US isolation at the General Assembly was a mirror image of the isolation Russia experienced at the Assembly last year over the invasion of Ukraine.

In a bid to win over the British foreign secretary, Lord Cameron, the draft resolution as prepared on Monday had called for a sustainable ceasefire, matching the wording he had used in a weekend article jointly penned with his German counterpart. The wording was designed to make it easier for the UK to move from an abstention, the UK position the last time the issue was debated at the Security Council, to a positive vote in favour.

The UK has on occasion on Middle East issues voted positively for resolutions initially opposed by the US, notably in January 2009 when Gordon Brown instructed the UK envoy to back a UN ceasefire resolution after 13 days of fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The UK stance helped force the US move from opposition to abstention.

A UN call for a suspension of hostilities would in conjunction with other parts of the resolution put pressure on Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza at scale, and by land sea and air. A monitoring process would be established to overcome blockages to aid reaching Gaza.

An injured man is rescued as residents and civil defense teams conduct search and rescue operation under the rubbles after an Israeli attack on a building in Deir al-Balah, Gaza.

A video released by Hamas showing three elderly Israeli men held hostage in Gaza is “atrocious terror”, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari said.

The Times of Israel reported that Hagari said at a briefing today:

It shows the cruelty of Hamas against elderly civilians, innocents, who require medical attention. The world must work to allow medical aid and to verify their conditions.

Addressing the three men shown in the video, the IDF spokesman added:

You should know that we are doing everything to return you home safely. We will not rest until you return.

A journalist has said he was shot by an Israeli sniper while working in Jabalia in northern Gaza.

Mohammed Balousha, who works for the Emirati-owned Al Mashhad channel, told the Washington Post he was filming a report near his home on Saturday afternoon when he was shot in the thigh. He said he was wearing a helmet and press badge at the time.

He told the newspaper he was unconscious for about 20 minutes after he was shot, and that it took him six hours to reach the second floor of his house, where he kept a first aid kit.

He said he was transferred “onto a wooden board attached to a wheelchair” to a local clinic and then later to another health centre, where he was told his thigh had suffered a double fracture. The report goes on:

He needed surgery, which could only be done at al-Ahli Hospital, the last functioning operating facility in northern Gaza. The ambulance headed out but had to turn back because Israeli tanks blocked the way to the hospital, Balousha said. With no other option for surgery in Jabalya, he returned home.

Balousha accused Israel of directly targeting him as a journalist, telling the Post:

I was wearing everything to prove that I was a journalist, but they deliberately targeted me, and now I am struggling to get the treatment necessary to preserve my life.

Balousha had previously broke a story that four premature babies left behind at al-Nasr children’s hospital had died and their bodies had decomposed, after Israel forced the hospital staff to evacuate without ambulances.

The armed wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, has released a video of three elderly Israeli men being held hostage in Gaza.

The video, shared on Telegram, shows Chaim Peri, 79, who was kidnapped on 7 October, Haaretz reported. His wife, Channa Peri, was released by Hamas on 24 November.

The other hostages shown in the video are Yoram Metzger, 80, and Amiram Cooper, 84, the outlet reported. Both men’s wives have also been released.

Hamas released a video of three elderly male Israeli hostages. One man speaking in the video identifies himself as 79-year-old Chaim Peri, who was abducted by Hamas from his kibbutz Nir Oz home on 7 October. The other two hostages are fellow Nir Oz residents Amiram Cooper, 84, and Yoram Metzger, 80.

The US has raised concerns with Israel after reports that an Israeli military sniper shot and killed two Christian women inside a Christian compound in Gaza on Saturday, the White House said.

White House spokesperson John Kirby said at a briefing:

We’ve been very clear that we believe every effort possible must be made to prevent civilian casualties.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Catholic authority in the Holy Land, said the two women, named as Nahida Khalil Anton and her daughter Samar, were shot dead in the compound of the Holy Family Parish in Gaza.

Keir Starmer has joined Rishi Sunak in calling for a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, as the political rhetoric continued to shift away from unqualified support for Israel’s assault in line with moves from the US and others.

