Israeli forces and Hamas engage in urban warfare in Gaza – as it happened – The Guardian

It is currently 4 a.m. in Gaza and Tel Aviv. This blog is now closed, but first some of the latest developments:

• Israeli forces have surrounded the home of top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu said. ““It’s only a matter of time before we get it,” the Israeli prime minister said on Wednesday. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sinwar, whom Israeli officials have described as the architect of the October 7 attacks, was hiding underground. A senior Netanyahu adviser called the operation a “symbolic victory.”

• Israeli forces and Hamas are engaged in house-to-house fighting throughout the Gaza Strip. As the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fights through heavily bomb-damaged urban areas in the north and south of the Gaza Strip, Hamas is increasingly relying on improvised bombs to inflict casualties and slow the onslaught. The focus of the fighting over the last two days was… Jabalia refugee camp and that Shuja’iyya District in the northern Gaza Strip and Khan Younis And Bani Suheila in the south.

• Israeli forces have surrounded the town of Khan Younis and are now operating “in the heart” of the southern Gaza city. the IDF said on Wednesday. The IDF called on residents of Khan Younis on Wednesday morning to leave the town for safer areas, noting that the bombardment of Rafah, just south of the Egyptian border, would be suspended until 2 p.m. Residents reported that the IDF dropped leaflets in the area that quoted a verse from the Koran. The United Nations and aid organizations say nowhere in the Gaza Strip is safe anymore.

• The United States has discussed with Israel the schedule for military operations in Gaza and “how this fits into a longer-term strategy for addressing this problem that goes beyond just military means,” White House national security adviser Jake said Sullivan told Portal in a telephone interview. “We talked to them about timetables. I don’t want to share that because Israel has already sort of telegraphed the exact location of its ground operation and I don’t want to be the one telegraphing timetables.”

• British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps will use a trip to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories to push for faster delivery of humanitarian aid, including by sea directly to Gaza, his office said on Thursday. “We are working to find the best way to provide help and support to those in need in the fastest and most direct way. This includes land, sea and air options,” Shapps said.

• Gaza’s health ministry said 1,207 Palestinians have been killed since a temporary ceasefire failed at the beginning of the month, and that 70% of the dead were women and children. At least 16,248 people, including 7,112 children and 4,885 women, were in the Gaza Strip as of October 7, according to a statement from the Hamas media office on Tuesday. More than 7,600 people are reportedly missing. It was not possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures published during the conflict. The Gaza Ministry said more than 100 bodies were currently awaiting burial at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip due to a lack of fuel and coming under fire.

• Israel’s security cabinet has agreed to allow a “minimal addition” of fuel to enter the Gaza Strip “to prevent a humanitarian collapse and disease outbreak” in the south of the territory, a statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office said on Wednesday. The “minimum amount” would be determined by the War Cabinet, it said.

• UN Secretary-General António Guterres has invoked a rarely used clause in the UN Charter to warn that the conflict “could exacerbate existing threats to international peace and security.” Guterres said in a letter to the Security Council that he expected “public order will soon collapse completely due to the desperate conditions in Gaza” as the area is under constant bombardment by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). In response, Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said Guterres had “reached a new moral low” and renewed calls for the UN chief’s resignation.

Premature babies evacuated from Gaza are currently being treated at a hospital in Egypt. Some of these images have been published.

Here are some of the latest images of the wounded at a hospital in Rafah, Gaza.

The United States has discussed with Israel its schedule for military operations in Gaza and “how this fits into a longer-term strategy to address this issue that goes beyond just military means,” the White House national security adviser said Jake Sullivan told Portal in a telephone interview.

We talked to them about timetables. I don’t want to share this because Israel has already sort of telegraphed the exact location of its ground operation, and I don’t want to be the one telegraphing timetables…

I just want to say that we’ve spoken to them about what they think about the duration and how this fits into a longer-term strategy for dealing with this problem that goes beyond just military means

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in its daily update that there had been heavy fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups.

Here are some of their latest updates:

On December 5 and 6, heavy Israeli air, land and sea bombardment continued across the Gaza Strip, paralleling heavy fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups, particularly in the eastern parts of Gaza city, Jabalia refugee camp and areas east of Khan Younis. Rocket fire by Palestinian armed groups into Israel continued.

