Our live coverage of Israel's war with Hamas has moved here.
December 20, 2023 Israel-Hamas war
By Tara Subramaniam, Jack Guy, Aditi Sangal, Maureen Chowdhury, Elise Hammond and Tori B. Powell, CNN
Updated 12:20 a.m. ET, December 21, 2023
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Gaza residents face "toxic" combination of disease, hunger and lack of hygiene, WHO chief warns
From CNN’s Akanksha Sharma
The head of the United Nations' health agency on Thursday warned of the “toxic mix of disease, hunger and lack of hygiene and sanitation” faced by people in Gaza as he called for an immediate ceasefire in Israel's war with Hamas.
"Hunger weakens the body’s defenses and opens the door to disease," World Health Organization director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
"Gaza is already experiencing soaring rates of infectious disease outbreaks. Diarrhoea cases among children aged under 5 are 25 times what they were before the conflict," he said. "Such illnesses can be lethal for malnourished children, more so in the absence of functioning health services. We need a ceasefire now."
Tedros' comments come amid multiple calls from UN agencies for a pause in fighting to help relief efforts in Gaza.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned Thursday that intense fighting is impeding efforts to assist people in Gaza. He called for “conditions to allow for large-scale humanitarian operations” to be "reestablished immediately.”
On Wednesday, the World Food Programme said half of Gaza's population is starving and residents are often going entire days without eating. Meanwhile, UNICEF warned Tuesday that children and families “are not safe in hospitals” in Gaza as the enclave’s wider health care system teeters on the edge of collapse.
UN vote: President Joe Biden said Wednesday the United States is still working through whether to support a UN Security Council resolution that calls for a halt in Gaza hostilities to allow more aid into the enclave after a vote on the matter was pushed to Thursday.
Last week, the wider UN General Assembly voted to demand an immediate ceasefire, in a rebuke to the US, which has repeatedly blocked ceasefire calls in the Security Council.
Blinken calls out countries that have not demanded Hamas surrender and "stop hiding behind civilians"
From CNN's Jack Forrest
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called out countries on Wednesday for not demanding that Hamas surrender its arms.
“What is striking to me is that even as, again, we hear many countries urging the end to this conflict, which we would all like to see, I hear virtually no one saying – demanding of Hamas that it stop hiding behind civilians, that it lay down its arms, that it surrender. This is over tomorrow if Hamas does that. This would have been over a month ago, six weeks ago, if Hamas had done that,” Blinken said during a news briefing at the State Department.
“How can it be that there are no demands made of the aggressor and only demands made of the victim,” he said.
The secretary of state noted that “understandably, everyone would like to see this conflict end as quickly as possible,” but, he observed, “if it ends with Hamas remaining in place and having the capacity and the stated intent to repeat October 7th again and again and again, that’s not in the interests of Israel, it’s not in the interests of the region, it’s not in the interests of the world.”
Asked about the growing death toll in Gaza, Blinken reiterated calls for the fighting to "move to a lower-intensity phase."
"We expect to see and want to see a shift to more targeted operations with a smaller number of forces that’s really focused in on dealing with the leadership of Hamas, the tunnel network, and a few other critical things," he said. "And as that happens, I think you’ll see, as well, the harm done to civilians also decrease significantly.”
Blinken’s comments come as the UN Security Council continues to negotiate a resolution calling for a suspension in fighting and encouraging more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, and as the United States’ support for the motion remains unresolved.
CNN’s Becky Anderson, Michael Williams, Kevin Liptak and Jennifer Deaton contributed to this report.
UN secretary-general warns "intense fighting" is impeding life-saving aid to Gaza
UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned Thursday that intense fighting is impeding efforts to assist people in Gaza.
“Intense fighting, lack of electricity, limited fuel & disrupted telecommunications severely restrict the @UN 's concerted efforts to provide life-saving aid to people in Gaza,” Guterres wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Guterres called for “conditions to allow for large-scale humanitarian operations” to be "reestablished immediately.”
Israel says it uncovered "substantial, elaborate" network of tunnels used by Hamas in Gaza City
From CNN staff
The Israeli military released videos it says show a network of tunnels in the center of Gaza City.
The army said it uncovered the network after securing operational control over Palestine Square, a plaza in the city's center. The videos purport to show a series of tunnel shafts and access points leading underground.
In one video, a camera descends a long ladder before proceeding along a narrow, arched hallway to reach a blast door.
In a different video, a camera descends a long spiral staircase into another tunnel. In one clip, a passageway to the tunnel network, hidden behind an electricity box, is identified.
Several of the tunnel shafts appear to have been demolished, which the Israeli military said had been done by Hamas fighters.
In a briefing with journalists, Israeli army spokesperson Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said the tunnels were a “substantial, elaborate network of interconnected command control positions.”
“What we're doing today is revealing layer by layer the extent of Hamas’ terror tunnel network. It is the most expensive, expansive construction project ever to exist in the Gaza Strip,” Lerner said.
Within the tunnels, Israeli forces found food, water, electric infrastructure, and communications capabilities, Lerner said.
It is not possible for CNN to immediately verify all the Israeli military’s claims.
Father of hostage mistakenly killed by Israeli forces in Gaza accuses Netanyahu of cowardice
From Tamar Michaelis and CNN's Andrew Carey
The father of one of the hostages killed by Israeli troops inside Gaza has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of cowardice for failing to call him or visit him to express condolences.
Avi Shimriz, the father of 26-year-old Alon, who was captured by militants from Kfar Aza on October 7, was speaking to Israel’s Channel 13 News following the disclosure of new details about how his son, and two other men, were killed.
