Israel-Hamas war updates from Dec 20: Hamas government says Gaza war death toll hits 20,000

The Hamas government's media office in the Gaza Strip said Wednesday at least 20,000 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since the war with Israel began.

Some 8,000 children and 6,200 women were among the dead, it said, as the conflict continued to rage more than two months after it broke out on October 7.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced hope Wednesday for a positive outcome on a UN Security Council resolution on the Israel-Hamas war after previous US vetoes.

"We've been working this intensely," Blinken told reporters. "I hope we can get to a good place."

According to reports, US is seeking another delay in UN Security Council vote on suspension of war between Israel and Hamas. 

“They are trying to avoid it [another veto] if at all possible,” one diplomat was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

The White House on Wednesday said the negotiations to secure another deal between the two parties remain "very serious". 

"These are very serious discussions and negotiations and we hope that they lead somewhere," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur took to X and urged US President Joe Biden to intervene and push for ceasefire in the region. 

“Every additional day the international community doesn’t act to stop Israel’s extermination campaign is another nail in the coffin of humanity and the international law-based order," she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

Amid reports that another truce deal was in the works, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said there will be no ceasefire in Gaza until the "elimination" of Hamas. 

"We won't stop fighting until we've achieved all the objectives we've set ourselves: the elimination of Hamas, the release of our hostages and the end of the threat from Gaza," said Netanyahu, per AFP. 

"Anyone who thinks we’ll stop is unmoored from reality. We’re raining fire on Hamas, hell fire. All Hamas terrorists, from first to last face death. They have two options only: surrender or die."

According to a report in Guardian, Hamas and Israel envoys are discussing which hostages should be freed in new truce. Israel insists remaining women and infirm men among hostages be released while Hamas said Palestinians convicted of serious offences should be the first to be released. 

Disturbing videos show intense airstrikes in Jabalya, northern Gaza, resulting in at least 46 reported casualties, as confirmed by the Hamas-run health ministry. The area is marred by thick smoke, widespread destruction, and ongoing rescue efforts. 

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir  asked Israel’s National Security Adviser Tzahi Hanegbi to freeze the decision of allowing around 8,000 Palestinian labourers to work in the West Bank settlements. 

“Allowing Palestinian laborers from the terror-supporting Palestinian Authority into the State of Israel endangers citizens’ lives and opens the door for a repeat of the events of October 7,” said Ben Gvir.

“The blood of the residents of Judea and Samaria is not worth less than that of other Israeli citizens… I request that the entry of these workers be halted immediately, and the security cabinet be convened urgently to discuss the issue," he added. 

The skies of Israel remained unusually calm as not a single rocket was launched in the last 17.5 hours. 

This is a rare respite from the constant sirens which get triggered from drone and rocket launches from Gaza and Lebanon. 

The period of silence came as Hamas leaders reached Egypt to discuss a possible pause in the war.

As the war goes on, children in Gaza are facing the worst of it. The food shortage has hit them hard among other adversities.

"I've been begging to feed my children and don't find anything. I go to Social Affairs, they say go to the mosque. I go to the mosque, they say go to the Affairs," said Tahany Nahr a mother who has take refuge in a camp Rafah. She was quoted by Reuters.

United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) has said that it has sent its maiden aid convoy to Gaza. The agency said that the convoy was sent from Jordan to Gaza.

Israeli army has said that a Palestinian man who was shot dead in West Bank was attempting a ramming attack against Israeli soldiers. The death of 28-year-old Basil Wajiya Abd al-Afo al-Muhtaseb has been confirmed by Palestinian Health Ministry.
 

Israeli forces struck 300 Hamas targets in Gaza in the last 24 hours, including air and naval strikes, and face to face battles, the Israel Defence Forces said on Wednesday morning. Dozens of terrorists were killed, the IDF added.

The director-general of the Ministry of Health in Gaza said in a post on X, 46 bodies and 110 injured people have been brought to Jabalia Medical Centre since the morning in northern Gaza.

Dozens were still trapped under the rubble of buildings bombed by Israeli forces, according to an official quoted as saying by Al Jazeera.

With Iran-backed Houthis staging attacks on more than a dozen ships in the Red Sea, Greece has advised commercial vessels sailing in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to avoid Yemeni waters.

The Shipping Ministry advisory was issued on Saturday, as recent attacks by Houthi rebels have forced leading shipping companies to reroute via the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the Suez Canal, the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

Peter Rademaker, deputy regional director for Arab states at the International Labour Organization (ILO), was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera that Palestinians in Gaza “will be in poverty for many months and years to come” because of Israel’s war on the enclave.

“The labour market was already very depressed in the occupied West Bank and Gaza even before the war. In Gaza, unemployment was sky-high because of years of the blockade. So, we started from a very difficult situation,” he was quoted as saying.