Some senior Conservatives were even more explicit. Ben Wallace, a former defence secretary, said Israel’s “killing rage” risked it losing international support, and Alicia Kearns, who chairs the Commons foreign affairs committee, said she believed Israel had broken international humanitarian law.

The Labour leader said there was a need “to get to a sustainable ceasefire as quickly as possible”, beginning with a pause in the fighting during which the remaining hostages seized by Hamas on 7 October can be freed and aid can enter Gaza. He said:

It will have to be a political process, to a two-stage solution which, in the end, is the only way that this is going to be resolved.

The prime minister earlier said Israel had a right to defend itself following Hamas’s massacre of Israeli civilians, but “it must do that in accordance with humanitarian law”. “It’s clear that too many civilian lives have been lost and nobody wants to see this conflict go on a day longer than it has to,” Sunak said.

And that’s why we’ve been consistent – and I made this point in parliament last week – in calling for a sustainable ceasefire, whereby hostages are released, rockets stopped being fired into Israel by Hamas and we continue to get more aid in.

The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has held talks with Israeli officials about shifting away from large-scale aerial and ground operations in the Gaza Strip to a new phrase in the war focused on the precise targeting of Hamas leaders.

“Hamas should never again be able to project terror from Gaza into Israel. This is Israel’s operation; I’m not here to dictate timelines or terms,” Austin told reporters after meeting with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his defence counterpart, Yoav Gallant, in Tel Aviv on Monday. He added that protecting Palestinian civilians in Gaza was “both a moral duty and a strategic imperative”.

Austin was the latest in a steady stream of senior figures in the Biden administration to visit Israel since the unprecedented attack by Hamas on 7 October in which 1,140 people were killed and another 250 were seized as hostages. The trip to Israel is part of a wider Middle East tour, as the conflict in Gaza threatens to spill over into a regional conflagration.

US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin looks on during a joint press conference with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at Israel's Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Washington, Israel’s closest ally, has provided intense military and diplomatic cover for the war in Gaza, where the death toll is approaching 20,000, but last week Joe Biden warned that Israel was losing international support because of its “indiscriminate bombing”.

Austin and Netanyahu discussed plans for Israel to transition to more surgical, intelligence-led operations aimed at killing Hamas leaders, destroying tunnels and rescuing hostages, in order to stem the loss of civilian life, the US official said.

More than 200 trucks carrying humanitarian aid were inspected and transferred to the Gaza Strip on Sunday, according to an Israeli government spokesperson.

Tal Henrich, at a daily briefing, said 122 trucks entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing and 79 trucks through the Kerem Shalom crossing.

The Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza opened on Sunday for aid trucks for the first time since the outbreak of war, officials said, in a move intended to double the amount of food and medicine reaching the territory.

More than 190 humanitarian aid trucks were inspected and entered Gaza on Monday, Israel’s office for the coordination of government activities in the territories (Cogat) said in a post on social media.

We reported earlier that the Qatari prime minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, met the heads of the CIA and Israel’s Mossad spy agency today.

The meeting with Bill Burns and David Barnea in Warsaw was about a potential new deal to secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, Axios reported, citing US and Israeli officials. The CIA director played a key role in brokering the previous deal that led to the release of more than 100 hostages last month.

But a Palestinian source familiar with the talks has since told the BBC that negotiations over a new temporary ceasefire “haven’t begun yet”, despite Israel’s “repeated announcement that it is proceeding with negotiating steps”.

Hamas told mediators that any negotiation “would not include discussing new truces, but rather a comprehensive ceasefire, and it would not negotiate any more humanitarian pauses”, the news outlet reported, citing the source.

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2023-12-18 20:02:00Z
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MP Layla Moran fears family trapped in Gaza church ‘will not survive until Christmas’ - The Guardian

“I fear my family under siege by Israeli forces in a church in Gaza will not survive until Christmas, between the snipers and the lack of water.”