“The prime minister doesn’t dare to make a call. He hasn’t called and he wouldn’t come here,” Shimriz said, drawing a contrast between Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who he said had called him twice.
Netanyahu did visit Wednesday with the mother of another of the slain hostages, Iris Haim, who lost her son Yotam in the same incident.
Shimriz expressed deep frustration over learning that Israeli soldiers had managed to kill the Hamas fighters holding the three hostages and get so close to gathering intelligence that could have saved them.
“It demonstrates how big the miss is […] There is a screw-up here, a serious one,” he said.
“The shooter should not have opened fire, and if he is a proper fighter, he should have known that you only pull the trigger once you are certain it is a terrorist.”
He said commanders had failed to tell soldiers there could be hostages in the area and said that photographs of the hostages should have been circulated so soldiers might recognize them.
But he acknowledged that troops in the field faced difficult circumstances.
“I cannot complain to our troops because they have encountered different situations where [Hamas] tried to ambush them and they suffered losses. I don’t want another such incident on my conscience,” he said.
US weighs backing UN resolution on Gaza as Israel proposes a deal to pause fighting. Here's the latest news
From CNN staff
President Joe Biden said the United States is still working through whether to support a United Nations Security Council resolution that calls for a halt in Gaza hostilities to allow humanitarian aid.
Biden, who was asked by a reporter Wednesday when Israel should move to a less intensive phase of its conflict with Hamas, pointed to the negotiations at the UN as a reason not to give a firm answer.
"We’re negotiating right now at the UN the contours of a resolution...a resolution that we may be able to agree to," he told reporters in Milwaukee.
"That's still going on," he said. "I'll be happy to talk to you after that."
Biden's comments suggest US support is still an unresolved matter inside the White House.
Earlier, a vote on the matter was pushed to Thursday.
Meanwhile, Hamas' political chief is in Egypt for talks. The visit comes after Israel proposed a pause in fighting in exchange for the release of about 40 hostages, although an Israel official said they were not near a deal yet.
Here are the latest headlines:
- On the ground: Videos published Wednesday show heavy air strikes in the Jabalya area of northern Gaza, and the Hamas-controlled health ministry said at least 46 people were killed in the area. Also, several videos from the Rafah area of southern Gaza show a series of powerful explosions, including several close to the Kuwaiti hospital. Journalists in the area say the explosions were caused by Israeli airstrikes and that several people were killed. The videos, which have been geolocated by CNN, show extensive damage to what appears to be a residential building.
- US pushes for lower intensity in conflict: The conflict between Israel and Hamas “needs to move to a lower intensity phase,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday. Blinken’s comments echo what Biden administration officials have told Israel privately, CNN previously reported, which is that the US wants Israel to shift to a lower-intensity phase of the war in the next several weeks.
- Israel-Lebanon border conflict: There were fresh exchanges between the Israeli military and Hezbollah across the Lebanon-Israel border. Hezbollah said it targeted Israeli military helicopters with surface-to-air missiles and also launched attacks on several other locations along the border, including Margaliot, near the town of Kiryat Shmona. The Israeli military said artillery and tanks struck several locations in Lebanon in response to incoming fire.
- Israel opposes new budget for UN relief agency: Israel will oppose bringing forward the annual budget for the UN agency that carries out humanitarian work in Gaza, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said bringing forward the budget from 2025 to 2024 would be precedent-setting and dangerous, “especially in light of the evidence of Hamas using the organization's facilities as terrorist infrastructure.”
- Humanitarian aid: At least 165 humanitarian aid trucks crossed into Gaza on Tuesday, Israeli authorities say. The trucks were previously inspected at Israeli crossing points, the government said. The UN’s World Food Programme said Wednesday it had been able to organize a convoy of aid from Jordan to cross into Gaza via Israeli territory — the first time an aid convoy has reached the besieged strip via that route since October 7.
Israel and Cyprus close to deal on maritime corridor to get goods to Gaza, Israeli foreign ministry says
From CNN's Caitlin Danaher and Tamar Michaelis
Israel and Cyprus have come a step closer to agreeing on the creation of a maritime corridor that would allow goods to bypass Israel on the way to Gaza, the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
The maritime corridor would allow “the direct transfer of humanitarian aid and goods to the Gaza Strip," the statement said.
If the corridor goes ahead as planned, it would be the first time Israel has eased its sea blockade on Gaza since it was imposed in 2007 when Hamas took control.
On a diplomatic trip to Cyprus, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen along with Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos visited the port of Larnaca, which is situated around 370 km (230 miles) northwest of Gaza. It is expected to be the starting point of the corridor, according to the statement.
Cohen said the goods will be subject to a security inspection at Larnaca that will be carried out “in coordination with Israel.”
The corridor could be used as an axis for the transfer of humanitarian aid in the coming weeks, Cohen added.
The minister stressed that the creation of the maritime corridor to Gaza will “help Israel's economic disengagement from the Strip.”
Effectively fighting terrorism does not mean "flattening Gaza," French president says
From CNN’s Joseph Ataman in Paris
French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday that combatting “terrorist groups“ cannot mean “hitting civilian populations.”
He was speaking in an end-of-year interview with French broadcaster France 5.
“We can’t let the idea be accepted that fighting terrorism effectively would mean flattening Gaza or indiscriminately attacking the civilian population and to cause civilian casualties,” he said.
The fight against Hamas and other “terrorist groups” in the Middle East concerned countries beyond Israel, Macron said. But the security response to terrorism should not include massive destruction, "including civilian infrastructure and hitting civilian populations.”