Israel-Hamas war: List of key events, day 70

Here’s how things stand on Friday, December 15, 2023:

Latest developments

A court in the Netherlands will rule today on whether the Dutch government needs to stop supplying F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel, according to news reports. Jewish protesters in the United States organised demonstrations for a ceasefire in Gaza across eight major cities, blocking roads in some places. “On the 8th night of Hanukkah, 8 cities, 8 bridges,” activist group Jewish Voice for Peace wrote of the protests on social media. Benjamin Reese, a 51-year-old middle school teacher in the US, was arrested last week after he threatened to “behead’” a Muslim child offended by an Israeli flag hung in the classroom, news outlets reported on Thursday. German authorities said on Thursday that they have arrested four people suspected of being linked to Hamas and plotting to attack Jewish sites. A wartime opinion poll among Palestinians published on Wednesday shows a rise in support for Hamas while almost 90 percent of people want Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to resign.

Human impact and fighting

Overnight Israeli attacks on Rafah and Khan Younis in southern Gaza resulted in several casualties, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency. At least 10 people have been killed since dawn, while dozens of injured people from Khan Younis have been arriving at Nasser hospital, Al Jazeera Arabic reported. Israeli forces raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza for a third day in a row, forcing 2,500 displaced people to leave, while two patients died as a result of troops preventing medical staff from providing support, according to the United Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA). In a three-day raid on Jenin in the occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers targeted a mosque where they were filmed chanting Jewish prayers and mocking the Islamic call to prayer over a loudspeaker. The Israeli army claimed on Thursday that those soldiers were “immediately removed from operational activity”. Israel’s military said it has recovered the body of a 28-year-old captive from Gaza. Yemen’s Houthi group said on Thursday that it hit an “Israel-bound” cargo ship in the Red Sea with a drone.

Diplomacy

Israel cancelled a planned trip of Mossad director David Barnea to Qatar where he was expected to restart talks on another captive release deal with Hamas, CNN reported on Thursday, citing a source familiar with the negotiations. While speaking to reporters on Thursday, US President Joe Biden urged Israel to “be focused on how to save civilian lives”, and “be more careful”. In a news conference at the US Capitol on Thursday, labour union leaders joined progressive lawmakers in appealing that the Biden administration call for an Israel-Gaza ceasefire. In a trip to Israel on Thursday, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of the Israeli war cabinet. Sullivan discussed a possible transition to “lower-intensity operations” in the near future, but the administration has not put a “timestamp” on the shift, according to White House spokesman John Kirby. Israel’s foreign minister Eli Cohen said on Wednesday that the war on Gaza would continue “with or without international support”. In an interview with Sky News on Wednesday, Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom said Israel would no longer accept a two-state solution.