Israel-Hamas war: Lebanese mayor killed by Israeli strike

IfNotNow condemned the Biden administration for invoking an "emergency" to circumvent regular weapon sales protocols, which typically involve legislative oversight, to supply Israel with almost 14,000 tank shells.

“On Friday the Biden administration legally declared an emergency in Gaza,” the youth-led American Jewish group said in a social media post.

As many as 61 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza via the Rafah crossing on Monday. Off the 61 trucks, three were loaded with fuel and two carried cooking gas.

A new report published by the World Food Programme (WFP) has revealed that 91 per cent of households in Gaza reported going to bed hungry while 63 per cent reported enduring entire days without food. 

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A group of protesters calling for a new ceasefire in Gaza were arrested outside the Capitol Hill in Washington DC, reported news agency Reuters.

Reflecting on the appalling conditions in Gaza, World Health Organization Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: "Gaza’s health system is on its knees and collapsing."

About 1.9 million people have been displaced in Gaza, where health officials say the death toll has now surpassed 18,000.

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) chief Philippe Lazzarini said the agency feels abandoned in Gaza after the US vetoed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire. 

“It's beyond disappointment. They feel abandoned by the international community,” Lazzarini told CNN. 

“They still cannot understand why, after 17,000 people have been killed, after the almost entire population has been displaced, we still cannot agree on a ceasefire.”

According to Lebanese news agency, Hussein Mansour, the mayor of the village of Taybeh in south Lebanon has been killed by an Israeli strike on Monday.

Released after 54 days in captivity by Hamas last month, 21-year-old Mia Schem has got a new tattoo that reads, "We will dance again", as a sign of defiance against the terror outfit. 

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Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister has demanded release of hostages held in Gaza. He made the demand during conversations with Palestinian factions during telephone calls on Sunday and Monday.

Russian foreign ministry said that the deputy foreign minister's conversations highlighted military and humanitarian situation in Gaza, where Russia "confirmed its principled position on the need to cease hostilities and urgently resolve all humanitarian problems that have arisen, including the release of hostages".

Ambassadors of the United Nations Security council were due to visit the Rafah crossing after their arrival in Egypt on Monday. Their visit has come days after United States' veto on UNSC resolution for ceasefire in Gaza. The informal visit of the envoys has been organised by the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

Injured Gazans were brought to the Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip as fighting between Israel and Hamas intensified across the enclave on Monday (December 11).
Ambulances delivered casualties to the hospital in the major city of Khan Younis and medical crews rushed to treat the injured as residents said bombardment struck near a house in central Khan Younis.
Since the breakdown of a week-long ceasefire, Israel launched a ground offensive in the south last week and has since pushed from the east into the heart of Khan Younis, with warplanes attacking an area to the west.

In Gaza's southernmost town of Rafah, people on Monday were seen searching through the rubble of a building levelled by an Israeli strike overnight, others mourning their dead at a hospital.
As Israeli forces continue to battle Palestinian militants, civilians are still sheltering along the front lines even after massive waves of displacement across the besieged territory.

Iran says vetoing a United Nations resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza shows Washington's "full complicity" in Israel's strikes against Gaza, calling them "regrettable crimes."
Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for the country's foreign ministry, said during a regularly scheduled briefing in Tehran, the United States government had "demonstrated its full-fledged solidarity with the Zionist regime."
The U.S vetoed the U.N resolution Friday backed by almost all other Security Council members and dozens of other nations.

Flares fell over Gaza before dawn on Monday (December 11) as Israel sought to push further west in their battle against Hamas in and around Khan Younis, the southern Gaza Strip's main city.
The fighting in Khan Younis comes as Israel refocuses its more than two month war effort to the south after pounding northern Gaza and driving the majority of the Palestinian enclave's 2.3 million people from their homes.

Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem went on general strike on Monday (December 11) where commercial shops, educational facilities were closed and streets were empty in solidarity with Gaza.

Video obtained by Reuters showed displaced Gazans in Jabalia refugee camp running away from smoke bombs on Sunday (December 10).

Residents said the smoke bombs were being used by Israel to force them out of their shelters.

Smoke billowed from tents as residents moved through the camp with hands covering their mouths.

Israeli tanks on Monday (December 11) sought to push further west in their battle against Hamas in and around Khan Younis, the southern Gaza Strip's main city, as U.N. officials reiterated calls for a ceasefire to avert a humanitarian catastrophe.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said Monday that Israeli jets had launched several attacks in the morning near the vicinity of al-Amal Hospital in southern Gaza.

“Occupation forces continued artillery shelling… in the northern areas of the association’s headquarters, which shelters 13,000 displaced people,” it said in a post on X.

(Photo credit: AFP)

(Photo credit: AFP)

(Photo credit: Reuters)

Israeli strikes overnight near Damascus killed two Hezbollah terrorists and two Syrians working with the Lebanese group, a war monitor report said Monday.

