Airstrikes and combat. The Israeli army said today it carried out “targeted interventions” at several locations around Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, finding an arsenal there and destroying two tunnel raids. During the night there were violent clashes on site around Deir al-Balah, east of Bani Souhaila or around the Khan Younès camp, AFP journalists reported. The Hamas Ministry of Health reported 67 dead and around a hundred injured across the area last night.
116 Israeli soldiers killed. The Israeli army today reported the death of a new soldier overnight in the southern Gaza Strip, bringing the number of Israeli soldiers killed in the Palestinian territory to 116. Benjamin Netanyahu declared last night: “Nothing will stop us on the path to “victory” in the war against Hamas, neither the death of soldiers nor “international pressure” for a ceasefire, while the American national security adviser expected that Israel should have better protection of the civilian population.
63 journalists killed. The organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has recorded a total of “63 journalists killed” in the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas conflict began on October 7, regardless of whether they were related to their profession or not. In November, RSF filed a “war crimes” complaint with the International Criminal Court against journalists in Gaza and against an Israeli journalist killed by Hamas.
85% of Gaza's population was displaced. According to the United Nations, more than two months of war in the Gaza Strip have forced nearly 85% of Gaza's approximately 2.4 million residents to abandon their homes and flee to the south of the territory, congesting the border town of Rafah flooded by the population had become a huge makeshift camp. Images released by the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) on December 13 showed displaced Palestinians in the rain and in tents in the mud at a makeshift camp in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
Ten dead in Jenin. Ten Palestinians were killed when the Israeli army invaded the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, according to a new report from the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry. An AFP photographer today saw Israeli soldiers in the Jenin camp, whose families were trying to reach safety.