Israel-Hamas war updates: Bodies of women, children shot dead found in Gaza school
The bodies of more than a dozen Palestinians — mainly women and children — have been found at a Gaza school. Follow updates. Warning: Graphic
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The bodies of more than a dozen Palestinians, mainly women and children, have been found at a school in the northern Gaza Strip as the war between Israel and Hamas rages on.
At least 15 bullet-riddled and decomposed bodies were found piled up at the Shadia Abu Ghazala School west of the Jabalia refugee camp, in an area called Al-Faluja.
The school was being used as a shelter for people displaced by Israel’s bombardment.
Distressing footage was obtained by Al Jazeera and shared on social media which shows bodies piled up in the school, with family members and eyewitnesses saying they found the bodies of their relatives with no evidence of shells or missiles.
“There’s no sign of any missiles or shells. All those who were in the building were executed from point blank,” one man, who was among those that found the bodies,said.
The horrifying discovery comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed “nothing will stop” Israel from continuing the war in the Gaza Strip until it achieves victory against Hamas militants.
Meanwhile, the family members of Israeli hostages held in Gaza said they are “shocked” by a report that Israel’s war cabinet has decided against sending the head of Mossad to Qatar for negotiations on a new hostage deal.
They are now demanding an “immediate explanation” from Mr Netanyahu, the Times of Israel reported.
Mossad chief David Barnea, who helped negotiate last month’s hostage-release deal, had offered to go to Qatar again but the war cabinet decided against sending him amid cabinet disagreements over efforts being made on talks towards a new agreement, Israel’s Channel 13 news reported.
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US INTELLIGENCE FIND ISRAEL’S BOMBING ARE IMPRECISE “DUMB BOMBS”
Nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions that Israel has used in Gaza in its war with Hamas since October 7 have been unguided, otherwise known as “dumb bombs,” according to a new US intelligence assessment.
The assessment, compiled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and described to CNN by three sources who have seen it, says that about 40-45 per cent of the 29,000 air-to-ground munitions Israel has used have been unguided.
Unguided munitions are typically less precise and can pose a greater threat to civilians, especially in such a densely populated area like Gaza.
The rate at which Israel is using the dumb bombs is contributing to the soaring civilian death toll. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden said Israel has been engaged in “indiscriminate bombing” in Gaza.
AUSTRALIA CONSIDERING US REQUEST TO SEND WARSHIP TO RED SEA
The Australian government is considering a US request to send a warship to the Red Sea, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has told the ABC.
Australian Greens Senator David Shoebridge said the move was “the first step towards entangling Australia in the United States next war in the Middle East,” in a post on X.
The announcement comes a day after the Australian government showed support for a ceasefire in Gaza for the first time, including by voting yes to a UN General Assembly resolution.
‘NOTHING WILL STOP US’: NETANYAHU’S VOW AMID GLOBAL OUTRAGE
Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed “nothing will stop” Israel from continuing the war in the Gaza Strip until it achieves victory against Hamas militants.
“We will continue until the end. There is no question at all. I say this in light of great pain, but also in light of international pressure. Nothing will stop us. We are going until the end, until victory, nothing less than that,” Netanyahu said in a video statement released by his office.
His comments come after US President Joe Biden warned Israel was losing international support for its offensive in Gaza.
In telling public remarks on the war, Mr Biden raised concern at Israel’s continued assault on the enclave amid the alarming growing death toll of Palestinian civilians, which has exceeded 18,000.
“They’re starting to lose that support,” he said, referring to the international community’s alarm of the death toll and what he’s described as “indiscriminate bombing”.
He suggested Mr Netanyahu, who he described as a “good friend”, needed to change his hard line government and its view on a future Palestinian state.
“He (Netanyahu) has to change this government. This government in Israel is making it very difficult for him to move. This is the most conservative government in Israeli history,” Mr Biden said as he singled out Far Right MP and Israel’s security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and his refusal to accept a Palestine can exist.
FAMILIES OF ISRAELI HOSTAGES ‘SHOCKED’ BY ISRAEL’S MOVE
Family members of Israeli hostages held in Gaza say they are “shocked” by a report that Israel’s war cabinet has decided against sending the head of Mossad to Qatar for negotiations on a new hostage deal.
They are now demanding an “immediate explanation” from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Times of Israel is reporting.
