• It is the 77th day of the war: According to Hamas, almost 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, including around 8,000 children. In Israel, 1,200 people died in the attack on October 7th.
• UN Security Council passes resolution on aid to Gaza, but does not provide for a ceasefire. The USA and Russia abstain
• Israel at the UN: “The hostages must be a priority”
• Scandal surrounding Netanyahu's alleged financing by Qatar: He is said to have received tens of millions of dollars
10:59 a.m. – Guterres: 136 UN workers killed in Gaza in 75 days
In the 75 days of war in Gaza, 136 UN staff were killed, which was “unprecedented” in the history of the UN, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told his colleagues. “Many of our employees had to leave their homes. “I pay tribute to them and the thousands of humanitarian workers who are risking their lives to help civilians in Gaza,” Guterres wrote again in his tweet.
10:57 a.m. – Israel: Over 200 Hamas activists captured in Gaza
Over “200 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists were arrested during the week and taken to Israel for questioning.” The military spokesman announced this, stressing that “some of the militants surrendered voluntarily.” From the beginning of the operation in Gaza to today, according to the same source, “over 700 activists of terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip have been captured and interrogated.”
10:50 a.m. – Drone attack on a ship in the Indian Ocean
(by Guido Olimpio) New attack on a ship, but this time about 200 miles southwest of the Indian port of Veraval. According to initial information, the unit was hit by a drone, resulting in a fire on board. The flames would have been extinguished. The episode is quite far from the Red Sea and the Bab el Mandeb area, the close theater of raids by the pro-Iranian Houti movement based in Yemen. It is not clear where the kamikaze aircraft was launched from. Did they use a “mothership”? Or did it start on the coast? And are Yemeni militiamen always responsible? In recent hours, the US has accused Iran of providing intelligence and technical support to the Houthis.
10:32 a.m. – “Hezbollah infrastructure hit in Lebanon”
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces attacked Hezbollah military infrastructure in Lebanon this morning and overnight, including a military compound.
10:31 a.m. – IDF: Ambush in southern Gaza Strip, numerous Hamas members killed
During ground operations in the southern part of Gaza City, Israeli troops from the Yiftah Reserve Brigade carried out an ambush against Hamas, killing dozens of terrorists who were preparing to attack the troops. The IDF announced this, according to the Times of Israel. Buildings in the area used by the brigade other than Hamas were hit by aircraft, the army added.
8:28 a.m. – “Serious bomb attack in Jabalia”
Israeli forces are trying to advance into the town of Jabalia from the west and east and have cut all communication lines in the area. Al Jazeera writes this, adding that there was heavy Israeli bombing in the al-Jarn area of the settlement.
7:46 a.m. – Guterres: “The hostages must be released immediately”
“Nothing can justify the terrible terrorist attacks” carried out by Hamas on October 7, or the brutal kidnapping of around 250 hostages who must now be “immediately and unconditionally released.” This was stated by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at the end of the Israel-Hamas war.
7:27 a.m. – Israeli aircraft attacks are reported in southern Lebanon
The Israeli Air Force is carrying out strikes in the Kafr Kila area of southern Lebanon as fighting continues along the border. There is no immediate confirmation from the military yet. The Times of Israel writes it.
7:03 a.m. – The UN resolution on the war in Gaza
(by Elena Tebano) The UN Security Council yesterday adopted a “watered down” resolution calling for an acceleration of aid deliveries to civilians in desperate conditions in Gaza, but without the original call for an “urgent cessation of hostilities” between Israel and Hamas.
The long-delayed vote by the 15-member council was 13-0, with the United States and Russia abstaining. The U.S. abstention prevented a third U.S. veto of a Gaza resolution after Hamas' surprise attacks in Israel on October 7. Russia wanted to reintroduce the stricter wording, but the USA did not. Still, “it was the Christmas miracle we were all hoping for,” said UAE Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh, who introduced the resolution. The resolution, said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, “does not support any initiative that would leave Hamas in power.”
