Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Israel and US show sharp divisions over mounting casualties and future of war against Hamas


The Associated Press
December 12, 2023

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel and the United States on Tuesday showed their sharpest public disagreement yet over the conduct and future of the war against Hamas as the two allies became increasingly isolated by global calls for a cease-fire.

The dispute emerged while Israeli forces carried out strikes across Gaza, crushing Palestinians in homes.

President Joe Biden said he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel was losing international support because of its “indiscriminate bombing” and that Netanyahu should change his government, which is dominated by hard-right parties.

Biden’s comments came as the White House national security adviser heads to Israel this week to discuss with Netanyahu a timetable for the war — and what happens if Hamas is defeated. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will travel to Israel next week for a visit the Pentagon said aims to show U.S. support for Israel but also to press the need to avoid more civilian casualties in Gaza.

The war ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel has already brought unprecedented death and destruction to the impoverished coastal enclave, with much of northern Gaza obliterated, more than 18,000 Palestinians killed and over 80% of the population of 2.3 million pushed from their homes.

The U.S. has urged Israel to do more to reduce civilian casualties since it launched its invasion of southern Gaza at the beginning of the month. But the toll has continued to mount at seemingly the same dizzying rate.

The health care system and humanitarian aid operations have collapsed in large parts of Gaza, amid Israel’s blockade of the territory and intense airstrikes and fighting, and aid workers have warned of starvation and the spread of disease among displaced people in overcrowded shelters and tent camps.

DEVASTATION IN THE NORTH

Gaza City and much of the surrounding north have already suffered widespread destruction from more than two months of bombardment. Amid the rubble, Israeli ground troops are still locked in heavy combat with Palestinian fighters, more than six weeks after soldiers invaded the north.

Fierce clashes raged Tuesday in Gaza City’s Zaytoun and Shijaiya neighborhoods, as well as in Jabaliya, a densely built urban refugee camp, residents said.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians remain in the north, huddled in homes or in U.N. schools-turned-shelters. As airstrikes and drones smash houses, first responders are unable to reach anyone buried in the wreckage, residents said.

“It was massive,” Mustafa Abu Taha, an agricultural worker, said of the sound of gunfire and explosions in Shijaiya, where he lives

Ama Radwan, a woman sheltering in a school in Jabaliya, said the situation was “catastrophic,” as Israeli troops tried to advance deep into the district and unleashed heavy fire against fighters.

“Whenever the resistance hit them, they hit us very hard. It has become crazy. They strike everywhere with no regard to women or children,” she said.

Outside Gaza City, Israeli troops using a controlled detonation blew up a school run by UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, in the northern town of Beit Hanoun. Footage posted online showed soldiers cheering as they watched the building collapse in a giant blast and pall of smoke.

UNRWA chief Phillippe Lazzarini confirmed the demolition in a post on X Tuesday, calling it “outrageous.” There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. On Saturday, it said militants opened fire from inside an UNRWA school in the town.

Israel also has begun flooding some Hamas tunnels, a U.S. official confirmed Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the action. Israelis said they are testing the targeted flooding of tunnels on a limited basis and are exploring the idea as one of a range of options to degrade the tunnel network, according to another U.S. official familiar with the matter.

President Joe Biden said during a news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that there were assertions that no hostages were in Gaza tunnels being flooded with seawater by the Israelis, but “I don’t know that for a fact.”
‘INDISCRIMINATE BOMBING’

Biden’s comments were a startlingly direct criticism of Israel even as his administration continues to give unwavering diplomatic and military support for the military campaign in Gaza in the face of mounting international outrage.

The U.N. secretary-general and Arab states have rallied much of the international community behind calls for an immediate cease-fire. But the U.S. vetoed those efforts at the U.N. Security Council last week as it rushed tank munitions to Israel to allow it to maintain the offensive.

A nonbinding vote on a similar resolution at the U.N. General Assembly passed overwhelmingly Tuesday. The vote demanding a cease-fire is largely symbolic, but it serves as an important barometer of world opinion.

Israel launched the campaign after Hamas and other militants streamed into the south on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking about 240 others hostage. About half of those remain in captivity. At least 105 Israeli soldiers have died in the ground offensive, the army says.

