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Israel'Hamas war live: Israeli

military pushes deeper into
southern Gaza as UN warns
‘even more hellish scenario’
looms
Central road out of Khan Younis ‘constitutes a
battlefield’, says IDF; UN says ‘conditions
required to deliver aid do not exist’

Martin Belam "now& and Reged Ahmad "earlier&

Tue 5 Dec 2023 10.40 GMT

Key events

10.33 GMT
The Palestinian health ministry in the
occupied West Bank has said that Israel has
killed 260 people there since 7 October.

Reuters reports that in newly released

casualty figures, the ministry says that an
additional 3,200 Palestinians have been
injured in the occupied West Bank over the
same time period. Israel has repeatedly raided
the territory to make arrests during the latest
Israel-Hamas war which began on 7 October.

The Palestinian health ministry in the

occupied West Bank is separate from the
health ministry in Gaza, which has issued
figures claiming nearly 16,000 Palestinians
have been killed in the Gaza Strip by Israel
since 7 October, with the majority of them
being women and children.

It has not been possible for journalists to

independently verify the casualty figures
being issued during the conflict.
Updated at 10.39 GMT

10.30 GMT
France has announced it has frozen all assets
belonging to Hamas leader Yehya Sinwar for
six months.

Associated Press reports that a decision

published in the official journal of the French
Republic said that “funds and economic
resources owned, held or controlled” by Yehya
Sinwar were being frozen. The total value of
Sinwar’s assets in France was not provided.

Sinwar is believed to have been the leader

who planned the 7 October attack inside
Israel.

Yocheved Lifshitz, an 85-year-old Israeli peace

activist who was kidnapped by Hamas that
day, said on her release that during captivity
she met Sinwar and told him he should be
“ashamed of himself”.
Updated at 10.30 GMT

10.12 GMT

Summary of the day so far …

It has just gone noon in Gaza City and in Tel
Aviv. Here are the latest headlines …

Israel’s military has expanded its ground

operations deeper into southern Gaza, with
dozens of Israeli tanks, armoured
personnel carriers and bulldozers entering
the Gaza Strip near Khan Younis. Witnesses
said Israeli military vehicles were on the
southern section of the main north-to-
south road in Gaza, “firing bullets and tank
shells at cars and people trying to move
through the area”.
The areas in Khan Younis that Israel has
ordered to be evacuated cover about a fifth
of the city. Before the war the area was
home to 117,000 people, and now it also
houses more than 50,000 people displaced
from the north. Reporters on the ground in
the city said Palestinians experienced “a
very, very tough night” with “nonstop
heavy artillery shelling, relentless
airstrikes, and mass bombardment.”
Israel’s military has issued its latest
situational update in which it describes
operating against what it claims are
“Hamas strongholds” in the Jabaliya
refugee camp, which it says it has
encircled. It also claims in the update to
have “struck buildings used by ‘Nukhba’
terrorists” and to have conducted “a
targeted raid on a Hamas internal security
forces command and control centre”.
To date, during Israeli military strikes on
the Gaza Strip, the Hamas-led health
ministry has said almost 16,000 people
have been killed, 70% of which are women
and children. The Israeli campaign in Gaza
followed the surprise 7 October Hamas
attack inside Israel that killed at least 1,200
people, and during which more than 200
people were seized and taken to be held
hostage. Israel believes that Hamas retains
more than 130 hostages within the Gaza
Strip.
The IDF has said that it arrested 21 people
in the occupied West Bank last night.
Media sources have put the number higher,
with Al Jazeera reporting that “at least 40
Palestinians were detained by Israeli forces
in overnight raids”. One Palestinian is
reported to have been wounded when
Israeli forces raided Jenin with about 50
armoured vehicles and four bulldozers
overnight, and a 25-year-old man was killed
by Israeli forces in a raid on Qalandiya
refugee camp.
It is expected that families of those still
being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza will
meet with Israel’s prime minister on
Tuesday. On Monday a group representing
the families said it would stage a permanent
sit-in outside Israel’s military headquarters
if Benjamin Netanyahu’s government
would not meet with them.
The Kremlin says that Vladimir Putin will
make a one-day trip to the United Arab
Emirates and Saudi Arabia focused on the
Israeli-Hamas war as well as also host the
Iranian president in Moscow this week.
Turkey’s state-run news agency says
Turkish intelligence officials have warned
their Israeli counterparts of “serious
consequences” if they attempt to target
members of Hamas on Turkish soil.
Updated at 10.40 GMT

09.45 GMT
The Kremlin says that Vladimir Putin will
make a one-day trip to the United Arab
Emirates and Saudi Arabia focused on the
Israeli-Hamas war, and will also host the
Iranian president in Moscow this week.

AP reports that Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry

Peskov, said Tuesday that the Russian
president will visit both countries on
Wednesday. Peskov told reporters that the
talks will focus on bilateral relations, the war
between Israel and Hamas and other
international issues.

Putin’s trip was first announced on Monday by

Yuri Ushakov, his foreign affairs adviser, who
didn ot at that point give a date for the visits.
Updated at 10.07 GMT

09.32 GMT
Here are some of the latest images sent to us
from Gaza and Israel over the news wires.

An Israeli artillery unit operates at the border with Gaza, as seen

from southern Israel. Photograph: Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters

Wounded Palestinians are rushed into Nasser hospital in Khan

Younis. Photograph: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters

People build a makeshift shelter in a new camp sheltering

displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Photograph: Mohammed Salem/Reuters

In this satellite image from 3 December, supplied by Planet Labs

PBC, Israeli armoured vehicles and tanks can be seen just north of
Khan Younis. Photograph: Planet Labs PBC/AP
Updated at 10.10 GMT

09.16 GMT
It is expected that families of those still being
held hostage by Hamas in Gaza will meet with
Israel’s prime minister today.

