Right here’s how issues stand on Sunday, December 24, 2023:
The newest developments
- The USA mentioned 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 mentioned it downed a number of 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 have been hit.
- Professional-Palestinian marches continued in cities the world over, 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, mentioned Israel has failed in its said objective of “destroying” the group, and that it must cease the conflict if it needs the captives launched.
Human affect and preventing
- Hundreds of Palestinians have been once more compelled to flee their houses, this time after the Israeli navy issued new evacuation orders within the central Gaza Strip. Since a United Nations Safety Council decision was handed on Friday and not using a clear name for a ceasefire, there was a surge in aerial bombardments in central Gaza.
- Israeli air raids killed greater than 400 individuals in Gaza previously 48 hours. Gaza’s Authorities Media Workplace mentioned 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 practically 1,140, revised from 1,400.
- At the least 101 journalists have been killed since October 7, in accordance with the Authorities Media Workplace, which additionally mentioned greater than 50 media places of work 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 mentioned it continues to function at its medical level in Jabalia, northern Gaza, regardless of incessant shelling of the realm. UN Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres additionally mentioned on X: “Because the battle intensifies and the horror grows, we’ll proceed to do our half. We is not going to quit.”
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 conflict cupboard, visited northern Gaza and promised that extra assaults could be forthcoming regardless of worldwide stress for an instantaneous ceasefire.
- US President Joe Biden had a “personal” cellphone dialog with Netanyahu. He informed reporters after that he “didn’t ask for a ceasefire”.
- Agnes Callamard, secretary-general of Amnesty Worldwide, mentioned the UNSC decision for humanitarian reduction would solely end in a “drop within the ocean of struggling” in Gaza. She mentioned the White Home “holds the important thing” for placing an finish to the carnage.
- Throughout a gathering in Doha, Qatari Prime Minister and Overseas Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Jordanian Overseas Minister Ayman Safadi mentioned the conflict in Gaza and known as for an finish to Israeli assaults.
- The top of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, is about to provide his third speech for the reason that begin of the conflict within the coming days to mark the January 3 assassination of Iran’s high common, Qassem Soleimani, by the US.
