Israel continues massacring Palestinians in Gazan, approves provocative Israeli march through Al-Aqsa Mosque and kills a Palestinian child in the West Bank.
- 15,899+ killed*, including 6,150 children, and 42,000 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
- 473 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem in 2023; 265 since October 7.
*This figure was confirmed by the Gaza Ministry of Health on December 5. However, due to breakdowns in communication networks within the Gaza Strip (particularly in northern Gaza), the Gaza Ministry of Health has been unable to regularly and accurately update its tolls since mid-November. Some rights groups put the death toll number closer to or above 20,000.
- In rare move, UN chief invokes Article 99 to warn Security Council that the war in Gaza “may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.”
- Another Israeli airstrike on Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza kills scores of people, including 22 family members of Al Jazeera reporter Moamen Al Sharafi.
- Under cover of war, Israel approves new illegal settlement in occupied East Jerusalem comprising 1,738 housing units.
- Ambulance center in northern Gaza halts due to the depletion of fuel for vehicles and hospital closures, making evacuation of wounded and dead impossible, says Palestinian Red Crescent Society.
- About 25 percent of Khan Younis, southern Gaza, has received evacuation orders, says OCHA.
- Israeli forces kill two Palestinians during separate military incursions, including a Palestinian child, overnight on Wednesday.
- Israel approves provocative march by far-right Israeli settler in occupied East Jerusalem before reaching al-Aqsa Mosque, demanding complete Israeli control of the Muslim holy site.
Israel’s Genocide Campaign in Gaza Continues
Pro-Israel advocacy groups have spent nearly 100 times more in advertising via Meta’s social media platforms in the last month compared to groups aligned with Palestine and
Arab nations, according to an analysis by POLITICO. The largest single pro-Israel advertiser between Nov. 2 and Dec. 1 was the “Facts for Peace” organization, which spent over $450,000 targeting Meta users under 30-years-old in cities including Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Houston. One of their advertisements included a Palestinian citizen of Israel denouncing Hamas’ treatment of the LGBTQ+ community, and a video which said, “while Gazans suffer, Hamas leaders reside in villas in Qatar.” Meta has banned Hamas and removes content that praises the organization. Mark Scott reports for POLITICO.
Israel said it has killed about half of Hamas’ mid-level battalion commanders and surrounded yesterday the house of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Khan Younis, proving Israeli “forces can reach anywhere in the Gaza Strip,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released a photo they claim to have found during the fighting of what they allege was a group of operatives likely overseeing thousands of Hamas fighters. “The terrorists are now emerging from the underground tunnels and engaging our forces in close combat. Our forces will continue to further our achievements in Jabalya, Shuja’iyya, and also in the Khan Younis area—the heart of Hamas’ terror,” IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said yesterday. Rory Jones reports for the Wall Street Journal.
Invoking Article 99 of the U.N. Charter, a letter by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the Security Council of the “severe risk of
humanitarian collapse” in Gaza and called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire.” The U.A.E. also gave the council a draft humanitarian ceasefire resolution that it aims to put to a vote tomorrow when the council is due to be briefed by Guterres on the situation in Gaza. The resolution would require at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes. Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood said the US does not support any further action by the council at present, “however, we remain focused on the difficult and sensitive diplomacy geared to getting more hostages released, more aid flowing into Gaza, and better protection of civilians.” Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour said Arab ministers would discuss the draft resolution with U.S. officials during a visit next week to Washington, saying, “on top of the agenda is this war has to stop.” Michelle Nichols reports for Reuters.
Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Gilad Erdan, criticized Guterres’ decision to invoke Article 99 and labeled it a “a new moral low.” In a post on X, Erdan wrote, “the Secretary-General’s call for a ceasefire is actually a call to keep Hamas’ reign of terror in Gaza.”
Head of the World Food Programme has warned that “Everyone in Gaza is hungry,” while the director-general of the W.H.O. cautioned that “Gaza’s health system is on its knees and near total collapse.” The comments came following the U.N.’s calls for a humanitarian ceasefire. NBC News reports.
Israel maintains that Hamas has a stronghold in Jabalia refugee camp and claimed the IDF captured a main Hamas outpost in the area, as well as locating tunnels and weaponry used by Hamas. Hundreds of IDF tanks are surrounding the densely populated refugee camp in north Gaza and hundreds of tank shells are reported to have hit the region. The Hamas-run local authority said about 100,000 people are still in the camp without a functioning hospital. No aid has reached north Gaza since the fighting pause collapsed last week. BBC News reports.
