PERVERSITY OF CAPITALI$M

CRISPR STOCK CRASHES AFTER

 FDA Approves Gene-Editing Treatment

Shares of Crispr Therapeutics (CRSP) had a volatile day on Friday after the Food and Drug Administration approved the company's groundbreaking gene-editing treatment for sickle cell disease. CRSP stock rallied ahead of the news, but shares then fell sharply shedding more than 8%.

The FDA approved the treatment that Crispr developed based on its gene-editing technology known as CRISPR. Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) co-developed the treatment.
"Gene therapy holds the promise of delivering more targeted and effective treatments, especially for individuals with rare diseases where the current treatment options are limited," Nicole Verdun, M.D., director of the Office of Therapeutic Products at the agency's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a statement.

In November, the U.K.'s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approved the Crispr treatment for patients age 12 and older with blood diseases known as sickle cell disease or beta thalassemia. CRSP stock surged on the news, and is up nearly 50% year to date.

CRSP stock sank 8.1% to close at 64.54.

Vertex, CRISPR Therapeutics Get FDA Approval for First CRISPR Gene-Editing Therapy in US

By BILL MCCOLL
Published December 08, 2023



KEY TAKEAWAYS

Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics received regulatory approval for the first gene-editing therapy using CRISPR technology in the U.S.

The treatment, called Casgevy, is used to treat sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder.

Casgevy uses the Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR technique to edit the cells that cause the illness.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) and CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) announced Friday that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave them approval for use of the first-ever gene-editing therapy using CRISPR technology in the U.S.

The companies’ Casgevy is a treatment for sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder. Casgevy uses the Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR genetic modification technique to edit patients’ DNA to target the effects of the disease.1

Dr. Reshma Kewalramani, CEO of Vertex, said Casgevy “offers the potential of a one-time transformative therapy for eligible patients with sickle cell disease.”

Vertex noted that because the administration of Casgevy requires specialized experience in stem cell transplantation, the company is “engaging with experienced hospitals to establish a network of independently operated, authorized treatment centers.” It explained that currently, nine medical centers across the country have been activated.

Shares of Vertex finished 1.1% lower Friday following the news, while CRISPR Therapeutics shares lost 8.1%. However, both remained higher for the year, with Vertex shares up 22.4% year-to-date, while CRISPR Therapeutics shares have gained over 57%.

STONE AGE SHIPPING?
Divers Found Cargo That Might Just Lead to a 'Mind-Blowing' Neolithic Shipwreck

Tim Newcomb
Thu, December 7, 2023 

We May Have Found Cargo From A Neolithic Shipwreck

Eric Volto - Getty Images

A series of obsidian blocks were found off the Italian island of Capri.

Italian authorities believe the obsidian could have come from a Neolithic shipwreck.

Other experts say it is possible that the the site was once a Stone Age settlement, before the sea engulfed it.

Obsidian was the gold of the Stone Age. So, when a series of obsidian blocks have been located off the coast of Capri, authorities began saying that the “worked obsidian cores” could have been the precious cargo a Neolithic shipwreck.

“Finding a Neolithic wreck would be mind-blowing,” Sean Kingsley, Wreckwatch magazine editor, told Newsweek. “If any extensive cargo and crew’s belongings survive, the discovery would become one of the top five underwater strikes of all time. For now, the jury is out, however.”

The jury may be out, but the search is on. In a translated statement from the Superintendent of Archeology, Fine Arts, and Landscape for the Naples Metropolitan Area (SABAP), the group announces plans to continue extensive instrumental surveying of the seabed in order to verify the possible presence of a hull or other cargo material.

“Obsidian was precious during prehistoric times because very sharp blades were made from it, which lasted a long time,’ Sandro Barucci, an ancient seafaring researcher, tells Newsweek. “When metals were not yet in use, obsidian was the best material for making cutting tools, and its value was enormous.”

Found 100 to 130 feet below the water, SABAP said they were “recovering what must have been part of the cargo of a Neolithic-era ship.” The first piece uncovered was a massive, 17-pound piece of the valuable material. On it and other pieces, SABAP pointed to the clear traces of chiseling and processing on the surface of the “worked obsidian cores” to show the piece was in transport as part of some sort of Neolithic ship.

Barucci said that it is too early to say the obsidian came from a cargo boat that wrecked off Capri. He’d also like to see an in-depth technical examination of the obsidian before throwing around the Neolithic theory. But researchers believe that, since obsidian was popular during the Stone Age, the 17-pound piece is likely at least 4000 years old.

Barucci points out, however, that no Neolithic hull has ever been found in the Mediterranean. Even though it would have been strengthened, the wood from the ships—which would have resembled canoes with simple sails—just hasn’t had a great record of surviving the water or the wood-eating mollusks that live there.

“At Capri, if the boat had sunk quickly into the sand and remained protected, it would perhaps be possible to find some wooden parts, especially if it were a dugout canoe—i.e. made from a single large hollowed-out tree trunk,” Barucci said. “But it would truly be a very rare event indeed unique. We have to wait for the excavations.”

And this may all be wishful thinking anyway, Kinglsey said, as the seabed around the find is largely rocky and filled with boulders instead of sand.

Kingsley said that there’s also some potential that the obsidian is from a sunken prehistoric settlement, not a shipwreck. The exact location of the find, while kept a secret, is near caves that could have once been above the ocean’s reach.

All the intrigue has Italian authorities hoping for more details as they start an extensive search of the area. They’re hoping to strike more than just black gold.

RED TORY

SIR Keir Starmer insists he’s no Thatcher ‘fan boy’ and says she did terrible things

Adam Forrest

Sir Keir Starmer has attempted to calm the storm of criticism over his comments about Margaret Thatcher by telling a Scottish audience that she did “terrible things”.

The Labour leader sought to draw a line under the row after he appeared to praise the former Tory prime minister and her moves to boost Britain’s “entrepreneurialism”.

On a visit to Scotland on Friday, Sir Keir insisted he is no fan of Ms Thatcher and said that he “profoundly disagrees” with some of her actions.

He said she did “huge damage” to communities across the UK – particularly in Scotland – only days after listing her as among former leaders who delivered “meaningful change”.

In an article for the Sunday Telegraph, he said Baroness Thatcher had sought to “drag Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism”.

The attempt to appeal to traditional Tory voters fell flat with some Labour supporters and he was mocked by Conservative MPs as a Thatcher “fan boy” in the Commons.

But asked whether he was a fan at a Scottish Labour gala dinner in Glasgow on Thursday evening, he said: “No, absolutely not.”

The comments, heard on an audio recording, were met with applause by the audience in Scotland, where the former Tory leader’s privatisation agenda hit particularly hard.

Keir Starmer sought to draw a line under the row in Scotland (Getty Images)

“She did terrible things, particularly here in Scotland which everybody in this room, myself included, profoundly disagrees with,” Sir Keir said.

