Israel-Hamas war updates: Joe Biden warns Israel is losing support over the war as UN votes for immediate ceasefire
Joe Biden’s words has exposed a widening rift between the US and Israel amid Gaza’s soaring death toll as Australia votes in favour of an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. Warning: Graphic
US President Joe Biden has warned Israel is losing international support for its offensive in Gaza as the death toll soars to more than 18,400.
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.
“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”.
Meanwhile, the UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution urging humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza as Israeli bombardment continues.
Australia was among those who voted for a United Nations resolution demanding an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Israel, in a major shift in the Albanese government’s position on the conflict.
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Hours before the vote, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese released a joint statement with his counterparts from Canada and New Zealand in which they called for “urgent international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire”.
It comes as the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) confirmed that one of its schools in northern Gaza was blown up.
The UNRWA have said Gaza has now become “one of the most dangerous places in the world” amid deepening humanitarian crisis.
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US AND ISRAEL AT ‘DISAGREEMENT’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following a conversation with US President Joe Biden that there was “disagreement” between the allies over “the day after Hamas.”
Mr Biden said later the Israeli government was opposed to a two-state solution and called on Mr Netanyahu to “change the administration”, revealing a rare rift between the two sides.
The US president said Israel was starting to lose support around the world and that Israel’s PM “has to strengthen and change” his government to find a long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It comes as the White House dispatched its national security adviser Jake Sullivan to discuss ending the ground offensive in Gaza.
In a video statement, Mr Netanyahu said: “Yes, there is a disagreement when it comes to ‘the day after Hamas,’ and I hope we will come to an agreement here too”, adding Israel would not repeat the mistake of the Oslo Accords.
The 1990 agreement created the Palestinian National Authority to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
“It can’t be that after the enormous sacrifice of our citizens and fighters, we will let into Gaza those who teach terror, support terror, finance terror,” Mr Netanyahu said, according to The Times of Israel.
The prime minister will discuss the timetable for ending its counteroffensive in Gaza when he meets with Mr Sullivan this week.
Mr Sullivan said he would address Mr Netanyahu’s comments that the IDF would maintain open-ended control of Gaza after the war, adding that Israel would have to shift its ground offensive into a more targeted operation “at some point”.
“It doesn’t have to be that you go from that to literally nothing in terms of putting pressure on going after Hamas targets, Hamas leadership, or continuing to have tools in your toolbox to try to secure the release of hostages,” he said.
“It just means that you move to a different phase from the kind of high-intensity operations that we see today.”
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.
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. Parties to this brutal war have the coordinates of all our facilities in Gaza.
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) December 12, 2023
My middle school @UNRWA in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip blown apart by demolition explosives. pic.twitter.com/1AEeXwsLvd
— Loay (@AstroLoay) December 12, 2023
AUSTRALIA, CANADA, NZ VOTE ON CEASEFIRE
Australia has voted for a United Nations resolution demanding an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Israel, in a major shift in the Albanese government’s position on the conflict.
Hours before the vote, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese released a joint statement with his counterparts from Canada and New Zealand in which they called for “urgent international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire”.
This mirrored the position recently articulated by Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong, with the statement saying the leaders regretted that the recent pause in fighting “could not be extended”.
“We want to see this pause resumed,” Mr Albanese and his allies said.
However, at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Australia went further by agreeing to demand an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”.
The resolution, backed by 153 countries, expressed “grave concern over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and the suffering of the Palestinian civilian population”.
It demanded the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages” and called on all parties to “comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, notably with regard to the protection of civilians”.
The United States voted against the resolution while the United Kingdom abstained.
CALL TO BAN ISRAEL FROM EUROVISION
The Icelandic Society of Authors and Composers issued a statement with the demand, saying that Iceland should withdraw from the European song competition if Israel is allowed to participate.
The society’s board said that Israel should be banned on the same grounds that Russia had been after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“We all have a duty to take a stand against war and the killing of civilians and innocent children,” the board said, quoted by The Reykjavik Grapevine.
“We owe it to those nations that act with force through military might not to share the stage in an event that is always characterised by joy and optimism.”
In 2019, the Icelandic entry to Eurovision displayed the Palestinian flag during the show, in support of the Palestinian people.
ISRAEL PUMPS SEAWATER INTO TUNNELS
Israel’s military has started to pump seawater into tunnels in Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reported citing unnamed US officials, adding the task would likely take weeks.
The process is aimed at destroying the tunnels, where Israel believes Hamas is hiding hostages, fighters and weapons. But some US officials have expressed concerns the seawater would disrupt gaza’s fresh water supply.
The IDF has not commented on the report.
BODIES OF TWO HOSTAGES RECOVERED
The bodies of two Israelis taken hostage by Hamas on October 7 have been recovered, the IDF announced.
Civilian Eden Zacharia, 27, was taken hostage from the Supernova rave near Re’im. IDF Warrant Officer Ziv Dado, 36, a logistics supervisor, was killed during the October 7 attack.
Their bodies were found in a tunnel near the home of Ahmed Ghandour, the ex commander of Hama’s northern Gaza brigade, who was recently killed in an Israeli air strike.