Malaysia on Wednesday (Dec 20) imposed a ban on Israeli-flagged cargo ships from docking at its ports in response to the ongoing war in Gaza.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim himself announced the decision, singling out ZIM, Israel’s largest shipping firm.

The PM added that the ships on their way to Israel will also be barred from loading cargo at the Malaysian ports.

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Qatari Egyptian officials are currently mediating talks for a possible second Gaza truce under which Hamas would return some hostages in exchange for Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters.

Israel is insisting that women and infirm male hostages be included, the Reuters source said.

News agency AFP is reporting that Haniyeh arrived in Cairo for negotiations over a ceasefire with Israel and a prisoner exchange.

Haniyeh arrived "in the Egyptian capital Cairo to hold negotiations with Egyptian officials over the developments of the Zionist (Israeli) aggression on the Gaza Strip and other matters", Hamas said. 

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh arrived in Cairo on Wednesday to hold talks with Egyptian officials, mainly on developments in the war with Israel in the Gaza Strip, according to a Hamas statement. 

Israel appears to be nearing the final stages of its operation in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

The US-based think tank said Israel had degraded Hamas’s north Gaza brigade.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced earlier that it had completely “dismantled” Hamas’s three battalions operating in Jabaliya, just north of Gaza City.

It said in its update with the Critical Threats Project that about 500 suspected Palestinians fighters had surrendered to Israeli forces in the Jabaliya refugee camp

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says 100 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes across the territory on Tuesday, reports BBC.

Pictures from Deir-al-Balah, a city in Central Gaza, show stunned Palestinians covered in dust and rubble

Malaysia has announced it will ban any ships from the Israeli shipping company ZIM from docking at its ports effective immediately.

The South-East Asian country said this was a direct response to Israel's actions in Gaza.

"This restriction is a response to Israel's actions that violate basic humanitarian principles and international laws," said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

As many as 127 humanitarian aid trucks were inspected and transferred to the Gaza Strip on Tuesday (Dec 19), according to Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), media reports said. 

UNICEF has termed Gaza Strip as "the most dangerous place in the world to be a child."

"I am furious that those with power shrug as this humanitarian nightmare is unleashed on a million children," James Elder, UNICEF spokesman, reportedly said Tuesday (Dec 19) in Geneva.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's office said that the immediate ban on ZIM shipping company is in response to Israel’s actions against Palestinians in Gaza, media reports said. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said two reservists were moderately wounded in a missile attack against an army post near Israel's northern community.

The Israeli army said that the Iron Dome intercepted six rockets fired from Lebanon in northern Israel's Yiftah area. Subsequently, an aircraft struck the launcher and cell behind the rocket attack. 

They also said that an airstrike was carried out against a Hezbollah site in southern Lebanon in response to the attack.

United States President Joe Biden, while political event said that Israel is dealing with unique challenges amid its ongoing war but must distinguish between Hamas and Palestinians. 

Israel had to work to "minimise civilian deaths" as the death toll in Gaza, according to Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry approaches 20,000-mark since October 7. 

Israel "faced a burden that few… countries have to face… a military enemy that says they have one goal: the elimination, the elimination – using terror – of the entire State of Israel," said the US president. 

He added, "Hamas has no regard — none whatsoever — for whether those students or those civilians live or die. They faced additional burdens, too: Hamas is holding a significant number of hostages, including American hostage."

However, despite these "added burdens" Biden urged Israel to distinguish between Hamas and Palestinian civilians and work to minimise non-combatant deaths.

The US president also said that they are discussing with Israel and Arab states the future formation of a Palestinian state with "Israel’s security guaranteed". 

A group of countries led by the United States, including the members of NATO and the European Union released a joint statement condemning the repeated attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. They also warned how these attacks "threaten international commerce and maritime security." 

"The Houthi-led seizure of the Galaxy Leader on November 19 and the detention of its 25-member international crew — who remain unjustly detained — is appalling. Such behavior also threatens the movement of food, fuel, humanitarian assistance, and other essential commodities to destinations and populations all over the world," said the statement. 

It added, "The undersigned further encourage all states to refrain from facilitation or encouragement of the Houthis. There is no justification for these attacks, which affect many countries beyond the flags these ships sail under."

It also calls for Houthis to immediately release the Galaxy Leader’s crew and stop attacking ships.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh is set to visit Egypt on Wednesday for talks on a ceasefire in Gaza and a prisoner exchange with Israel, reported AFP citing a close to the Palestinian militant group. 

Haniyeh, based in Qatar, will head a "high-level" Hamas delegation to Egypt, where he is due to hold talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel and others, the source told AFP on Tuesday.

The discussions will be "on stopping the aggression and the war to prepare an agreement for the release of prisoners (and) the end of the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorised to talk about the visit.

According to the Hamas source, the talks in Egypt will focus on "the delivery of humanitarian aid, the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip and the return of displaced persons to their towns and villages in the north".