Those were the stark words of Layla Moran, the MP for Oxford and Abingdon whose extended Christian Palestinian family members are among those who have been trapped inside the Holy Family church complex in Gaza City for 60 days.

“This time next week will be Christmas Eve,” she told the Guardian. “I don’t understand how the Israeli military think this is a good idea. It shouldn’t matter that they’re Christians, but I would ask US president Joe Biden, who himself is a professed Catholic, is this what he would want for his family?”

Moran said her relatives – her grandmother, her son, his wife and their 11-year-old twins – had been seeking shelter inside the church since their home was bombed in the first week of the war, and were now “absolutely terrified” following a week of escalating violence.

On Saturday, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said two Christian women – named as Nahida and her daughter Samar – were shot and killed while walking to a building in the complex known as the Sisters’ Convent. Seven others were shot and wounded trying to protect others in the compound, the patriarchate said.

On Sunday, the Pope said reports that the IDF had killed the two women were “very grave and painful”. “Unarmed civilians are the objects of bombings and shootings. And this happened even inside the Holy Family parish complex, where there are no terrorists, but families, children, people who are sick or disabled, nuns,” he said.

According to Moran, Israeli forces had since “taken the building opposite the Holy Family church, and there are now snipers at every window with their guns pointing into the church. There’s also a tank that’s taken up position outside. Anyone trying to move around is being shot at, so they’re obviously just not moving.”

She said no one knew why Israel had targeted the compound, though it has been reported that Israeli authorities have claimed that a missile launcher is based in the parish.

“These people have been in the compound for 60 days, so there’s a genuine question of why now, because no one’s really been coming in and out,” Moran said.

“Also, everyone there knows each other. The Christian community in Gaza is tiny. There’s still no suggestion that this has anything to do with Hamas, and it still doesn’t explain why they’re shooting women and children.

“These are innocent civilians, and the Israelis have known that they’re there. I’ve spoken about them at length at various stages, in part because I thought it might protect them. I just don’t understand what’s going on.”

The MP said the siege started last week, when her family reported white phosphorus and gunfire in the compound. An Israeli tank also fired on part of the compound with 54 disabled people inside, according to the patriarchate, causing a fire that destroyed the building’s generator. The complex’s solar panels and water tanks are also said to have been destroyed.

As well as the mother and daughter, Moran said her family told her that two men – a bin collector and a janitor – were shot and killed outside the church. “Everyone can hear the shootings, and my family saw the bullet casings,” she said. “They’re so worried. They literally can’t move. They can’t even leave to go to the toilet, so they’re going to the toilet where they’re sleeping.”

Moran said six members of her extended family originally sought refuge in the complex, but the grandfather died a few weeks ago, in part from dehydration. “He needed hospital treatment and couldn’t get it.”

She’s now concerned the others will not survive either. “Whatever food and water they have now is what they had days ago when this started. I understand that all they’re eating now is biscuits, and they’re soon going to run out.”

The MP, who has been keeping abreast of developments through short, sporadic phone calls, said there were no safe places left in Gaza. “The calculation in Gaza changed after the first month from ‘Where do you want to go to be safe?’ to ‘Where do you want to go to die?’”

A church, she stressed, should have been a place where her family and other Christians could seek sanctuary. “Their calculation was, ‘At least we’re in our city, in our church with people we know and love.’”

Moran said politicians, including Biden, had a responsibility to “raise the alarm with the Israeli government at every possible level” and call for a ceasefire.

“We wouldn’t be in this position if a ceasefire had been reached. To not call for one now would be unconscionable,” she said. “I do welcome what David Cameron has said today, though I don’t understand why it’s taken so long for him to come around to this position.”

The global community, she added, needed to do its utmost to prevent an escalating humanitarian disaster. “International humanitarian law applies to operation by operation. They’re firing on women and children.

“If they survive, I will be getting my family and others to give their testimony to the international criminal court, because that’s the place where justice will be done. But right now there is an immediate situation, and we need as many of them to survive as possible.”