The IDF said this morning that its “troops killed Hamas terrorists and struck dozens of terror targets” during operations in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip over the past day. “IDF troops engaged with a terrorist cell that exited from a
tunnel shaft, killed two terrorists in combat and struck the shaft,” the IDF said. Morgan Winsor reports for ABC News.
An airstrike hit Rafah last night, a region specified by Israel as an area to relocate to as they urged civilians to leave southern Gaza. The strike came soon after the U.N. expressed alarm at the conditions there, including how over-crowded it was and that displaced people were sleeping on the street. “Under international humanitarian law, the place where you evacuate people to must, by law, have sufficient resources for their survival — medical facilities, food and water,” said James Elder, a spokesperson for the United Nations Children’s Fund. He added that instead, these regions are “patches of barren land” where “thousands of people are building tents made of wood and plastic.” Military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a post on X that Gazans heading north should instead use the main coastal road, although it is unclear whether many people would do so given the bombardment. Liam Stack reports for the New York Times.
The Hamas-run health ministry said that 73 bodies and 123 injured people were brought to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir al Balah in the past 24 hours. The circumstances of the deaths and injuries are unknown and the health ministry did not elaborate. Shashank Bengali reports for the New York Times.
The IDF released a photo allegedly showing 11 senior Hamas leaders in a tunnel beneath Gaza and said it has killed five of them. It said among those killed was the head of Hamas’ aerial division, two battalion commanders, a brigade commander, and a deputy brigade commander. The military wing of Hamas, the Qassam Brigades, confirmed last month that at least three of the men in the picture had been killed, including the northern Gaza military leader, his deputy, and a battalion commander. Adam Goldman reports for the New York Times.
US RESPONSE
An investigation released Tuesday by Amnesty International alleges that a U.S.-made weapons guidance system was used in two Israeli airstrikes in Gaza that
reportedly killed 43 civilians, in what “should be an urgent wake-up call to the Biden administration.” Fragments of the U.S.-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions system were found in the rubble in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. The report is one of the first attempts tying an American made weapon to a fatal attack in Gaza. Amnesty International said it used weapon experts and a “remote sensing analyst” who examined satellite imagery and photos which show the “fragments of ordnance recovered from the rubble.” The report claims as a result of two attacks, 19 children, 14 women, and 10 men were killed. The report “did not find any indication that there were military objectives at the sites” of the airstrikes, but said “these air strikes were either direct attacks on civilians or civilian objects or indiscriminate attacks.” The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) labeled the report “flawed, biased and premature, based on baseless assumptions regarding the IDF’s operations.” The U.S. State Department said it is reviewing the report. CNN reports.
Israel has rejected requests raised “in every meeting” by the Biden administration to open the Kerem Shalom crossing to “enable a surge of humanitarian assistance” to more Palestinians, according to three senior U.S. officials. The Kerem Shalom crossing, located at the intersection of Gaza, Egypt, and Israel, is a key throughway that Israel has kept closed over political and military concerns, a senior official said. The U.N. and aid agencies have repeatedly urged Israel to open the crossing, but the U.S. effort has not been openly reported. The Rafah crossing is the only throughway into and out of Gaza currently, but that route is ill-equipped to deal with a large influx of aid vehicles. The Israeli government’s office responsible for coordinating aid deliveries to Gaza has publicly blamed the U.N. for failing to do more to increase truck deliveries, while the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development said last week that only a third of U.N.
provisions have reached Gaza. Alexander Ward and Erin Banco report for POLITICO.
The US would object to any proposed buffer zone inside the Gaza Strip as it would be “violation” of one of Washington’s guiding principles to ensure no
reduction in the enclave’s territory, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said yesterday. “If it’s with respect to something within Israeli territory I won’t speak to that — that’s a decision for the Israelis to make,” Miller said during a daily press conference, adding there would have to be a transition period post-major combat operations to avoid a “security vacuum.” Humeyra Pamuk and Simon Lewis report for Reuters.
The Justice Department said yesterday it was investigating “the murder of more than 30 Americans” and the abduction of U.S. citizens by Hamas fighters during the Oct. 7 attacks. “Hamas murdered more than 30 Americans and kidnapped more” Attorney General Merrick Garland said, adding that “we are investigating those heinous crimes, and we will hold those people accountable.” No further details were provided and it is unclear which laws would be used to prosecute those involved in the attack. A senior enforcement official said the alleged perpetrators could be indicted on antiterrorism laws or under the war crime statute. Glenn Thrush reports for the New York Times.
