Israeli soldiers cut off food from newborns, release video of “surrendering Hamas members”; Gaza humanitarian crisis worsens; 3-day siege on Jenin ends with 12 Palestinians dead; more Americans protest Biden policy, more punished for Palestine support
Jewish teacher in Georgia says he will behead student over her statement about Israeli flag; 100 Homeland Security staffers condemn Mayorkas; latest statistics…
Number of Gazans killed since the Biden administration vetoed UNSC ceasefire resolution: at least 1,221 (approximately 565 children)
‘When the dust settles, we’ll find out about the gravity of Israel’s crimes’: Samir Zaqout, deputy director of Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, says that the international community is failing Gaza, turning a blind eye to Israel’s war crimes.
I believe the Israeli occupation forces have violated all the international laws, even the Geneva Conventions … What is being perpetrated is nothing but war crimes, and when the dust settles, we will find out about the gravity of the crimes committed. All those killed are civilians,” he told Al Jazeera in Rafah. [Israel has been targeting] hospitals, mosques, churches amid total silence from the international community, including the International Criminal Court.
We have been presenting documents, proving that Israel has violated all the laws. The representative of the [International] Criminal Court came only when Israel claimed that there were violations on the Palestinian side. The international system has fallen in Gaza. We feel ashamed when we speak about human rights or international law.
Humanitarian update
Limited aid distributions continue to take place in Rafah governorate, where almost half of Gaza’s population is now estimated to be residing. In the rest of the Gaza Strip, aid distribution has largely stopped, due to the intensity of hostilities and restrictions on movement along the main roads, except for limited fuel deliveries to key service providers and a high-risk mission on 9 December to Al Ahli hospital in Gaza city.
On 13 December, as of 22:00, 152 trucks carrying humanitarian supplies, and four tankers of fuel entered Gaza from Egypt. This is above the daily volume recorded since the resumption of hostilities on 1 December but remains well below the daily average of 500 truckloads (including fuel and private sector goods) that entered every working day prior to 7 October.
“Israel must open another crossing”: In a press briefing in Geneva on Wednesday, Lynn Hastings, Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, UN Resident Coordinator and Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, called again for the opening of a second crossing into Gaza – the Kerem Shalom crossing. She noted:
“Israel, as the occupying power, is responsible to protect the Palestinian civilian population. This means they have to provide for basic needs. Allowing trucks to get to the border between Egypt and Gaza is insufficient. They need to ensure that the conditions inside of Gaza are also such that we will be able to provide assistance to everybody who is in need.”
Too little space, food, too few bathrooms: Tens of thousands of IDPs, who have arrived in Rafah since 3 December, continue to face extremely overcrowded conditions both inside and outside shelters. Large crowds wait for hours around aid distribution centers, in desperate need of food, water, shelter, health, and protection.
Without enough latrines, open-air defecation is prevalent, increasing concerns of further spread of disease, particularly during rains and related flooding. The heavy rains and flooding which affected large parts of Gaza on 13 December are compounding human misery and adding to the risk of waterborne diseases.
Infectious diseases: On 12 December, the MoH’s spokesperson in Gaza said that the ministry had documented 360,000 cases of infectious diseases in shelters, noting that the actual number is believed to be higher.
Waste accumulating: On 13 December, heavy rains fell on Gaza, flooding many of the areas, worsening the struggle of displaced Palestinians amid the lack or limited capacity to manage sewage, particularly in IDP shelters, and the accumulation of solid waste in various locations. These factors, coupled with the absence of effective waste management, which have been attracting insects, mosquitoes, and rats, are significantly elevating the risk of spreading of disease, threatening both physical and mental wellbeing.
The following are among the deadliest incidents reported between 14:00 on 12 December and 14:00 on 13 December:
- At least eight Palestinians were reportedly killed, and several others were injured in a residential building that was hit in Ash Shabora area in Rafah.
- At least nine Palestinians were reportedly killed in a residential building that was hit in Al Amal project, western Khan Younis.