“The point I was trying to make in a piece that we penned last week was that there are some political leaders who have a mission, a plan, that they implement,” he told the audience.

The Labour leader went on to said: “Attlee of course, was one of them, the ‘New Jerusalem’. Thatcher, whether you liked her or you didn’t like her, you couldn’t say she didn’t have a plan, or a mission.

Sir Keir added: “You can say someone has a mission and a plan and disagree profoundly with them.”

Baroness Thatcher won three general elections in her 11-year reign, but remains a divisive figure, including over the agenda of privatisation that saw the decline of industries such as coal and steel.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar did not repeat Sir Keir’s supportive comments this week, instead describing Baroness Thatcher as a “destructive force for our country”.

Sir Keir was following in the footsteps of his predecessor Sir Tony, who also praised the Iron Lady in the run-up to his 1997 general election landslide.

But he faced a furious backlash from left-wing MPs, with Beth Winter saying the former Tory PM “caused poverty and deprivation not seen since the Dickensian era”.

Some backbenchers urged the leadership to distance itself from any praise for Thatcher. Labour MP Ian Byrne said Ms Thatcher’s legacy was “inequality, hunger, destitution and misery”.

Earlier this week Labour’s national campaign coordinator Pat McFadden said he would not use the word “admire” to sum up how he felt about Thatcher, and would instead say she was “successful electorally”.

Meanwhile, two people have been charged in connection with alleged disorder offences following a protest where UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was confronted by pro-Palestine activists.

On Thursday night, Police Scotland said a man, 33, and a woman, 26, were arrested after Sir Keir was confronted by protesters as he arrived in Glasgow.

Footage showed Sir Keir arriving at Glasgow Central station, where a group of activists were waiting with Palestinian flags.

He has faced criticism for refusing to back a ceasefire in Gaza, with the party leadership in favour of calling for humanitarian pauses to allow people to leave Gaza and for aid to enter.

This Nation of 10 Million People Just Ran Entirely on Renewable Energy for 149 Hours

Portugal Ran on Renewable Energy For Nearly a Week

Cícero Castro - Getty Images

Darren Orf
Fri, December 8, 2023

For the world to avoid the worst outcome of human-induced climate change, countries need to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy as soon as possible.

For 149 consecutive hours in November, Portugal provided a stunning example of what that could look like, as it used a mix of solar, wind, and hydropower to provide more clean energy than the entire country needed.

The nation has plans to upgrade its wind turbines, expand its solar capacity, and close its last gas-powered plants.

The world desperately needs to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy as quickly as possible. While some small countries have made the green energy leap, for many large nations, it’s an unfortunately slow-going process—too slow by most scientists’ measure.

However, for one week in November, the country of Portugal bucked the trend by running entirely on renewable energy. Producing 1,102 GWh (according to the national grid operator Redes Energéticas Nacionais) for both industrial and residential use, the country’s renewable energy sources—a mix of wind, solar, and hydropower—provided 262 GWh more than was needed.

This exceeds the country’s previous record—it ran for 131 hours on renewable energy back in 2019—and for 95 hours during this recent test, Portugal even exported its excess clean energy to Spain. Although the country’s gas plants were on standby, Portugal’s renewable infrastructure proved to be more than up for the task.

The test, which ran from 4 a.m. local time on October 31 until 9 a.m. on November 6, proved just how effective the climate policies of one of the greenest members of the European Union have been. Portugal first began building onshore wind turbines back in the 1990s, and in 2016, the country set its own goal to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050—three years before the rest of the EU. It also pledged to shut down all of its coal plants by 2030, which it managed to do a full nine years early. Portugal is also home to Europe’s largest floating solar farm, built with 12,000 panels, and the county has pledged to double its solar and hydrogen capacity.

In other words, Portugal means business.


The country aims to get 85 percent of its energy through renewable sources by 2030, but doing so won’t be easy (despite this recent feat). This is in part because much of the prime offshore locations for wind energy are already occupied. However, many of the old-time turbines could be replaced with newer ones to could provide a significant wind power increase, according to Canary Media.

This 149-hour, record-breaking run is certainly impressive, but it did benefit from a seasonality advantage. Because the test was conducted in mid-autumn, the grid didn’t have as high a heating or cooling demand as it would usually experience in the summer and winter months. It’s one thing to provide enough energy during the relatively mild seasons, but it would be another thing entirely to provide a continuous flow of electrons during a heat wave or a cold snap.

Portugal’s 149 hours of renewable bliss is a hopeful vision of the future for a fossil fuel-weary present. Humans can adapt to the climate challenges that face us—we just have to do it one renewable megawatt at a time.

 

Stellantis to introduce battery swap stations from 2024
Jonathan Bryce
Fri, December 8, 2023 

Ample charging

The system will initially be rolled out in Madrid next year

Stellantis will launch a network of battery swap stations that can fit a fully charged battery to an EV "in less than five minutes".

The technology, developed by San Francisco-based Ample and backed by Vauxhall parent Stellantis, will be rolled out on a subscription basis and be introduced in Madrid, Spain, next year. Further sites will follow, although the brand is remaining tight-lipped on locations and timelines.

It will initially be available for only the electric Fiat 500 but the system will be expanded to accommodate every marque in the Stellantis stable, including Citroën, Peugeot, Jeep and Maserati.

It has been conceived to make gaining a fully charged battery "as fast and convenient as refuelling with gas", according to Stellantis. Cars will be recognised on arrival, with drivers using an app to initiate the swapping process.

It follows a similar set-up by Chinese EV brand Nio, which has more than 1300 of its Power Swap Stations in service across its home nation, with a further 13 in several central European countries. Plans for the UK have previously been mooted.

For Stellantis’s tech, the swappable modular batteries have been designed as "drop-in replacements" for existing packs used by any electric car. It allows Stellantis to integrate its batteries without re-engineering platforms, saving cash.

“Ample’s Modular Battery Swapping solution has the opportunity to offer our customers greater energy efficiency, outstanding performance and lower range anxiety. We are looking forward to executing the initial programme with our stellar Fiat 500e,” Stellantis senior vice president Ricardo Stamatti said.

According to Stellantis, the swap stations can be constructed and fully operational in "as little as three days".

Ample CEO Khaled Hassounah said: “The combination of offering compelling electric vehicles that can also receive a full charge in less than five minutes will help remove the remaining impediments to electric vehicle adoption.”

Stellantis warns thousands in US of potential job cuts

BUILDING FIAT-EV'S IN EUROPE FOR US MARKET!

AFP
Fri, December 8, 2023 

More than 1,200 workers at Stellantis' Ohio factory were notified of potential job cuts (Sarah Rice)


Stellantis has notified thousands of workers in the US states of Ohio and Michigan of potential layoffs, attributing the move partly to California rules that limit where vehicles can be sold.

