Thank you for following our LIVE coverage from day 75 of the Hamas-Israel war.
You can read a summary of today's events here.
We'll be back tomorrow with more news updates and analysis, right here at L'Orient Today.
People search through the rubble after an Israeli strike on the Ali ben Abi Taleb Mosque in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Dec. 20, 2023. (Credit: Mahmud Hams/AFP)
A fireball erupts after Israeli strike over Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Dec. 20, 2023. (Credit: Said Khatib/AFP)
People search through the rubble after an Israeli strike on the Ali ben Abi Taleb Mosque in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Dec. 20, 2023, amid ongoing battles between Hamas and Israel. (Credit: Mahmud Hams/AFP)
Hamas’s political leaders have been talking with their Palestinian rivals about how to govern Gaza and the West Bank after the war ends, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal. This is a fraught negotiation that threatens to put Hamas' political wing at odds with its militant wing, which continues to fight Israel.
The talks are the clearest sign that Hamas’s political faction is starting to plan for what follows the conflict, says the WSJ report.
“We don’t fight just because we want to fight. We are not partisans of a zero-sum game,” Husam Badran, a member of Hamas’s Doha-based political bureau, told WSJ during an interview at a villa on the outskirts of the Qatari capital. “We want the war to end,” he said.
The Israeli army's offensive is entering "another significant phase ... in news areas," said the head of the army's southern command, Yaron Finkelman, as reported by Times of Israel's correspondent Emanuel Fabian. The military will continue "with pressure against [Hamas] above ground and underground," and will advance into "additional areas which we have not maneuvered to yet,"
According to a source present at the UN headquarters in New York, contacted by L'Orient Today, the Security Council vote for a "suspension" of hostilities between Israel and Hamas has been postponed to Thursday morning, with no specific time confirmed so far.
The Israeli army claims to have discovered a network of tunnels used by "senior Hamas leaders" in Gaza City, AFP reports.
According to images released by the army, this network of tunnels links "terrorist hideouts, offices and apartments ... belonging to senior Hamas leaders" in Gaza. Israeli soldiers can be seen accessing the basement of a house, which leads to a long tunnel and then to a room furnished with furniture.
This network is located, says the army, "in the direct vicinity of stores, government buildings, residences and a school." The Israeli army often accuses Hamas of using civilian areas for military operations. Gaza Strip, which has been under blockade since 2007, is very densely populated with 2.4 million people living, and largely trapped within, a 365 square kilometer area.
Hamas accuses the US administration of "calling for the postponement of the UN Security Council decision," during a conference held in Beirut and relayed on its Telegram channels.
"By using its veto and calling for the postponement of this decision, this administration remains complicit in this war of extermination waged by the occupier [Israel] against civilians in Gaza," Hamas denounced. It also called on "humanitarian institutions worldwide to act immediately to expose and condemn these violations" and put pressure on Israel.
⚡ BREAKING: The UN Security Council vote on a Gaza cease-fire has been postponed again to tomorrow (Thursday), as reported by AFP and Reuters.
An Israeli airstrike directly targeted the southern Lebanese town of Markaba, Marjeyoun district, a security source tells our correspondent.
No deaths or injuries have been reported so far and ambulances have arrived to the area. Residents say the town has suffered from material losses including houses and cars.
⚡ BREAKING: According to an informed source at UN headquarters in New York, the Security Council vote scheduled for 6 p.m. (11 a.m. in New York) is likely to be postponed again.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on the international community to "increase pressure on Hamas, not just Israel," AFP reports.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the US believes Israel has "an obligation to eliminate the threat posed by Hamas while minimizing civilian casualties" in Gaza, Reuters reports.
"We continue to believe that Israel does not have to choose between eliminating the Hamas threat and reducing civilian casualties in Gaza," Blinken told a news conference. "It has an obligation to do both, and it has a strategic interest in doing both."
A 16-year-old has been killed by Israeli army gunfire in the village of Hussan, west of Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry says. According to the ministry, the deceased's name is Muhammad Zalul.
