According to Israel, Hamas is in trouble. At the same time, according to the UN, fighting continues, particularly around the clinics. People talk about “hell on earth.”
Immediately before a UN vote on a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Israel claims to have achieved further successes in the fight against the Islamist Hamas. Many Hamas terrorists are currently surrendering in the face of military pressure, said Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi. Meanwhile, the situation for civilians in the Gaza Strip continues to deteriorate. According to the UN, the people there are pleading for an end to “this hell on earth”. The situation in the clinics in particular is catastrophic. The UN General Assembly wants to vote this evening (from 9 p.m. CET) on the demand for a ceasefire at Egypt’s request.
Israel: Many Hamas fighters surrender
“We are applying a lot of pressure. I think that they surrender and come out with their hands up shows that their fighting spirit is broken. This accelerates our successes, after all we want to move forward quickly,” Halevi said in a meeting with the head of the Domestic intelligence service Shin Bet, Ronen Bar. Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant said the last Hamas strongholds in the northern Gaza Strip were about to fall. The Hamas command centers in the Jabalia and Shejaiya districts are surrounded and on the verge of collapse, Galant said.
Biden pledges further support to Israel
US President Joe Biden assured Israel of further support in the fight against Hamas terrorists. “As I said after the attack (on October 7th), my commitment to the security of the Jewish people (…) is unwavering,” Biden said on Monday evening at a reception for the Jewish festival of Hanukkah at the White House. The US would support Israel until the country got rid of Hamas. According to the White House, Biden emphasized that the USA is working tirelessly to ensure the safe return of the hostages kidnapped from Israel to the Gaza Strip. “And I won’t stop until we get every one of them home.” He is also working to get more “humanitarian aid for innocent Palestinian civilians.”
UN: People plead for safety
After a visit to the sealed-off coastal strip, the Commissioner General of the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, posted on X (formerly Twitter): “People are everywhere, they live on the streets, they need everything.” They pleaded for safety. “Our colleagues are asked to do the impossible in an impossible situation,” said Lazzarini. According to the United Nations, half of the population in the Gaza Strip is now starving. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had to leave the fiercely contested north towards the south on orders from the Israeli military. But there are now fights there too.
WHO: Hospital is a “humanitarian disaster zone”
According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), Al-Ahli Hospital in the city of Gaza resembles a humanitarian disaster zone. The hospital can only fill 40 of its 80 beds but has more than 200 patients, reported Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. Patients lie in corridors, the library and a chapel as well as in the inner courtyard. Doctors treated seriously injured people who arrived on donkey carts or on foot, sometimes on the ground and on the sidewalk. There are hardly any staff left. Because there is no vascular surgeon, they have to amputate limbs.
UN reports fighting near clinics
The United Nations also reported fighting near hospitals. The Al-Auda hospital in Jabalia has been surrounded by Israeli troops and tanks for six days, the UN emergency agency OCHA reported. According to reports, around 250 doctors, patients and their relatives are stuck in the hospital. Two medical workers were killed while on duty there in fighting in recent days.
According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, Israeli troops also entered the Kamal Aduan Hospital in the north. According to the information, men, including medical staff, were asked to gather in the courtyard of the hospital. When asked, the Israeli military did not initially comment on the incident. According to OCHA, the hospital had come under fire the day before.
Ministry: Death toll rises to 18,400
The number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip has risen to 18,412 since the start of the war, according to Gaza’s health authority. The ministry said more than 50,000 other people were injured. The number of deaths was recently put at around 18,200. The figures cannot currently be verified, but the UN and other observers point out that the authority’s figures have proven to be overall credible in the past.
