Live blog: US arrests dozens of activists demanding truce in besieged Gaza

Monday, December 11, 2023

2115 GMT — Several dozen activists calling for the United States to push for a permanent ceasefire have protested in a US Senate office building before police ended the protest and took dozens into custody.

Groups, including the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights and Jewish Voice for Peace organised the protest, which called for the US government to divert funds to domestic priorities such as affordable housing and childcare instead of further arming Israel with US weapons.

One activist was arrested after he climbed up onto a 51-foot high black steel sculpture by artist Alexander Calder. Others chanted "ceasefire now" and wore shirts with the slogan "invest in life" as they linked arms.

US Capitol Police said they arrested 51 people in total as a result of the demonstration. Reuters images show activists engaging in civil disobedience in Hart Senate Office Building, part of the US Capitol complex where many senators and committees have their offices.

"Funding more death and destruction of human life...makes no one secure, and instead fuels hatred and continued war," Sandra Tamari, executive director of the Adalah Justice Project, one of the groups involved in the protest. "The Senate must heed our urgent demand to stop funding militarism and instead invest in life."

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2000 GMT — US says images of stripped Palestinian detainees in Gaza ‘deeply disturbing’

The US has expressed concern over images showing Palestinian men detained in Gaza, stripped to their underwear by invading Israeli troops, deeming the pictures "deeply disturbing."

"We found those images deeply disturbing, and we are seeking more information, both about the nature of the images, and of course, why they're public," State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters during a daily press briefing.

In response to Mark Regev's remarks, a senior advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who commented on the images, saying, "It's the Middle East, and it's warmer here," Miller said: "I haven't seen that comment. So I don't want to comment on specifics. But I would say that is certainly not a sentiment that we would agree with."

"We always have been clear with Israel about the necessary of acting in full compliance with international humanitarian law, and that does require that it protects civilians treat detained individuals humanely and with dignity," Miller added.

Israeli media last week published footage and photos of half-naked Palestinians with their eyes covered and hands tied before being taken for torture.

1900 GMT — Blinken defends sale of tank shells to Israel

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has defended the emergency sale to Israel of nearly 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition and also called for quick congressional approval of more than $100 billion in aid for Israel, Ukraine and other national security priorities.

Blinken said the needs of Israel's military invasion in Gaza justify the rare decision to bypass Congress. "Israel is in combat right now with Hamas," he said during television interviews on Sunday. "And we want to make sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself against Hamas."

The tank ammunition and related support constitute only a small portion of military sales to Israel and the rest remains subject to congressional review, Blinken said. "It's very important that Congress' voice be heard in this," he said.

The decision to proceed with the sale of more than $106 million in tank shells came as the Biden administration’s larger aid package is caught up in a debate over US immigration policy and border security.

1807 GMT –– Gaza destruction worse than in WWII Germany: EU's Borrell

The situation in Gaza is "catastrophic, apocalyptic", with destruction proportionally "even greater" than that which Germany experienced in World War II, the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell has said.

Israel's military invasion of Gaza has resulted in "an incredible number of civilian casualties", Borrell said after chairing a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

He said the EU was also "alarmed by the violence in the West Bank by extremist settlers" and condemned the Israeli government's decision to approve 1,700 more housing units in Jerusalem, in what Brussels considers a violation of international law.

1929 GMT –– ‘Bloodshed in Gaza will continue,’ says Russia on US veto of UNSC resolution

The US veto last week of a United Nations Security Council resolution requesting an urgent humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza means that "bloodshed will continue,” Russia has said.

More than 17,000 people have so far lost their lives in Israel's attacks on Gaza, and last Friday the US vetoed a resolution requesting an urgent humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, said a Russian Foreign Ministry statement.

"This means that horrific bloodshed and catastrophic destruction will continue to occur by one country's decision," the statement added.

1853 GMT –– Israel has no intention on staying permanently in Gaza: defence minister

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has said that Israel had no intention of staying permanently in Gaza and that it was open to discussing alternatives about who would control the territory, as long as it was not a group hostile to Israel.

"Israel will take any measures in order to destroy Hamas, but we have no intention to stay permanently in the Gaza Strip. We only take care of our security and the security of our citizens alongside the border with Gaza," Gallant told reporters.

Gallant also said that Israel was open to possibly reaching an agreement with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, on condition any agreement included a safe zone along the border and proper guarantees.

He also called for keeping the West Bank quiet until the end of the Gaza war.