Israel and the U.S. say any cease-fire that leaves Hamas in power would mean victory for the militant group, which has governed Gaza since 2007 and has pledged to destroy Israel. Israel blames civilian casualties on Hamas, saying it positions fighters, tunnels and rocket launchers in dense urban areas, using civilians as human shields.

But the two allies have also had differences over the timetable of the war and over how Gaza should be ruled in the future.

In a briefing with the AP on Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant signaled that the current phase of heavy ground fighting and airstrikes could stretch on for weeks and further military activity could continue for months.

Netanyahu has said the military will have to keep open-ended security control of Gaza after the war ends.

The Biden administration has said Israel should not return to a military occupation and the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority should govern Gaza as talks resume on creating a Palestinian state next to Israel.

Netanyahu appeared to firmly rule that out Tuesday, acknowledging “there is disagreement about ‘the day after Hamas.’”

“I will not allow Israel to repeat the mistake of Oslo,” he said, referring to the peace process in the 1990s that created the Palestinian Authority and was intended to reach a two-state solution. The authority governs pockets of the occupied West Bank and governed Gaza until the Hamas takeover in 2007.
STRIKES AND RAIDS ACROSS GAZA

Strikes overnight and into Tuesday in southern Gaza — where almost all of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million is now crowded — killed dozens, according to hospital records.

Islam Harb’s three children were among those killed when Israeli airstrikes flattened four residential buildings in the town of Rafah on the Egyptian border. At least 23 people were killed, including seven children and six women, according to an Associated Press reporter who saw the bodies arrive at a hospital.

“My twin girls, Maria and Joud, were martyred, and my little son, Ammar, also martyred,” Harb said.

In central Gaza, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah received the bodies of 33 people killed in strikes overnight, including 16 women and four children, according to hospital records. Many were killed in strikes that hit residential buildings in the built-up Maghazi refugee camp.

In the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahia, Israeli forces stormed the Kamal Adwan Hospital, ordering all men, including medics, into the courtyard, said Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry. The hospital had 65 patients in intensive care and six newborns in incubators, the U.N. said, and some 3,000 displaced people were sheltering there with little food or water.


The Israeli military says it is rounding up men in northern Gaza as it searches for Hamas fighters. Photos and videos circulating online show groups of detainees stripped to their underwear, bound and blindfolded, and some who have been released say they were beaten and denied food and water.

Asked about the hospital, the military said it “continues to act against Hamas strongholds in the north of Gaza,” including Beit Lahia and takes “all feasible precautions to mitigate harm to noncombatants.”

___

Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Jack Jeffery in Cairo and Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem contributed.

___

Full AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Copyright © 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.


Nearly a fifth of Gaza's buildings destroyed or damaged: UN

Around 1.9 million people, or about 85 percent of the population, have fled their homes as a result of the Israeli forces' aerial and ground attack against Gaza since October 7, 2023




AA

An earlier UN assessment released on November 7 said that 25,050 buildings had been damaged or destroyed or about 10 percent of the total structures in Gaza. / Photo: AA

Nearly 40,000 buildings or about 18 percent of all pre-conflict structures have been damaged or destroyed in Gaza since the conflict began, a UN assessment has showed.

The latest estimate, based on a Nov. 26 image, was produced by the United Nations Satellite Centre, where analysts examine very high resolution satellite images to find damaged buildings and publish maps that can guide relief work and rebuilding plans during natural disasters and conflicts.

Estimates such as this based on high-resolution satellite images might still under-estimate the scale of destruction since they do not show all building damage - for example, a collapsed building with an intact roof can look undamaged.

"There has been a 49 percent increase in the total number of damaged structures, highlighting the escalating impact of the conflict on civilian infrastructures," UNOSAT said in a statement.

The assessment showed the worst affected areas were the two northern governorates of Gaza and North Gaza, which collectively accounted for 29,732 buildings of the 37,379 damaged or destroyed, or about 80 percent of the total.



Massive destruction

An earlier UN assessment released on November 7 said that 25,050 buildings had been damaged or destroyed or about 10 percent of the total structures in Gaza.

UNOSAT did not estimate damage by type of building. Some figures from Gazan authorities earlier in the conflict indicated widespread damage to housing.

One estimate quoted in a UN report on October 21 estimated that at least 42 percent of all housing units had been destroyed or damaged.

Around 1.9 million people, or about 85 percent of the population, have fled their homes as a result of the Israeli forces' brutal aerial and ground attack against Gaza since October 7.

