Live blog: Palestine says US must 'walk the walk' on two-state solution

Thursday, December 14, 2023

2112 GMT — The Palestinian prime minister has said in an interview that the Biden administration must now "walk the walk" and take specific steps toward what has been an elusive two-state solution, including by applying pressure on Israel.

Mohammed Shtayyeh spoke to The Associated Press as US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met in Tel Aviv with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant to discuss the course of the Israel-Hamas war, now in its third month.

"Now that the United States has talked the talk, we want Washington to walk the walk, meaning that we need specific measures to implement the two-state solution, not only believe in the two-state solution," Shtayyeh said in an AP interview.

The United States is publicly disagreeing with its close ally on a post-war scenario but has shielded Israel against every growing international call for an immediate ceasefire.

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2051 GMT — Biden urges Israel to 'be more careful' in Gaza invasion

President Joe Biden has urged Israel to take more care to protect civilians in besieged Gaza, after the White House pushed Israel to scale down its war in the near future.

"I want them to be focused on how to save civilian lives — not stop going after Hamas, but be more careful," Biden told reporters after an event at a medical research centre near Washington.

2047 GMT — Top Biden adviser to meet Palestinians' Abbas

US President Joe Biden's national security adviser will visit Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, according to a US official.

The official said that the adviser, Jake Sullivan, would discuss revamping the Palestinian Authority and holding "extremist" Jewish settlers accountable for violence against Palestinians in occupied West Bank.

Palestinians are seeing a rise in illegal settler attacks in the occupied West Bank, where there is no Hamas presence, since October 7. Israeli troops and illegal settlers have killed nearly 300 Palestinians there.

2038 GMT — Hamas says it killed 36 Israeli soldiers, destroyed 72 vehicles, in last 3 days

The Al Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing, has said it killed 36 Israeli soldiers and destroyed 72 Israeli military vehicles, either partially or entirely, in the last three days in besieged Gaza.

The announcement came in a statement from spokesperson Abu Ubaida published on Telegram that said the group also inflicted "injuries on dozens of other Israeli soldiers."

It coincides with the escalation of fighting on various fronts from the north to the south regions of the enclave.

"Fighters also managed to seize equipment and belongings from some Israeli soldiers after targeting and engaging them at point-blank range. Sniper operations were conducted against Israeli soldiers as well," it said.

"Al Qassam militants targeted Israeli field command headquarters, bombarded military gatherings with mortar shells and short-range missiles across all combat zones, and launched a rocket barrage towards various targets," it added.

2017 GMT — UN agency says Rafah not suitable to host over 1M displaced

The southern Gaza's city of Rafah is "not the place to host" over 1 million displaced Gazans as it lacks infrastructure, the head of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees [UNRWA] said.

Noting that he just returned from his third Gaza visit since October 7, Philippe Lazzarini said in a press conference on the sidelines of the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva: "Every time I go back, I think it cannot get worse. But every time I witness more misery, more grief and sadness I have the feeling that Gaza is not really a habitable place anymore."

Lazzarini said he stayed in Rafah, which became the "epicentre of the displacement" of Gazans.

"Rafah has quadrupled its number of people overnight," he said, adding: "It is traditionally a place where the poorest in the Gaza Strip used to live, lacking the infrastructure and the basics. I’m saying this because it is not the place to host more than 1 million people, and certainly not the entire Gaza Strip."

To explain the overcrowding in Rafah, which borders Egypt, he said he visited a UNRWA warehouse, which hosts 30,000 people, and compared to his last visit, there were "tens of thousands of people outside."

1909 GMT — US wants Gaza war to end soon, Israel says it will last 'months'

The United States wants the Israeli war in Gaza to end "as soon as possible," the White House said, after Israel's defence minister told a top US official it would last several months more.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan had also discussed Israel moving to "low-intensity operations" against Gaza "in the near future" during his visit to Tel Aviv, White House spokesman John Kirby said.