The US reiterates its support for Israel. Israel's deputy U.N. ambassador Brett Jonathan Miller criticized the Security Council for failing to condemn Hamas for the Oct. 7 attacks that killed about 1,200 people and took about 240 hostage. The resolution “deplores all attacks on civilians and civilian objects, as well as all violence and hostilities against civilians and all acts of terrorism.” It also calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
In an important point regarding aid deliveries, which had delayed the adoption of the resolution, the previous requirement for the United Nations to have all humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza monitored by third parties in order to verify whether they are in fact humanitarian aid is removed. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry and the Islamist group Hamas expressed opposing views on the resolution. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry, part of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, called the resolution “a step in the right direction” and said it would help “end aggression, ensure the arrival of aid and protect the Palestinian people.” .
But Hamas called the resolution an “inadequate step” to address Gaza’s needs. According to a report published by 23 UN and humanitarian organizations, Gaza's entire population of 2.2 million people is in food crisis or worse and 576,600 people are suffering from “catastrophic” hunger. 90% of the population regularly goes without food for at least a whole day. According to Gaza's Health Ministry, more than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. The United Nations estimates that thousands more Palestinians remain buried under the rubble of Gaza.
(This text was published in PrimaOra, the newsletter that the Corriere provides for its subscribers: to receive it you must subscribe to Il Punto. You can do this free for 30 days here.)
07:00 a.m. – “Funds from Qatar to Netanyahu”: The Crow’s papers and the tracks for 65 million
(Federico Fubini) The information about the alleged flows of money that Qatar had secretly reserved for Benjamin Netanyahu was already in circulation. But after October 7, they take on a different meaning and the addition of ever more precise details only increases the pressure on the Israeli prime minister. “This story is starting to develop into a political storm,” observes Yigal Carmon, a former counterterrorism adviser to Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Yitzhak Shamir. “It could lead to Netanyahu’s downfall.”
Carmon is a retired colonel from Israel's Aman military intelligence agency. He founded and directs the Middle East Media Research Institute (Memri), a private think tank for the collection and analysis of open source information, which relies on figures on the advisory board such as former CIA Directors James Woosley and Michael Hayden, Prime Minister Ehud Barak, the former Spanish head of state José Maria Aznar and the former director of the American National Security Agency, General Keith Alexander.
Yesterday evening, Carmon published a document with politically explosive content on the Memri website, which was also discussed on the Israeli television channel Channel 12. Apparently, a series of internal Qatari government documents hacked by a United Arab Emirates-funded organization indicate that authorities in Doha allegedly orchestrated the transfer of tens of millions of dollars to Netanyahu's election campaign in recent years . According to the allegations reconstructed by Memri, the money was secretly prepared in cash for the Prime Minister of Israel. Carmon comments: “Netanyahu is a collaborator, a prisoner, a hostage who cannot criticize Qatar: the emirate would respond.”
05:44 – Guterres, the humanitarian ceasefire is the only way to end a nightmare
“I hope that today's Security Council resolution can help improve the delivery of urgently needed assistance, but a humanitarian ceasefire is the only way to meet the desperate needs of the people of Gaza and end their nightmare.” So writes the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on X.
5:25 a.m. – The UN resolution on Gaza calls for help, but not a ceasefire
The resolution passed yesterday by the UN Security Council calls for more aid to Gaza, but not an immediate ceasefire. The text does not even contain the original wording “urgent cessation of hostilities” and is limited to urgent measures to “create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities”. The USA is disappointed. American Ambassador to the UN Linda Thoms-Greenfield says she is “surprised and disappointed.” Russia abstains. Meanwhile, “Israel will continue the war until all the abductees are released and Hamas is destroyed in the Gaza Strip.” And for Hamas, the UN resolution on Gaza is not enough. The EU's position is in the opposite direction: it welcomes the result and says it is ready “to work with partners to address the humanitarian emergency and prepare for the consequences.”