1850 GMT –– White House 'concerned' at reports Israel used white phosphorus in Lebanon attack

The United States is concerned about reports Israel used US-supplied white phosphorus munitions in an October attack in southern Lebanon, White House spokesperson John Kirby has said.

"We've seen the reports. Certainly concerned about that. We'll be asking questions to try to learn a little bit more," Kirby told reporters on Air Force One.

Kirby said white phosphorus has a "legitimate military utility" for illumination and producing smoke to conceal movements.

"Obviously any time that we provide items like white phosphorous to another military, it is with the full expectation that it will be used in keeping with those legitimate purposes ... and in keeping with the law of armed conflict," he said.

1801 GMT –– UN refugee agency calls for ‘uninterrupted’ assistance to Gaza

The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency has called for bringing “uninterrupted” assistance to Gaza.

"In Gaza, we have to bring assistance at scale, it needs to be uninterrupted and meaningful, and until now it hasn’t been,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in statements ahead of entering Gaza via the Rafah crossing with Egypt.

1523 GMT –– Gaza death toll from Israeli attacks climbs to 18,205

The Health Ministry in Gaza has said the death toll from Israeli attacks in the Palestinian territory has risen to at least 18,205.

Some 49,645 people have been wounded since October 7, ministry spokesman Ashraf al Qudra said in a statement.

1523 GMT –– Netanyahu lost confidence of Israeli public: Opposition leader

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lost the confidence of the Israeli public.

“We are two months into the war and the State of Israel still has no plans for the day after the war,” Lapid said during a meeting of his Yesh Atid Party cited by The Times of Israel newspaper.

“There is no organised diplomatic effort during the war, there is no united public diplomacy system, there is no organised economic plan to cope with the damage to the economy. There is no one who is dealing with reservist soldiers. In short: there is no government,” Lapid said.

“We have a prime minister who has lost the trust of the security establishment, the economic system and the majority of the people, and the world,” he added.

1520 GMT –– Israeli move to cut Gaza funds from tax revenues ‘collective punishment’: Palestine

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has decried an Israeli decision to withhold the funds allocated for Gaza from the tax revenues as an act of piracy and collective punishment against the Palestinian people.

In a statement, PA spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said the Israeli move will have “serious consequences on the services provided by the government to all sectors, especially the health sector.”

“The withholding of Palestinian tax revenues allocated to the Gaza Strip is a war crime,” the spokesman said.

1420 GMT –– Israeli army says five soldiers killed in southern Gaza

Five Israeli soldiers were killed in an ambush set up by the Hamas group in Khan Younis city in southern Gaza, the army has said.

A military statement said the soldiers belonging to the 5th Brigade’s 8111st Battalion were killed when an explosive device was detonated near a school in the city.

According to the army, helicopter gunships and fighter jets were called in to carry out strikes against Palestinian gunmen who had opened fire from the school.

1403 GMT –– Video shows Israeli soldiers executing injured Palestinian in West Bank

Palestinians have shared footage showing Israeli soldiers executing an injured young man during a military raid in the occupied West Bank.

The video clip shows a group of unarmed Palestinians coming under Israeli fire in Al Far’a refugee camp near the city of Tubas in the northeastern West Bank on Friday.

An injured young man appears lying on the ground as Israeli soldiers advanced towards him before he was shot dead from close range.

1217 GMT –– France, Belgium ‘concerned’ over high number of casualties in Israeli attacks on Gaza

France and Belgium have expressed concern over a high number of casualties in the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza due to Israeli attacks.

"We are concerned over the ways how military operations are conducted by Israel in Gaza, with a very high number of casualties, and we are also very concerned over the humanitarian situation that becomes very critical," French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said at the doorstep of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels.

She stressed the need for a "long-term, durable truce that would lead to a ceasefire."

Colonna also expressed concern over the Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

1213 GMT –– Neither Iran nor Israel believe in a two-state solution: Iranian FM

The only thing Iran and Israel share is that both do not believe in a two-state solution, Iran's foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has said via translation at an international forum in Doha.

During the forum, Amirabdollahian reiterated Iran's proposal that a referendum be held to determine the fate of Palestine, with only descendants of those who lived there prior to 1948 being permitted to vote.

Most countries publicly support the creation of a separate Palestinian state alongside Israel. Critics of Israeli policy say its actions are intended to make this impossible.

1211 GMT –– Russia demands release of hostages in talks with Hamas and other Palestinian groups

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov demanded the release of hostages held in Gaza in telephone calls with Hamas and other Palestinian factions, the Russian foreign ministry has said.

