Efforts to combat Houthi attacks and de-escalate the Gaza war are under way – here’s the latest updates.
Here’s how things stand on Monday, December 18, 2023:
Latest developments
- Oil prices rose nearly 1 percent in Asian trade as Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea and lower exports from Russia stoke supply fears.
- The Israeli army has been detaining Ahmed Muhanna, the director of Gaza’s al-Awda Hospital, in an unknown location, Gaza’s Ministry of Health spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra said on Sunday night.
- The Freedom Theatre in Jenin continues to demand the immediate release of its director, Mustafa Sheta, and acting teacher Jamal Abu Joas.
- On Sunday, Israel’s military rejected claims that its forces “murdered” two women who were sheltering in a Catholic church in Gaza.
- Israel’s military said on Sunday that it had discovered the largest Hamas tunnel near what was once a busy crossing into Israel, reported The Associated Press news agency.
Human impact and fighting
- Israeli air attacks on Jabalia refugee camp killed at least 90 people and wounded more than 100 others, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported on Sunday.
- An Israeli attack on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza overnight Sunday killed 25 people, with 10 being from the same family, reported Al Jazeera Arabic.
- Palestinian journalist Haneen Ali al-Qutshan was killed in an Israeli attack on Nuseirat, according to the Palestinian media office. She was the 95th Palestinian journalist or media worker to be killed since the October 7 conflict between Israel and Hamas broke out.
- As Palestinians in the enclave face hunger and increased cold, they rummaged through aid trucks in large crowds on Sunday.
- Israeli forces raided at least six areas across the occupied West Bank overnight, including near Ramallah and Bethlehem, according to Wafa and Al Jazeera Arabic. A young Palestinian in Nablus and two young men in Qalqilya were injured in firing.
Diplomacy
- United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will arrive in Israel today where he is expected to discuss de-escalating the Israel-Gaza war and announce an initiative for security in the Red Sea.
- French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs condemned on Sunday the Israeli bombing of a residential building in Rafah that killed one of its staff.
- In a statement released on Sunday, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry called the visit by the “racist extremist” Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to the Psagot settlement an “act of organised state terrorism”.
Sumber: www.aljazeera.com