The European automaker on Thursday notified 2,455 workers in Detroit and 1,225 in Ohio of potential job loss under the federal Warn Act, which requires early notification of major layoffs.

The company expects the actual number of layoffs to be "much lower" than the Detroit figure and "slightly lower" than the Ohio number, said Stellantis spokeswoman Jodi Tinson.


"Due to the complexity of our bargaining agreement related to the placement of affected employees, Warn notices were issued to more employees than will ultimately be impacted out of an abundance of caution to give employees notice even if not legally required," Tinson told AFP in an email.

The notification hits the Midwestern states only weeks after workers at Stellantis and fellow Detroit giants General Motors and Ford ratified sweeping new wage increases following a roughly six-week strike organized by the United Auto Workers union.

The job cuts affect Stellantis' Mack assembly plant in Detroit, where the Grand Cherokee and hybrid Grand Cherokee 4xe are assembled; and the Toledo Assembly plants where the Jeep Wrangler and hybrid Jeep 4xe are put together.

The moves at the plants are to "manage sales of the vehicles they produce to comply with California emissions regulations that are measured on a state-by-state basis," said a Stellantis statement.

On Wednesday, Stellantis filed a formal challenge with the California Office Administrative Law of state air board policies that it argues unfairly disadvantage the European company.

Stellantis is currently sending only the hybrid versions of its vehicles to dealer lots in California and 13 other states that follow the mandates set down by the California Air Resources Board (CARB).

This has meant that in certain periods, Stellantis has only sold internal combustion engine vehicles in California in response to customer orders, Stellantis attorneys said in the December 6 letter to the administrative board.

Conversely, the company has at times limited hybrid models to customer orders, meaning "dealers could not place certain vehicles on their lots for customers to view and test drive," Stellantis said in the letter.

In July 2019, California announced an agreement with four Stellantis rivals -- Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW -- in response to then President Donald Trump's effort to freeze emissions rules.

CARB's "continuing exclusion" of Stellantis subjects the company to a "double standard," which also threatens "the livelihoods of our 56,000 US employees," the company said.

str-jmb/md

Stellantis Blames Job Cuts at Jeep Plants on California Emissions Rules

Keith Laing and Gabrielle Coppola
Thu, December 7, 2023 at 7:14 PM MST·3 min read




(Bloomberg) -- Stellantis NV is eliminating a shift at a Jeep plant in Detroit and cutting jobs at its Toledo, Ohio, Jeep assembly complex, a move the company blamed on strict emissions standards adopted by California and more than a dozen other states in 2019.

Stellantis announced Thursday it will temporarily cut a shift at its Mack Avenue plant in Detroit, which makes two- and three-row Jeep Grand Cherokee sport utility vehicles and hybrids, and trim jobs in Toledo, which produces the Wrangler SUV and Jeep Gladiator pickup.

Stellantis said it was cutting Jeep production in anticipation of potentially lower sales of gas-powered vehicles in California and other states. The company filed a petition against California regulators Wednesday arguing the state’s rules put the company at a disadvantage versus competitors.

The moves come as automakers are pushing back on the Biden administration’s efforts to increase fuel economy and spur faster adoption of electric vehicles. Automobile industry trade groups have said stricter rules would cost them billions in fines, while dealers warn that EV demand is softening.

Stellantis’ predecessor, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, sided with the Trump administration it its fight to take away California’s legal right to set its own emissions standards. That position resulted in it being left out of the less stringent deal the California Air Resources Board, or CARB, struck with four carmakers — Ford Motor Co., Volkswagen AG, Honda Motor Co. and BMW AG.

Layoff Notices

Stellantis said it would file notices Thursday to state and local governments under the federal WARN Act, which requires employers with 100 or more workers give 60 days’ notice of plant closings or mass layoffs. The company declined to specify how many jobs would be affected; the two plants combined employ just over 10,000 people.

Stellantis’s Wednesday petition alleged that California improperly adopted a 2019 deal negotiated by state regulators and four carmakers that allowed those manufacturers to voluntarily increase the average fuel economy of their fleets to about 50 miles per gallon (80 kilometers) by the end of the 2026 model year.

While Stellantis has lagged behind other automakers in the conversion to EVs, its Jeep Wrangler 4xe hybrid is the fourth best-selling electrified vehicle in California this year through September, and its Chrysler Pacifica hybrid is 13th on the list.

At the same time, all three big Detroit automakers are looking to cuts costs after they agreed to contracts with record pay increases following the United Auto Workers’ strikes this year.

Lys Mendez, communications director for CARB, said the agency expects California’s Office of Administrative Law would recognize the agreements with the carmakers “for the settlements that they are” and dismiss Stellantis’ petition. The UAW did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sales Slump

Stellantis is also wrestling with shrinking sales at its prized Jeep brand as high interest rates put its premium SUV out of reach for more consumers.

Jeep brand sales fell 4% in the third quarter, the ninth consecutive quarterly decline, Stellantis reported in October. Sales were down 9% this year through September. Jeep named a new head of North America and picked a new global brand head last month.

The 2019 emission deal between California and the four carmakers is widely seen as a model for a subsequent Biden administration rule adopted in 2022. That rule now requires carmakers to increase their average fuel economy to about 49 miles per gallon by 2026.

Despite the fact that the national rules will require roughly the same fuel economy as California’s standards, Stellantis says manufacturers in the 2019 deal can meet the standards based on their nationwide sales, while excluded automakers are measured by sales in the states that follow the California rules. This, a company spokesperson said, necessitated the moves announced on Thursday.

Bloomberg Businessweek

Stellantis Says California's to Blame for Making It Harder to Buy an ICE Jeep

Adam Ismail
Thu, December 7, 2023

Stellantis Says California's to Blame for Making It Harder to Buy an ICE Jeep photo


Stellantis has formally lodged a petition against the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for subjecting it to stringent emissions requirements that not all automakers are required to meet. It's the latest chapter in a saga that has impacted the Chrysler, Jeep, Ram, and Dodge vehicles available for sale across the country, that Stellantis said in a statement "destabilizes our production schedules, the livelihoods of our 56,000 U.S. employees, and the thousands of spinoff jobs generated by our operations."

First, some background. Over the summer, Stellantis confirmed it was allocating only electrified versions of its vehicles, when possible, to dealer lots in the 14 CARB-compliant states. What this meant is that if you happened to shop in one of those states, the only Wranglers or Pacificas readily in stock were plug-in hybrid vehicles. Pure internal-combustion variants of those models were still available, but they had to be special-ordered for a customer. Meanwhile, dealers in non-CARB states suffered the opposite scenario: few or no hybrids stocked for people to buy and drive away same day, and a predominantly gas-only inventory.