Establishment of independent Palestinian state would end violence in region, says Russian Islamic leader

Continuation of violence to lead to new conflicts, says head of Russian Muftis Council

Dmitri Chirciu |12.12.2023 



MOSCOW

The establishment of an independent Palestinian state would end violence and ensure long-term peace and stability in the region, the head of the Russian Muftis Council said Tuesday.

Ravil Gaynutdin said at the 19th Muslim Forum in Moscow that Russia is in favor of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

"This is the fundamental solution to end violence, ensure long-term peace and stable development in the Middle East, global security and reduce tensions around the world,” he said.

Emphasizing that the issue should be resolved politically, he said the continuation of violence would lead to new conflicts.

“Without just and comprehensive peace in the Holy Land (Jerusalem), no one's security in the region can be ensured. The Middle East issue remains one of the most complex global problems from the beginning,” he said.

He stressed that the current crisis can only be resolved by the formation of a “just world order” based on the principles of multipolarity and the balance of different centers of power.

Mahmud Erol Kilic, the head of the Research Center for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA), said the result of aggressive actions against Palestinians in Gaza is a clear violation of international law.

Kilic said religion should play an important role in guiding people in this period.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza has soared to 18,412, the Health Ministry in the besieged enclave said Monday.

At least 50,100 others have been injured, according to ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra.

He said 22 hospitals and 46 primary care centers were forced out of service due to the bombardment.

“At least 296 medics were also killed in Israeli attacks since Oct. 7,” added al-Qudra.

Israel launched relentless air and ground attacks on Gaza following an attack Oct. 7 by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, on Israeli border towns.​​​​​​​

The Israeli death toll in the Hamas attack stands at 1,200, according to official figures.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar


Support dwindling as Israel ramps up offensive in Gaza



By —Najib Jobain, Associated Press
By —Wafaa Shurafa, Associated Press
By —Samy Magdy, Associated Press

World Dec 12, 2023 

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces carried out strikes across Gaza overnight and into Tuesday as they pressed ahead with an offensive that officials say could go on for weeks or months, even as global calls for a cease-fire left both Israel and its main ally, the United States, increasingly isolated.

Live updates: Israel promises to keep fighting in Gaza ahead of non-binding UN cease-fire vote

The war ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel has already brought unprecedented death and destruction to the impoverished coastal enclave, with much of northern Gaza obliterated, more than 18,000 Palestinians killed, and over 80% of the population of 2.3 million pushed from their homes.

The health care system and humanitarian aid operations have collapsed in large parts of the besieged enclave, and aid workers have warned of starvation and the spread of disease among displaced people in overcrowded shelters and tent camps.
Strikes and raids across Gaza

Strikes overnight and into Tuesday in southern Gaza — in an area where civilians have been told to seek shelter — killed at least 23 people, including seven children and six women, according to hospital records and an Associated Press reporter who saw the bodies arrive at a hospital.

Islam Harb’s three children were among those killed overnight when Israeli airstrikes flattened four residential buildings in the the town of Rafah on the Egyptian border. The family was sharing their home with nine displaced people, he said.

“My twin girls, Maria and Joud, were martyred, and my little son, Ammar, also martyred,” he said.

In central Gaza, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah received the bodies of 33 people killed in strikes overnight, including 16 women and four children, according to hospital records. Many were killed in strikes that hit residential buildings in the built-up Maghazi refugee camp.

In northern Gaza, Israeli forces stormed the Kamal Adwan Hospital, ordering all men, including medics, into the courtyard, said Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman for the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

READ MORE: International criticism grows as Israel says it’s prepared for long fight in Gaza

The U.N. humanitarian office said the hospital has 65 patients, including 12 children in intensive care and six newborns in incubators. Some 3,000 displaced people are sheltering there, it said, all awaiting evacuation because of severe shortages of food, water and electricity.

The military says it is rounding up men in northern Gaza as it searches for Hamas fighters. Photos and videos circulating online show groups of detainees stripped to their underwear, bound and blindfolded, and some who have been released say they were beaten and denied food and water.

At another hospital in northern Gaza, the aid group Doctors Without Borders said a surgeon was wounded Monday by a shot fired from outside the facility, which it says has been under “total siege” by Israeli forces for a week.

