Two months into the war which began on October 7, Israel has alleged the United Nations has failed to condemn Hamas terrorists for their attack.
This comes amid emerging reports of sexual violence by Hamas against Israelis. As the war rages on, Israel’s widening air and ground offensive in southern Gaza has displaced tens of thousands more Palestinians.
According to the United Nations, 1.87 million people, which is more than 80 per cent of Gaza’s population, have been driven away from their homes since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the military must retain open-ended security control over the Gaza Strip long after the war ends.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR: THE LATEST
Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen has accused United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of supporting the Hamas terror group, calling for his resignation. Cohen also said Guterres’s tenure as head of the world body was “a danger to world peace”. This came after the UN chief urged for an immediate ceasefire in the war and invoked a rare clause in the UN charter to urge Security Council intervention.
Taking to X, Cohen said Guterres’ call for a ceasefire in the two-month war in Gaza “constitutes support” for the Palestinian terror organisation and was “an endorsement of the murder of the elderly, the abduction of babies, and the rape of women.”
Cohen also warned that he will not renew the residency visa of the top UN humanitarian coordinator for the West Bank and Gaza Strip, saying she failed to condemn Hamas for its attack on Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Office has announced that the security cabinet has voted to approve the war cabinet’s proposal to increase the daily amount of fuel allowed into the Gaza Strip. In a statement, the PMO said the additional fuel approved was “the minimal amount needed to prevent a humanitarian collapse and the outbreak of epidemics in the southern Gaza Strip.”
The security cabinet had reportedly convened, following US pressure, with Washington demanding that the daily delivery of 60,000 liters of fuel be doubled or even tripled.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned Israel of serious consequences if the country pressed ahead with a threat to attack Hamas officials on Turkish soil. Erdogan also said his country has petitioned the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials to be prosecuted for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
His comments echoed warnings from other Turkish officials in response to the head of Israel’s domestic security agency, Shin Bet, who said in an audio recording that his organisation is prepared to destroy Hamas “in every place”, including in Lebanon, Turkey and Qatar.
Israeli troops continued to fight fierce battles with Hamas in an expanding offensive into southern Gaza, forcing tens of thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians to cram into a city close to the Egyptian border to avoid Israeli bombardment. According to the Israel Defense Forces, their 98th Division was leading the ground offensive against Hamas in the southern Gaza Strip, during which troops surrounded the city of Khan Younis.
The 98th Division is made up of paratrooper forces — both from the standing army and the reserves — as well as the Commando Brigade and an elite artillery regiment. Its entry into Gaza means there are now four IDF divisions operating in the Strip. The others are the 162nd, 36th, and 252nd divisions, which have been operating in the enclave for several weeks now.
The head of the United Nations has warned that he expects “public order to completely break down soon, due to the desperate conditions” in Gaza, given Israeli bombardment targeting the Hamas terror group.
The humanitarian conditions during the war are “fast deteriorating into a catastrophe, with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated in a letter to the president of the Security Council.
‘Such an outcome must be avoided at all costs,” the letter read.
More than 16,000 Palestinians have so far been killed, while more than 42,000 have been injured since the Israel-Hamas war broke out two months ago, the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said. The death toll included more than 6,000 children and more than 4,000 women, it said.
In a statement, the ministry also said the figures show a sharp rise in deaths since a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas collapsed on December 1. Since the resumption of fighting Friday, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed, it said.
Newly published footage from October 7 shows Hamas terrorists exiting Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak with hostages Gabriela Leimberg and her 17-year-old daughter Mia, after massacring residents and abducting scores of others. According to the Times of Israel, Mia was carrying her dog Bella inside a blanket. All three were released last month as part of a truce deal.
The Israel Defense Forces said they were carrying out artillery strikes in southern Lebanon after several rockets were fired at northern Israel earlier. The rocket attacks set off sirens in a number of communities near the border.
The country’s military said the strikes targetted launch sites.
The Israeli military has said its troops of the Nahal Brigade have killed several Hamas terrorists during battles in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya over the last day. According to the IDF, Hamas gunmen were killed in close-quarters combat, tank shelling and drone strikes.
The troops found Hamas weaponry, including sniper rifles, explosives, anti-tank missiles, rockets and tunnels, during operations in a mosque and a school in Jabaliya. Near the school, several rocket launchers were also found, it said. While the Nahal troops fought in Jabaliya, hundreds of conscripts were drafted into the brigade. The IDF said that they would join the forces in Gaza at the end of their training period.
A rocket launched from the Gaza Strip during the barrage at the southern city of Beersheba caused damage as it slammed into a parking lot in the city’s industrial zone, causing damage to nearby vehicles.
The Fire and Rescue Services said one truck containing hydrogen peroxide was damaged. No injuries were reported.