by Lorenzo Cremonesi, correspondent and online editor
The news from Monday, December 18th, on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, live. Air strike on Gaza: at least 25 dead. Rumors of another ceasefire in Haaretz. The fundamentalists: 90 dead in Jabalya due to Israeli raids
• 72nd day of war: Nearly 20,000 Palestinians dead, including around 8,000 children, according to Hamas. In Israel, 1,200 people died in the attack on October 7th.
• A supertunnel connecting Israel with the northern Gaza Strip was discovered about 400 meters from the Erez border crossing: the video
• Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid: Netanyahu cannot continue to be prime minister
• British and German foreign ministers David Cameron and Annalena Baerbock called for a sustainable ceasefire
12:06 p.m. – Israel accuses Iran and Hezbollah of hacking the Ziv Hospital
Israel today accused the intelligence services of Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah of launching a cyberattack on the medical center in Safed, Galilee, in late November as part of a solidarity operation against Hamas. According to an official statement, a joint investigation by the army, the Shin Bet (internal security) and the state apparatus to protect against cyberattacks concluded that the attack was launched by a hacker group called “Agrius” (linked to Iranian intelligence) and through the Hezbollah’s “Lebanese cedars.” The attack was apparently blocked, but only after sensitive information was collected and then published online. This did not affect the operations of the hospital. In the past, other similar cyberattacks were launched against Hillel Yafe Hospital in Hadera (north of Tel Aviv) and Maayaney ha-Yeshua' in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv.
11:52 a.m. – Syria: Israel has attacked the capital district of Damascus
Israel has attacked a quarter of the Syrian capital Damascus. This was reported by the Syrian public broadcaster al Akhbar. Syrian air defense systems repelled the attack, the station reported.
11:20 a.m. – NGO: Israel uses hunger as a method of war
The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a method of war in the occupied Gaza Strip, which is a war crime. This was denounced by the US-based NGO Human Rights Watch in a report published in Jerusalem. The Israeli armed forces – the report continues – are deliberately blocking the supply of water, food and fuel, preventing voluntary humanitarian aid, leveling agricultural land and depriving the civilian population of essential supplies.
10:35 a.m. – Mattarella: Condemn anti-Semitism, enough ambiguity
The crisis in the Middle East with its consequences of hatred has also led to the re-emergence of the phenomenon of anti-Semitism from its karst stream, which today, as yesterday, feeds on clichés and a distorted view of history. Derivation of subcultures that defy time and reason, veritable warehouses of hate that will never be emptied of their toxic goods, as Senator Liliana Segre recently defined them. These are messages that must meet with the clearest condemnation, without ambiguity, without convenient interpretations. This is what the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, said in his speech at the Ambassadors Conference currently taking place in the Farnesina.
10:03 a.m. – Three Palestinians killed in clashes in the West Bank
Three Palestinians, including a minor, were killed today in clashes with the Israeli army in the West Bank village of Tubas, north of Nablus. This was reported by the Palestinian news agency Wafa, citing local medical sources. According to him, the incidents took place in the nearby al-Far'a refugee camp. The Israeli army has not yet provided its own version of the clashes.
9:43 a.m. – Israeli hackers claim: Gas pumps blocked in Iran
A group of hackers already identified as having ties to Israel claim to have crippled gas stations across Iran in a cyberattack. The Times of Israel reports on it. The group known as Gonjeshke Darande, or “Predatory Sparrow,” claims to have shut down most gas pumps across Iran. This cyber attack is a response to the aggression of the Islamic Republic and its allies in the region, we read in the statements in Farsi and English. Khamenei, playing with fire has its price. Gonjeshke Darande previously claimed responsibility for a cyber attack on major Iranian steel companies. At the time, Israeli military correspondents suggested that Israel was behind the cyberattack.
9:14 a.m. – Hamas is financially solid, donors are not declining
Hamas is financially sound, Jessica Davis, president of the Canadian group Insight Threat Intelligence, told AFP. Over a decade or more, they have built a resilient financing network of investments and income streams in many countries. Including companies and real estate in countries such as Turkey, Sudan and Algeria, he adds. Hamas also relies on an informal donation network: It has set up a complex system of exchange offices in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Dubai, as well as in Europe and the United States, explains Yitzhak Gal, an expert on the Palestinian economy at the Hamas Institute for International Studies (Iis). The number of financiers has not decreased since October 7: Despite its atrocities, Hamas appears to have gained international support, emphasizes Lucas Webber, co-founder of the specialist website Militant Wire. For years, the group's main financier was Tehran. Iran's annual contribution is estimated at $70 million to $100 million, through a patchwork of cryptocurrencies and suitcases full of cash, some foreign banks and the informal hawala money transfer system.
