INTERPRETER
Raids on Jenin and Kamal Adwan Hospital continue amid mass protests calling for ceasefire – here are key updates.
This is how things stand as of Friday, December 15, 2023:
Latest developments
- A court in the Netherlands will decide today whether the Dutch government should stop supplying F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel, according to news reports.
- Jewish protesters in the United States organized ceasefire demonstrations in Gaza in eight major cities, blocking roads in some places. “On the 8th night of Hanukkah, 8 cities, 8 bridges,” activist group Jewish Voice for Peace wrote about the protests on social media.
- Benjamin Reese, a 51-year-old high school teacher in the US, was arrested last week after threatening to “behead” a Muslim child who was offended by an Israeli flag hanging in the classroom, news media reported Thursday.
- German authorities said Thursday they have arrested four people suspected of having ties to Hamas and plans to attack Jewish sites.
- A poll of wartime Palestinians released on Wednesday shows support for Hamas has increased, while nearly 90 percent of people want Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to resign.
Human impact and fighting
- According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Israeli attacks last night on Rafah and Khan Younis in southern Gaza caused several casualties. At least ten people have been killed since dawn, while dozens of injured people from Khan Younis have arrived at Nasser Hospital, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.
- Israeli forces raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza for the third day in a row, forcing 2,500 displaced people to leave, while two patients died as a result of forces preventing medical staff from providing support, the United Office said for the Coordination of the Gaza Strip. Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA).
- In a three-day attack on Jenin in the occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers targeted a mosque, where they were filmed chanting Jewish prayers and mocking the Islamic call to prayer over a loudspeaker. The Israeli military claimed on Thursday that these soldiers had been “immediately removed from operational activities.”
- The Israeli army said it has recovered the body of a 28-year-old Gaza prisoner.
- Yemen’s Houthi group said on Thursday it had hit an Israel-bound cargo ship in the Red Sea with a drone.
Diplomacy
- Israel canceled a planned trip by Mossad director David Barnea to Qatar, where he was expected to resume talks on a new release deal with Hamas, CNN reported Thursday, citing a source familiar with the negotiations.
- While speaking to reporters on Thursday, US President Joe Biden urged Israel to “focus on saving civilian lives” and “be more cautious.”
- At a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, labor leaders joined progressive lawmakers in calling on the Biden administration for a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza.
- During a trip to Israel on Thursday, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of Israel’s war cabinet. Sullivan discussed a possible transition to “lower intensity operations” in the near future, but the administration has not put a “time stamp” on the shift, White House spokesman John Kirby said.
- Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said Wednesday that the war on Gaza will continue “with or without international support.”
- In an interview with Sky News, Israel’s ambassador to Britain said on Wednesday that Israel would no longer accept a two-state solution.