Dodge Hornet R/T

The reason Stellantis moved to do this was because of CARB rules. Under its regulations, most manufacturers are required to sell a certain percentage of zero-emissions vehicles and plug-in hybrids within those 14 states. That's why Stellantis has prioritized sending such vehicles to those areas of the country. The sticking point for Stellantis is, a group of automakers that signed the department's "framework agreement" in 2020—BMW, Ford, Honda, Volkswagen, and Volvo—get to play by different rules. For those automakers, compliance is measured by sales nationwide, not just in CARB states. And that makes those numbers much easier to hit.

You may ask why Stellantis didn't just join 'em, if they couldn't beat 'em. It tried. According to the company's petition, it applied for the framework group in 2021 but was "barred" from entry. And, the way Stellantis sees it, this was a form of punishment because it publicly questioned California's authority to set its own regulations back in 2019 when the Trump administration was vying to undermine CARB. Stellantis, then just Fiat Chrysler, wasn't alone at the time; General Motors and Toyota were on the same side of the fight. On the other was BMW, Ford, Honda, and Volkswagen, if it's any surprise.

Regardless of the cause, Stellantis' position today is that CARB's selective rules violate the California Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by creating an alternate, favorable criteria for certain players, and that the board also violated the company's First Amendment rights by rejecting Stellantis due to arguments made against California regulators in the past. "If CARB had gone through the APA procedures, it would have had to publicly explain and justify the classification of OEMs into a two-tiered regulatory structure, and the regulated community would have had the opportunity to comment on the issues it would create," the petition reads.

Jeep Wrangler 4xe Willys

It's not surprising that Stellantis and GM would've opposed CARB back when it seemed there was an outside chance they wouldn't be forced to play by its rules, which are more stringent than the EPA's national criteria. Both SUV- and truck-centric automakers reportedly paid the government record fines for exceeding Corporate Average Fuel Economy limits in the final years of the previous decade, according to Reuters.

But for Stellantis, these hurdles are still affecting what the company can sell to customers right now in every state, in one manner or the other. A Stellantis representative told The Drive that "because of the disparities created by our exclusion from the Framework Agreement, our inventories of unsold electrified vehicles in California have become excessive." They also added that "excluding companies from the Framework Agreement is forcing Stellantis to undertake a production strategy that pits 'California states' against 'non-California states,'" decreasing product availability in some markets and hampering the company's EV rollout, which it's investing $35 billion in.

Bethlehem church brings people to tears after redesigning Christmas nativity scene to reflect Israel-Hamas war

Lawrence Richard
Fri, December 8, 2023

A church in Bethlehem, the biblical birthplace of Jesus, is receiving attention for its decision to redesign its Christmas nativity scene to reflect the impact of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Just weeks before Christmas, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, located in the West Bank, unveiled a new display of the nativity scene that shows baby Jesus lying in a manger amid rubble. The imagery symbolizes the destroyed Palestinian communities in Gaza and the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas terror group, a church official said.

"Church families met last week and built it together. It was a moving experience for our families. During the service on Sunday, some people were in tears," Reverend Doctor Munther Isaac, the church's pastor, told The New Arab. "We are pleased our message has reached the world. This is what Christmas looks like in Palestine this year, the origin of Christmas."

Bethlehem is historically recognized as the birthplace of Jesus and his birth is celebrated by Christians and others on Christmas, Dec. 25. The nativity scene often depicts Jesus as a baby, alongside his mother Mary, often regarded by Catholics as a saint; as well as his father Joseph, wise men and their respective gifts, shepherds, angels and various animals, including donkeys and sheep.

A picture shows an installation of a scene of the nativity of Christ with a figure "symbolizing baby Jesus lying in his manger amid rubble", inside the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank on Dec. 6, 2023, a few weeks before Christmas amid continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.More

Isaac said the church has been "surprised and overwhelmed" by the response the church has received regarding the new manger.

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"Bethlehem has no visitors this year. Pilgrims are not coming to Bethlehem this year because of war," Isaac told the New Arab. "But we were surprised and overwhelmed by the attention and response this Manger received through the social media and media in general."

Bethlehem is historically recognized as the birthplace of Jesus and his birth is celebrated by Christians and others on Christmas, Dec. 25.

Reverend Doctor Munther Isaac, the church's pastor, said the installation of a scene of the nativity of Christ has a figure "symbolizing baby Jesus lying in his manger amid rubble."

While the current war between Israel and Hamas has primarily taken place in Gaza, a territory that runs along the Mediterranean Sea and shares its borders with Israel and Egypt, the fighting has escalated violence in the surrounding region, including the West Bank, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria.

In the West Bank, known by Israelis by its biblical name Judea and Samaria, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have launched various and often deadly raids, including a raid Friday morning in Tubas and its refugee camp.

Reverend Doctor Munther Isaac said the church has been "surprised and overwhelmed" by the response the church has received over the new manger.

Israeli undercover forces entered the Faraa refugee camp, a stronghold of terror activity, where they killed the local commander of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade and arrested suspected Palestinian militants.

The undercover operation ultimately resulted in a firefight with local gunmen that left six Palestinians killed, including a 14-year-old boy.

Yigal Carmon, a former counterterrorism adviser to two Israeli Prime Ministers, told Fox News Digital that operations in the West Bank are being executed by Israelis to prevent a "third front" of its current war — in addition to fighting in Gaza and fighting with the Lebanese terrorist movement Hezbollah on its northern border.

Israel Defense Forces continue to conduct operations in the West Bank, known by Israelis by its biblical name Judea and Samaria.

"The initiative is always ours to prevent a third front. So the gangs of Hamas and the PIJ [Palestine Islamic Jihad] know we are in full force not only in Gaza and in the north but also in the West Bank," he said.

The IDF has used numerous drone attacks to knock out terrorists during such operations.

The new nativity was displayed a few weeks before Christmas amid continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The Times of Israel reported that since the start of the war, Israel has arrested over 2,000 wanted Palestinians in the West Bank, including more than 1,100 affiliated with Hamas.

The Palestinian Health Ministry says Israeli forces have killed 267 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7.

Fox News' Benjamin Weinthal and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Palestinian President Abbas says US is the 'only power' capable of ordering Israel to end the war

Timothy Nerozzi
Fri, December 8, 2023 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a meeting of the Palestinian leadership at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah.

Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, on Friday told Reuters that he believes the U.S. "is the only power that is capable of ordering Israel to stop the war [...] but unfortunately it doesn't."

Abbas, speaking in an interview, also said that "the United States, which fully supports Israel, bears the responsibility of what is happening in the enclave."

He called for an international peace conference to find a solution to end the Israel-Hamas war.