Other Gaza news
Israeli army in Kamal Adwan Hospital cut off 12 newborns from food, electricity: Israeli forces, which invaded Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, have prevented 12 infants in the neonatal department from receiving baby formula and cut electricity to their life-support machines. They have also reportedly forced the medical staff to gather all the injured people and the infants in the neonatal department on the second floor, and cut off food, water and electricity.
Israel has detained the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital and about 70 other medical staff in an unknown location outside of the hospital, UN OCHA says.
“Reports from those released indicate that they were interrogated, beaten and exposed to the harsh weather, before they eventually returned to the hospital,” the UN added.
In addition, for the eighth consecutive day, Al Awda Hospital in Jabalya, northern Gaza, remains surrounded by Israeli troops and tanks, and fighting with armed Palestinian groups is reported in its vicinity. Reportedly, 250 doctors, patients, and their family members are trapped inside the hospital.
Also, on 13 December, the vicinity of Nasser hospital in Khan Younis was repeatedly bombarded, impeding the access of dozens of casualties.
Footage shows Rafah destruction after Israeli attack: A video shared on Instagram, and verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking unit Sanad, shows the extent of the destruction of the Israeli army’s recent attack on a residential area in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.
At least 20 people were killed in the attack:
View this post on Instagram
Israel releases footage of arrested men without shirts: The Israeli army has released footage of what it says is the arrest of more than 70 “Hamas operatives” in the vicinity of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Gaza Strip. Videos and pictures posted on the army’s social media page show young men, some without shirts on, seemingly surrendering to Israeli forces.
The post on X declares that the Israeli military
apprehended dozens of terrorists in the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza. Over 70 terrorists came out of the hospital with weapons in hand. The terrorists were transferred to field interrogators for further questioning.
This is what dismantling Hamas looks like.
The military said in a statement that it had located weapons inside a building in the area and was transferring the “operatives” to another location for further questioning.
A number of people previously arrested in a similar manner, including being stripped to their underwear, have been recognized by relatives and colleagues as not belonging to Hamas. Some who were released after interrogation – including senior citizens and teenagers – spoke on camera about being tortured and starved.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: UN: More than 70% of Palestinians killed since Israel’s war began are women and children
War on education in Gaza: On the occasion of Palestinian Teachers’ Day, the Ministry of Education announced that the number of students who have been killed in Gaza since October 7th is 3,679, with 5,429 wounded. Adding in the West Bank, the numbers rise to 3,714 students killed and 5,700 injured.
209 teachers and school administrators were also killed and 619 injured in Gaza.
Communications blackout: Live network data show a new collapse in connectivity in the Gaza Strip; the incident will be experienced as the sixth near-total telecommunications blackout since the start of the conflict, as providers struggle to maintain service amidst ongoing fighting.
The lack of service results in the inability of emergency services to operate, and humanitarian aid to coordinate, resulting in a shutdown of almost everything Gazans need…
Many Palestinians in Gaza and their loved ones in the diaspora worry, when there is a communications blackout, that Israel is going to perpetrate especially heinous crimes while no one is “watching.”
West Bank and Jerusalem
92% of Palestinians in West Bank want Abbas to resign: The survey conducted by the Palestinian Center for Social Research also found that demand today for the Palestinian Authority president’s resignation stands at 81 percent in the Gaza Strip.
War on education in the West Bank: On the occasion of Palestinian Teachers’ Day, the Ministry of Education announced that the number of students who have been killed in the occupied West Bank since October 7th is 35, with 271 wounded and 82 arrested. Adding in Gaza, the numbers rise to 3,714 students killed and 5,700 injured.
Two teachers were also injured, and 65 arrested in the West Bank.
According to prisoners’ groups, Israel detained more than 4400 Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the start of its attack on Gaza on October 7.
Following a 60-hour-long raid, Israeli army says Jenin operation ‘completed’: The “extensive operation” in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin resulted in the arrest of 14 “wanted” individuals and the deaths of 12 Palestinians. The army also said that it destroyed tunnel shafts and confiscated weapons during the operation, and that seven soldiers and one officer were wounded during the raid. Here are some of the details:
On Tuesday, a man carried his ill 13-year-old on foot to Khalil Suleiman Hospital because Israeli armored cars blocked ambulances. His son died on arrival.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said, “Today a patient was discharged from the hospital and an ambulance tried to take her home, but the ambulance was hit by gunfire, and the same patient was readmitted with a gunshot wound and is currently undergoing surgery,” the organization also reported.
