Israel-Palestine live: US and Israel air differences over Gaza strategy

The Israeli army announced that its Artillery Corps is operating inside the Gaza Strip for the first time since the start of its ground operations, The Times of Israel reports.

The Artillery Corps had previously fired thousands for shells into Gaza from the boundary area.

The typically festive Christmas season will have a sombre look this year in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Israel.

There will be no Christmas lights in Bethlehem, no festive parades in Jerusalem nor elaborate decorations in Israel. 

In Gaza, Palestinians are mourning the loss of over 17,000 killed in Israeli bombings. Bodies are being pulled out from under the rubble, while people continue to search for their missing loved ones amidst wide-scale destruction. 

For the first time since the start of modern celebrations of Christmas, Jesus's birthplace and the Manger Square tree in Bethlehem will not be decorated. 

Christian leaders and municipal authorities have decided to cancel all public festivities, stating it was "not appropriate".

"I feel this is necessary as it would be abhorrent to celebrate in the midst of a genocide," Ryan al-Natour, a Palestinian Christian in Australia, told Middle East Eye. 

READ MORE: Palestinians cancel Christmas celebrations amid Gaza devastation

Khan Younis, a city Israel initially designated as "safe" for Palestinians fleeing the northern Gaza Strip, finds itself as the new epicentre of the war.

The city's history, along with the role it played in Palestinian history, dates back to the 14th century under the Mamluk Sultanate.

Ever since the start of the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip in 2007 and the ensuing wars, the city has been subject to regular Israeli bombings.

As Khan Younis's hospitals are overwhelmed with casualties and injuries from the intensified battles in its neighbourhoods, the city faces its toughest challenges yet.

READ MORE: Khan Younis emerges as latest Israel-Hamas front line in Gaza

Residents of Khan Younis reported hearing tank shelling and gun battles as Israel said it would expand its operations to the southern city.

The intensified fighting comes as Israeli military chief Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi told soldiers they need to "press harder" in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said on Saturday his country "can no longer accept" Hezbollah's Radwan forces on its northern borders, as clashes in the area grow.

Israeli towns near the border with Lebanon have been evacuated after clashes with Hezbollah started on 8 October.

While the fighting has remained contained to border areas, despite relative intensifications and casualties on both sides, Hanegbi says the Israeli public demands a change in the north.

"If Hizbollah agrees to change it diplomatically, that's good, if not - we will have to act," he said. "We will have to ensure that the situation in the north is different."

Heavy Israeli air strikes hit the outskirts of the town of Yaroun, South Lebanon, according to local media.

Footage shared on social media shows several massive strikes.

Hello MEE readers,

Israel ordered residents out of the centre of Gaza's main southern city Khan Younis on Saturday and pounded the length of the enclave, after the United States wielded its UN Security Council veto to shield Israel from a demand for a ceasefire.

The veto came up against a vote in which 13 of the Security Council's 15 members backed the ceasefire resolution, with Britain abstaining.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the decision of the United States to veto the resolution made it complicit in "war crimes" against Palestinians. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the US's veto, saying that he "appreciates the correct position taken by the country".

"Other countries should also understand that it is impossible on the one hand to support the elimination of Hamas, and on the other hand to call for the end of the war that would prevent it. Israel will continue its just war to eliminate Hamas and achieve the other war goals set by the government."

Since a truce collapsed last week, Israel has expanded its ground assault into the southern half of the Gaza Strip by pushing into Khan Younis. 

An official toll of all deaths in Gaza compiled by the Palestinian health ministry in the enclave exceeded 17,700 on Saturday, with many thousands more missing and presumed dead under the rubble. The ministry has previously said about 40 percent of deaths were of children under 18.

Israel, meanwhile, said Israeli forces had killed at least 7,000 Hamas fighters so far, without saying how that estimate was reached, and military chief Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi told soldiers "we need to press harder".

The UN said half of Gaza was starving after months of bombardment and "nine out of 10 are not eating every day". It said it was stockpiling aid in Egypt and Jordan in preparation for a million Palestinian refugees.

University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill has resigned four days after her testimony at a congressional hearing in which she would not call for the punishment of students who called for the genocide of Jews on campus. 