Yesterday a group representing the families

said it would stage a permanent sit-in outside
Israel’s military headquarters if Benjamin
Netanyahu’s government would not meet
with them.

Hamas is thought to be holding more than 130

people in Gaza who were seized on 7 October
and abducted from Israel. During the recent
temporary truce period, Hamas released over
a hundred hostages in return for Israel
releasing Palestinian detainees from its jails.
Updated at 09.16 GMT

08.41 GMT
Reuters has a quick snap that Iran’s president,
Ebrahim Raisi, is expected to travel to Russia
on Thursday.

Earlier today the country’s UN envoy, Amir

Saeid Iravani, said Iran had not been involved
in any actions or attacks against US military
forces. The US has blamed Yemen’s Iran-allied
Houthi group for attacks on shipping in the
Red Sea.
Updated at 08.41 GMT

08.38 GMT
The IDF has said that it arrested 21 people in
the occupied West Bank last night. Media
sources have put the number higher, with Al
Jazeera reporting that “at least 40
Palestinians were detained by Israeli forces in
overnight raids.”

One Palestinian is reported to have been

wounded when Israeli forces raided Jenin
with about 50 armoured vehicles and four
bulldozers overnight, and a 25-year-old man
was killed by Israeli forces in a raid on
Qalandiya refugee camp.
Updated at 08.38 GMT

08.19 GMT
Associated Press reports that the areas in
Khan Younis that Israel has ordered to be
evacuated cover about a fifth of the city.

Before the war, it says, that area was home to

117,000 people, and now it also houses more
than 50,000 people displaced from the north.
It was not known how many were fleeing.

Israel has issued a map of Gaza divided into

small numbered areas, and it is attempting to
tell residents to move from specific zones, in a
move described by Rohan Talbot, the
advocacy director at the charity Medical Aid
for Palestinians, as “akin to a macabre game of
Battleships”.

At the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis,

ambulances brought dozens of wounded
people in throughout the night. At one point,
a car pulled up and man emerged carrying a
young boy in a bloody shirt whose hand had
been blown off.

“Where is the Red Cross? … where is the

United Nations?” a woman screamed outside
the emergency department. “My children,
since 10pm, are still under the rubble.”

People stand at Nasser hospital near the bodies of Palestinians

who were killed during Israeli strikes on Ma’an school, east of Khan
Younis. Photograph: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters
Updated at 08.27 GMT

07.50 GMT
Israel’s military has issued its latest
situational update in which it describes
operating against what it claims are “Hamas
strongholds” in the Jabaliya refugee camp.

It writes:

IDF troops are operating in the area of

Jabalya, after completing the encirclement of
the Jabalya camp. Over the past day, IDF
troops operated in Hamas strongholds and
destroyed terrorist infrastructure in the area.
During the activity, the IDF took control of
key military posts from which attacks on IDF
troops have been carried out. The troops
struck terrorist infrastructure, located
weapons and launchers in civilian
compounds, and directed aerial forces to
strike numerous terrorists.

It also claims in the update to have “struck

buildings used by ‘Nukhba’ terrorists for
military activity and eliminated other Hamas
terrorists” and to have conducted “a targeted
raid on a Hamas internal security forces
command and control centre in Jabalya where
they located observation and control
materials, weapons, and maps”.

The claims have not been independently

verified.

To date, during Israeli military strikes on the

Gaza Strip, the Hamas-led health ministry has
said more than 15,000 people have been
killed, 70% of which are women and children.

The Israeli campaign in Gaza followed the

surprise 7 October Hamas attack inside Israel
that killed at least 1,200 people, and during
which more than 200 people were seized and
taken to be held hostage. Israel believes that
Hamas retains more than 130 hostages within
the Gaza Strip.
Updated at 08.37 GMT

07.30 GMT
Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Khan Younis
for Al Jazeera, has said Palestinians there
faced “a very, very tough night”.

He wrote:

Since early yesterday evening, there has been

nonstop heavy artillery shelling, relentless
airstrikes, and mass bombardment. The vast
majority of residential homes and public
facilities – schools, hospitals, medical centres
and shops – in the eastern side of Khan
Younis, have been completely destroyed.

As ambulances tried to get to the eastern side

… where people were stranded and caught
under the heavy bombardment, they were
shot at and could not evacuate any of the
injured or bring out any of those who were
killed overnight.
Updated at 07.51 GMT

07.27 GMT
Turkey’s state-run news agency says Turkish
intelligence officials have warned their Israeli
counterparts of “serious consequences” if
they attempt to target members of Hamas on
Turkish soil.

The warning, reported by the Anadolu Agency

late Monday, came after Ronen Bar, the head
of Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet,
said in an audio recording that his
organisation was prepared to destroy Hamas
“in every place”, including in Lebanon,
Turkey and Qatar.

Associated Press, citing the Anadolu Agency,

quoted unnamed Turkish intelligence officials
who said “necessary warnings were made” to
Israeli officials who were told their actions
would “have serious consequences.”

The agency also quoted the officials as saying

that Turkey had prevented “illegal activities”
by foreign operatives in the past and that no
foreign intelligence agency would be allowed
to carry out operations on Turkish territory.

In 2018, Jamal Khashoggi was murdered

inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul.
Updated at 07.51 GMT

1 of 2

Topics
Israel-Hamas war
Gaza / Israel / Hamas / Palestinian territories /
Middle East and north Africa

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