"I think we all want it to end as soon as possible," Kirby told reporters at a briefing, adding that it "could end today" if Hamas backed down but "that doesn't look likely right now."

Kirby said that Washington was "not dictating terms" to Israel and that the timeline given by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was "consistent" with what Israeli officials had previously said.

1930 GMT — Israel's flooding Gaza tunnels with saltwater could have 'severe adverse human rights impacts': UN

The UN Human Rights Office warned about Israel's flooding Gaza tunnels with saltwater and said it could lead to "severe" effects.

"Israel’s flooding of tunnels with saltwater could have severe adverse human rights impacts, some long term," it wrote on X.

"Goods indispensable to civilian survival could also be at risk, as well as widespread, long-term and severe environmental damage," it warned.

1911 GMT — Israel parliament passes new wartime budget

The Israeli parliament passed an amended 2023 budget with new funds for the war in Gaza, following a bitter debate over money for settlements and ultra-Orthodox communities.

The additional fiscal measures, which total around 30 billion shekels ($8 billion), passed with 59 votes in favour and 44 against in the 120-seat parliament.

Of the additional funds, 17 billion shekels are earmarked for supporting Israel's war effort.

The remaining 13.5 billion shekels will support civilians impacted by the conflict.

1511 GMT — War will last 'months', says Israeli defence minister

Israel's defence minister has warned that their war on Gaza would last "more than several months" as he met a top US official amid a rift between the allies over mounting civilian casualties.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan arrived in Tel Aviv and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

In their meeting, Gallant warned that Israel's war "will require a period of time - it will last more than several months, but we will win and we will destroy them".

Ahead of his trip, Sullivan had told a Wall Street Journal event he would discuss a timetable to end the war and urge Israeli leaders "to move to a different phase from the kind of high-intensity operations that we see today".

1744 GMT — UN: Desecration of religious sites should not be tolerated

Religious sites need to be respected, said the UN on Thursday after footage on social media showed Israeli soldiers performing Jewish rituals inside a mosque in the West Bank city of Jenin.

"The desecration of religious sites should not be tolerated. And so that is against common decency, to say the least," spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. "Religious sites nee d to be respected and cannot be perverted in one way or another".

1726 GMT — UK: Israeli ambassador's statement 'disappointing'

The UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said he found the Israeli ambassador's statement ruling out a two-state solution "disappointing."

Tzipi Hotovely, Israel's ambassador to the UK, told Sky News Israel would not accept a two-state solution when the war in Gaza ends.

Questioned for the first time as foreign secretary in front of a Lords committee, Cameron was asked whether he thinks she was speaking under instruction from her government.

1726 GMT — UN warns of 'breakdown of civil order' in Gaza

Hunger and desperation are driving people to seize humanitarian aid being delivered to Gaza, the United Nations said, warning of a "breakdown of civil order".

"Everywhere you go people are desperate, hungry and are terrified," said Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), at a press conference in Geneva.

"We are teetering on the edge of a possible implosion. We might reach our limit. Why? Because there is more and more a breakdown of civil order."

1720 GMT — Israeli army hits mosque, homes in southern Lebanon

The Israeli army struck several targets in southern Lebanon, including a mosque and homes in areas across the border.

According to the official Lebanese National News Agency (NNA), the Israeli army artillery struck the mosque of Al Jabain town with phosphorus shells.

It also reported that at least one house was struck by an Israeli drone in Aita al Shaab town and another one in Mays al Jabal town.

1719 GMT — Telecommunications services completely cut off again across Gaza

"‏We regret to announce that all telecom services in Gaza have been lost due to the ongoing aggression," PalTel said in a statement.

"Gaza is blacked out again," added PalTel, which is the main provider of telecommunications services to Palestinians in Gaza.

It is the sixth time since Oct. 7 that telecom services across the enclave have been cut.

1513 GMT — Yemen rebels fire missile at cargo ship in Red Sea: US

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi rebels fired a missile at a cargo ship en route to Saudi Arabia but missed, a US official and a private intelligence firm said.