Jenin hospitals have been besieged by Israeli army vehicles since the start of the assault on Tuesday, and access to the hospitals as well as the movement of ambulances are closely inspected and usually obstructed. In addition, according to Kamal Abu al-Rub, Jenin’s acting governor, all roads leading to the camp have been destroyed by military bulldozers.
Israeli forces, he said, detained approximately 500 people, and have released 400 of them. “Some of them arrived in the village having been beaten, while others came without adequate clothing for the winter. Some were barefoot.” According to an Israeli television news channel, 1,400 Israeli army reservists are being used in this operation.
Video of Israeli army singing prayers in Jenin mosque sparks outrage: Footage circulating online showing Israeli army officers singing Jewish prayers into the loudspeaker in a local mosque during a raid in Jenin has sparked outrage.
“The images emerging from the field are clear: the army is controlled by crazy fanatics,” Ofer Cassif, a member of the Israeli parliament, said on X.
The Army Radio reported that the soldiers were removed from operational duty after their superiors investigated the videos.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said the soldiers should not be held accountable for their actions.
“We should give our wonderful fighters full backing and not get involved in disciplinary proceedings in matters that are not supposed to concern the [army], certainly not in wartime,” he was reported as saying by the Army Radio.
Israel news
Israel’s ambassador to UK rejects two-state solution: In response to a question on prospects for a Palestinian state, Tzipi Hotovely told Sky News that “the answer is absolutely no.”
Israel’s social equality minister does not rule out Israeli settlements in Gaza Strip: Social Equality Minister Amichai Chikli told Israeli media Ynet that he does not rule out Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip “in certain parts where it makes sense.” Chikli accused the Palestinian Authority (PA) of educating Palestinians “toward terror and murder of Jews” and rejected the idea that the authority, which currently runs the West Bank, could replace Hamas in post-war Gaza.
The minister, who is a member of Natanyahu’s Likud party, suggested coming up with new solutions such as Rafah coming under Egyptian control and Khan Younis under Emirati control.
Nearly half of the Israeli munitions dropped on Gaza are imprecise ‘dumb bombs’ – CNN: Nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions that Israel has used in its war against Gaza since October 7 have been unguided, otherwise known as “dumb bombs,” according to a new US intelligence assessment.
The assessment 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. 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.
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 minimize civilian casualties.
Israeli captives’ families want government talks with Hamas: The families of those who are being held captive in Gaza have demanded an urgent meeting and explanation from Netanyahu, wondering why he is not exploring every single angle to get a ceasefire and the release of more hostages.
Reportedly, however, the war cabinet thinks they should continue with their show of force in Gaza and force Hamas to the negotiating table. They believe that is a way to negotiate – from a position of strength.
The firing of rockets by Palestinian armed groups towards Israeli population centers has continued over the past 24 hours, with no reported fatalities.
(Information on rocket attacks is here.) It appears that the last time a rocket killed an Israeli was October 7-8, as reported by Ha’aretz and the Times of Israel. 15 Israelis were killed – 10 of them Palestinian Israelis who reportedly had no access to bomb shelters. Rockets have killed a total of 35 Israelis over the 22 years they’ve been fired.
Latest from US and elsewhere
US stalls small weapons sale to Israel: The Biden administration is delaying the sale of more than 20,000 U.S.-made rifles to Israel over concerns about attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, two sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
The State Department notified Congress of the sale several weeks ago; it was cleared by the leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations and House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committees in early November. But other Congress members demanded assurances that the weapons will not go to settlers.
“The administration has been engaged with Israel in trying to get satisfactory assurances in that regard prior to formally notifying it. Under the license as drafted, these firearms can also go to Israeli police units about which the Department has significant human rights concerns,” a former U.S. official familiar with the sale said.
Israel has a police force of around 35,000.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: Are Biden’s warnings to Israel sparked by fears of 2024 election?