OCHA added that an area of ​​Khan Younis town has been marked for immediate evacuation:

On December 6, another area of ​​about one square kilometer in the city of Khan Younis was designated by the Israeli military for immediate evacuation. Along with similar designations in earlier days, about 25 percent of the urban area, where about 178,000 original residents (73 percent of the population) and an estimated 170,000 internally displaced people live [internally displaced persons] have received evacuation orders. The Israeli military ordered residents to move to two areas in Rafah and Al Fakhouri in the eastern Khan Younis governorate.

The Senate blocked a supplemental funding bill that would provide aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan as well as provisions to strengthen border security.

The vote came a day after Senate Democrats formally introduced the $111 billion supplemental security bill, mirroring the funding request Joe Biden made in October to provide aid to U.S. allies abroad.

Here’s our take on what happened today, including comments from progressive Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who expressed concern about the Israeli share of the funding.

British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps will use a trip to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories to push for humanitarian aid to be delivered more quickly, including by sea directly to Gaza, his office said Thursday.

He will discuss with leaders options to provide more aid to civilians in Gaza, how the UK can support the Palestinian Authority, the recovery of hostages and efforts to prevent further escalation in the Middle East, Portal reports.

“We are working to find the best way to provide help and support to those in need in the fastest and most direct way. This includes land, sea and air options,” Shapps said.

Earlier this week, Shapps said Britain was considering deploying the military support ship RFA Lyme Bay to provide medical and humanitarian assistance in the Middle East.

Shapps will meet with the Palestinian Authority Interior Minister. General Ziad Hab Al-Reehto discuss the need for measures to improve the security of Palestinians in the West Bank, his office said, while he will meet Israel’s defense minister in Tel Aviv Yoav Gallant “to address the current security situation and Israel’s next steps.” Shapps will also visit Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel, which was attacked by Hamas on October 7.

The president of Harvard University faced criticism and calls for her resignation on Wednesday for comments she made at a Capitol Hill hearing about anti-Semitism on campus, Agence-France Presse reports.

The deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas militants has raised tensions on many American college campuses and protests are growing.

At Harvard, donors specifically called for President Claudine Gay to more explicitly support Israel and condemn student groups that have expressed support for the Palestinian people.

On Tuesday, Gay testified before the House Education Committee at a hearing focused on holding campus leaders accountable for anti-Semitic incidents.

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik likened student calls for a new intifada — an Arabic word for uprising that dates back to the first Palestinian uprising against Israel in 1987 — to inciting “genocide against the Jewish people in Israel and around the world.”

When Stefanik asked Gay whether such calls violated Harvard’s code of conduct, the Harvard president said, “We are committed to free expression, even when views are offensive, insulting or hateful.”

“When comments result in behavior that violates our policies, including policies against bullying, harassment or intimidation, we take action.”

Stefanik called on Gay to resign immediately, while Republican Senator Ted Cruz called the remark “disgraceful.”

On Wednesday, Gay issued a brief statement clarifying her statement. “There are some who have confused the right to free speech with the idea that Harvard condones calls for violence against Jewish students,” she said in a statement on social media. Let me be clear: calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community or any other religious or ethnic group are abhorrent, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held accountable.”

Reged Ahmad here, who took over Leonie Chao-Fong’s blog.

Here are some of the latest images from Gaza and Israel:

Summary of the day so far

It is 1 a.m. in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here is a look back at the latest developments:

• Israeli forces have surrounded the home of top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu said. ““It’s only a matter of time before we get it,” the Israeli prime minister said on Wednesday. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sinwar, whom Israeli officials have described as the architect of the October 7 attacks, was hiding underground. A senior Netanyahu adviser called the operation a “symbolic victory.”

• Israeli forces and Hamas are engaged in house-to-house fighting throughout the Gaza Strip. As the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fights through heavily bomb-damaged urban areas in the north and south of the Gaza Strip, Hamas is increasingly relying on improvised bombs to inflict casualties and slow the onslaught. The focus of the fighting over the last two days was… Jabalia refugee camp and that Shuja’iyya District in the northern Gaza Strip and Khan Younis And Bani Suheila in the south.

• Israeli forces have surrounded the town of Khan Younis and are now operating “in the heart” of the southern Gaza city. the IDF said on Wednesday. The IDF called on residents of Khan Younis on Wednesday morning to leave the town for safer areas, noting that the bombardment of Rafah, just south of the Egyptian border, would be suspended until 2 p.m. Residents reported that the IDF dropped leaflets in the area that quoted a verse from the Koran. The United Nations and aid organizations say nowhere in the Gaza Strip is safe anymore.