No one was hurt in the incident involving the Maersk Gibraltar, which was sailing from Salalah, Oman to Jeddah, said the Danish shipping giant.

"The crew and vessel is reported safe," Maersk said in a statement, adding that the company was "still working to establish the facts of the incident".

A US official said "we have indications that a missile was fired at the Maersk Gibraltar from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen, and that it hit the water and missed the ship".

1442 GMT — Top US official arrives in Israel amid public rift over Gaza

Top White House official Jake Sullivan arrived in Israel amid a public rift over civilian casualties in Gaza more than two months into the Israeli aggression on Gaza.

President Joe Biden's National Security Advisor was greeted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of talks expected to focus on Israel's military offensive in the Palestinian territory.

A photo shared by the Israeli prime minister's office showed Sullivan and Netanyahu shaking hands in Tel Aviv.

It said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that "an expanded meeting with the members of the war cabinet will be held later".

1310 GMT — Food trucks being stopped as hunger grows in Gaza — UN

The head of the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency said that hungry people were stopping its aid trucks in Gaza and that it was getting harder to provide aid to people in its shelters because of crowding outside them.

"People are stopping aid trucks, taking the food and eating it straight away," Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA commissioner-general, told journalists at a refugee event in Geneva.

"Hunger has now emerged over the last few weeks and we meet more and more people who haven't eaten for one, two or three days."

1310 GMT — 179 Palestinians killed in past 24 hours

Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says 179 Palestinians killed in past 24 hours, bringing total death toll in Gaza since October 7 to 18,787.

The ministry said 50,897 people have also been wounded in the conflict.

1244 GMT — Israel rejects UN resolution calling for ceasefire in Gaza

Israel has said Tel Aviv would not allow a ceasefire in Gaza at this time, claiming that it will only benefit the Palestinian group Hamas.

A ceasefire can only be reached after Hamas is defeated, said OfIr Gendelman, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at a press conference, while rejecting a UN resolution that asked Tel Aviv for a ceasefire.

1243GMT — Only US stands between massacre and ceasefire in Gaza: Turkish FM

Türkiye’s foreign minister blasted the US for blocking UN resolutions for a ceasefire in Gaza.

"It should no longer block any UN ceasefire resolutions," he added, referring to the widely criticized US vetoes of two UN Security Council ceasefire resolutions in October and earlier this month.

The top diplomat also criticized other Western countries for "being complicit" in Israel's attacks. "The way Western countries, which brag about their morals, are complicit in the Gaza massacre points towards the collapse of the current global system," he said.

1218 GMT — Israeli army orders evacuation of Gaza hospital in 4 hours: Health official

The Israeli army ordered the evacuation of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza in four hours, according to a Palestinian health official.

The hospital in Beit Lahia city is the only remaining health facility in the northern Gaza.

“The [Israeli] occupation has given us four hours to evacuate the hospital on claims that the facility is being used by Hamas for military purposes,” Munir Al Bursh, Director-General of Gaza’s Health Ministry, said in a statement.

1218 GMT — Israel’s Ben-Gvir shares video of soldiers performing Jewish rituals inside mosque in Jenin

“A prayer performed by our heroic soldiers in a mosque in Jenin,” Ben-Gvir wrote on his Telegram account.

The video shows an Israeli soldier reciting the Shema Yisrael prayer throughout the mosque’s loudspeaker. Another soldier is heard saying that the soldiers are inside a mosque in Jenin.

1154 GMT — Israel approves supplementary wartime budget for 2023

Israel's parliament approved adding an additional 25.9 billion shekels ($7 billion) to the national budget to help cover costs of the Gaza war, such as compensation for military reservists and emergency housing for the internally displaced.

The amendment, ratified by a vote of 59 lawmakers in favour and 45 opposed, increased the 2023 budget to 510 billion shekels ($139 billion), a Knesset spokesperson said.

Israel passed the original 2023 budget along with a 2024 budget in May.

0806 GMT — Death toll in Israel's army rises amid its Gaza invasion

Another Israeli soldier was killed in clashes with Palestinian resistance fighters in southern Gaza, the army said on Thursday.