The statement followed a series of meetings and calls between President Vladimir Putin and Middle East leaders including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

1208 GMT –– Israel airdrops supplies to its forces in southern Gaza

The Israeli army has said it airdropped logistical military supplies to its forces in Khan Younis city in southern Gaza amid fighting with Palestinian resistance fighters.

“During the past few days, a logistical supply operation was carried out, which included dropping about seven tons of logistical supplies for hundreds of soldiers currently fighting in Khan Younis,” the army said in a statement.

“This was the first airdrop operation since the Second Lebanon War" in 2006, the statement said.

1154 GMT –– 2 Hezbollah members killed in clashes with Israeli forces on Lebanon border

Lebanese group Hezbollah has said that two of its members had been killed in clashes with Israeli forces near the border between Lebanon and Israel.

The group, however, did not provide any details about the circumstances leading to the death of its two members.

Separately, Hezbollah fired six missiles towards Israeli outposts in the occupied Shebaa Farms in southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

According to the broadcaster, the Israeli army shelled the outskirts of the towns of Habbaniyah and al Faradis in response to the missile attack.

1129 GMT –– EU Diplomats push for new sanctions against Hamas

The French, German and Italian foreign ministers are pushing for speedy adoption of new EU sanctions against Hamas for its “atrocious and indiscriminate terror attacks” against Israel on Oct. 7.

“The swift adoption of this sanctions regime will allow us to send a strong political message about the European Union’s commitment against Hamas and our solidarity with Israel," the three ministers wrote in a letter to Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs.

The letter does not detail possible sanctions but said it should enable the targeting of Hamas members, affiliated groups and supporters. The ministers said they broadly support a framework that Borrell outlined last week.

0709 GMT –– Strike to protest Israel's war on Gaza paralyses West Bank

A comprehensive strike in the occupied West Bank in protest of Israel's ongoing war on Gaza has paralysed all aspects of life in the occupied territory.

Transportation was disrupted in all provinces of the West Bank, while institutions, banks, schools, ministries and shops shut their doors, and the local stock market was suspended as well, according to an Anadolu correspondent.

The strike coincides with a global call for a strike in solidarity with Gaza.

0630 GMT –– UAE takes UN council envoys to Rafah amid dire aid warnings

A dozen United Nations Security Council envoys were due to visit the border between Egypt and Gaza, just days after Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned thousands of people in the besieged Palestinian enclave were "simply starving."

The United Arab Emirates arranged the trip to Rafah — where limited humanitarian aid and fuel deliveries have crossed into Gaza — as the 15-member council negotiates a UAE-drafted resolution that demands the warring parties "allow the use of all land, sea and air routes to and throughout" Gaza for aid.

It would also establish a UN-run aid monitoring mechanism in Gaza. It was not immediately clear when the draft resolution could be put to a vote.

0621 GMT –– Israeli army targets school in northern Gaza

The Israeli army has targeted a school sheltering displaced people in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, according to footage and first-hand accounts.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that a school run by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which hosts hundreds of displaced people, was targeted on Sunday.

Videos of the attack circulated on social media, showing blood in the school yard, as well as fires burning in the targeted building. In another clip, one of the displaced people, who did not reveal his name, said a several people were killed and wounded as "one of the classrooms in the school (in which there were displaced people) was bombed by the Israeli army."

0615 GMT –– Israeli army says four more soldiers killed

The Israeli army said that four of its soldiers were killed including three in battles in Gaza.

"Three reserve forces were killed in the battles taking place in Gaza and their families have been informed," Israeli public broadcaster KAN said.

Another one was killed in a military traffic accident, it also said, without giving further details. The fatalities pushed the Israeli army's death toll since October 7 to 430, according to KAN.

0608 GMT –– UN General Assembly meets on December 12 to discuss Gaza

The UN General Assembly will meet on December 12 to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, officials and diplomats said, after the United States last week vetoed a Security Council resolution for a ceasefire.

A special meeting of the General Assembly has been called for Tuesday afternoon by the representatives for Egypt and Mauritania "in their respective capacities as Chair of the Arab Group and Chair of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation," a spokesperson for the Assembly president said.

According to diplomatic sources, the General Assembly, whose resolutions are nonbinding, could vote on a text for a ceasefire resolution at the meeting.

0537 GMT –– Israel bombs south Gaza

Israel bombed southern Gaza's main city Khan Younis after Hamas warned no Israeli hostages would leave the territory alive unless its demands for prisoner releases were met.

