Israel-Gaza war live: Gaza only has 11 partially functioning hospitals, says WHO; UN general assembly to vote on ceasefire | Israel-Gaza war

It is 1.30pm in Gaza City and in Tel Aviv. Here are the headlines …

• Israel has continued its bombing of Gaza as fierce fighting raged on Tuesday, with Hamas saying clashes had taken place in central Gaza and witnesses reporting deadly Israeli strikes in the south of the territory. The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that 20 civilians were killed, and dozens more were injured, when Israel bombed a number of homes in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip.

• A World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Tuesday that only 11, or less than a third, of Gaza’s hospitals remain partially functional and pleaded for them to remain intact. “In just 66 days the health system has gone from 36 functional hospitals to 11 partially functional hospitals – one in the north and 10 in the south,” Richard Peeperkorn said, adding “We cannot afford to lose any healthcare facilities or hospitals. We hope, we plea that this will not happen.”

• The World Health Organization has also issued a strong statement in which it accuses Israel of delaying a vital medical mission, and making Palestinian medical staff kneel at gunpoint, while detaining them and preventing them doing their jobs. A member of Palestine Red Crescent Society staff claims to have been harassed, beaten, threatened, stripped and blindfolded by Israeli forces, then left to walk towards the south with his hands still tied behind his back, and without clothes or shoes.

• Benjamin Netanyahu has been criticised by opposition politicians for reported comments in which Israel’s prime minister appeared to claim that the Oslo accords had claimed as mamy Israeli lives as the 7 October Hamas attack, but over a longer period of time. Opposition leader Yair Lapid said Netanyahu was conducting “a wicked political campaign during wartime”.

• The UN general assembly is due to vote Tuesday on a non-binding resolution demanding “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza – a call that the paralysed security council has so far failed to make after the US vetoed a draft resolution. The UK abstained on the vote. All other 13 members of the security council backed the ceasefire call.

• Haaretz reports that the IDF has said that since the start of the ground operation in Gaza 13 Israeli soldiers have been killed in friendly fire incidents. On Monday the Israeli military issued figures saying that 104 members of its forces had been killed in Gaza since the ground operation began, with 582 injured. It gave its total number of casualties since 7 October as 433 soldiers killed, and 1,645 wounded.

• The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Tuesday has risen to four, the Palestinian health ministry has reported.

• Yemen’s Houthis have said that they carried out a military operation against a Norwegian commercial tanker in the Red Sea.

• Israel said it will open two additional checkpoints to examining relief supplies before dispatching them to the Palestinian territory through the Rafah gateway. No new direct crossings will be opened, Israel stressed on Monday, but the Nitzana and Kerem Shalom crossings will be used to carry out checks before sending the trucks through Rafah, Agence France-Presse reports.

• Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant also said Israel had “no intention” of staying permanently in Gaza after the completion of its military campaign to eliminate Hamas. The country was open to discuss alternatives about who will control the territory as long as it is not a group hostile to Israel, he said, and would consider an agreement with Hezbollah in Lebanon if security guarantees were received.

A World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Tuesday that only 11, or less than a third, of Gaza’s hospitals remain partially functional and pleaded for them to remain intact.

“In just 66 days the health system has gone from 36 functional hospitals to 11 partially functional hospitals – one in the north and 10 in the south,” Reuters reports Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Palestinian Territory, told a UN press briefing by videolink from Gaza.

“We cannot afford to lose any healthcare facilities or hospitals,” he said. “We hope, we plea that this will not happen.”

Earlier, WHO issued a statement strongly critical of Israel, accusing it of detaining and mistreating medical staff during an urgent mission inside Gaza. [See 9.10 GMT]

The World Health Organization has issued a strong statement in which it accuses Israel of delaying a vital medical mission, and making Palestinian medical staff kneel at gunpoint, while detaining them and preventing them doing their jobs.

It writes:

On 9 December 2023, a WHO team … completed a high-risk mission to Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City to deliver medical supplies, assess the situation in the hospital, and transfer critically injured patients to a hospital in the south.

On the way north, the UN convoy was inspected at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint, and ambulance crew members had to leave the vehicles for identification. Two PRCS staff were detained for over an hour, further delaying the mission. WHO staff saw one of them being made to kneel at gunpoint and then taken out of sight, where he was reportedly harassed, beaten, stripped and searched.

As the mission entered Gaza City, the aid truck carrying the medical supplies and one of the ambulances were hit by bullets.

On the way back towards southern Gaza, with the patients from Al-Ahli hospital on board, the convoy was again stopped at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint, where PRCS staff and most of the patients had to leave the ambulances for security checks. Critical patients remaining in the ambulances were searched by armed soldiers.