It said Israel’s Channel 13 news reported that Mossad chief David Barnea, who helped negotiate last month’s hostage-release deal, had offered to go to Qatar again but the war cabinet decided against sending him amid cabinet disagreements over efforts being made on talks towards a new agreement.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement that “families were shocked by the report on the rejection of the director of Mossad’s request to formulate an agreement for the release of the hostages”, which comes “in addition to the ignoring of the parents’ request to meet with the prime minister and the defence minister, which has not yet been answered”, the Times of Israel report.
The forum said: “The families demand an immediate explanation from the prime minister and cabinet members and to break the deadlock in negotiations.”
BIDEN DELAYS SALE OF 20,000 US-MADE RIFLES TO ISRAEL
The Biden administration is delaying the sale of more than 20,000 US-made rifles to Israel over concerns about attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, two sources have said.
Reuters reports the state department sent an informal notification for the sale to Congress several weeks ago.
However, the sale has not gone ahead, despite being cleared by the leaders of the Senate foreign relations and House of Representatives foreign affairs committees in early November.
A former US official familiar with the sale said: “Other members of Congress became aware of this case, and reached out to the administration to demand they obtain assurances from Israel that the firearms will not go to settlers.
“The administration has been engaged with Israel in trying to get satisfactory assurances in that regard prior to formally notifying it. “Under the license as drafted, these firearms can also go to Israeli police units about which the Department has significant human rights concerns.”
LETTER ACCUSES US SECURITY AGENCY OF TURNING ‘BLIND EYE’ TO GAZA
More than 100 staff members from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have signed an open letter to Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas denouncing the department’s handling of the war in Gaza.
The letter, exclusively obtained by Al Jazeera, expresses frustration with the “palpable, glaring absence in the Department’s messaging” of “recognition, support, and mourning” for the more than 18,400 Palestinians killed in Gaza since the start of the war on October 7.
“The grave humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the conditions in the West Bank are circumstances that the Department would generally respond to in various ways,” the letter, dated November 22, said.
“Yet DHS leadership has seemingly turned a blind eye to the bombing of refugee camps, hospitals, ambulances, and civilians.”
JEWISH ACTIVISTS BLOCK CALIFORNIA ROAD
Protesters with the organisation IfNotNow blocked the 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles during rush hour, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
They set up a large Hanukkah menorah and chanted, “Down with the occupation.”
In videos posted by organisers, the protesters stretched across the freeway wearing black shirts emblazoned with the slogan “Not In Our Name” on the front and “Jews Say Cease Fire Now” on the back.
The California Highway Patrol said they arrested 75 protesters.
HOSPITALS IN GAZA REPORT UPTICK IN CIVILIAN CASUALTIES
Several hospitals in Gaza have reported receiving a high number of civilian casualties on Wednesday.
Al-Nasser hospital in southern Gaza issued a list of 45 people who had been killed, whose bodies had been brought to the hospital.
Medical staff at Al-Kuwaiti hospital in Rafah — also in southern Gaza — said 19 bodies were recovered after two houses in the area were hit by air strikes.
Videos shot for CNN at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza showed many casualties being brought in after a reported strike in Deir al Balah.
The videos show ambulances bringing in men and women on stretchers, as well as body bags at the entrance of the hospital.
Inside the hospital, most of the injured are seen being treated on the floors amid chaotic scenes. Several of the injured have severe injuries to their limbs, while efforts are made by medical staff to resuscitate others.
EU URGES SANCTIONS ON ‘EXTREMIST ISRAELIS’
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen has backed imposing sanctions on “extremist” Israeli settlers responsible for attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
“The rise in violence by extremist settlers is inflicting immense suffering on the Palestinians. It undermines the prospects for a lasting peace and could further exacerbate regional instability,” the European Commission president told EU leaders.
“I am in favour of sanctioning those involved in the attacks in the West Bank. They must be held accountable. This violence has nothing to do with the fight against Hamas and must stop.”
Ms von der Leyen’s comments come after European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he would put forward a proposal to sanction the West Bank settlers.
The measures would require the unanimous backing of the EU’s 27 member states, but there are divisions within the bloc.
GAZA RUNS OUT OF CHILDREN’S VACCINES
The health ministry in the Gaza Strip said it had exhausted its supply of children’s vaccines, warning of “catastrophic health repercussions”.
The ministry did not specify which vaccinations had run out, and its claim could not be independently verified.