Earlier this week, Magill released a video on Twitter in which she expressed regret for her reaction at the hearing. 

Israeli forces fatally shot a 17-year-old Palestinian in Azzun, a small town in the occupied West Bank district of Qalqilya, according to the local Palestinian ministry of health.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the veto by the US of the UN Security Council vote on a proposal calling for an immediate ceasefire on Friday night, saying that he "appreciates the correct position taken by the country".

"Other countries should also understand that it is impossible on the one hand to support the elimination of Hamas, and on the other hand to call for the end of the war that would prevent it. Israel will continue its just war to eliminate Hamas and achieve the other war goals set by the government."

The Biden administration has used an emergency authority to allow the sale of about 14,000 tank shells to Israel without congressional review, the Pentagon said.

The State Department used an Arms Export Control Act emergency declaration for the tank rounds worth $106.5m for immediate delivery to Israel, the Pentagon said in a statement.

Good evening,

It’s 7pm in Gaza, and here is your latest round-up of today's events.

• The Palestine health ministry updated Gaza’s death toll and said the Israelis had killed at least 17,700 Palestinians.
• The armed wing of Hamas released a video purporting to show the death of an Israeli hostage. Hamas claimed Sahar Baruch died after the Israeli army tried to rescue him. The Israeli military denied the claim and said Hamas killed him. 
• Palestine Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the United States was “complicit” in war crimes after it used its veto to block a UN Security Council resolution that called for a ceasefire in Gaza.
• UN officials said half of Gaza was starving after months of bombardment and said it was stockpiling aid in Egypt and Jordan in preparation for a million Palestinian refugees.
• Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in the West Bank as tensions reached boiling point amid Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. 
• Israeli health officials said Palestinian fighters had wounded thousands of soldiers in Gaza and left hundreds “disabled” after two months of fighting. 
• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the UN Security Council had to be reformed after the US exercised its veto on the ceasefire vote. 

The armed wing of Hamas released a video on Saturday claiming to show an Israeli hostage who died after a failed operation by the Israeli army to free him.

Sahar Baruch, 25, was an electrical engineering student at Ben-Gurion University. Earlier, Hamas released a video showing Baruch with his hair shaven, saying he had been held hostage for 40 days.

The video then showed his body covered in blood. Hamas claimed the Israeli army caused Baruch’s death after it attempted to free him. 

On Friday, the Israeli army said two Israeli soldiers were seriously wounded in a failed hostage rescue mission.

Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said no hostages had been released but noted that "terrorists who participated in the kidnapping and killing of hostages" had been killed without giving further details. 

Haaretz reported that the army puts the blame solely on Hamas for Baruch’s death.

Israeli army officials told Haaretz that it would be investigating a soldier vandalising a shop in Jabaliya in the Gaza Strip.

Earlier, a video reposted by Palestinian news outlet Quds TV showed an Israeli soldier inside the store throwing and breaking products while other soldiers can be heard laughing in the background.

A spokesperson for the Israeli army said: "The behaviour of the soldier in the video is inappropriate and contrary to IDF values. The case will be investigated and handled accordingly. The IDF condemns this type of behaviour."

At least 250 doctors, patients, and their family members are on the brink of starvation in northern Gaza days after Israeli snipers laid siege to al-Awda hospital.

Israeli snipers have surrounded the hospital, and have targeted anyone who tries to enter or leave the hospital, or even anyone veering too close to a window.

The Israeli military has also positioned its tanks 50 to 70 metres from the hospital.

Speaking to Middle East Eye, a staff member said if the siege continues, al-Awda would run out of food in just a matter of days, he said, adding that the military targeted the hospital’s water tanks this morning.

“We have food only for three days. Water for two days. Fuel for four days. But today the generator will stop because no one can move to fill it with fuel. So the running water will stop,” Mohammed said.

According to UN data, there have been at least 364 attacks on healthcare services in Gaza since 7 October.

In those attacks, at least 553 people were killed and 729 wounded. More than 50 health facilities and nearly 200 ambulances have also been affected.

READ MORE: Northern Gaza hospital faces starvation amid Israeli siege