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North Korea fires most powerful long-range missile after South Korea-US meeting - BBC

South Korean TV showing Monday's launch of a suspected long-range missileEPA

North Korea has fired its most advanced long-range missile, South Korean authorities confirm, defying UN curbs.

The launch of the solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile drew immediate condemnation from the West. It landed west of Hokkaido in Japan.

It comes after South Korean and US defence officials met last week to update plans on how to respond to a nuclear attack from the North.

Pyongyang had said in response it would take "more offensive countermeasures".

The isolated state launched the long-range missile on Monday morning about 08:24 local time (23:24 Sunday GMT) from the Pyongyang area.

South Korean and Japanese officials said the missile travelled for 73 minutes, covering about 1,000km (621 miles).

ICBMs have the range to reach the North American continent. Monday's launch is North Korea's fifth successful launch of an ICBM this year.

Tensions between the North and the South flared last month when Pyongyang successfully launched a spy satellite into orbit, in violation of United Nations sanctions.

Seoul responded by partially suspending a military agreement with the North that was meant to limit military activity along the border and reduce the likelihood of clashes.

Pyongyang then withdrew from the agreement entirely. North Korea has since rearmed its soldiers in previously unarmed areas of the Demilitarised Zone.

Last week, South Korea's national security advisor Kim Tae-hyo said he was expecting the North to launch an ICBM at some point in December.

On Monday, South Korean national security officials confirmed the ICBM launched was a solid-fuel missile. Such missiles can be fired with less warning, as they do not need to be fuelled prior to launch.

The North had tested its Hwasong-18 missile in July following a first successful flight in April.

North Korea is also working to develop a new solid-fuel medium-range ballistic missile. Last month it claimed to have successfully tested the engine, but the missile had not yet been successfully launched.

As North Korea continues to refine and add to its arsenal of nuclear weapons, South Korea and the United States are stepping up their defence of the region.

In a meeting in Washington on Friday, officials updated their contingency plans for how to respond to a North Korean nuclear attack. The two countries also agreed to war-game the use of nuclear weapons in their military exercises next summer.

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Israel discovers 'biggest Hamas attack tunnel' near Gaza border crossing - Evening Standard

The crossing was among the sites overrun by Hamas militants when they launched a brutal attack on Israel on October 7. That day, militants used a rocket-propelled grenade to break past the portion of wall close to the Erez crossing and stormed the base, killing at least three soldiers and kidnapping some back to Gaza, the army said.

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Israel claims to have discovered biggest Hamas tunnel yet in Gaza - Sky News

Israeli forces battling Hamas claim to have uncovered the largest Hamas tunnel found in Gaza, designed to carry carloads of Hamas fighters up to the border with Israel.

Neutralising the hundreds of kilometres of underground tunnels and bunkers in Gaza is among the aims of the Israeli offensive, launched after Hamas fighters went on a killing and kidnapping spree after entering Israeli territory on 7 October.

Israel-Gaza war latest: Hostages killed by IDF used food to create SOS sign

Among the sites Hamas overran in the attack was the Erez border crossing between Gaza and Israel.

Just 100m south of the checkpoint, concealed in a sand dune, the Israeli military on Sunday showed reporters the exit point of what it called a flagship Hamas project.

Image: Pic: IDF

The tunnel ran down diagonally to a depth of 50m, where it expanded to 3m in height and width, and appeared equipped with ventilation and electricity systems.

The Israel Defence Forces' (IDF) chief military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, put the full length of the tunnel at 4km - enough to reach into northern Gaza City, once the heart of Hamas governance and now a devastated combat zone.

More on Hamas

Image: Pic: IDF

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IDF claims to have found 'biggest' Hamas tunnel

It was "the biggest tunnel we found in Gaza... meant to target the (Erez) crossing," Rear Admiral Hagari said, without specifying whether it was used by Hamas for the 7 October attacks.

"Millions of dollars were invested in this tunnel. It took years to build this tunnel... Vehicles could drive through," he added.

Hamas has not yet commented on the IDF's claims.