Hezbollah says it targeted two Israeli military helicopters in the airspace of the Israeli towns of "Shtula, Shomira and Evan Menachem [all of which are located in the northern Israeli Upper Galilee region near the Lebanese border] with surface-to-air missiles, forcing them to leave the airspace of the region immediately."
⚡ BREAKING: At least 20,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war with Israel began on Oct. 7, the Hamas-run government's media office in the enclave says, according to AFP.
Some 8,000 children and 6,200 women are among the dead, it added, as the conflict continues to rage more than two months after it broke out.
⚡ BREAKING: The person we earlier reported killed by Israeli sniper fire in southern Lebanon is a Lebanese civilian from the Bekaa region, according to information relayed by our correspondent Muntasser Abdallah, citing several sources, including medics and a local official.
Our correspondent adds that the victim was accompanied by another Lebanese man, who was wounded. According to the sources, the men were traveling in a car that broke down, forcing them to come to a halt on the road. When one of the men got out of the vehicle to try to solve the problem, he was hit in the head by Israeli sniper fire, the sources added.
Rafah governorate is now the most densely populated area in the Gaza Strip, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said in a statement.
According to the agency, hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people are squeezed into extremely overcrowded spaces and in dire living conditions in the governorate.
“Population density is assessed to now exceed 12,000 people per square kilometer, a fourfold increase prior to the escalation,” the agency says.
“Thousands of people line up before aid distribution centers in need of food, water, shelter, and protection, amid the absence of latrines and adequate water and sanitation facilities in informal displacement sites and makeshift shelters," the statement goes on.
Rafah, in the south of the enclave, is where Israel ordered people to go for their "safety,” but the area has nonetheless seen daily bombardments by Israeli forces.
An Israeli airstrike has targeted the outskirts of Kfar Shuba, residents tell our correspondent in the south.
In the airstrike, a house under construction was targeted, according to one of the residents who spoke to our correspondent.
⚡ BREAKING: The White House says discussions for a humanitarian pause and hostage release are "very serious" and that humanitarian aid has been able to enter Gaza from Jordan, Reuters reports.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen expressed support during a visit to Cyprus today for plans to send humanitarian aid from the island to the besieged Gaza Strip. Cyprus has proposed establishing a corridor to collect, inspect and store aid on the island before shipping it to Gaza. More details here.
Artillery shelling has targeted the outskirts of Tayr Harfa and Labbouneh (Sour district), local residents tell our correspondent in the south.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says there will be no cease-fire in Gaza until the "elimination" of Hamas, AFP reports.
"We won't stop fighting until we've achieved all the objectives we've set ourselves: the elimination of Hamas, the release of our hostages and the end of the threat from Gaza," Netanyahu said in a statement.
Artillery shelling is ongoing on the outskirts of Beit Lif (Bint Jbeil district), residents tell our correspondent in the south.
Hezbollah says its fighters "attacked an Israeli infantry force" at the Israeli site of Birkat Risha at 4:45 p.m.
Russia and Arab League countries meeting for an Arab-Russian forum in Morocco have called for a UN vote on a resolution for a cease-fire in Gaza, asking the United States to stop vetoing it.
"We hope that the Security Council will raise its voice in favor of a resolution" for an end to the war between Israel and Hamas, said Russian diplomatic chief Sergei Lavrov, referring to a vote scheduled for the evening in New York.
It is also "urgent to create a Palestinian state," he said, and even "to speed up the process," because according to "certain sources, our Western partners are developing hidden plans to separate the West Bank from Gaza."
Hossam Zaki, deputy secretary-general of the Arab League, called for "no veto by a permanent member," in reference to the American position on Dec. 8 during a previous vote in the Security Council.
Lebanon's foreign minister has slammed Israel's ongoing attacks on south Lebanon.
"Israel has attacked and continues to attack our country, its people, its journalists, using internationally prohibited weapons, notably white phosphorus," Abdallah Bou Habib said today via a statement released on X on the occasion of the Russia-Arab World Cooperation Forum held in Marrakech, Morocco.