ZARA PULLS AD CAMPAIGN AFTER BOYCOTT
Fashion brand Zara has pulled an ad campaign that featured mannequins wrapped in white sheets – similar to the images of the dead in Gaza.
The Spanish brand announced it was pulling the campaign, titled The Jacket, after calls for a boycott from Palestinian supporters.
“The campaign, that was conceived in July and photographed in September, presents a series of images of unfinished sculptures in a sculptor’s studio and was created with the sole purpose of showcasing craftmade garments in an artistic context,” Zara said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, some customers felt offended by these images, which have now been removed, and saw in them something far from what was intended when they were created. Zara regrets that misunderstanding and we reaffirm our deep respect towards everyone.”
‘HELL ON EARTH’: UN TO VOTE ON CEASEFIRE
The United Nations General Assembly was due to vote on a new demand for a ceasefire after the US vetoed a resolution in the UN Security Council last week.
It comes the visiting chief of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, likened Gaza to “hell on earth”.
The UN estimates 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced by the conflict, half of them children.
The draft text of the ceasefire vote largely reproduces the resolution blocked by the United States.
“We condemn anyone who encourages Israel to continue its killings,” Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh told a cabinet meeting in Ramallah ahead of the vote.
“While claiming to be against the killing of civilians, the United States obstructs the Security Council resolutions to halt the war,” he said.
ISRAEL STORMS GAZA HOSPITAL: HAMAS
The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said Israeli forces were raiding a hospital in the north of the Palestinian territory.
“Israeli occupation forces are storming Kamal Adwan hospital after besieging and bombing it for days,” ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said in a statement.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to an AFP request to comment. Qudra said the troops were rounding up men in the hospital courtyard, including medical staff.
“We fear their arrest and the arrest of the medical teams or their killing,” the health ministry spokesman added, calling for international intervention.
AT LEAST 10PC OF ISRAEL DEATHS FROM FRIENDLY FIRE
The Israeli military said more than a tenth of its troops killed in Gaza were the result of friendly fire, while multiple other soldier deaths were also accidental.
“To date there have been 105 deaths since the ground operations, 20 of which were accidents,” a military spokesperson told AFP.
Thirteen were the result of friendly fire, while the others were killed in incidents involving weaponry, machinery, trampling, or “firing irregularities”, the spokesperson said.
HAMAS ON VERGE OF BEING DISMANTLED
Fierce fighting continues in Gaza’s south as two remaining Hamas strongholds to the north were “on the verge of being dismantled” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has revealed.
More than 500 Hamas militants have now surrendered to Israel Defence Force troops, including some who allegedly participated in the October 7 atrocities that sparked the war.
“We have encircled the last strongholds of Hamas in Jabaliya and Shejaiya, the battalions that were considered invincible, that prepared for years to fight us, are on the verge of being dismantled,” Mr Gallant said.
“Whoever surrenders – his life is spared.”
ISRAEL SEEKS NEW HOSTAGE CEASEFIRE
Israel has reportedly asked Qatar and Egypt to help mediate another ceasefire agreement with Hamas and a hostage-prisoner swap as soon as practical.
There are still more than 130 hostages being held captive somewhere in Gaza which since the previous ceasefire collapsed, Hamas said it was prepared to release if conditions were right.
Ahead of any deal however the war rolls on with some of the fiercest fighting reported in Gaza’s south and strongholds being captured in Gaza’s north.
HOSTAGES REVEAL HAMAS HORROR STORIES
Israelis held hostage by Hamas are opening up about their captivity with one mother describing it as daily game of “Russian roulette”.
“Every minute is critical. The conditions there are not good and the days go on forever,” Sharon Aloni-Cunio said.
“It’s a Russian roulette. You don’t know whether tomorrow morning, they’ll keep you alive or kill you, just because they want to or just because their backs are against the wall.”
The 34-year-old and her three-year-old twins Yuli and Emma were among the 105 hostages released during the week-long ceasefire, but her husband David remains hostage.
GAZA IS ‘CATASTROPHIC’: EU TOP DIPLOMAT
The European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell has described the situation in Gaza as “catastrophic and apocalyptic” with the destruction proportionally “even greater” than that which Germany experienced in WWII.
In a meeting with EU foreign ministers he said the loss of civilian life post the Hamas Oct 7 assault was incredible, with a majority of the 18,000 Palestinians killed being women and children.
“The human suffering constitutes an unprecedented challenge to the international community,” he said. “Civilian casualties are between 60 and 70 per cent of the overall deaths,” based on Gaza health ministry figures, and “85% of the population is internally displaced.
“The destruction of buildings in Gaza … is more or less or even greater than the destruction suffered by the German cities during the Second World War,” taken proportionally.”
Israel has also overnight confirmed it was using white phosphorous shells in attacks in southern Lebanon but only in accordance with international law and only as “smokescreens” and not for attacks. Reports of white phosphorous use by the IDF surfaced several weeks ago but confirmation now followed concerns raised by the United States.
– with AFP
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