Right here’s how issues stand on Sunday, December 24, 2023:
The most recent developments
- America stated Iran launched a drone from its soil that struck a Liberia-flagged, Japanese-owned chemical tanker within the Indian Ocean. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) additionally stated it downed several drones launched at vessels from Yemen by the Iran-aligned Houthi motion. The Houthis additionally fired two antiship ballistic missiles within the southern Purple Sea, however no ships had been hit.
- Professional-Palestinian marches continued in cities internationally, with among the newest protests in Australia, Germany and Turkey.
- Heavy raids by the Israeli military continued within the occupied West Financial institution. A convoy led by bulldozers entered Tulkarem within the early hours of Sunday, and raids have additionally been reported in Bethlehem, the city of Beita simply south of Nablus, and the cities of Sa’ir and Karma close to Hebron.
- The consultant for Hamas in Beirut, Osama Hamdan, stated Israel has failed in its acknowledged purpose of “destroying” the group, and that it must cease the battle if it needs the captives launched.
Human influence and preventing
- Hundreds of Palestinians had been once more pressured to flee their properties, this time after the Israeli army issued new evacuation orders within the central Gaza Strip. Since a United Nations Safety Council decision was passed on Friday without a clear call for a ceasefire, there was a surge in aerial bombardments in central Gaza.
- Israeli air raids killed greater than 400 folks in Gaza up to now 48 hours. Gaza’s Authorities Media Workplace stated greater than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli assaults since October 7. The dying toll from Hamas’s assault on Israel stands at almost 1,140, revised from 1,400.
- A minimum of 101 journalists have been killed since October 7, based on the Authorities Media Workplace, which additionally stated greater than 50 media workplaces have been utterly or partially destroyed by Israeli assaults. Al Jazeera Arabic’s cameraman Samer Abudaqa was amongst these killed in Israeli strikes.
- The Palestine Purple Crescent Society stated it continues to function at its medical level in Jabalia, northern Gaza, regardless of incessant shelling of the world. UN Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres additionally stated on X: “Because the battle intensifies and the horror grows, we are going to proceed to do our half. We is not going to surrender.”
Diplomacy
- Yoav Gallant and Benny Gantz, Israel’s present and former defence ministers, respectively, who, together with Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu make up the Israeli battle cupboard, visited northern Gaza and promised that extra assaults could be forthcoming regardless of worldwide stress for a direct ceasefire.
- US President Joe Biden had a “personal” telephone dialog with Netanyahu. He informed reporters after that he “did not ask for a ceasefire”.
- Agnes Callamard, secretary-general of Amnesty Worldwide, stated the UNSC decision for humanitarian aid would solely end in a “drop within the ocean of struggling” in Gaza. She stated the White Home “holds the important thing” for placing an finish to the carnage.
- Throughout a gathering in Doha, Qatari Prime Minister and International Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Jordanian International Minister Ayman Safadi mentioned the battle in Gaza and known as for an finish to Israeli assaults.
- The top of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, is ready to offer his third speech for the reason that begin of the battle within the coming days to mark the January 3 assassination of Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, by the US.