Gaza's Health Ministry says at least 12 people were killed and dozens of others wounded today in a series of airstrikes in Rafah, near the border with Egypt. Click here for more.
Hezbollah says its fighters targeted the Israeli Raheb site at 4:10 p.m.
Meanwhile, in the Tuffah region of Nabatieh district, residents witnessed the explosion of interception missiles in the sky, accompanied by significant booming sounds heard across the area, our correspondent in the south, Muntasser Abdallah, reports.
Separately, local residents have reported a drone-launched missile strike that targeted the outskirts of Harfouche, in the Sour district.
Lebanese security sources, meanwhile, tell L'Orient Today that several missiles were launched towards Israeli positions approximately 15 minutes ago.
Yemen's Houthi rebel leader, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, stated the group's intent to enhance military capabilities so as to overcome obstacles in operations, Reuters reports. The head of the Houthi rebels, which have targeted several ships in the Red Sea in solidarity with Gaza and caused several major transportation companies to halt or suspend activity in the passage, criticized certain Arab states for trying to counter Houthi weaponry, which the group sees as aiding the "Zionist enemy."
The leader emphasized the Yemeni people's refusal to yield to American pressure, asserting a principled, religious, and humanitarian stance, according to the statement. It also accused Israel of seeking support to protect its ships and affiliates, calling for clearer positions from Red Sea-bordering nations whose rights they believe are violated.
The group warned of retaliatory actions against the States, should it become more involved in the conflict or target Yemen directly, saying "We will not stand idly by and will target [America] and their battleships and interests with missiles."
⚡ BREAKING: A person has been killed by an Israeli sniper shot to the head while in their car on a road not far from Wazzani, Khiam, and Kfar Kila (Marjayoun district) in south Lebanon, our correspondent Muntasser Abdallah reports, citing the director of the hospital in the region to which the victim was taken for treatment.
It is not yet clear whether the deceased was a civilian or a member of Hezbollah.
According to local residents, Israeli artillery shelling has struck the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab. Artillery shelling has also been reported on the outskirts of Naqoura, residents tell our correspondent, Muntasser Abdallah. Hezbollah, meanwhile, says it targeted the Israeli Abad site at 3 p.m.
Two Israeli airstrikes targeted Halta, Hasbaya district, and Bustra Farm, in southern Lebanon, security sources tell L'Orient Today's correspondent. The sound of explosions were heard close by in Nabatieh, residents say.
Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of the southern Lebanese town of Mais al-Jabal, Marjeyoun district, with six shells, residents in the town told our correspondent Muntasser Abdallah.
Four Israeli artillery shells landed on the outskirts of the town of Houla, also Marjeyoun district, residents in that town told Abdallah.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani in Doha to discuss Israel's war on the Gaza Strip, according to al-Jazeera.
"Qatar is working within the framework of mediation to end the war in the Gaza Strip," Qatar's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The World Food Program announced the arrival of a humanitarian aid convoy to Gaza, marking the first from Jordan since Oct. 7, according to AFP.
The 46-truck convoy, organized by the WFP and a Jordanian humanitarian NGO, JHCO, carried 750 tons of food aid and required "weeks of coordination with all parties," the UN agency said in a statement.
At least 66 percent of jobs have been lost in Gaza since the start of the conflict, the International Labor Organization (ILO) has said, warning that job losses could continue to rise in the enclave, Reuters reports.
A total of 192,000 jobs have been lost in the Palestinian enclave, said the ILO in its second assessment of the impact of Israeli ground and air strikes on Gaza. In a first assessment published at the beginning of November, the ILO estimated that 182,000 jobs had been lost, a figure representing more than 60 percent of all jobs.
"Today, hardly anyone in Gaza is able to earn an income from their work," said Peter Rademaker, ILO Deputy Regional Director for the Arab States. "This is clearly a curve that continues to steepen...It could even get worse. Jobs are also being lost on a massive scale in the Israeli-occupied West Bank," he added.