Image: Pic: IDF

In general, other tunnels shown to journalists by Hamas, or by the Israeli military after their discovery, have been narrow and low - designed for single-file movement of gunmen on foot.

The latest tunnel shown by Rear Admiral Hagari had shafts plunging vertically downward that, he said, suggested it was part of a wider network.

Read more:
Netanyahu is openly defying US - and they want him gone
Hostages holding white cloth when IDF shot them
Israelis urge government 'act now' over hostages

Rear Admiral Hagari also showed reporters a video of Mohammed Sinwar, brother of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and himself a senior operative in the group, sitting in the passenger seat of a vehicle that he said was being driven inside the tunnel.

A video released by the Israeli army says to show Mohammed Sinwar, brother of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, travelling in a car through a tunnel near the Erez crossing, close to the Israel-Gaza border, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, as seen in this screengrab taken from the Israeli army video released on December 17, 2023. Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY
Image: 'Senior Hamas operative driven in tunnel'.

On 29 October, Israel's Ynet news site reported that troops killed several gunmen who attacked Erez after accessing the area from a tunnel.

Rear Admiral Hagari's office did not respond to a question about whether that referred to the tunnel he showed.

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Minggu, 17 Desember 2023

Israel-Hamas war: Netanyahu will fight to 'very end' amid truce calls - Euronews

The latest developments from the Israel Hamas war.

Communications partially restored in Gaza after three days of outage

Telecommunications have been partially restored in the Gaza Strip after three days of outage, the Palestinian operator Paltel announced.

The company reported in a press release the "gradual recovery" of the network, down since Thursday, in the centre and south of the territory.

UN aid trucks entering Gaza from Israeli territory - reports

The Egypt Red Crescent are reporting that UN aid trucks trucks have started to enter Gaza.

They say the trucks will go into the enclave as of Sunday for the first time since the war broke out.

The Israeli government body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, COGAT, explained that trucks would all undergo security checks. They'll also be transferred directly to Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing.

The crossing, which has borders with Israel-Gaza and Egypt-Gaza, has been closed since Hamas's attacks on 7 October.

Israel's security cabinet approved the reopening of the crossing for Gaza aid on Friday, following increased pressure from the US during a visit from White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan. 

Israeli army says it has discovered 'largest tunnel' dug under the Gaza Strip

The Israeli army has claimed to have discovered "the largest tunnel" that Hamas dug under the Gaza Strip.

An AFP photographer who was authorised to go there noted that it was of sufficient size to allow small vehicles to circulate.

"This massive network of tunnels, which divides into several branches, extends for more than four kilometres and arrives only 400 metres from the Erez crossing point" between Israel and the northern Gaza Strip, the Israeli armed forces said in a statement.

The tunnel is said to be equipped with a pipeline system, electricity, ventilation, sewers, communication networks and rails. Its floor is made of beaten earth and its walls are made of reinforced concrete, except at its outlet, reinforced by a metal cylinder approximately one and a half centimetres in diameter.

The Israeli army claims to have discovered a large number of weapons there ready to be used in the event of an attack by Hamas.

Nicknamed "the Gaza metro" by the Israeli military, the maze of galleries was first used to circumvent the blockade imposed by Israel after Hamas took power in the territory in 2007.

Hundreds of galleries have been dug under the border with Egyptian Sinai to move people, goods, weapons and ammunition between Gaza and the outside world.

In a study published on 17 October, the Institute of Modern Warfare at the American Military Academy West Point estimates the existence of some 1,300 galleries over 500 kilometres.

Colonna calls for ‘immediate and lasting truce’ in Gaza

The French Minister of Foreign Affairs has called for a "new immediate and lasting truce" in the Gaza Strip, saying she was "concerned" by the humanitarian situation and the fate of the hostages after more than two months of war.

"Too many civilians are being killed," Catherine Colonna said after a meeting with her Israeli counterpart, Eli Cohen, in Tel Aviv.

She stressed that the first week-long truce ended on 1 December had allowed the release of hostages - 105 of the 250 taken by force by Hamas during the 7 October attack - as well as an increase in humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza while evacuating injured people.