Tedros Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organisation, warned that “Gaza’s health system is on its knees and collapsing,” with 14 of 36 hospitals only partially functioning and supplies running low.
“The Risk is expected to worsen with the deteriorating situation and approaching winter conditions,” he said.
The Gaza health ministry called on international institutions to deliver urgently needed vaccines “to prevent disaster”.
NO WATER
Ameen Edwan said his family was camped out with thousands in the grounds of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in central Gaza.
“Rainwater seeped in. We couldn’t sleep. We tried to find nylon covers but couldn’t find any, so we resorted to stones and sand” to keep the water out, he said.
The World Health Organization said 107 humanitarian aid trucks entered Gaza from Egypt, well below the daily average of 500 before October 7.
‘HELL ON EARTH’: UN OFFICIAL DECLARES
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, described the situation in Gaza as “hell on earth”.
“Back in #Gaza, endless deepening tragedy. People are everywhere, live in the street, need everything. They plead for safety & for an end to this hell on earth,” Mr Lazzarini posted on X at the end of a visit to the territory.
ISRAEL RAIDED HOSPITAL, SAYS HAMAS
In Gaza City, Hamas said via Telegram that Israeli forces raided a hospital and detained its director.
The army did not immediately comment, but Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using hospitals, schools, mosques and tunnels beneath them as military bases – claims it has denied.
WHO’s Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X he was “extremely worried” by reports of the raid, adding that his agency “urgently calls for the protection of all persons inside the hospital”.
ROCKETS FIRED INTO ISRAEL
In Israel, air raid sirens wailed in Sderot and other southern communities near Gaza as Palestinian militants fired rockets, most of which were intercepted.
Sirens also sounded in Ashdod city north of Gaza.
The army said an air strike had hit a militant cell in Gaza City’s Shejaiya district “that was en route to launch rockets toward Israel”.
In Khan Yunis, a family mourned father of seven Fayez al-Taramsi, killed in a strike.
“How are we going to live after him?” one of his daughters said, crying and clutching his bloodied shirt. “He brought us to life.”
POST-WAR GAZA WITHOUT HAMAS A ‘DELUSION’
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said any plan for post-war Gaza that does not involve the Palestinian militant group “or the resistance factions is a delusion”.
He said Hamas was ready for talks that could lead to a “political path that secures the right of the Palestinian people to their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital”.
10 ISRAELI SOLDIERS KILLED
Ten Israel Defence Forces soldiers, including two senior commanders and several officers, were killed in heavy fighting in Gaza, the army said Wednesday, bringing the death toll in the ground offensive to 115.
Nine of the soldiers were killed in a battle in the heart of Shejaiya, one of the deadliest single encounters since troops pushed into the Strip.
According to the Times of Israel, the infantry soldiers were carrying out search operations in the kasbah, or the heart of Shejaiya, long seen as one of the most heavily fortified Hamas strongholds in northern Gaza.
The 10 deaths recorded on Tuesday made it the single deadliest day for the military since its ground assault on the Palestinian territory began on October 27.
MORE VIOLENCE IN WEST BANK
Israeli forces killed six Palestinians in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Five people were killed in an Israeli operation in the Old City and a sixth man who had been shot in the thigh died later after Israeli forces allegedly prevented him from reaching hospital in time.
Violence has escalated in the occupied territory since the war broke out, with around 270 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire and settler attacks there since October 7, Palestinian officials say
AID ON THE WAY
Egypt sent an aid convoy of 80 trucks to the reopened Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel into Gaza for inspection, humanitarian sources in Egypt said.
Another 100 trucks were sent to the Nitzana border post, which has been processing all international aid from Egypt’s Rafah border crossing before it is allowed in.
Israel agreed to reopen Kerem Shalom as a checkpoint to inspect aid destined for the Palestinian territory.
UN CONFIRMS SCHOOL BLOWN UP
The United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has confirmed that one of its schools in northern Gaza was blown up.
In a post on X, commissioner general of UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini, said: “Saw videos of an @UNRWA school in northern #Gaza blown up. It is outrageous. All public facilities, including hospitals & @UN schools are protected under international law.”
Footage has been circulating online of the school in question and shows it being detonated as Israel Defense Forces troops appear to cheer nearby.
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My middle school @UNRWA in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip blown apart by demolition explosives. pic.twitter.com/1AEeXwsLvd
— Loay (@AstroLoay) December 12, 2023
Read related topics:Israel Conflict
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