A military statement said a soldier from the 179th Reserve Armored Brigade’s 8104th Battalion was killed when an anti-tank missile hit his tank on Wednesday.

Ten Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes with Palestinian resistance fighters in northern Gaza on Wednesday, according to the army.

0657 GMT — Israel attacks Jenin, killing several Palestinians in West Bank

Three Palestinians have been killed in an ongoing Israeli attack on the occupied West Bank city of Jenin and its refugee camp, the Palestinian health ministry has said.

A young man died from his wounds as a result of the ongoing Israeli "aggression", which raises the death toll to 11 since the operation began on Tuesday, the ministry said in a statement.

Two other Palestinians were killed overnight, it added.

The Israeli military has said its troops were operating "to expose explosive devices planted under roads to attack the security forces".

Before the latest raid, the Palestinian health ministry reported that 275 Palestinians had been killed in the occupied West Bank since Oct. 7.

0640 GMT — US asks Australia to send warship to Red Sea against Houthi attacks

The US has asked Australia to join a Washington-led maritime task force in the Red Sea to repel the Houthi group's targeting of Israeli vessels, according to local media.

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said Canberra is considering the request by Washington but that the focus is on naval efforts closer to home, local ABC News reported.

"I want to emphasise the focus of our efforts is on our immediate region and the regional presence deployments that we have been engaged in over the last few months," the broadcaster quoted Marles as saying.

Last week, the Pentagon said it is ready to help set up a maritime task force to protect merchant shipping in the Red Sea following a series of Houthi attacks on ships which are believed to be Israeli owned, attacks amid Israel’s over two months of attacks on Gaza.

0629 GMT — Qatar commits $50M in Gaza humanitarian aid

Qatar said it pledged $50 million as an initial humanitarian aid package for refugees, displaced persons, the wounded, orphans, and those affected by Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Doha also pledged during its participation in the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva to provide 100 scholarships to Palestinian youths, through the Al Fakhoora program of the Education Above All Foundation.

Qatar has provided nearly 1,500 tons of medical aid, food supplies, and essential necessities, including a field hospital to Gaza, according to the latest figures published by the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Doha played a vital role in reaching a seven-day truce in Gaza during which a prisoner exchange took place between Israel and Hamas.

0602 GMT — US shoots down aerial vehicle launched from Houthi-controlled areas

The United States shot down an aerial vehicle launched from a Houthi-controlled area in response to a call from a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker in the southern Red Sea on Wednesday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said early on Thursday.

The US Navy destroyer Mason shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle launched from Houthi-controlled areas after the group attacked the commercial vessel Ardmore Encounter in skiffs, CENTCOM said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

A pair of missiles were fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen that missed the ship, and the Ardmore Encounter was able to proceed without further incident, CENTCOM added.

There were no reported injuries or damage to the vessel and personnel, CENTCOM said.

0452 GMT — Israel targets Gaza houses, killing dozens of Palestinians

Tragedy unfolds in Gaza as Israeli occupation aircraft unleash a deadly dawn bombing, killing at least 27 Palestinians and leaving a trail of destruction in the city of Rafah.

Local sources reported that Israeli strikes extend to northern and southern Gaza, with casualties reported in Khan Younis.

Homes belonging to the Ashour and Abu Dabaa families become targets — where at least 27 Palestinians were killed — amplifying the toll on civilian lives.

Israel has intensified attacks in Gaza City's Al Daraj and Al Tuffah neighbourhoods, as well as the town of Jabalia in the north.

The ongoing Israeli aggression, initiated on October 7, has now claimed over 18,600 lives, with around 50,600 wounded with a significant portion of the victims comprising children and women.

Many remain trapped under rubble, underscoring the urgent humanitarian crisis in the region.

0148 GMT — Israel's UK envoy rejects two-state solution as Gaza war rages

Israel's ambassador to the UK has ruled out the possibility of a two-state solution to the conflict arising from decades-old Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, in an interview with Sky News.

