Israel-Gaza war live: at least 12 people killed in explosions near Rafah hospital, says Gaza health ministry

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Summary of the day so far

It’s 1am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

At least 12 people were killed in a series of explosions in Rafah in southern Gaza, near the border with Egypt, Gaza’s health ministry has said. Dozens of people, including women and children, were wounded when the blasts occurred near the Kuwaiti hospital on Wednesday, it said. An Al Jazeera broadcast captured an explosion near the hospital in southern Gaza, while one of its correspondents was live on air.

At least 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began on 7 October, according to the latest figures by the Hamas government’s media office. Among those killed include about 8,000 children and 6,200 women, it said.

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) has said it received “disturbing” information alleging that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) summarily killed at least 11 Palestinian men in front of their family members in Gaza. A report by the OHCHR in the occupied Palestinian territory said the incident took place on 19 December in Al Remal neighbourhood in Gaza City, and warned that the allegations “raises the alarm about the possible commission of a war crime”.

Talks in Cairo attended by the political head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, on Wednesday ended “without results”, according to reports. The arrival in Egypt of Haniyeh had been seen as a positive sign of a possible truce, as the last time he came it was ahead of the first deal last month which involved the release of 110 hostages and a week-long ceasefire. Hamas reportedly rejected an Israeli proposal for a week-long truce in exchange for the release of dozens of hostages, insisting that Israel must implement a ceasefire before negotiations on a hostage release could begin. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, appeared to rule out a ceasefire on Wednesday as he vowed that Israel will continue its war against Hamas “to the end”.

Joe Biden has said he does not expect an imminent deal between Israel and Hamas over the release of hostages held in Gaza. “We’re pushing it. I don’t … there’s no expectation at this point,” the US president told reporters. The White House earlier on Wednesday said there are “very serious” discussions over a humanitarian pause in Gaza and hostage release between Israel and Hamas.

The UN security council has postponed a vote calling for a new ceasefire in Gaza until Thursday as diplomats struggle to agree on the language of the draft resolution. The UN resolution, drafted by the United Arab Emirates, has been changed several times amid reported policy differences inside the Biden administration.

Emmanuel Macron has said that Israel’s goal of fighting terrorism did not mean it had to “flatten Gaza”, referring to its response to Hamas’s attack on 7 October. The French president called on Israel “to stop this response because it is not appropriate, because all lives are worth the same and we defend them”.

The first aid convoy to travel direct from Jordan to Gaza since the start of the war has delivered 750 metric tonnes of food to the Palestinian territory, the UN World Food Programme has said. The 46-truck convoy travelled through the Israeli-Gaza Kerem Shalom border crossing, through which Israel last week approved the temporary delivery of aid into Gaza, opening a new route for supplies. Meanwhile, Israel’s foreign minister has said it wants to fast-track the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza through a maritime corridor from Cyprus.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said he is “deeply concerned” about the “toxic mix of disease, hunger and lack of hygiene and sanitation” that people in Gaza are facing. Gaza is “already experiencing soaring rates of infectious disease outbreaks”, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned, adding that cases of diarrhoea among children aged under five are “25 times what they were before the conflict.”

The political leaders of Hamas have begun talks with the group’s military wing about how to govern Gaza and the West Bank after the war with Israel ends, according to a report. “We want the war to end,” Husam Badran, a member of Hamas’s political bureau in Qatar, told the Wall Street Journal, amid sharpening divisions with Hamas’s military faction.

UN says it has 'disturbing' information alleging IDF soldiers killed 11 Palestinians in front of their families

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) has said it received “disturbing” information alleging that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) summarily killed at least 11 Palestinian men in front of their family members in Gaza.

A report by the OHCHR in the occupied Palestinian territory says the incident took place on 19 December in Al Remal neighbourhood in Gaza City, and come “in the wake of earlier allegations concerning the deliberate targeting and killing of civilians at the hands of Israeli forces”.

Israeli soldiers reportedly surrounded and raided a building where several families were sheltering that night, the report says.

According to witness accounts, Israeli troops allegedly “separated the men from the women and children, and then shot and killed at least 11 of the men, mostly aged in their late 20s and early 30s, in front of their family members”, the report says. It continues:

The IDF then allegedly ordered the women and children into a room, and either shot at them or threw a grenade into the room, reportedly seriously injuring some of them, including an infant and a child.

The OHCHR said it has confirmed the killings at the buildings, although the details and circumstances of the killings are still under verification.

It warned that the allegations “raises the alarm about the possible commission of a war crime”, and called for the Israeli authorities to immediately open an independent investigation.

At least 12 people killed in explosions near Rafah hospital, says Gaza health ministry

Gaza’s health ministry has said at least 12 people were killed and dozens wounded in a series of explosions in Rafah in southern Gaza, near the border with Egypt.

In a statement, the ministry said:

Twelve martyrs and dozens of wounded, including women and children, were recovered from under the rubble when a house and a mosque were targeted hundreds of metres from Kuwaiti hospital.