WHITE HOUSE INTERNS REBEL AGAINST BIDEN WITH PRO-PALESTINIAN LETTER DEMANDING CEASE-FIRE

"I am with peaceful resistance. I am for negotiations based on an international peace conference and under international auspices that would lead to a solution that will be protected by world powers to establish a sovereign Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem," Abbas told Reuters.

A temporary cease-fire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas went into effect in late November but lasted for only a week before fighting resumed in the Gaza Strip.

On Tuesday, President Biden blamed Hamas for breaking the agreement with Israel, telling donors the terrorist group's "refusal to release the remaining young women is what broke this deal."

Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas, right, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken shake hands prior to a meeting at the Muqata, the presidential compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

"The United States tells us that it supports a two-state solution, that Israel is not allowed to occupy Gaza, to keep security control of Gaza or to expropriate land from Gaza," he also said, referencing an Israeli plan to have a temporary presence in Gaza after the war ends, according to Reuters.

He added, "America doesn't force Israel to implement what it says."

Fox News Digital's Greg Norman contributed to this report.

Dozens of California teachers hold unauthorized 'teach-in' on Palestinian voices amid Israel-Hamas war

KIARA ALFONSECA
Thu, December 7, 2023


Several teachers in Oakland, California, held an unauthorized "teach-in" on Wednesday regarding the Israel-Hamas war, they told ABC News -- a move that some school district officials have criticized.

In the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, and Israel's subsequent retaliatory bombing campaign and siege of the neighboring Gaza Strip, Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) officials released guidelines and resources for teachers who plan to facilitate classroom conversations about the conflict.

Organizers of the teach-in told ABC News they felt the resources they were given offered one side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They estimated between 75 to 100 K-12 teachers were involved in the teach-in Wednesday, and said those teachers highlighted Palestinian narratives by hosting guest speakers, in-class discussions and other lessons in their classrooms.

An elementary school teacher in Oakland, who requested to remain anonymous for job security reasons, said she and other teachers "realized that the curriculum they were sending us was not the whole story."

"It did not include the Palestinian struggle for freedom and liberation," the teacher, who is Jewish, told ABC News.

Judy Greenspan, a retired math and science middle school teacher who is now a substitute teacher, told ABC News the district-sponsored curriculum was "presented in a very, very one-sided pro-Israeli way."

"There is another side," Greenspan, who is also Jewish, said. "We need to present it all."

MORE: The Israel-Hamas war has college campuses on edge. How some are tackling the issue.

High school teacher and teach-in participant Rachel Talasko, who said she has family in Israel, told San Francisco ABC station KGO that to "learn and process through" what she calls a "genocide" of Palestinians in Gaza amid the Israeli siege "is very, very complex. And so, for ourselves and for our students, to model for them what that looks like, I felt it was really important and essential."

In the Oct. 31 letter to educators detailing OUSD guidelines and linking to resources, the district's chief academic officer, Sondra Aguilera, wrote, "OUSD does not tolerate antisemitic, anti-Israeli, Islamophobic, or anti-Palestinian prejudice or discrimination. As a community that steadfastly opposes all forms of racism, we must consider how we can instill and promote these values within our classrooms."

Some teachers, including some members of the Oakland Education Association (OEA) teachers union, said they distributed resources on Wednesday for teachers who want a Palestinian perspective to supplement their conversations on the longstanding Middle Eastern conflict in the region.

Some teachers who are involved also said they held a voluntary virtual panel discussion on Wednesday with experts and organizers about the conflict that teachers could livestream. Other teachers planned to host guest speakers to talk with students and answer questions.

The collection of resources distributed for the teach-in was likened by critics, including some parents, to "indoctrination," a district official told ABC News. It was criticized for excluding or misrepresenting narratives about Zionism and Israel, calling Zionists "bullies" in one worksheet.

OUSD Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell criticized the teach-in lessons in advance of the planned action, saying in a statement to parents Monday that "our schools are sanctuaries for learning, and I am deeply disappointed by the harmful and divisive materials being circulated and promoted as factual." A district official told ABC News they "don't think the superintendent is seeking to be punitive," however, one teacher said they anticipate disciplinary measures from the district.

Johnson-Trammell pointed to district rules in place for discussing controversial issues in a classroom setting.

Controversial issues may be discussed in the classroom, per Administrative Regulation 6144, provided the issue is related to course content, provides conflicting points of view, allows for the discussion of alternative views and uses established facts as primary evidence.

Johnson-Trammell said in her statement that "our expectation is that all educators, in every classroom across the District, take seriously their responsibility to adhere to principles of education, and to keep their personal beliefs out of the classroom."

Sam Davis, an Oakland School Board director, told ABC News there's "a lot of fear and anger on both sides" in response to the ongoing classroom debate.

"We're hearing complaints from parents who feel like their children don't feel safe because of their Jewish identity in some classrooms," said Davis, who is Jewish.

"We're hearing from staff members who are Jewish, who feel like there's an antisemitism in the way that this is rolled out. ... Then also to speak to members of the Yemeni community and to hear how scared they feel," Davis said.

Oakland has a large and quickly growing Yemeni and Arab population, according to the OUSD.

The elementary school teacher who spoke to ABC News said she is "a descendant of Holocaust survivors," and understands the fears of the Jewish community.

"This curriculum does not attack Jews," she said. "It makes a space where we can all come together and say we're standing up for and with our Arab and Muslim brothers and sisters right now."

In her statement to parents on Monday, the superintendent reaffirmed the district's commitment against antisemitism as well as anti-Israeli, Islamophobic or anti-Palestinian discrimination.

"We are aware of some recent incidents that may have cast doubt on the district's commitment to this fundamental expectation, and I want to be clear -- we are taking immediate and decisive action within our authority to address these issues," the statement continued.

The OUSD declined to comment further on the teach-in and instead directed ABC News to Johnson-Trammell's Monday statement.

The Oakland school district joins other schools across the United States in facing ongoing challenges in addressing the conflict and subsequent tensions. Federal officials have warned of a sharp rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia amid the Israel-Hamas war.

MORE: US extremists exploit Israeli-Palestinian tensions with calls for violence, hate: Experts

Davis told ABC News that students "feel really passionately but they also need help from adults to figure out how to express that upset and anger in productive ways. That's our role as educators, to help guide them, and being constructive and not just yelling at the wind."

The OEA also drew criticism for a statement on Instagram, which reportedly said it pledged "unequivocal support for Palestinian liberation" and did not mention the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack, according to San Francisco-based TV station KRON.

The statement was later removed from social media and the group apologized, saying the post did not "accurately represent" the organization's original resolution in response to "student activism around the conflict in Israel and Palestine."

In a later statement, the organization said it mourned "the tragic loss of both Palestinian and Israeli lives these past weeks" and condemned what they call "the 75-year-long illegal military occupation of Palestine," referencing Israel's declaration of independence in 1948 and the subsequent ongoing military action in the region.

The organization has called for a cease-fire and an "end to the occupation."

