Israeli army continues offensive activities in the Gaza Strip

Our colleagues on the ground in Gaza report that the Israeli army has launched an air strike and carried out artillery shelling on parts of Khan Younis that it currently controls. There have been no reports of casualties so far.

Elsewhere, in northern Gaza, the army carried out more building demolitions in Beit Lahiya.

As we reported earlier, Hamas said that there would be no movement towards the second phase of the ceasefire in Gaza as long as Israel continued what it termed “violations” of the agreement.

The truce is now 60 days old, but Israeli attacks and other actions like these continue daily.

Palestinian Civil Defence recovers 15 more bodies from al-Shifa Hospital

The Palestinian Civil Defence has recovered the bodies of 15 Palestinians from the courtyard of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Today’s work brings the total number of bodies recovered from Gaza’s largest medical facility to 113.

“Several bodies remain missing on the hospital grounds, as work is still ongoing to retrieve them,” the agency said. It added that four of the bodies had not been identified.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said it had discovered a mass grave at the hospital in May 2024, calling it “part of the genocide and crime committed by the Israeli army inside the Shifa Medical Complex”.

UN condemns Israeli commander’s claim that yellow line is ‘new border’ of Gaza

United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric has responded to Israeli Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir’s claim that the so-called “yellow line” that currently demarcates Israeli-occupied territory in Gaza represents a “new border” with Israel.

Israel has retained about 58 percent of Gaza after withdrawing to the so-called “yellow line” as part of the ceasefire. Israeli forces are meant to eventually withdraw from all of Gaza under the plan.

Dujarric said the statement “seems to me to go against the spirit and the letter of the Trump peace plan”.

“We firmly stand against any change of the borders of Gaza and Israel,” he said.

Hamas official to Al Jazeera: Disarming the Palestinians means taking their lives

Khaled Meshaal, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, has given comment to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic. He said that Gaza must be aided in every way possible, and that an increase in relief efforts is essential for a move to the second phase of the ceasefire in Gaza.

He also said that any authority in Gaza must be Palestinian, and that disarming the people is akin to taking away their lives.

Palestinian ambassador marks genocide victim commemoration

United Nations envoy Majed Bamya has issued a warning to the international community as the UN marks the 10th anniversary of International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide.

“It is difficult to convey what it means to speak here on behalf of the people of Palestine as they endure genocide,” Bamya said during a high-level meeting.

The Palestinian ambassador called the genocide in Gaza “one of the most documented crimes in modern history”.

“Live-streamed for all to see, recorded by those suffering, in the hope that the world watching would act, and even recorded by those committing the crimes, confident they will never be held to account,” he said.

“Which one of them will we prove right? The victims or the perpetrators?” he asked.

Main events on December 9th

• Hamas officials have said more pressure must be put on Israel to reach an agreement on phase two of the ceasefire, which concerns the future governing of Gaza.
• The UN has decried an Israeli general’s statement that the “yellow line” in Gaza represents the enclave’s “new border” with Israel.
• Gaza authorities have warned of heavy rains over the next three days, with residents unable to properly prepare for floods due to Israeli restrictions.
• Condemnation has continued to roll in after Israel yesterday stormed the UNRWA compound in occupied East Jerusalem.

Netanyahu to defy Trump on peace deal? Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes double down

Benjamin Netanyahu had hinted at implementing the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal amidst speculations that Donald Trump is keen on making this happen at the earliest. Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson has hit back at AIPAC and Nick Fuentes has said that he was unapologetic about his past comments related to the Second World War. Rifat Jawaid analyses these developments as he also looks at the plight of the last Columbia University protester, Leqaa Kordia, who continues to remain in ICE detention for more than 220 days.

Ben Gvir Just Put A Noose Around Israel’s Neck

While Ben Gvir poses with a noose shaped lapel pin, record numbers of prison fatalities on his watch is hitting Israel hard.

Itamar Ben Gvir turning up to the Knesset in a bright yellow noose pin is one of those moments where the performance finally catches up with the policy isn’t it? Because you do not need to be a legal scholar to see what a man is telling you when he walks into a parliamentary committee dressed like the executioner while more than a hundred Palestinian detainees have died on his watch in detention. You do not need insider briefings to understand what it means when he praises soldiers who shoot surrendered men in Jenin and then tries to promote the officer responsible. And you certainly do not need a UN mandate to work out why states are starting to bar him from entering their borders. You just have to look at the noose and look at the bodies and ask why anyone is still pretending the two things are not connected. He might want to put a noose around the neck of Palestinians, but his antics, going consistently without meaningful censure are placing it around the neck of Israel itself instead.

Ben Gvir walking into the Knesset wearing a bright yellow noose pin is not a one-off stunt, it is the straightest expression yet of what he is doing with the carceral system he controls, and of what the Israeli state is now prepared to put in plain sight. He and his Otzma Yehudit colleagues sit on the National Security Committee with little nooses on their lapels while they debate a bill that would formalise the death penalty – but only for Palestinians - on so-called “nationalistic” grounds, and he sits there cheerfully explaining that hanging is one of several options, along with the electric chair and lethal injection.

Eurovision in CRISIS: Protecting Israel Causes MASS Boycott

Mass boycott? 4 countries so far... (Who still deal with Israel anyway)