Video footage, which has been geolocated by CNN, show a series of powerful explosions and extensive damage to what appears to be a residential building. A mosque close to the Kuwaiti hospital was also struck, according to geolocated video.

AFP has said its correspondents witnessed more than 10 airstrikes that hit several houses near the border.

An Al Jazeera broadcast captured an explosion near the hospital in southern Gaza, while one of its correspondents was live on air.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said he is “deeply concerned” about the “toxic mix of disease, hunger and lack of hygiene and sanitation” that people in Gaza are facing.

In a social media post, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that Gaza is “already experiencing soaring rates of infectious disease outbreaks”.

Cases of diarrhoea among children aged under five are “25 times what they were before the conflict,” he said, adding:

Such illnesses can be lethal for malnourished children, more so in the absence of functioning health services.

Talks in Egypt attended by the political head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, ended “without results”, a senior Palestinian official has said.

The official told the BBC that Egypt “offered a proposal for another humanitarian truce” but that Hamas rejected the idea of a “temporary solution” to the war.

Hamas has told Egypt that its position remains that “no exchange deal would happen before a final ceasefire”, the official said, adding:

Talks will continue, the Egyptians are optimistic about the possibility of a breakthrough in the coming days, but they are convinced that the situation is difficult, and the negotiations will be difficult and long.

Hamas rejects Israeli offer for seven-day truce for release of hostages – report

Hamas has said Israel must implement a ceasefire before negotiations on a hostage release can commence, rejecting an Israeli proposal for a week-long truce in exchange for the release of dozens of hostages, according to a report.

The head of Hamas’s political wing, Ismail Haniyeh, told intelligence officials in Cairo today the group would not discuss releasing Israeli hostages until a ceasefire first goes into effect, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Egyptian officials.

The paper says Hamas rejected an offer by Israel to pause its ground and air operations in Gaza for a week and allow further humanitarian aid to enter the territory, in return for freeing 40 hostages, including all the remaining women and children abducted during the 7 October attacks.

Hamas also said that Israel must free all of its thousands of Palestinian prisoners in return for the over 100 hostages remaining in Gaza, the report said.

The hostage negotiations were set to include, for the first time, representatives of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the report said.

'Fighting terror does not mean to flatten Gaza,' says Macron

France’s president Emmanuel Macron has said that fighting “terrorism” does not mean to “flatten Gaza or attack civilian populations indiscriminately”.

Macron, in an interview with France 5 broadcaster, said:

We cannot let the idea take root that an efficient fight against terrorism implies to flatten Gaza or attack civilian populations indiscriminately.

He urged Israel to “stop this response because it is not appropriate, because all lives are worth the same and we defend them”.

While he acknowledged “Israel’s right to defend itself and fight terror”, the French leader called for the protection of civilians and “a truce leading to a humanitarian ceasefire”.

The prospect of a second hostage deal between Israel and Gaza appeared to draw a step closer with the visit of a Hamas leader to Egypt on Wednesday.

The arrival in Egypt of Ismail Haniyeh, a Qatar-based Hamas political leader, was seen as a positive sign of a possible truce, as the last time he came it was ahead of the first deal last month which involved the release of 110 hostages and a week-long ceasefire.

A leader of Islamic Jihad, a smaller Palestinian militant group also holding hostages in Gaza, was also expected to arrive in Egypt on Thursday, for talks on which hostages would be freed in return for how many Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

However, the two sides remained far apart on the question over the lull in fighting to accompany a prisoner exchange. Hamas officials made clear they wanted it to mark the start of a longer truce, while the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he only saw it as a short pause in a continuing military campaign to destroy Hamas militarily and as a political force in Gaza.

The letter to US secretary of defence Lloyd Austin from Doctors Without Borders’ US operation and other US humanitarian groups on Wednesday urges the US, as the principal international ally of Israel, to take several “immediate steps”.

These include categorically opposing “indiscriminate attacks that fail to distinguish between civilian and military objects” by Israeli forces in Gaza.

The letter highlights the signatory groups’ concern with “Israel’s continued restriction of humanitarian assistance and deprivation of the resources essential for survival”, noting that “international law requires that parties to conflict allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need.”

It then urges the US to withhold such assistance from Israel “that would facilitate violations of international humanitarian law” and says the country has a responsibility to do so.

The letter notes that “despite well-documented and credible allegations of gross violations of human rights by units of Israeli security forces, no unit has ever been restricted from receiving US security assistance as required by the Leahy Law”. Here’s a US state department note on that law.

And it plainly asks the US to “Refrain from transferring explosive weapons to Israel for use in Gaza.”

In the US, humanitarian organisations Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International USA, Human Rights Watch and others have sent a letter to US defence secretary Lloyd Austin urging him to “take urgent steps to ensure the protection of civilians in US-supported Israeli military operations in Gaza” amid the “devastating levels of civilian harm”.