"I think it's about time for the world to realise the Oslo paradigm failed on October 7 and we need to build a new one," Tzipi Hotovely said, referring to the day the Palestinian resistance group Hamas launched a cross-fence blitz against Israel.

"Israel knows today and the world should know now that the reason the Oslo accords failed was because the Palestinians never wanted to have a state next to Israel, they want to have a state from the river to the sea," she added. Hotovely asked the interviewer, Mark Austin, why he was "obsessed" with the two-state solution after he asked her whether it was dead.

Asked for her thoughts on US President Joe Biden's remarks that Israel is "losing support" over its indiscriminate bombing in Gaza, she said "Americans were fighting ISIS [Daesh] in Mosul, [Iraq]. You had much more people that got killed in Mosul proportionally than the people in Gaza."

Hotovely falsely claimed that Israel is "doing everything to prevent casualties" and said UN schools in Gaza are "becoming terror schools."

Asked whether by reeducation she means like the China model, she rejected it, adding, "You're not learning from your own history," noting that Japan [where US dropped atom bombs] and Germany [which was carpet-bombed] "turned out to be good Western countries" after World War 2.

2100 GMT — US says 'no lasting peace and security' in Gaza without meeting legitimate aspirations of Palestinians, continues to arm Israel

The US has said there can be no lasting peace and security in the Gaza region without meeting the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians, even as US President Biden's administration continues to arm Israel.

"We believe that is not just in the interest of the Palestinian people but in the long-term security interests of the Israeli people," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

The remarks came in response to a question by Anadolu Agency about disagreements between the Biden administration and the Netanyahu regime on post-war Gaza.

Biden said on Tuesday that Netanyahu "has to change," and called Netanyahu's government "the most conservative government in Israel's history" as it does not want a two-state solution. Hours before those comments were made public, Netanyahu admitted in a statement that there was disagreement with Biden on a "post-Hamas" Gaza.

Biden has not imposed conditions on US military aid to Israel, as some members of his own party have urged him. Nor is he calling for a ceasefire in a war that has killed 18,000 Palestinians, most of whom are women and children, and displaced nearly the entire population living in Gaza.

2347 GMT — Jordanian hackers target Israeli military website

Jordanian hackers took over the English page of the official website of the Israeli military, publishing a message in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Access to the website was disrupted following the cyberattack.

''Your arrogance and oppression against our people in Gaza will bring you nothing but fear, death and war—be it in the air, on the ground, or in cyberspace," the message said.

Referring to the hacking of the site, it said ''this is a response to your killing of our innocent people in Gaza, your ugly barbarism, and your dirty actions.''

Noting that the attack was just the beginning, it declared, "We inform you from here that we will accept nothing but the liberation of our Palestinian lands, from the river to the sea.''

“Even if our war with you lasts an eternity, you will find nothing from us but killing and terror," it added. ''To our brothers in Jordan, to the people of Gaza and Palestine, we are with you in heart and action; the Palestinian cause is the cause of every free Muslim."

2112 GMT — Gaza war hits neighbouring Arab economies, could cut GDP 2.3%

The economic cost of Israel's war in besieged Gaza on Arab neighbours Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan could rise to at least $10 billion this year and push more than 230,000 people into poverty, according to a UN study.

Israel's relentless attacks have come as the three Arab countries face a struggle with fiscal pressures, slow growth and steep unemployment, and it has deterred much-needed investment as well as hitting consumption and trade.

Lebanon is in a deep economic crisis.

The study, commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme, said the cost of the war for the three states in terms of loss of GDP might amount to $10.3 billion or 2.3 percent, and could double if it lasts another six months.

"This is a massive impact," Abdallah Al Dardari, UN assistant secretary general and UNDP's director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States [RBAS], who led the study, told Reuters news agency.

"The crisis was a bomb in an already fragile regional situation ... It soured sentiment with fear of what could happen and where things are going," he said.

For our live updates from Wednesday, December 13, click here.