In the last 30 minutes:
• Three Israeli artillery shells targeted the outskirts of the village of Blida (Marjayoun caza), residents of the village told L'Orient Today.
• The Israeli army also bombed the outskirts of Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil), residents of the village told L'Orient Today.
The United States Embassy in Beirut is no longer on Authorized Departure status for US government employees and their family members and has returned to normal staffing and presence, the US embassy said in an email alert on Tuesday.
"However, the Travel Advisory level for Lebanon remains at Level 4, recommending that U.S. citizens do not travel to Lebanon," the alert also said.
"American Citizen Services has resumed issuing full-validity passports and is offering all routine services," the embassy said, adding that they "have resumed regular nonimmigrant and immigrant visa processing."
In the last 30 minutes:
• The Israeli army bombed a house in the south Lebanon border village of Blida near the funeral of Hassan Ibrahim, a Hezbollah fighter who was killed by an Israeli bomb and whose death was announced this morning, a security source and people in the area told L'Orient Today.
In a post on X, Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir said "this is not the time" for truces in Gaza, but rather for military "decisiveness."
A Palestinian man was killed in his car in the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces, Palestine's state-owned Wafa news agency reported according to AFP.
Israeli security forces said that they had "neutralized a terrorist" who was looking to attempt a "car-ramming attack" while the Palestinian Authority, the governing body in the West Bank, contends that 28-year-old Basel Wajeeh al-Muhtasib was killed while he was just driving in the area.
After the shooting, Israeli forces cordoned off the area which prevented al-Muhtasib from being taken to the hospital.
Greece advised commercial ships sailing in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to avoid Yemeni waters, keep only necessary crew on the bridge and follow alerts issued by maritime authorities to avoid attacks in the area, according to Reuters.
According to a document seen by the agency, ships must also carry out fire drills and regular checks of their safety equipment before reaching Yemeni shores.
They are also advised to navigate at night in the southern Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Hamas is in talks with other Palestinian factions on how to rule Gaza and the West Bank after the war in Gaza is over, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The comments came from Husam Badran, a Hamas official based in Qatar, who told the WSJ that they "want to establish a Palestinian state in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem," signaling that the Palestinian militant group was open to joining the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and forming a unity government.
How feasible that would be is unclear as the PLO and Hamas tried to do this in 2007 but this ultimately failed and led to the PLO's expulsion from Gaza.
These talks have reportedly led to tensions with Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza, who was not informed of the discussions.
The Israeli army has carried out strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure and military sites in southern Lebanon, a spokesman for the troops announced on X, according to Al-Jazeera.
(Photo: Israeli military/Reuters)
A woman stands in front of a house destroyed in Israeli bombardment in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Dec. 20, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (Credit: Said Khatib/AFP)
The Israeli army announced the death of another of its soldiers in Gaza, bringing to 134 the total killed since the start of its ground offensive in Gaza on Oct. 27, according to AFP's count. This is the second announcement since this morning.
Intensive talks are underway for a possible second truce in Gaza, according to a source close to the negotiations in Qatar quoted by Reuters. This truce would include the partial release of hostages by Hamas in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners by Israel.
According to this source, the emissaries are examining which hostages and prisoners could be released as part of an agreement in Gaza. Israel insists that crippled male and female hostages be included in the list of releases. Palestinians serving sentences in Israeli prisons for serious offenses could also be included, according to the same source.
Berlin police carried out several raids on Wednesday targeting a "left-wing feminist group accused of supporting a Palestinian militant organization," according to Haaretz quoting the German press agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
Zora's members are said to actively support the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an organization classified as terrorist by the European Union and the United States.
Zora describes itself on an Internet channel as a "young women's organization" that is "anti-capitalist, internationalist, anti-fascist".
According to a report in the German daily BZ, 170 police officers were deployed in Berlin for the searches.
The Ministry of Health has published its latest report on victims of clashes between Hezbollah and Israel in the south.
Read the full details here.
Malaysia on Wednesday banned Israeli cargo ships from docking at the country's ports, in response to Israel's military operations in Gaza which Kuala Lumpur said "ignores basic humanitarian principles."