The letter is pointed about the US’s firm support for Israel in its punishing war in Gaza, where the Israeli government has pledged to destroy the controlling-force Hamas after the latter’s murderous attack on southern Israel on October 7.

The letter “cc’s” US secretary of state Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan and demands that Biden administration “rhetoric on the protection of civilians must be backed by action and leverage” in Gaza.

The letter says, in part: “We appreciated your recent comments emphasizing the critical importance of protecting civilians and ensuring the free flow of humanitarian aid in Gaza. However, these comments appear detached from the ongoing reality of Israel’s operations, which continue to cause devastating levels of civilian harm and destruction and inhibit the provision of life-saving humanitarian aid – all using US support.”

Summary of the day so far

It’s 9.45pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

At least 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began on 7 October, according to the latest figures by the Hamas government’s media office. Among those killed include about 8,000 children and 6,200 women, it said.

The UN security council has postponed a vote calling for a new ceasefire in Gaza until Thursday as diplomats struggle to agree on the language of the draft resolution. The UN resolution, drafted by the United Arab Emirates, has been changed several times amid reported policy differences inside the Biden administration.

Joe Biden has said he does not expect an imminent deal between Israel and Hamas over the release of hostages held in Gaza. “We’re pushing it. I don’t … there’s no expectation at this point,” the US president told reporters. The White House earlier on Wednesday said there are “very serious” discussions over a humanitarian pause in Gaza and hostage release between Israel and Hamas.

The leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, made his first visit to Egypt for more than a month on Wednesday, a rare personal intervention in diplomacy amid what a source described as intensive talks on a new ceasefire to let aid reach Gaza and get hostages freed. But Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, appeared to rule out a ceasefire as he vowed that Israel will continue its war against Hamas “to the end”.

The first aid convoy to travel direct from Jordan to Gaza since the start of the war has delivered 750 metric tonnes of food to the Palestinian territory the UN World Food Programme has said. The 46-truck convoy travelled through the Israeli-Gaza Kerem Shalom border crossing, through which Israel last week approved the temporary delivery of aid into Gaza, opening a new route for supplies after weeks of pressure. Meanwhile, Israel’s foreign minister has said it wants to fast-track the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza through a maritime corridor from Cyprus.

Israeli forces have said they shot dead a Palestinian man who tried to carry out a “car ramming attack” in the occupied West Bank. Basel Wajeeh al-Muhtasib “died as a result of being shot by occupation [Israeli army] bullets” as he drove through Bayt Inun junction, north of the city of Hebron, official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The political leaders of Hamas have begun talks with the group’s military wing about how to govern Gaza and the West Bank after the war with Israel ends, according to a report. “We want the war to end,” Husam Badran, a member of Hamas’s political bureau in Qatar, told the Wall Street Journal, amid sharpening divisions with Hamas’s military faction.

The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, has held talks with his Jordanian counterpart, Ayman Safadi, in Amman. On his second trip to the Middle East since being appointed to his role last month, Cameron is seeking to make Britain’s argument for a sustainable ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. He will also visit Egypt this week.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has said Israeli forces are besieging its ambulance centre in Jabalia in northern Gaza.

In a social media post, it said Israeli snipers are on the roofs of surrounding buildings, “posing a threat to the safety” of 127 people including paramedics, volunteers and their families.

In an earlier post, the PRCS said it had received several calls regarding shelling in Jabalia, adding that its teams had been unable to reach individuals besieged there.

The UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories has pleaded with Joe Biden for a ceasefire in Gaza.

In a post on social media, Francesca Albanese addressed the US president directly, asking him to “please, please intervene to stop this senseless carnage of innocent civilians in Gaza”.

Every additional day the international society fails to stop the war is “another nail in the coffin of humanity and the international law base order,” she added.

Israel’s military is at “another significant phase” of its offensive in Gaza, the head of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) southern command has said.

Maj Gen Yaron Finkelman, at a tour of the frontline in southern Gaza, said:

This offensive will continue and keep moving forward. It will continue with pressure against the enemy above ground and underground.

From the Times of Israel’s Emanuel Fabian:

UN ceasefire vote delayed until tomorrow

The UN security council has again postponed a vote calling for a new ceasefire in Gaza as diplomats struggle to agree on the language of the draft resolution.

The Guardian has been told that the vote has now been scheduled for Thursday in New York.

The UN draft resolution, drafted by the United Arab Emirates, has been changed several times amid reported policy differences inside the Biden administration.

The vote was initially scheduled for Monday but it has been repeatedly delayed in an effort to avoid a third US veto since the conflict began more than two months ago.

Divisions between Hamas’s Doha-based political wing and its officials inside Gaza, including the military faction, have sharpened since the war began in October.

According to the Wall Street Journal report, talks between the Hamas political leadership and Fatah, the dominant faction of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, have created tensions.

Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas’s military wing based in Gaza, does not want Hamas to continue to govern Gaza, but believes the war has not been lost yet and that it is too early to compromise, the report said. Sinwar demanded that the talks be halted when he found out about them, sources told the paper.

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