"Two Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and two Syrian guards" working at one of the Iran-backed movement's sites were killed, while three other fighters and three civilians were wounded, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

(With inputs from agencies)

A former Hamas leader has criticised the current leadership, including Yahya Sinwar, of instigating the war with Israel and piling miseries on the poor Gazans.

Yousef al-Mansi, former top leader, described the situation as being caused by "a group of madmen" led by Sinwar, who he says has "delusions of grandeur." He emphasised that Sinwar and his group have set back Gaza by 200 years and that their actions are not supported by the civilians in Gaza.

Israel carried out air strikes near Syria's capital Damascus late Sunday, Syrian state news agency SANA said. "At around 23:05 (2105 GMT) the Israeli enemy carried out an air assault... targeting various points on the outskirts of Damascus," a security source told the agency. "Our anti-aircraft defences shot down some missiles while others caused limited material damage." 

(With inputs from agencies)

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh visited Gazans receiving medical treatment at a hospital in Qatar.

During his visit to the Doha hospital, Shtayyeh engaged with and spoke to individuals from Gaza who were undergoing treatment. The visit took place as the Palestinian prime minister visited Qatar to participate in the Doha Forum conference. 

In a statement during the conference, Shtayyeh asserted that the United States should also be held accountable for Israeli attacks on Gaza. As reported by the Qatar News Agency, he also emphasised that Israel must face sanctions if it continues violating international law and humanitarian resolutions.

Christmas is cancelled in Bethlehem. Palestinians in the biblical place of Jesus Christ's birth have this year decided to forego Christmas celebration in solidarity with the Gazan plight as the Israel-Hamas war drags on even after weeks.

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Gazans were seen fleeing to Rafah on Sunday to seek refuge as the Israeli offensive in the southern Gaza Strip intensified.

On the way to Rafah, numerous traces left by missiles fired from Israeli warplanes were seen everywhere, a report by the news agency Reuters said.

The Israeli army said on Monday that 101 soldiers were killed since the conflict started on Oct 7. The death toll climbed to 101 after three more soldiers died, the news agency AFP reported. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) called for urgent humanitarian aid in war-torn Gaza. 

On Sunday, the WHO's Executive Board adopted a resolution which called for "immediate, sustained and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief, including the access of medical personnel, humanitarian equipment, transport vehicles and supplies to enter the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly the Gaza Strip, and to issue exit permits to patients who need medical treatment outside the Gaza Strip."

Israel continued its offensive in southern Gaza on Monday after Hamas warned no Israeli hostages would leave the territory alive unless its demands for prisoner releases were met.

According to a report by the news agency AFP, Israeli strikes on Monday hit the city of Khan Yunis.

On the other hand, Palestinian militants Islamic Jihad said they had blown up a house where Israeli soldiers were searching for a tunnel shaft.

Israel carried out air strikes near Syrian capital Damascus late Sunday reported the country's state news agency SANA citing a security source. 

"At around 23:05 (local time) the Israeli enemy carried out an air assault... targeting various points on the outskirts of Damascus," said the report. 

It added, "Our anti-aircraft defences shot down some missiles while others caused limited material damage."

Meanwhile, AFP reported strong explosions in the suburbs of Damascus, which have been previously targeted by strikes that Syrian authorities have blamed on Israel.

The missiles were reportedly fired from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. 

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has set up a covert team of top allies and representatives from the country's defence department to discuss post-war plans for Gaza, reported the Israeli media. 

According to the reports, the team is led by National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and will include officials from the Israeli army, Mossad and Shin Bet.

Israeli Ambassador to the US Mike Herzog has also been reportedly participated in the meetings. The team has already met four times and is expected to meet again this week.

United States National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will visit Israel at the end of the week, said a report by Times of Israel citing an American and an Israeli official. 

According to the US official, as per ToI, at the top of Sullivan’s agenda will be pushing for an increase in humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has fallen significantly since a truce ended between Israel and Hamas. 

Sullivan will also be raising ongoing US concerns regarding civilian casualties in Gaza, the US official told the Israeli media. 

Israeli official who confirmed Sullivan’s visit told the media outlet that a senior US delegation to be in the country on a near weekly basis for the time being as the war in Gaza remains at the top of Washington’s foreign policy agenda.

The 193-member United Nations General Assembly is likely to vote Tuesday on a draft resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip, diplomats said on Sunday.

The move comes after the US vetoed on Friday a UN Security Council demand for immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

The General Assembly in October adopted a resolution - 121 votes in favor, 14 against and 44 abstentions - calling for "an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities."

Source: Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Hamas to lay down their arms, saying the Palestinian militant group's end is near. 

"The war is still ongoing but it is the beginning of the end of Hamas. I say to the Hamas terrorists: It's over. Don't die for (Yahya) Sinwar. Surrender now," said the Israeli PM in a statement, referring to the chief of Hamas in Gaza. 

"In the past few days, dozens of Hamas terrorists have surrendered to our forces," Netanyahu claimed. However, the Israeli forces have not released any proof of militants surrendering while Hamas has rejected the claims.