Colonna reiterated that three French people remain "detained, missing or hostages in the Gaza Strip" and that France is sparing no effort to free them.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen rebuffed her claims, calling any call for a ceasefire as an "error" and a “gift for Hamas”.

Netanyahu says Israel will fight 'to the very end' as ‘accidental’ killing of hostages adds to concern over wartime conduct

Israel pressed ahead with its Gaza offensive on Sunday after a series of shootings, including of three hostages who were shirtless and waving a white flag, raised questions about its conduct in a weeks-old war that has brought unprecedented death and destruction to the coastal enclave.

Speaking at a press conference, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the killing of the three captives - branded a ‘mistake’ - “has broken my heart, it has broken the entire nation's heart."

He claimed the remaining hostages held by Hamas would soon return home, but the distance between victory and disaster is "tiny".

Hitting back on growing international pressure to stop the fighting, Netanyahu said, "we are determined to continue all the way to the very end" until "there will be no authority that will continue training for terror" in Gaza.

"After we have eradicated Hamas and Gaza will be demilitarised under the control of Israel there will be no-one who will educate their children to annihilate Israel," he added.

UK and Germany call for ceasefire - marking a significant attitude shift

The UK’s foreign secretary David Cameron and his counterpart in Germany, Annalena Baerbock, have called for a "sustainable ceasefire" in Gaza - joining an increasing list of global powers putting pressure on Israel to stop the fighting.

In a joint article published in Welt am Sonntag and The Sunday Times, they wrote: "too many civilians have been killed", adding that a ceasefire "leading to a sustainable peace" was needed.

"The sooner it comes, the better. The need is urgent," Baerbock and Cameron wrote.

The move is particularly significant for the UK, whose Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has previously only lent his support to "humanitarian pauses" in the conflict - but his government has so far stopped short of calling for an "immediate ceasefire" in United Nation votes.

‘Mistake’ shootings draw scrutiny from the top of Israel’s government

Military officials said on Saturday that the three hostages who were mistakenly shot by Israeli troops had tried to signal that they posed no harm. It was Israel's first such acknowledgement of harming hostages in a war that it says is largely aimed at rescuing them.

The three hostages, all in their 20s, were killed Friday in the Gaza City area of Shijaiyah, where troops are engaged in fierce fighting with Hamas. An Israeli military official said the soldiers’ behaviour was against the army's rules of engagement and was being investigated at the highest level.

Israel says it makes every effort to avoid harming civilians and accuses Hamas of using them as human shields. But Palestinians and rights groups have repeatedly accused Israeli forces of recklessly endangering civilians and firing on those who do not threaten them, both in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, which has seen a surge of violence since the start of the war.

Israel on Friday said it was opening a military police investigation into the killing of two Palestinians in the West Bank after an Israeli rights group posted videos that appeared to show troops killing the men - one who was incapacitated and the second unarmed - during a raid.

Anger over the mistaken killing of the hostages, though, is likely to ramp up pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to renew Qatar-mediated negotiations with Hamas over swapping more of the remaining captives for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.

Hamas has said there will be no further hostage releases until the war ends, and that it will demand the release of large numbers of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile militants.

Hamas released over 100 of more than 240 hostages captured on 7 October in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners during a brief cease-fire in November. Nearly all freed on both sides were women and minors. Israel has successfully rescued one hostage.

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Israeli forces kill two Christian women in ‘cold blood’ inside Gaza church - Al Jazeera English

Two Christian women – an elderly mother and her daughter – were shot dead by an Israeli soldier on the grounds of a Catholic church in Gaza City, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has said.

“Around noon [10:00 GMT] today … a sniper” of the Israeli army “murdered two Christian women inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza” where Christian families have been sheltering since the Israel-Hamas war broke out, the patriarchate said in a statement on Saturday.

“Nahida and her daughter Samar were shot and killed as they walked to the Sister’s Convent. One was killed as she tried to carry the other to safety,” it said.