Vessels bound for Israel will also be banned from loading goods at any port in this predominantly Muslim Southeast Asian country, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said in a statement.
The Israeli shipping company ZIM, which has been authorized in Malaysia since 2002 although the two countries do not have diplomatic relations, is also concerned, added the Prime Minister.
Nabil Kaouk, a member of Hezbollah's executive council, affirmed that "the resistance's decision was to respond swiftly and decisively, without hesitation or delay, to any targeting of civilians in Lebanon."
Hezbollah at night claimed an attack against an Israeli position which they said was in response to the killing of civilian Ali Barakat
"No matter what the enemy does, it will not shake the resistance's resolve to support Gaza," he added, speaking at a ceremony in Sour (southern Lebanon), according to a statement by Hezbollah.
(Photo: Hezbollah's media office)
In the last hour:
• The Israeli army bombed the southern Lebanon border villages of Yaroun (Bint Jbeil) and Mhaibib (Marjayoun), a security source told L'Orient Today.
• The Israeli army bombed the southern Lebanon border village of Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil), residents of the area told L'Orient Today.
Israeli artillery fire targeted the southern outskirts of the village of Yaroun (Bint Jbeil), local residents told L'Orient Today's correspondent in southern Lebanon.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh arrived in Cairo mainly to discuss developments in the Gaza war with Egyptian officials, the Palestinian group said, according to Reuters.
The United Nations Security Council vote on the situation in Gaza, already postponed several times, was postponed until Wednesday, to allow negotiations on the text to continue, AFP learned from diplomatic sources.
The latest text on the table seen by AFP, prepared by the United Arab Emirates, calls for the "suspension" of hostilities in the Palestinian territory to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Read the full story here.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh will go to Egypt with a Hamas delegation to meet the head of Egyptian intelligence, Abbas Kamel, after Israel indicated that it was ready to accept a new truce in exchange for hostages.
Read the full story here.
The Israeli army bombed the surroundings of Naqoura (Sour district) a little while ago, residents of the region told L'Orient Today.
The Palestinian organization Islamic Jihad released a video Tuesday evening showing two Israeli hostages, alive, among the 129 still held in the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 attack on Israeli soil.
In the Al-Quds Brigades' video, the two men appear one after the other and ask for increased pressure on the Israeli authorities to allow their release.
Hezbollah announced the death of two of its fighters, Wissam Haidar Mortada from the village of Aita al-Jabal (Bint Jbeil) and Hassan Ali Ibrahim from Blida (Marjayoun), without giving further details on the date or place of their deaths.
According to our count, 117 Hezbollah fighters have been killed on the Lebanese and Syrian borders since the beginning of the conflict.
Recap for the night:
• The Israeli army bombed the outskirts of multiple villages in the south at night including Aitaroun, Mhaibib, Mays al-Jabal, Blida, Majdel Silim, and Khiam, security sources told L'Orient Today.
• The Israeli army bombed a house in Mhaibib, security sources told L'Orient Today.
• The Israeli army opened fire on Khiam Valley.
• Hezbollah announced an attack which they said took place at 9:45 p.m. in response to the killing of civilian Ali Barakat on the Israeli village of Yiftah and said they "directly hit the target."
The caretaker Lebanese Minister of Information , Ziad Makari, plans to meet a delegation from the Palestinian organization Islamic Jihad in his office at 12:30 p.m., according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA) which does not give further details.
In the last hour:
• The Israeli army struck the south Lebanon border village of Aita al-Shaab, a security source told L'Orient Today.
• An area between the south Lebanon villages of Ain Ibl and Bint Jbeil was also struck, according to residents in the area.
• The Israeli army also shelled an area around the south Lebanon border village of Kfar Kila and Taybeh in Marjeyoun districts, residents of the area told L'Orient Today.
With everything going on, it can be hard to stay caught up with all that is happening. Thankfully, the Morning Brief can make sure that you are up to date.
Good morning!
Thank you for joining us for our live coverage of day 75 of the war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza.
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