Everything that arrives goes to Hamas and they decide who lives and who dies, says Yitzhak Gal. Of Gaza's $2.5 billion budget, $1.1 billion comes from the Palestinian Authority – with Israel's approval, he adds. The same international community funds UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees. According to Doha, Qatar pays the salaries of public employees such as doctors and teachers as well as $100 per month to the 100,000 poorest families in Gaza, for a total of $1.49 billion between 2012 and 2021. It will likely be impossible to dry out Hamas . The prospect of total long-term destruction of their finances is unrealistic, says Jessica Davis.
8:19 a.m. – The SOS photo of the killed hostages
(by Lorenzo Cremonesi) Yesterday more details emerged about Friday's tragic incident in which soldiers killed three hostages who had managed to free themselves by firing machine guns at them, mistaking them for terrorists: the army released images of the House where three of them had taken refuge after fleeing Hamas (or perhaps being abandoned by their captors under pressure from the bombs). You can see the SOS hostages written on cloths and sheets with leftover food. A desperate gesture to avoid being killed by friendly fire, which in any case proved tragically fatal.
8:10 a.m. – Media, secret meeting of Hamas leaders in Türkiye
Senior Hamas officials held a secret meeting in Turkey last week, Israeli national broadcaster Kan revealed, citing the Jerusalem Post. The meeting was attended by Saleh al-Arouri, vice president of Hamas' political bureau, who attended from Beirut, and former Hamas chief Khaled Mashal, who lives in the Qatari capital Doha. According to Kan, other senior Hamas officials were also present. Turkey was chosen as the venue for the meeting because it was considered safe enough for the leaders. The aim of the meeting was to coordinate Hamas' next steps in the conflict with Israel.
7:50 a.m. – The maternity ward at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis was hit
According to Palestinian sources cited by Haaretz, an Israeli artillery strike hit the maternity and children's ward of Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. According to testimony, a little girl was killed in the attack.
7:26 a.m. – Four Israeli soldiers killed, death toll rises to 126
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has released the names of four more soldiers killed in operations in Gaza, bringing the number of soldiers killed in the ground offensive against Hamas to 126. They are: Urijah Bayer, 20 years old, who died on December 14, 2023 from wounds sustained during fighting in the southern Gaza Strip; Liav Aloush, 21, died yesterday in fighting in southern Gaza, as did Etan Naeh, 26, and Tal Filiba, 23. The Times of Israel reports.
6:24 a.m. – Air strike on refugee camp in Gaza: at least 25 dead
At least 25 people were killed in a nighttime bomb attack by the Israeli army near the Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. This was reported by Al Jazeera, citing journalists working in the region. The camp is located in the central part of the Gaza Strip, northeast of the city of Deir al Balah. A house was destroyed in the attack. According to the Wafa agency, one of the victims is a journalist: Haneen Ali al-Qutshan, who worked for a radio in Gaza.
1:33 a.m. – Egyptian sources show that Israel and Hamas are open to a new ceasefire
Egyptian security sources cited by Haaretz claim that both Israel and Hamas are open to a new ceasefire, but disagreements remain over the details.
12:37 a.m. – Israeli attack on Jabalya: 90 victims according to Hamas
Ninety Palestinians were killed in today's Israeli attacks on Jabalya, a Palestinian town four kilometers north of Gaza. This was announced by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip.
00:02 – The distress call from the hostages who were accidentally killed by Israeli soldiers
The three hostages accidentally killed by the Israeli army had written cries for help on cloths with leftover food. This was announced by the military spokesman, who also published the photos and the words “SOS” can be read on one of them. The three hostages – he continued – were for a certain time in a building adjacent to the building where the accident occurred and the cries for help were found there. The whole matter – about which the families had been informed, the military spokesman concluded – was being investigated.
December 18, 2023 (modified December 18, 2023 | 12:10)
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