US delaying sale of rifles to Israel is ‘laughable’: an anthropologist with Northwestern University in Qatar says the Biden administration’s delay of a deal to sell more than 20,000 US-made rifles to Israel due to concerns over violent far-right settlers is “laughable”.
They’re trying to block M16s, but then they’re sending bombs to Gaza. Why are you sending arms to an occupying entity in the first place?
You see the US trying to placate the public pressure globally by throwing little bones their way.
Biden-administration staff protest outside White House: A group of people gathered in front of the White House for a candlelit vigil holding a sign that says “President Biden, your staff demands a ceasefire”. Josh Paul, who resigned from the State Department in October over the United States’ “lethal assistance to Israel”, spoke at the event.
Information shared online before the protest encouraged staff members from the Biden-Harris administration to attend. Attendees were encouraged to wear masks and nondescript clothing and not to bring their work phones.
US defense chief promises ‘enduring support’ in call with Israeli counterpart: US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke on the phone with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, to underscore his “enduring support” for Israel’s war on Gaza. In the call, Austin said that Hamas “can never repeat the October 7 attacks” on Israel, the Pentagon said in a statement.
Austin also reiterated the need to protect civilians and increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, the statement added, without mentioning the global demand for a ceasefire in the bombarded Palestinian territory where more than 18,600 people, mostly civilians, have been killed by Israel.
‘We must end the bloodshed’: US legislator: Congresswoman Barbara Lee has renewed her call for a ceasefire in Gaza. “The majority of UN nations agree with the majority of Americans: we need a permanent ceasefire in Gaza,” Lee, a California Democrat, wrote in a social media post. “We must end the bloodshed. Countless lives depend on it.”
RECOMMENDED READING: How Democrats are alienating their base by blasting a Gaza war ceasefire
US, Israel seen as ‘evil in eyes of the world’ over Gaza war: Rami Khouri, the director of global engagement at the American University of Beirut, said the US and Israel have backed themselves into a corner over the war on Gaza and are now seen “as evil people in the eyes of most of the world”.
“If you look at the polling evidence, demonstrations, the vote at the UN, any measure that you take, almost the entire world – with the exception of one or two smaller countries and the United States – are critical of what Israel is doing, heavily critical,” Khouri told Al Jazeera.
“That is very troubling for the United States,” Khouri said, adding that the US is failing diplomatically in the Middle East.
“It’s very good at creating arms that kill a lot of people and selling them. And letting its allies kill as much as they want. But it’s not very good at diplomacy and sorting out these kinds of issues,” he said of the US.
“There is massive evidence now that ordinary people around the Middle East are extremely disappointed with the US… and you have governments around the Arab region who are looking to balance their previously very strong relations with the US, to have more balanced relations with other powers – regional powers and international powers – like Iran, Turkey, China,” he said.
“There’s a really big danger for the US in the political, economic and military fields, and the Israelis have not achieved their military objectives and Hamas is still holding out,” he added.
Israel’s Gaza bombardment ‘one of most intense civilian punishment campaigns in history’: Robert Pape, a political science professor at the University of Chicago, says with about 1 percent of the population killed in Gaza since the war began, the Israeli campaign is “in the top 25 percent of all bombing campaigns in history in terms of civilian damage”.
“They’re dropping bombs that might try to kill one Hamas fighter that pancake entire buildings or entire neighborhoods, killing hundreds in the process…This is the very definition of disproportionate, indiscriminate bombing.”
RECOMMENDED READING: Why is the UN genocide office silent about Gaza?
Rutgers first public US university to suspend SJP chapter: Rutgers University has issued an “interim suspension” of the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter on its New Brunswick campus in response to what it says are complaints of disruptive behavior and vandalism by the group.
In a statement, the pro-Palestine student group said its rallies are peaceful and accused the school of applying a “racist double-standard”, referring to Rutgers’s failure to act upon allegations of harassment and doxxing directed at Palestinian and Muslim students.
Letter accuses US security agency of turning ‘blind eye’ to Gaza suffering:
More than 100 staff members from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have signed an open letter to Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas dated November 22 denouncing the department’s handling of the war in Gaza. The letter expresses frustration with the “palpable, glaring absence in the Department’s messaging” of “recognition, support, and mourning” for the more than 18,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza since the start of the war on October 7.