• Gaza’s health ministry said 1,207 Palestinians have been killed since a temporary ceasefire failed at the beginning of the month, and that 70% of the dead were women and children. At least 16,248 people, including 7,112 children and 4,885 women, were in the Gaza Strip as of October 7, according to a statement from the Hamas media office on Tuesday. More than 7,600 people are reportedly missing. It was not possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures published during the conflict. The Gaza Ministry said that more than 100 bodies were currently awaiting burial at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip due to a lack of fuel and under fire.

• Israel’s security cabinet has agreed to allow a “minimal addition” of fuel to enter the Gaza Strip “to prevent a humanitarian collapse and disease outbreak” in the south of the territory, a statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office said on Wednesday. The “minimum amount” would be determined by the War Cabinet, it said.

• UN Secretary-General António Guterres has invoked a rarely used clause in the UN Charter to warn that the conflict “could exacerbate existing threats to international peace and security.” Guterres said in a letter to the Security Council that he expected “public order will soon collapse completely due to the desperate conditions in Gaza” as the area is under constant bombardment by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). In response, Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said Guterres had “reached a new moral low” and renewed calls for the UN chief’s resignation.

• An exodus of Palestinians from Gaza to other countries in the region would be “catastrophic”, warned the UN refugee representative Filippo Grandi. Grandi stressed the need for a ceasefire in Palestinian territory in an interview on Wednesday, adding that the war “must end as quickly as possible.”

• The UN human rights chief has warned of an increased risk of atrocities in Gaza and called on parties involved to refrain from such violations. “My humanitarian colleagues have described the situation as apocalyptic. “Under these circumstances, there is an increased risk of atrocities,” said Volker Türk in Geneva on Wednesday.

• Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli military would maintain security control over the Gaza Strip indefinitely long after the war against Hamas ends. In a news conference late Tuesday, Netanyahu said Gaza must remain demilitarized and the only entity that can ensure this is the Israeli military.

• Israel has criticized the head of the UN Children’s Fund after she condemned sexual violence against women during Hamas’ deadly October 7 attack on Israel. as attention in recent days has focused on rape and other atrocities. Israel said the comments from Catherine Russell, Unicef’s executive director, were inadequate and only made in response to international pressure.

• The Supreme Court was asked to intervene and suspend Britain’s arms sales to Israel in a lawsuit launched on Wednesday. The Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq and the UK-based Global Legal Action Network (Glan) have requested a judicial review of the government’s export licenses for the sale of British weapons that can be used in Israel’s operation in Gaza.

Israel says UN chief has ‘reached a new moral low’ after invoking Article 99.

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, has said Antonio Guterres “reached a new moral low” after the U.N. secretary-general invoked a rarely used clause to urge members of the body’s Security Council to “avert a humanitarian catastrophe” in the besieged Palestinian territories.

In a post on social media, Erdan said the UN chief had decided to “activate this rare clause only if it allows him to put pressure on Israel.”

He described the move as “further evidence of the secretary general’s moral distortion and bias against Israel” and said Guterres’ call for a ceasefire was “actually a call to maintain Hamas’ reign of terror in Gaza.” He added:

I again call on the Secretary General to resign immediately – the United Nations needs a Secretary General who supports the war on terror, not a Secretary General who follows Hamas’ playbook.

Today the Secretary General has reached a new moral low. He writes that he is activating for the first time Article 99 of the UN Charter regarding the Israel-Hamas war, an article that can only be invoked in a situation where international peace and security are guaranteed… pic.twitter.com/rQm18aT1vq

— Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) December 6, 2023

Israeli military drops leaflets with Quranic verses about Khan Younis – report

inhabitant of Khan Younis, The largest city in southern Gaza and the latest focus of the Israeli military’s ground offensive said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) dropped leaflets over the area quoting a verse from the Koran.

The fliers included the quote: “The flood swept over them because they were evildoers,” AP reported.

The Israelis today are dropping threatening leaflets about Khan Younis, warning residents with a verse from the Koran:

“The flood has carried away the evildoers”

(Sura 29, verse 14) pic.twitter.com/kGrl48Akl7

— Gaza Report – اخبار غزة (@gaza_report) December 6, 2023

Journalist Aamer Tabsh in Khan Younis said he saw Israeli planes dropping thousands of leaflets, the news agency wrote.

Palestinians deciding whether to escape Khan Younis as Israeli tanks closed in are convinced that the reference to Noah’s epic flood in the Koran and the Bible “means something much worse is to come,” it said.

When the Israeli military was asked about the leaflet drop, there was no immediate comment.