US public schools took a stance on Israel-Hamas. The backlash was swift

Robin Buller in Oakland
Thu, December 7, 2023

Photograph: Barry Williams for New York Daily News via Getty Images

On 7 October, the day Hamas attacked Israel and the country began bombarding Gaza, the superintendent of the Los Angeles unified school district posted on social media: “We stand with Israel.”

Weeks later, the teachers’ union in Oakland, California, issued a statement. “The Israeli government created an apartheid state,” it read. “We unequivocally condemn the 75 year long illegal military occupation of Palestine.”

Related: Israeli diplomat pressured US college to drop course on ‘apartheid’ debate

Both statements were met with almost immediate backlash from the community – parents, teachers and even politicians – who either disagreed with the content of the announcements or were befuddled by why a local school district would take a position on a complex global conflict.

It’s not just California: in Massachusetts, two school district superintendents were lambasted for insufficiently calling out Hamas in the statements they issued shortly after the conflict began and a Minneapolis teachers union sparked controversy when it issued a statement calling for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza and for a boycott of Israel.

Across the US, public schools have been taking stances on the war, often leading to more division than solidarity. Districts have repeatedly found themselves in hot water over their approaches.

While some of the statements lacked context or were issued prematurely, leading to retractions, the backlash is part of a nationwide politicization of the education sector, experts say, especially in kindergarten to 12th grade (K-12) public school districts where school boards in recent years have become culture-war battlegrounds.

There is heightened attention and sensitivity in schools to all kinds of political issues right now
Jon Valant

“Over the past few years, schools have increasingly become sites of conflict,” said John Rogers, professor of education at the University of California, Los Angeles who researches issues related to democracy, education, and inequality. “That has made schools more contentious spaces and education politics more partisan.”

***

In some ways, what’s happening in K-12 schools reflects broader societal divisions over the Israel-Hamas war, whether it’s on college campuses, in workplaces, or in government. But experts say there are other dynamics at play in public schools that have set the stage for the uproar seen today.

In recent years, schools have come under attack by rightwing extremist organizations like Moms for Liberty that launch “conflict campaigns” to bring partisan debates into schools in order to sow distrust in public institutions, Rogers says. Usually they target lessons on racism or LGBTQ+ issues and encourage book bans. These groups exert most of their efforts in purple and blue districts – including in regions around Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area – experts say.

These groups aren’t fueling the school-based tensions around Israel and Gaza. But Rogers says their fringe methods have normalized the airing of political grievances in education.

Another factor lies in pandemic-era school closures, when classrooms were swiftly fettered to prevent the spread of Covid, said Jon Valant, senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and director of its Brown Center for Education Policy. Unhappy with the pace of reopening and the institution of mask mandates, parents and community members showed up in school board meetings in unprecedented numbers to voice their grievances.

Schools have increasingly become sites of conflict ... That has made schools more contentious spaces and education politics more partisan
John Rogers

“What came out of it was a lot of parents getting frustrated and mobilized,” Valant said, adding that those same organizing methods spread to other issues.

From the racial reckoning following the 2020 murder of George Floyd to the implementation of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts, schools have become “a magnet for any political controversy” in ways we haven’t seen before, he said: “There is heightened attention and sensitivity in schools to all kinds of political issues right now.”

Taken together, these factors have made it so that schools are struggling to generate productive discussions about complex issues. And they have put teachers and administrators on the defensive, leading some administrators to see official statements as ways of getting ahead of pressure from parents or community members.

As educators have been targeted for supposedly teaching “critical race theory” or advancing a “woke” agenda for supporting transgender students, amid school board fights, many teachers today are concerned about how bringing contentious topics into their curriculum may impact their own careers. “Teachers are generally not engaging because they’re also fearful of being reported,” said Andrene Castro, assistant professor of educational leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University.

In Alameda county, for instance, one Palestinian American teacher expressed concerns that having her students read texts written by Palestinian authors could lead to repercussions.

But while decrying an incident for which there is a consensus of opinions, such as a mass shooting, can be straightforward, drawing a line in the sand regarding a contentious global conflict can rile people up, especially in districts with diverse student populations, explained Rogers. “Statements don’t work as well in climates where there are cross-cutting values or interests in the community,” he said.

Such is the case in Oakland, where school district officials have come to a head with teachers who have called for a teach-in focused on Palestinian history.

What’s more, in cases where schools or local governments bungled statements and had to issue retractions, their efforts to get out ahead of an issue spurred new problems. “There’s a need for a good deal of complex and nuanced understanding in order to contextualize the issue that sometimes educators will not have access to,” Rogers continued.

***

For Ailen Arreaza, executive director of national education advocacy organization Parents Together, there is at least one binding thread when it comes to parents’ interests: student safety.

Arreaza says that in the weeks following 7 October, she heard from a number of parents who were concerned about the targeting of Jewish and Muslim students. (Days after the war began, a Palestinian American boy was stabbed to death in an alleged hate crime.) For these parents, Arreaza said, having access to practical resources about tolerance and bullying – not assertive political statements – was top of mind. “They just want their kids to be safe,” she said.



Teachers are generally not engaging because they’re also fearful of being reported

Andrene Castro

The chief concern for education experts is that the turmoil happening outside of the classroom directs resources away from the facilitation of critical conversations around Israel and Palestine within them.

“When you pretend like these things are not happening, students become disengaged,” said Castro, thinking back to 2012, when Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old Black boy, was killed by a member of the neighborhood community watch in Florida. At the time, Castro was teaching high school in a diverse district. She said that the unspoken rule among her colleagues was not to bring the event into the classroom.

“There was a similar silence around it,” said Castro, explaining that while teachers avoided discussions about the killing, their Black and brown students wrestled with intense feelings and struggled to connect with the curriculum.

That’s why now is a critical time for educators to help students and communities work collectively towards an understanding.

“[Students] want to be able to make those connections. That’s where teachers are important,” said Castro.

Israel presses on with Gaza bombardments, including in areas where it told civilians to flee

NAJIB JOBAIN, SAM MAGDY and ELENA BECATOROS
Sat, December 9, 2023 

 

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli warplanes struck parts of the Gaza Strip overnight into Saturday in relentless bombardments, including some of the dwindling slivers of land Palestinians had been told to evacuate to in the territory’s south.

The latest strikes came a day after the United States vetoed a United Nations resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza, despite it being backed by the vast majority of Security Council members and many other nations. The vote in the 15-member council was 13-1, with the United Kingdom abstaining.

“Attacks from air, land and sea are intense, continuous and widespread,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said before the vote. Gaza residents “are being told to move like human pinballs – ricocheting between ever-smaller slivers of the south, without any of the basics for survival.”


Guterres told the council that Gaza was at “a breaking point” with the humanitarian support system at risk of total collapse, and that he feared “the consequences could be devastating for the security of the entire region.”