“The grave humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the conditions in the West Bank are circumstances that the Department would generally respond to in various ways, yet DHS leadership has seemingly turned a blind eye to the bombing of refugee camps, hospitals, ambulances, and civilians.”
The story appears to be ignored by national and international news.
BDS victory: Puma to end its sponsorship of Israel’s national team: “After years of BDS campaigning that has cost German conglomerate Puma dearly in reputation and projects, we have forced it to abandon its sponsorship of the Israel Football Association in this time of Israel’s Gaza Genocide,” said the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel.
UK announces entry ban for ‘extremist settlers’: Foreign Secretary David Cameron says the UK is banning violent Israeli settlers from entering the UK “to make sure our country cannot be a home for people who commit these intimidating acts”. “Israel must take stronger action to stop settler violence and hold the perpetrators accountable,” he said on X.
The US also announced similar visa restrictions earlier this month, saying Israel was not taking sufficient steps to address the issue. Ariel Gold, the executive director of the US-based Fellowship of Reconciliation, said that the US policy is “virtue signaling,” as many settlers hold dual citizenship and don’t require a visa to enter the US.
New Yorker Writer Masha Gessen’s Prize in Jeopardy After Gaza Essay:
The political foundation behind a prestigious German award is yanking its support for the prize’s presentation to a well-known staff writer, condemning them for publishing an essay that drew parallels between Jewish oppression under Nazi occupation and the Israeli bombardment of Gaza today.
Masha Gessen’s 7,500-word essay, “In the Shadow of the Holocaust,” argues “that we place the Holocaust outside of history and refuse to learn from it,” they tweeted after it was published on Saturday. The piece also makes an explicit comparison between “the Jewish ghettoes of Occupied Europe” and Gaza, and declares, “The ghetto is being liquidated.”
Gessen’s prize was revoked because their rhetoric “implies that Israel aims to liquidate Gaza like a Nazi ghetto. This statement is not an offer for open discussion; it does not help to understand the conflict in the Middle East,” adding,“This statement is unacceptable to us and we reject it.”
Aboud, 12, was one of many Palestinian patients forcibly evacuated from the Indonesian Hospital in north Gaza by the Israeli military. Then, Israeli forces fired live ammunition at patients trying to escape.
"All the wounded threw themselves to the ground to avoid the bullets." pic.twitter.com/cfpd0zz9Zf
— Defense for Children (@DCIPalestine) December 14, 2023
GAZA: At least 27 Palestinians killed in Israeli air strikes on 2 homes in Rafah.
Dozens of others are injured. pic.twitter.com/HxvwPbxAfh
— Hamdah Salhut (@hamdahsalhut) December 13, 2023
STATISTICS AS OF DEC. 13:
Palestinian death toll: OCHA reports at least 18,699* (~18,413 in Gaza* (70% women and children), and at least 286 in the West Bank). This does not include an estimated 8,000 more still buried under rubble. Euro-Med Monitor reports 24,142 Palestinian deaths.
*IAK does not yet include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile is being disputed; although much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, experts are still looking into the incident. Israel is blocking an international investigation. Israel killed more Palestinians in a little over a month after Oct. 7 than in all the previous 22 years combined.
Palestinian injuries: 58,488** (including at least 55,000 in Gaza** and 3,488 in the West Bank). **NOTE: it is impossible to provide an accurate number of injuries in Gaza due to the ongoing bombardment and communication disruption.
It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties. in Gaza**. About 1.9 million people have been displaced (about 85% of the population).
Reported Israeli death toll ~1,147 (7 killed in West Bank, 116 in Gaza), including 32 Americans, and 5,431 injured, approximately 36 children).
NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries in Israel may have been caused by Israeli soldiers; additionally, since Israel has a policy of universal conscription, it is unknown how many of those attending the outdoor rave a few miles from Gaza on stolen Palestinian land were Israeli soldiers.
Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here. For more news, go here and here. Live broadcast news from the region is here.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org
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