War between Israel and Hamas entered on Friday, December 15 its 70th day since the bloody and unprecedented attack that the Palestinian Islamist movement launched against Israel on October 7 from the Gaza Strip.
According to Israel, 1,139 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the attack and around 250 kidnapped and taken to Gaza. A total of 132 hostages remain in Gaza, including bodies, according to the army. Around 100 people were released as part of a truce at the end of November in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners incarcerated by Israel.
The Gaza Ministry of Health reported on Thursday that 18,800 people have been killed in the Israeli bombardments, most of them women, children and teenagers.
The Israeli army announced the death of three soldiers, bringing to 119 the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the start of its ground offensive on October 27.
Here are the latest developments:
‘Temporary’ Entry of Aid From Israel
Israel announced on Friday that it had “temporarily” approved the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip via one of its crossing points, Kerem Shalom, to relieve congestion at the Rafah crossing between the Palestinian territory and Egypt.
While welcoming this announcement, the World Health Organization (WHO) called for aid to be able to “go everywhere,” “not just to the south of Gaza but also to the north.”
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Israeli Settlers in Western Sights
The European Union, Australia, Canada, Norway, the United Kingdom and Switzerland on Friday urged Israel to “take concrete steps to stop the unprecedented violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.”
Strongly condemning “the violence committed by extremist settlers who are terrorizing Palestinian communities,” the foreign ministries denounced “Israel’s failure to protect Palestinians” and called on it to bring to justice those responsible for the violence, according to a joint statement issued by the French ministry.
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‘Not Fair’ to Occupy Gaza After the War
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in Tel Aviv that it would be “not fair” for Israel to occupy the besieged Palestinian territory after the war against Hamas.
“We don’t think it makes sense for Israel, or that it would be fair for Israel to occupy Gaza, to reoccupy Gaza in the long term,” he said at a press briefing after meeting Israeli officials.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that any attempt to “separate” and “isolate” the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian state was “unacceptable,” according to a statement issued after his meeting with Sullivan.
For his part, Prince Faisal bin Salman Al Saud, the Saudi Foreign Minister, announced on Friday that “the Palestinian Authority is capable of managing Gaza.”
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Al Jazeera Journalist Killed
An Al Jazeera journalist, Samer Abu Daqa, was killed and another, Wael Dahdouh, was injured in an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip, the Qatari channel reported. More than 60 journalists and media workers have died since the start of the war, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
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Attacks in the Red Sea
Danish shipping giant Maersk has ordered its ships not to pass through the strategic Bab el-Mandeb strait “until further notice,” after new attacks by the Houthis in response to the war in Gaza.
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Hostages Killed ‘By Mistake’
The Israeli army said its troops shot and killed three hostages on Friday after “mistakenly” identifying them as a threat.
“During combat in Shejaiya (a battleground neighbourhood of Gaza City), the IDF (army) mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat. As a result, the troops fired toward them and they were killed,” the army said in a statement.
Malo Pinatel, with AFP
