A tunnel large enough for cars has been found near the Gaza-Israel border
Extensive Hamas tunnel system uncovered by Israeli forces. Some of the videos shown were recorded by Hamas fighters and released by the Israeli military.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv on Monday, as international pressure mounted on Israel to curb civilian deaths in its devastating military operation in the Gaza Strip.
Austin reiterated the Biden administration's position that the U.S. commitment to Israel is “unwavering” during a briefing with Gallant. And he said that the US would leave the timing of the war to Israel. But he also said that the civilian population in Gaza must be protected and that more humanitarian aid must be provided to the almost two million displaced people there.
“Protecting the Palestinian people in Gaza is both a moral duty and a strategic imperative,” Austin said.
Austin said the talks also focused on Iran-backed threats across the region and Israel and the United States' shared commitment to countering that “aggression.” Netanyahu said in a joint statement with Austin that Israel is waging a war pitting “civilization against barbarism.”
Netanyahu and Gallant both thanked the US for its support and reiterated Israel's determination to achieve a “total victory” against Hamas.
“The United States and Israel have never been more resolute and united in our shared values, our shared interests and our shared goals,” Gallant said.
Developments:
∎ The White House says it is “deeply concerned” about recent Israeli attacks on the Lebanese army, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. Israel says rockets from Lebanon hit Israeli cities. The Biden administration has stressed the need to prevent the war from spreading to other countries in the Middle East.
∎ Gaza's health ministry said the Palestinian death toll had exceeded 19,000 since the war began on October 7, when Hamas militants swept across the Israeli border, killing 1,200 people before taking more than 240 hostage. More than half of the hostages remain in the custody of militants.
∎ Four more Israeli soldiers were killed in combat on Sunday and another soldier died of his wounds, the army said on Monday. This brought the number of military deaths in the war to 127.
∎ The Israeli military said it discovered a cache of weapons and suitcases worth more than $1.3 million at the home of a senior Hamas official in the northern Gaza Strip.
∎ In response to attacks by militant Houthi rebels in Yemen, oil giant BP became the latest company to announce it would suspend its deliveries through the Red Sea. In response to escalating tensions between Israel and Gaza, the Iran-backed group began attacking ships passing through the region.
∎ Lufthansa Group airlines will resume flights to and from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv on January 8, 2024, Airways Magazine reported. The company suspended flights to and from the airport on October 9 in response to the Hamas attack two days earlier.
Outraged family buries hostage: IDF killed prisoners; Family vows to 'shock the country'
Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, held a news conference in Beirut shortly after Austin's speech in Tel Aviv. Hamdan played a video showing Hamas militants attacking Israeli troops and disabling Israeli military bulldozers being towed through Gaza. The “sands of Gaza will swallow up the Israeli invaders,” he said.
Hamdan rejected the aid that the US provided to Israel.
“We are wondering what experiences the American defense secretary shares with Israel?” said Hamdan, translated by Al Jazeera. “Are we talking about the victories in Vietnam?” Or their victory in Afghanistan after 20 years? The only experience that can be shared is the killing of women and children and the destruction of hospitals, homes and schools.”
CIA Director William Burns met in Warsaw on Monday with the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency and the prime minister of Qatar, reportedly for talks aimed at securing the release of more hostages held by Hamas militants, several media outlets in the US reported and Israel.
It was the first known meeting between the three nations since the end of a week-long ceasefire last month that led to the release of more than 100 hostages. More than 100 remain under the control of militants, but no agreement on a ceasefire and the release of the hostages is imminent, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Monday. Hamas reiterated its stance that it would not hold such talks until the “Zionist aggression against our people” was stopped.
The Israeli government is committing a war crime by deliberately starving Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Monday. The international advocacy group accused Israeli forces of deliberately blocking the delivery of food, water and fuel while “deliberately obstructing” the distribution of humanitarian aid. The report calls on the Israeli government to stop attacks on infrastructure necessary for civilian survival, lift the blockade of Gaza and restore electricity and water supplies to the battered enclave.
Netanyahu and the Israeli military have repeatedly defended the attacks on seemingly civilian targets, accusing Hamas of hiding among civilians and using people as human shields.
“World leaders should speak out against this heinous war crime that is having a devastating impact on the people of Gaza,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch.
More world leaders are joining this choir almost daily. The foreign ministers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom called for a “sustainable” ceasefire on Sunday, saying too many civilians had been killed.
Hamas leaders called on the United Nations and other international organizations to protect Gaza's health facilities from “brutal war crimes” and provide them with the tools to continue functioning. The militants said Nassar Hospital was attacked by Israeli bombs late Sunday and Al-Shifa Hospital early Monday, killing civilians in both cases. Hamas called on the international community to hold Israel accountable for “horrific crimes against civilians and the medical sector, which is subjected to systematic bombing attacks around the clock.”