US: We’re opposed to a buffer zone in Gaza
The United States is opposed to the creation of any buffer zone in Gaza, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington. “There must be no reduction in the size of Gaza and that remains our position and it will remain our position,” Miller said. Miller clarified that “Any proposed buffer zone that was inside Gaza, that would be a violation of that principle and its something that we oppose,” he said. He spoke with reporters about the Biden administration’s vision concerning Gaza’s future once Israel’s military campaign to oust Hamas from that enclave is complete. “We understand that there will have to be some kind of transition period” to prevent a security vacuum, but in the end, control of the territory must be in the hands of the Palestinians, he said. But for that to happen, there “would need to be an increase in the capability of the Palestinian Authority security forces,” he said.
Saudi Arabia urges US restraint as Houthis attack ships in Red Sea
Saudi Arabia has asked the US to show restraint in responding to attacks by Yemen’s Houthis against ships in the Red Sea, two sources familiar with Saudi thinking said, as
Riyadh seeks to contain spillover from the Hamas-Israel war. The Iran-aligned Houthis have waded into the conflict that has spread around the Middle East since war erupted on Oct. 7, attacking vessels in vital shipping lanes and firing drones and missiles at Israel itself. The group which rules much of Yemen says its attacks are a show of support for the Palestinians and has vowed they will continue until Israel stops its offensive on the Gaza Strip – more than 1,000 miles from their seat of power in Sanaa. The Houthis are one of several groups in the Iran-aligned “Axis of Resistance” which have been attacking Israeli and US targets since the start of the conflict on Oct. 7, when their Palestinian ally Hamas sparked the war by attacking Israel. The sources said Saudi Arabia was seeking to advance the Yemen peace process even as war rages in Gaza, worrying it could be derailed. Yemen has enjoyed more than a year of relative calm amid direct peace talks between Saudi and Houthi officials. The Houthis have emerged as a major military force in the Arabian Peninsula, with tens of thousands of fighters and a huge arsenal of ballistic missiles and armed drones.
U.S.-EU CONTENT MODERATION DIVIDE CRYSTALLIZES WITH HAMAS-ISRAEL CONFLICT
Bottom Line Up Front:
* The onslaught of disinformation related to the Hamas-Israel conflict has highlighted the distinct approaches of the European Union (EU) and the United States regarding content moderation on social media platforms.
* The EU’s landmark Digital Services Act, which came into force for major online platforms in August, may aid the European Commission in combatting disinformation related to the conflict by keeping platforms accountable for illegal and harmful content.
* The U.S. tradition of affording greater protections to free speech has manifested with less stringent content moderation compared to Europe amid the uptick in conflict-related mis- and disinformation.
* While they attempt to shield their own populations from foreign information operations, China and Russia are accused of actively sowing division in the Middle East conflict with Western audiences.
IRAN-BACKED MILITANTS
Senior Biden administration officials said that striking the Iran-backed Yemen Houthis is the wrong course of action, despite military officers proposing more forceful responses to the attacks in the Red Sea. The attack on Sunday drew a U.S. Navy warship into a firefight, but intelligence officials have not determined that its
warship was the target due to the imprecise Houthi missiles. Officials believe the Houthis were instead attempting to target assets with Israeli ties. Just yesterday, the
USS Mason shot down another drone launched by the Houthis in the Red Sea,
according to a U.S. military official. No damage or injury has been reported to equipment or personnel. A State Department spokesperson said, “in light of the recent targeting of civilians by
the Houthis and its piracy in international waters, we have begun a review of potential sanctions.” Lara Seligman and Alexander Ward report for POLITICO.
Saudi Arabia has asked the US to show restraint in responding to Houthi attacks, according to two sources familiar with Saudi thinking. The Houthis have said its attacks are a show of support for the Palestinians, and a senior source said Houthi representatives had discussed their attacks with Iranian officials in a meeting in November, where it was agreed they would carry out actions in a “controlled way” to help bring an end to the Gaza war. The two Saudi-familiar said Riyadh’s message of restraint to Washington was aimed at preventing rising escalation. The sources
added that Riyadh is pleased with the way the US is dealing with the situation. Both the White House and the Saudi government declined to comment. Aziz El Yaakoubi and Parisa Hafezi report for Reuters.