The patriarchate highlighted that no warning was given before the shooting started and added that “they were shot in cold blood inside the premises of the Parish, where there are no belligerents.”

Seven more people were also wounded by gunfire as they tried to protect others, the statement said.

“This is a targeted death campaign during the Christmas season on the world’s oldest Christian community,” Hammam Farah, Nahida and Samar’s family member, said in a statement on X.

Reporting from Rafah in southern Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said the church, which was accommodating Christians in Gaza, has been a target of direct Israeli bombardment over the past few days.

“Major parts of it have been destroyed. Snipers are shooting at every moving object in the yard,” he added.

In its statement, the patriarchate said three projectiles fired by an Israeli tank had also struck a convent of the Sisters of Mother Teresa charity, destroying its generator and fuel supplies, and rendering a building housing 54 disabled people uninhabitable.

“The 54 disabled persons are currently displaced and without access to the respirators that some of them need to survive,” it added.

According to the Vatican press agency, the strikes wounded three people.

“The 800 remaining Christians in Gaza are on the verge of extinction. They’ve made life very difficult for this community,” Mahmoud said.

Pope deplores killings

Pope Francis on Sunday deplored the killings, suggesting Israel was using “terrorism” tactics in Gaza.

“I continue to receive very grave and painful news from Gaza,” Francis said at his weekly blessing.

“Unarmed civilians are the objects of bombings and shootings. And this happened even inside the Holy Family parish complex, where there are no terrorists, but families, children, people who are sick or disabled, nuns.”

Francis said the two women were killed by “snipers” and also referred to the Patriarchate’s statement that a convent of nuns of the order founded by Mother Teresa was damaged by Israeli tank fire.

“Some would say ‘It is war. It is terrorism.’ Yes, it is war. It is terrorism,” he said.

It was the second time in less than a month that the pope used the word “terrorism” while speaking of events in Gaza.

On November 22, after meeting separately with Israeli relatives of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinians with family in Gaza, he said: “This is what wars do. But here we have gone beyond wars. This is not war. This is terrorism.”

Who are the Christians of Gaza?

Gaza’s Christians are one of the oldest communities in the Middle East, dating back to the first century.

However, the number of Christians in Gaza has dwindled in recent years. Today there are only approximately 1,000 left, a sharp drop from the 3,000 registered in 2007, when Hamas assumed complete control over the enclave.

Interactive_Church_Mosque bombings_Gaza
(Al Jazeera)

According to Kamel Ayyad, a spokesperson for the Church of Saint Porphyrius, which was recently bombed by Israel, the majority of the population is from Gaza itself.

The rest arrived here after the creation of the state of Israel, which displaced about 700,000 Palestinians – an event they refer to as the Nakba, or “catastrophe”.

The Israeli blockade of Gaza following Hamas’s rise to power in 2007 accelerated the flight of Christians from the poverty-stricken enclave.

“It’s become very difficult for people to live here,” said Ayyad. “Many of the Christians left for the West Bank, for America, Canada or the Arab world, seeking better education and health.”

While most of Gaza’s Christians belong to the Greek Orthodox faith, smaller numbers worship at the Catholic Holy Family Church and the Gaza Baptist Church.

‘Living under siege’

After Saturday’s church attack, Italy’s top diplomat Antonio Tajani issued a “heartfelt appeal to the Israeli government and army to protect Christian places of worship”.

“That is not where the Hamas terrorists are hiding,” he said on X.

Under the recent Israeli bombardments, Christians and Muslims alike sought refuge at several churches in Gaza like Saint Porphyrius.

But after this church was bombed, they all moved to the nearby Holy Family Church, located 400 metres (1,300 feet) away, which has also been bombed now.

Israel has said it is looking into what happened at the Holy Family church on Saturday.

But living under siege, Christians in Gaza attest to a spirit of solidarity that has united faiths in their struggle for survival and their dream of freedom.

“We are all Palestinians. We live in the same city, with the same suffering,” said Ayyad.

“We are all under siege and are all the same.”

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