One of the same two PRCS staff temporarily detained earlier on the way in was taken for interrogation a second time. The mission made numerous attempts to coordinate his release, but eventually – after more than two and a half hours – had to make the difficult decision to leave the highly dangerous area and proceed, for the safety and wellbeing of the patients and humanitarian workers. Palestine Red Crescent Society reported afterwards that during the transfer process one of the injured patients died as a result of his untreated wounds.

The PRCS staff member was released later that night after joint UN efforts. Yesterday, the WHO team met him, as well as his father, supervisor, and colleagues. He said he was harassed, beaten, threatened, stripped and blindfolded. His hands were tied behind his back and he was treated in a degrading and humiliating manner. Once released, he was left to walk towards the south with his hands still tied behind his back, and without clothes or shoes.

It’s 9:01am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. Here are some of the latest developments:

• The UN general assembly is due to vote Tuesday on a non-binding resolution demanding “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza – a call that the paralysed security council has so far failed to make.

• Israel has continued its bombing of Gaza as fierce fighting raged on Tuesday, with Hamas saying clashes had taken place in central Gaza and witnesses reporting deadly Israeli strikes in the south of the territory. Agence France-Press reports that strikes on Monday targeted Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Yunis, now the centre of the fighting, as well as Rafah, a city on the border with Egypt where tens of thousands of people are seeking shelter.

• Israel said it will open two additional checkpoints to examining relief supplies before dispatching them to the Palestinian territory through the Rafah gateway. No new direct crossings will be opened, Israel stressed on Monday, but the Nitzana and Kerem Shalom crossings will be used to carry out checks before sending the trucks through Rafah, Agence France-Presse reports.

• The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) has highlighted in its daily update the spread of infectious diseases in Gaza as the war continues. “Due to the overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions at UNRWA shelters in the south, there have been significant increases in some communicable diseases and conditions such as diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections, skin infections and hygiene-related conditions like lice.”

• A land-based cruise missile launched from Houthi-controlled Yemen has struck a commercial tanker vessel, causing a fire and damage but no casualties, two US defence officials have told Reuters. The Iran-aligned Houthis have waded into the Israel-Gaza conflict – which has spread around the Middle East since the war erupted on 7 October, attacking vessels in vital shipping lanes and firing drones and missiles at Israel itself.

• The US president, Joe Biden, hosted a Hanukkah reception at the White House on Monday night, vowing to continue to stand with Israel in its war with Hamas while saying that a “surge of antisemitism” around the globe is “sickening”. Reuters is reporting that in his speech, Biden alluded to the complex relationship he has with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, suggesting Netanyahu is in a “tough spot” and that the two have had their share of disagreements over the years and at present.

• Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallan, on Monday said the next phase of the war in Gaza would be lower-intensity fighting against “pockets of resistance” and would require Israeli troops to maintain their freedom of operation, according to the Associated Press. “That’s a sign the next phase has begun,” he said. He’s pushed back against international calls to wrap up the country’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip, saying the current phase of the operation against the Hamas militant group will “take time”. In a briefing with the Associated Press, Gallant refused to commit to any firm deadlines, but he signalled that the current phase, characterised by heavy ground fighting backed up by air power, could stretch on for weeks and that further military activity could continue for months.

• The White House said it was “concerned” over reports that Israel’s military is using white phosphorus bombs against target in Lebanon. At a morning briefing, John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the national security council, said use of the highly incendiary substance could legally be used for a smokescreen to conceal military operations, but that the US would seek clarification from Israel about how stocks were being used.

• Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant gave a fleeting and noncommittal answer when asked at his Monday briefing about reports the country was using white phosphorus in military attacks. The Israel Defense Forces operate “according to international law”, he said.

• Gallant also said Israel had “no intention” of staying permanently in Gaza after the completion of its military campaign to eliminate Hamas. The country was open to discuss alternatives about who will control the territory as long as it is not a group hostile to Israel, he said, and would consider an agreement with Hezbollah in Lebanon if security guarantees were received.

• European leaders Leo Varadkar of Ireland, Pedro Sánchez of Spain, Robert Abela of Malta and Alexander De Croo of Belgium, wrote to the EU president, Charles Michel, calling for a discussion about a Gaza ceasefire at the union summit on 14 and 15 December. US network CNN said the letter expressed “alarm” over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and questions Israel’s military campaign and its effect on the civilian population.

• The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry updated casualties since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on 7 October, stating that 18,205 Palestinians have been killed, and 49,645 injured. The reported death toll has risen by more than 500 in the two days from Saturday, when it stood at 17,700, the ministry said.

• Qatar has spoken with Israel to gauge interest in talks about a possible new pause in the fighting in Gaza, according to a journalist for Axios. The report directly contradicts the position of diplomats at the annual Doha Forum conference in Qatar, who have said they are not expecting any reopening of Gaza ceasefire talks for some weeks.