There was no immediate comment from the military on either incident in the north.
Calls for a cease-fire

Israel launched the campaign after Hamas broke through its defenses and militants streamed into the south on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and seizing about 240 others, of which about half remain in captivity. At least 105 Israeli soldiers have died in the Gaza ground offensive, the army says.

Israel’s blockade of the territory — and intense airstrikes and ground fighting that have made aid nearly impossible to distribute — have led to severe shortages of food, water and other basic goods. The offensive has resulted in the deaths of over 18,000 Palestinians, according to health officials. They do not give a breakdown of civilians and combatants but say roughly two-thirds of the dead are women and minors.

Israel blames civilian casualties on Hamas, saying it positions fighters, tunnels and rocket launchers in dense urban areas, using civilians as human shields.

The U.N. secretary-general and Arab states have rallied much of the international community behind calls for an immediate cease-fire. But the U.S. vetoed those efforts at the U.N. Security Council last week as it rushed tank munitions to Israel to allow it to maintain the offensive.

WATCH: U.S. vetoes UN resolution for cease-fire as Israel ramps up airstrikes in Gaza

A nonbinding vote on a similar resolution at the General Assembly scheduled for Tuesday would be largely symbolic.

Israel and the U.S. argue that any cease-fire that leaves Hamas in power, even over a small part of the devastated territory, would mean victory for the militant group, which has governed Gaza since 2007 and has pledged to destroy Israel.

Crushing Hamas seen as ‘tall order’

In a briefing with the AP on Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant signaled that the current phase of heavy ground fighting and airstrikes could stretch on for weeks and that further military activity could continue for months.

But many experts consider Israel’s aims to be unrealistic, pointing to Hamas’ deep base of support among many Palestinians in Gaza, as well as the occupied West Bank, who see it as resisting Israel’s half-century of military rule.

Even just destroying Hamas’ military capability “will be a tall order without decimating what remains of Gaza,” said the International Crisis Group, a think tank, in a report over the weekend that also called for an immediate cease-fire.

Israeli officials have said some 7,000 Hamas militants — roughly one-quarter of the group’s estimated fighting force — have been killed and that 500 militants have been detained in Gaza over the past month. Hamas, which fired a barrage of rockets Monday that wounded one person in a Tel Aviv suburb, says it still has thousands of reserve fighters. None of the claims could be verified.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah, meanwhile, has repeatedly traded fire with Israel, and other Iran-backed groups across the region have attacked U.S. targets, threatening to widen the conflict. Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have targeted Israeli shipping, attacked a tanker in the Red Sea with no clear ties to the country overnight.

Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writer Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem contributed.


Israel strikes across Gaza as the offensive leaves both it and the US increasingly isolated

Israeli soldiers take positions near the Gaza Strip border, in southern Israel, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023. The army is battling Palestinian militants across Gaza in the war ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

By ASSOCIATED PRESS | ap@dfmdev.com
PUBLISHED: December 12, 2023 

By NAJIB JOBAIN, WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY (Associated Press)

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces carried out strikes across Gaza on Tuesday, crushing Palestinians in homes, as the military pressed ahead with an offensive that officials say could go on for weeks or months, even while global calls for a cease-fire leave Israel and its main ally, the United States, increasingly isolated.

The war ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel has already brought unprecedented death and destruction to the impoverished coastal enclave, with much of northern Gaza obliterated, more than 18,000 Palestinians killed and over 80% of the population of 2.3 million pushed from their homes. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

The health care system and humanitarian aid operations have collapsed in large parts of Gaza, and aid workers have warned of starvation and the spread of disease among displaced people in overcrowded shelters and tent camps.

STRIKES AND RAIDS ACROSS GAZA


Strikes overnight and into Tuesday in southern Gaza — in areas where civilians have been told to seek shelter — killed dozens, according to hospital records.

Islam Harb’s three children were among those killed when Israeli airstrikes flattened four residential buildings in the town of Rafah on the Egyptian border. The family was sharing their home with nine displaced people, he said.

At least 23 people were killed in the strikes, including seven children and six women, according to hospital records and an Associated Press reporter who saw the bodies arrive at a hospital.

“My twin girls, Maria and Joud, were martyred, and my little son, Ammar, also martyred,” Harb said.