Gaza’s borders with Israel and with Egypt are effectively sealed, leaving Palestinians with no option other than to try to seek refuge within the territory. The overall death toll in Gaza since the start of the war has surpassed 17,400, the majority of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.

Israel holds Hamas responsible for civilian casualties, accusing the militants of using civilians as human shields, and says it’s made considerable efforts with its evacuation orders to get civilians out of harm’s way.

On Saturday, Gaza residents reported airstrikes and shelling in the northern part of the strip as well as in the south, including the city of Rafah, which lies near the Egyptian border and where the Israeli army had ordered civilians to evacuate to.

The main hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah received the bodies of 71 people killed in bombings in the area over the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said Saturday morning. The hospital also received 160 wounded, the ministry said. In the southern city of Khan Younis, the bodies of 62 people and another 99 wounded were taken to Nasser Hospital over the past 24 hours, the ministry said.

Israel has been trying to secure the military’s hold on northern Gaza, where furious fighting has underscored heavy resistance from the territory’s Hamas rulers. Tens of thousands of residents are believed to remain in the area despite evacuation orders, six weeks after troops and tanks rolled in during the war sparked by Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 raid targeting civilians in Israel.

About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Hamas raid, and more than 240 people taken hostage. A temporary truce saw hostages and Palestinian prisoners released, but more than 130 hostages are believed to remain in Gaza.

More than 2,200 Palestinians have been killed since the Dec. 1 collapse of the truce, about two-thirds women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Despite growing international pressure, the Biden administration remains opposed to an open-ended cease-fire, arguing it would enable Hamas to survive and pose a threat to Israel. Officials have expressed misgivings in recent days about the rising civilian death toll and dire humanitarian crisis, but have not pushed publicly for Israel to wind down the war, now in its third month.

“We have not given a firm deadline to Israel, not really our role,” deputy national security adviser Jon Finer told a security forum a day before the U.S. veto in the U.N. Security Council. “That said, we do have influence, even if we don’t have ultimate control over what happens on the ground in Gaza.”

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant argued a cease-fire would be a victory for Hamas. “A cease-fire is handing a prize to Hamas, dismissing the hostages held in Gaza, and signalling terror groups everywhere," he said. "Stand with Israel in our mission - we are fighting for our future, and we are fighting for the free world.”

As fighting resumed after a brief truce more than a week ago, the U.S. urged Israel to do more to protect civilians and allow more aid to besieged Gaza. The appeals came as Israel expanded its blistering air and ground campaign into southern Gaza, especially the southern city of Khan Younis, sending tens of thousands more fleeing.

"It was a night of heavy gunfire and shelling as every night,” Taha Abdel-Rahman, a Khan Younis resident, said by phone early Saturday.

Gaza’s Civil Defense Department said at least one person was killed late Friday in Rafah and others wounded in an airstrike on a family home.

The department posted images showing first responders and residents using flashlights and the light from cell phones to search the rubble of the house for potential survivors. One crane was seen removing the rubble while rescuers cut through iron poles amid collapsed concrete roofs.

Airstrikes were reported overnight in the Nuseirat refugee camp, where resident Omar Abu Moghazi said a strike hit a family home, causing casualties.

There were also airstrikes and shelling in Gaza City and other northern parts of the strip.

“It’s a routine,” Mohamed Abded, who lives in Gaza City's Zaytoun neighborhood, said of the bombardment. “You have only one option: leave or they will kill you. That’s the case across the north.”

Israel has designated a narrow patch of barren coastline in the south, Muwasi, as a safe zone. But Palestinians who have headed there portrayed a grim picture of desperately overcrowded conditions with scant shelter and poor hygiene facilities.

“We didn’t see anything good here at all. We are living here in a tough cold. There are no bathrooms. We are sleeping on the sand,” said Soad Qarmoot, a Palestinian woman who was forced to leave her home in the northern town of Beit Lahiya.

“I am a cancer patient,” Qarmoot said late Friday as children circled a wood fire for warmth. “There is no mattress for me to sleep on. I am sleeping on the sand. It’s freezing.”

Imad al-Talateeny, a displaced man from Gaza City, said the area lacks basic services to accommodate the growing number of displaced families.

“I lack everything to feel a human,” he said, adding that he had a peaceful, comfortable life before the war in Gaza City.

“Here I’m not safe,” he said. “Here I live in a desert. There is no gas, no water. The water that we drink is polluted water.”

___

Magdy reported from Cairo and Becatoros from Athens, Greece.

A Palestinian child wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip is treated in Khan Younis on Friday, Dec. 8, 2023.

 (AP Photos/Mohammed Dahman)

Israel increases Gaza strikes, UN decries 'humanitarian nightmare'

Updated Fri, December 8, 2023 


By Bassam Masoud and Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA/CAIRO (Reuters) - Israel sharply increased strikes on the Gaza Strip, pounding the length of the Palestinian enclave and killing hundreds in a new, expanded phase of the war, as the U.S. on Friday again signalled that Israel could do more to protect civilians in the enclave.

The Israeli military said it had struck more than 450 targets in Gaza from land, sea and air over the past 24 hours - the most since a truce with Hamas collapsed last week and about double the daily figures typically reported since.

Decrying a "spiralling humanitarian nightmare", U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres declared that nowhere in Gaza was safe for civilians, hours before the U.S. vetoed a Security Council demand for a humanitarian ceasefire. The vote, including 13 members in favor and one abstaining, diplomatically isolated Washington as it shielded ally Israel.

"We are at breaking point," he told the U.N. Security Council, saying the collapse of the humanitarian system could result in a complete breakdown of public order.

"The people of Gaza are being told to move like human pinballs – ricocheting between ever-smaller slivers of the south, without any of the basics for survival," he said, referring to Israeli instructions to Gazan civilians to move to safe areas.

In Washington, the White House on Friday said more could be done by Israel to reduce civilian casualties and the U.S. shared international concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

"We certainly all recognize more can be done to try to reduce civilian casualties," White House national security council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Washington that it was imperative Israel took steps to protect Gaza's civilian population. "And there does remain a gap between...the intent to protect civilians and the actual results that we're seeing on the ground," he told a press conference.

With most Gazans now displaced and unable to access any aid, hospitals overrun and food running out, the main U.N. agency there said society was "on the verge of a full-blown collapse" and its ability to protect people there was "reducing fast".

Residents and the Israeli military both reported intensified fighting in both northern areas, where Israel had previously said its troops had largely completed their tasks last month, and in the south where they mounted a new assault this week.

Gaza's health ministry reported 350 people killed on Thursday, and on Friday it said the death toll from Israel's campaign in Gaza had risen to 17,487, with thousands more missing and presumed buried under rubble. More strikes were reported on Friday morning in Khan Younis in the south, the Nusseirat camp in the centre and Gaza City in the north.