Hamas cautioned that Israel would not receive "their prisoners alive without an exchange and negotiation and meeting the demands of the resistance."

Israel says there are still 137 hostages in Gaza, while activists say around 7,000 Palestinians are in Israeli jails.

0500 GMT –– UN appeals for $46 bln to meet humanitarian needs in 2024

The United Nations appealed for $46 billion in funding for 2024 to help millions of people affected by humanitarian crises around the globe, including in the occupied Palestinian territories, Sudan and Ukraine.

In its Global Humanitarian Overview for 2024, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that nearly 300 million people will require humanitarian assistance next year due to conflicts, climate emergencies and economic factors.

The humanitarian system is facing a major funding crisis, with just over one-third of the $57 billion required to provide aid funded last year, OCHA said in its annual assessment of global humanitarian needs.

0451 GMT –– Over 100 Israeli soldiers killed since start of Gaza invasion: army

More than 100 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the beginning of the ground offensive in Gaza, the Israeli army said.

The army told AFP news agency that the number of soldiers killed so far in the operation has reached 101 after three more soldiers died in the conflict.

Israel expanded its ground offensive in Gaza on October 27 as part of its military assault in the Palestinian territory following a cross-border attack by Hamas on October 7.

0419 GMT — Israeli attacks in Gaza claim 11 lives

The Israeli army attacked the southern city of Rafah and the Nuseirat refugee camp in the blockaded Gaza, killing 11 civilians and wounding dozens of others.

Israeli warplanes bombed a house in the Tel al Sultan neighborhood of Rafah. Six Palestinians were killed, most of them children, and many others were wounded, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

In an attack on a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp, five Palestinians lost their lives, including three children. There were also many wounded in an attack on the Al Bassa neighbourhood of Deir al Balah.

0327 GMT — Intense Israeli attacks in south Gaza displace more Palestinians

Israel continues to forcibly displace hundreds of Palestinians in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, which is under intense air and ground attacks by Israeli forces.

Following threats from the Israeli army to target civilian settlements, many Palestinians from the eastern areas of Khan Younis were forcibly displaced to a "humanitarian zone" in the Al Mawasi area close to the city.

Areas in the east such as Cura al Lut, Ash-Sheikh Nasir, Al Ketibeh and Jalal Street along with the western region of 5th Street in Khan Younis have been subjected to intense Israeli bombardment in recent days.

0313 GMT — Gaza's southern city under intense Israeli bombing

Israeli tanks were trying to push further west in and around Khan Younis and bombed the city, as they met resistance amid intense combat in a war that has now entered its third month and with no end in sight.

Khan Younis, the main city in the southern Gaza has a population of around 626,000 including people displaced by Israeli bombing in the north, comes as Israel refocused its war effort to the south.

0216 GMT — International Union of Muslim Scholars calls for global strike in solidarity with Gaza

The International Union of Muslim Scholars has called for a global strike on Monday to demand an immediate ceasefire as Israel continues its attacks in Gaza.

The statement called on people worldwide, especially in the Islamic world, to take part and urged institutions, parties, movements and influential figures globally to continue the strike until its objectives are achieved, aiming to stop the "unjust" war and save innocent lives.

It noted the success of boycotts and humanitarian efforts but highlighted the UN Security Council's failure to stop Israel's war on Gaza. It suggested a review of the Security Council's veto system, proposing that decisions be based on a simple majority vote.

0200 GMT — Fighters killed 40 Israeli soldiers in last 48 hours: Hamas

The armed wing of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, the Qassam Brigades, announced that they killed 40 Israeli soldiers and destroyed 44 military vehicles in the past 48 hours.

"During the last 48 hours, the Qassam fighters managed to completely or partially destroy 44 military vehicles on all fronts of the fighting in Gaza," they said on their Telegram account. "Our fighters confirmed that 40 soldiers were killed and dozens of other Zionist soldiers were wounded," they added.

The statement reported the use of booby traps to destroy buildings, targeting an Israeli field command center, and using mortar shells and short-range rockets against areas where soldiers gathered. Israel has not yet issued a statement regarding the announcement.

0134 GMT — Israel's collective punishment of Palestinians 'unacceptable': Russia

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that it is "unacceptable" for Israel to use the October 7 attack by Hamas as a pretext for the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

Addressing the 21st Doha Forum in Qatar, he called for an international observation mission for Gaza.

He suggested that Hamas's attack on Israel was not unfounded, highlighting that it followed years of blockade and unfulfilled promises for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

For our live updates from Saturday, December 10, click here.