In central Gaza, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah received the bodies of 33 people killed in strikes overnight, including 16 women and four children, according to hospital records. Many were killed in strikes that hit residential buildings in the built-up Maghazi refugee camp.

In northern Gaza, Israeli forces stormed the Kamal Adwan Hospital, ordering all men, including medics, into the courtyard, said Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman for the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

The U.N. humanitarian office said the hospital has 65 patients, including 12 children, in intensive care and six newborns in incubators. Some 3,000 displaced people are sheltering there, it said, all awaiting evacuation because of severe shortages of food, water and electricity.

The military says it is rounding up men in northern Gaza as it searches for Hamas fighters. Photos and videos circulating online show groups of detainees stripped to their underwear, bound and blindfolded, and some who have been released say they were beaten and denied food and water.

At another hospital in northern Gaza, the aid group Doctors Without Borders said a surgeon was wounded Monday by a shot fired from outside the facility, which it says has been under “total siege” by Israeli forces for a week.

There was no immediate comment from the military on either incident in the north.

CALLS FOR A CEASE-FIRE


Israel launched the campaign after Hamas and other terrorists streamed into the south on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking about 240 others hostage, of whom about half remain in captivity. At least 105 Israeli soldiers have died in the Gaza ground offensive, the army says.

Israel’s blockade of the territory — and intense airstrikes and ground fighting that have made aid nearly impossible to distribute — have led to severe shortages of food, water and other basic goods.

Palestinian health officials do not give a breakdown of civilian and combatant deaths but say roughly two-thirds of the dead are women and minors.

Israel blames civilian casualties on Hamas, saying it positions fighters, tunnels and rocket launchers in dense urban areas, using civilians as human shields.

The U.N. secretary-general and Arab states have rallied much of the international community behind calls for an immediate cease-fire. But the U.S. vetoed those efforts at the U.N. Security Council last week as it rushed tank munitions to Israel to allow it to maintain the offensive.

A nonbinding vote on a similar resolution at the General Assembly scheduled for Tuesday would be largely symbolic.

Israel and the U.S. argue that any cease-fire that leaves Hamas in power, even over a small part of the devastated territory, would mean victory for the group, which has governed Gaza since 2007 and has pledged to destroy Israel.

ISRAEL-US SPLIT OVER FUTURE

While the U.S. has given wholehearted diplomatic and military support to Israel’s campaign, the two allies are wider apart over the timetable of the war and what comes afterward in Gaza if Hamas is defeated. The U.S. has also urged Israel to do more to prevent civilian casualties, but the toll in Gaza has continued to mount at seemingly the same dizzying rate.

In a briefing with the AP on Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant signaled that the current phase of heavy ground fighting and airstrikes could stretch on for weeks and that further military activity could continue for months.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said he will speak with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about timetables for ending major combat in Gaza when he visits Israel later this week.

Speaking at a forum hosted by the Wall Street Journal, Sullivan said he would also speak to Netanyahu about his recent comments that the Israeli military would maintain an open-ended security control of Gaza after the war ends.

The Biden administration says it does not want to see Israel reoccupy Gaza. It has also called for a return of the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority to Gaza and the resumption of peace talks aimed at establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Netanyahu on Tuesday acknowledged “there is disagreement about ‘the day after Hamas’.” He ruled out a return of Palestinian Authority rule, saying “I will not allow Israel to repeat the mistake of Oslo,” referring to the peace process in the 1990s that created the authority in the West Bank and Gaza and was intended to reach a two-state solution.

Many experts consider Israel’s aim to crush Hamas to be unrealistic, pointing to Hamas’ deep base of support among many Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, who see it as resisting Israel’s half-century of military rule.

Even just destroying Hamas’ military capability “will be a tall order without decimating what remains of Gaza,” said the International Crisis Group, a think tank, in a report over the weekend that also called for an immediate cease-fire.

Israeli officials have said some 7,000 Hamas members — roughly one-quarter of the group’s estimated fighting force — have been killed and that 500 others have been detained in Gaza over the past month. Hamas says it still has thousands of reserve fighters. None of the claims could be verified.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah, meanwhile, has repeatedly traded fire with Israel, and other Iran-backed groups across the region have attacked U.S. targets, threatening to widen the conflict. Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have targeted Israeli shipping, attacked a tanker in the Red Sea with no clear ties to the country overnight.

___

Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Jack Jeffery in Cairo and Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem contributed.


















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