On Friday evening, residents reported intensified Israeli tank fire on the districts of Shejaia, Nafaq, Sabra and Jala in north Gaza, while health officials said at least 10 people were killed in an air strike on a house in Khan Younis.

Israel's military said 94 Israeli soldiers had been killed fighting in Gaza since its ground invasion of the densely populated, coastal enclave began in late October in retaliation for Hamas' rampage in southern Israel in which it killed 1,200 people and took 1,200 more than 240 hostages.

An Israeli commander, Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfuss, said in a video message recorded in Khan Younis that his forces were fighting house to house and "shaft to shaft", a reference to tunnel shafts. As he spoke, gunshots rang out in the background.

'FEAR, HUNGER AND COLD'

Israel launched what it says is a campaign to destroy Hamas after the Islamist militant group's bloody Oct. 7 cross-border raid.

Since then, most of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes. With fighting now going on across both halves of Gaza, residents say it has become almost impossible to find refuge.

While the U.S. has backed humanitarian "pauses" in the fighting to allow for the release of hostages and delivery of aid, it has refused to join international calls for a ceasefire, saying that would only give Hamas time to regroup and rearm.

Israel says it is providing detail about which areas are safe and how to reach them, and says Hamas is to blame for harm that befalls civilians because it operates among them, an accusation the Islamist group denies.

Hamas reported the most intense clashes with Israeli forces were taking place in the north in Shejaia, as well as in the south in Khan Younis, where Israeli forces reached the heart of the enclave's second-biggest city on Wednesday.

Israel's military said two of its troops were severely injured in an unsuccessful operation to rescue hostages held in Gaza. It said "numerous terrorists" were killed.

Israel's chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israel had detained more than 200 suspects from Gaza in the last 48 hours and that dozens of them were taken to Israel for questioning, adding Hamas commanders were among them.

Hamas' armed wing said it had thwarted an attempt to free a captured Israeli soldier, which it said resulted in his death, and that Israeli bombing over Gaza had resulted in the death and injuries of other Israeli hostages.

Reuters journalists in southern Gaza have seen dead and wounded swamping the main Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, where there was no room on the floor on Friday for arriving patients sprawled across blood-smeared tiles.

"We are staying in an area that is, according to maps, a safe area," said Mohamed al-Amouri, adjusting an oxygen mask for his school-aged son who lay on a hospital bed in soccer shorts with his legs bandaged and his body lacerated.

"Children were on the streets playing, living life normally... We went out after the hit, hearing screams, to find youth, children, women and men in body parts - among them martyrs (dead) and injured."

Residents reached by telephone elsewhere in Gaza described similar scenes of desperation. With the fighting now going on in all directions, there was no place left to flee, said Yamen, sheltering at a school in central Gaza with his family.

"Inside the school is like outside it: the same feeling of fear of near death, the same suffering of starvation," he said. "Every day we say we somehow survived. But for how long?"

The World Food Programme said it was becoming impossible to get supplies to hungry people in the Gaza Strip.

In Ramallah on the West Bank, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Reuters an international peace conference was necessary to end the war and work out a lasting political solution leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Thomas White, Gaza head of UNRWA, the U.N. aid agency for Palestinians, wrote on X: "Civil order is breaking down in Gaza - the streets feel wild, particularly after dark - some aid convoys are being looted and U.N. vehicles stoned."

(Reporting by Bassam Masoud in Gaza, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo, Dan Williams and Henriette Chacar in Jerusalem, Humeyra Pamuk and Simon Lewis in Washington, Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber in Geneva, Michelle Nichols in New York and Reuters bureaux; Witing by Peter Graff, William Maclean and Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Mark Heinrich and Diane Craft)

US wags finger at Israel over Gaza civilian toll

Reuters Videos
Updated Fri, December 8, 2023 

STORY: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday made his strongest public criticism so far of Israel's conduct of the war in south Gaza.

"It remains imperative that Israel put a premium on civilian protection. And there does remain a gap between the intent to protect civilians and the actual results that we're seeing on the ground."

Blinken was speaking at a news conference following a meeting with Britain's foreign secretary in Washington.

It comes as Israeli forces continue their bombardment of the Palestinian enclave, battling Hamas militants in Gaza's biggest cities.

Israel has said it is doing everything possible to get civilians out of harm's way, including warnings about military operations.

Blinken is due to meet top diplomats from Arab states, including Egypt, in Washington on Friday.

The United Arab Emirates has asked for the U.N. Security Council to vote on Friday morning on a draft resolution for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

But the United States, which has veto power in the council, opposes a ceasefire because it believes that would only benefit Hamas.

According to the White House, U.S. President Joe Biden spoke separately by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jordan's King Abdullah, stressing the "critical need" to protect civilians.

And in a further development on humanitarian assistance:

Israel has agreed to a U.S. request to open the Kerem Shalom border crossing, at the junction of Gaza, Egypt and Israel, to screen aid trucks headed for Gaza.

That's according to a senior U.S. official, who said it would help speed up the inspection process for desperately-needed aid to be sent to Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt.

On the time frame of the border opening, an Israeli official told reporters on Thursday, quote - "It will happen in the next few days."

Gaza has gone 'far beyond' a humanitarian crisis -medical charity MSF

Thu, December 7, 2023

Smoke rises over Gaza, as seen from southern Israel

By Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber

GENEVA (Reuters) - The head of medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said on Thursday that Gaza faces a catastrophe extending far beyond a humanitarian crisis, describing the situation in the densely populated enclave as chaotic.

Israeli forces battled Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip's biggest cities on Thursday in a new phase of the war that is now entering its third month, with wide areas of the narrow territory flattened by Israeli bombardment and 85% of the 2.3 million population left homeless, according to U.N. figures.

"My people on the ground keep updating me on the situation, and I can tell you that it has gone far beyond the humanitarian crisis," Dr Christos Christou, international president of Doctors Without Borders, told reporters in Geneva.

"It is a humanitarian catastrophe. It is a chaotic situation, and I'm extremely worried that very soon people will be in a mode of just trying to survive, which will come with very severe consequences."

In a bid to escape Israeli bombardment, Gazans have amassed at the southern tip of Gaza, heeding Israeli leaflets and messages saying that they would be safe on the border with Egypt. The United Nations and aid organisations have said that nowhere is safe in Gaza.

"The people have been asked to be squeezed in a very small area," Christou said. "My teams on the ground keep saying to me that it is unbearable. It is unsustainable ... There is no safe place."

In an open letter to the U.N. Security Council published on Monday, Christou implored the body to demand an end to Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians and allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza unimpeded.

Israel says it does its utmost to minimise civilian casualties but that Hamas combatants use built-up residential areas for cover, something the Islamist militant group denies.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Mark Heinrich)