Israel-Palestine live: US and Israel air differences over Gaza strategy
Live Updates
Good Morning readers of Middle East Eye, on Sunday afternoon, the Palestinian Health Ministry said almost 18,000 Palestinians had now been killed.
Rafah and Khan Younis faced intense bombing in the early hours of this morning as the Israeli army expanded its military operations in the south.
While in the West Bank nearly night raids and arrests by Israeli occupation forces continued.
Here are some other developments:
- Egypt and Mauritania invoke Resolution 377, with the UN General Assembly. A special session will now be held on Tuesday to discuss an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza
- Three Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza Strip, another killed in road accident
- Israel's bombardment of Gaza is "narrowing the window" for a new truce, the Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani has said at the Doha Forum
- White House National Security adviser Jake Sullivan, is set to visit Israel the Times of Israel reported citing US and Israeli officials
- Heavy casualties have been reported in central Gaza’s al-Maghazi refugee camp
- The al-Quds Brigades – the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad – claimed to have killed a dozen Israeli commandos in Gaza City. Israel has not commented on the alleged attack
Hello MEE readers,
The United States received more criticism on Sunday for its decision to veto a UN resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, as Israel has amplified its offensive, turning Khan Younis, originally part of the designated "safe" areas of southern Gaza, into one of its main battlefields.
At least 297 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, according to the local health ministry, bringing the death toll in Gaza to 18,000, with thousands more estimated to be dead under the rubble.
At least 550 people were wounded during the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Israel has imprisoned at least 142 women and girls from the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Authority (PA) Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said in a joint statement with the Palestinian Prisoners' Club on Sunday. Some of the detainees were infants, the groups said.
Earlier, the World Health Organization chief said it will be all but impossible to improve the "catastrophic" health situation in Gaza even as the board passed an emergency motion by consensus to secure more medical access.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Israel needs to put "a premium" on protecting Gaza civilians and making sure humanitarian assistance can reach those who need it.
"The critical thing is to make sure that the military operations are designed around civilian protection," Blinken said.
"I think the intent is there. But the results are not always manifesting themselves," he continued.
The comments come two days after the US vetoed a proposed UN resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. It had 13 of the 15-member council's support, with the UK abstaining.
US Senator Bernie Sanders, in a tweet, spoke out against the Biden administration's decision to veto the UN resolution, calling for immediate action.
"At a time when Palestinians in Gaza are facing horrific conditions, the U.S. should not be vetoing a UN resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire and the release of all hostages," Sanders wrote.
"The children in Gaza need food, water, and medical supplies. We must do everything possible to make that happen NOW."
In Lebanon, all public offices, primary and secondary schools, as well as official and private higher education institutes will be closed on strike on Monday 11 December in support of "the global call for Gaza", Lebanon's LBCI news reported on Twitter.
At least 297 Palestinian in Gaza have been killed in the past 24 hours, Gaza’s health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told Al Jazeera in a telephone interview.
More than 550 wounded people were wounded during the same time period, he said.
Sunday's violence brings the death toll in Gaza to 18,000 people since 7 October. Thousands more are expected to be trapped in the rubble.
US Senator Bernie Sanders, in a tweet, spoke out against the Biden administration's decision to veto the UN resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.
""At a time when Palestinians in Gaza are facing horrific conditions, the U.S. should not be vetoing a UN resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire and the release of all hostages," Sanders wrote.
"The children in Gaza need food, water, and medical supplies. We must do everything possible to make that happen NOW."
The US vetoed the resolution on Friday. It had 13 of the 15-member council's support, with the UK abstaining.
Israel has imprisoned at least 142 women and girls from the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Authority (PA) Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said in a joint statement with the Palestinian Prisoners' Club.
Some of the detainees were infants, the groups said.
The women and children, arrested during Israel's ground offensive into the Gaza Strip, are being held at the Damon and Hasharon prisons, the state statement detailed.
Speaking on CNN's State of the Union, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken urged Israel to do more to protect Palestinian civilians.
Two days after the US vetoed a proposed UN resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, Blinken said Israel needs to put "a premium" on protecting Gaza civilians and making sure humanitarian assistance can reach those who need it.
"The critical thing is to make sure that the military operations are designed around civilian protection," Blinken said.
"I think the intent is there. But the results are not always manifesting themselves," he continued.
Among the steps that Blinken said the US is "not seeing sufficiently" are "deconfliction times, places and routes" that would allow humanitarian operations to deliver aid and help civilians to get out of harm's way.
The World Health Organization chief said it will be all but impossible to improve the "catastrophic" health situation in Gaza even as the board passed an emergency motion by consensus to secure more medical access.
The emergency action, proposed by Afghanistan, Qatar, Yemen and Morocco, seeks passage into Gaza for medical personnel and supplies, requires the group to document violence against healthcare workers and patients and to secure funding to rebuild hospitals.
"I must be frank with you: these tasks are almost impossible in the current circumstances," Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Lebanon is holding a strike of all public offices, primary and secondary schools, as well as official and private higher education institutes on Monday 11 December in support of "the global call for Gaza", Lebanon's LBCI news reported on Twitter.
Israel pummelled the Jabalia refugee camp in the north of Gaza on Sunday, killing at least 57 people, while heavy fighting in Khan Younis intensified, as the Palestinian death toll reached 18,000.
Residents said Israeli tanks reached as far as the centre of Khan Younis, which Israel once designated as a "safe" area for Palestinians to flee to.
Hamas, meanwhile, said its fighters were able to target several Israeli tanks in both northern Gaza and Khan Younis.
The Lebanese-Israeli border also saw repeated exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
Israel said six of its soldiers were wounded in a drone attack by Hezbollah on its bases in western Galilee.
The Israeli army heavily bombed the outskirts of Lebanese towns near the border and destroyed a home in Aytaroun.
READ MORE: Fighting intensifies across Gaza as tensions on Lebanon border rise
The Biden administration has filed a motion in federal court calling for dismissal of a lawsuit that accuses the president and his team of failing to prevent a genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
The Biden administration's filing was submitted on Friday, a day before the 75th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations' Genocide Convention, and stated that the suit should be dismissed because the administration argues that the lawsuit would override the foreign policy decisions of the US government, and therefore would be "in violation of the constitutional separation of powers".
Biden has also rushed increased arms shipment to Israel and has pledged to give the country billions of dollars in military assistance, in addition to the $4bn the US already gives Israel each year.
As the lawsuit continues its way through the US court system, Biden is facing growing discontent from both the American public and within his own administration over his policy approach to Israel's war in Gaza.
READ MORE: Biden seeks to dismiss lawsuit that says he is failing to prevent genocide of Palestinians
Hamas announced on its Telegram channel that its Qassam Brigades targeted Israeli tanks in the battlegrounds areas of Khan Younis and Jabalia.
The militant movement also released footage of its fighters targeting an Israeli tank in Tal El Zaatar, in the northern Gaza Strip.
Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi said at the Doha Forum conference in Qatar that Israel is attempting to "empty Gaza of its people" in its current war.
"Israel challenges the world, violates international law, and commits war crimes," he said.
The Israeli army has launched a website publishing its military casualties.
The website claims 425 soldiers have been killed since 7 October, with at least 1,593 wounded. The army claims that from this tally, 97 soldiers from the names it can publish have been killed in the ground invasion of Gaza, with 559 wounded.
This comes after the Israeli Y-net website said Palestinian fighters had wounded at least 5,000 Israeli soldiers in Gaza.
Israeli tanks have reached the centre of the city of Khan Younis, Reuters reports.
Residents told the agency that tanks reached the main north-south road in the middle of the city, as intense fighting continued throughout the night.
