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Speaking at the Security Council, US envoy Robert Wood referred to the October 7 Hamas attacks as the “worst attack on our people” in decades.
Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara said the statement underscores that Israel is treated as the “51st state” of the US.
“The Biden administration the past two months have been parroting the Israeli lines, sometimes you would think they were basically taking exactly the same words phrases and sentences and using them as their own,” he said.
The statement by Wood, he said, is “actually echoing the thing that people have been saying for the last two months: You don’t know if it’s America speaking for America or it’s America speaking for Israel.”
Ambassador Robert Wood speaks to reporters during a news conference before the United Nations Security Council meeting [File: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images via AFP] MSF says UN failure to act on Gaza makes it ‘complicit’ in slaughterDoctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) said in a statement that the Security Council must “end its complicity in the ongoing carnage”.
“Failure to act now, to enact a total ceasefire and end the siege, would be unforgivable,” said Christopher Lockyear, the group’s secretary-general.
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New Pew poll shows low approval for Biden’s handling of Gaza war
The prominent US pollster’s newest study says that only 35 percent of people in the US approve of the Biden administration’s response to the war.
Among members of the US president’s own Democratic Party, only 44 percent approve of his handling.
Twenty-seven percent of those polled by Pew say that Israel has gone too far in its military operations in Gaza, and 16 percent say Israel is not going far enough. Among Democrats, 45 percent say Israel has gone too far.
A large banner along with fake white body bags, representing those killed in the escalating conflict in Gaza and Israel, displayed in front of the White House, November 15, 2023, in Washington. [File: Andrew Harnik/AP] -
8 Dec 2023 – 16:45
(16:45 GMT)US embassy in Iraq shelled: Report
About seven mortar rounds have landed in the US embassy compound in Baghdad, a US military official tells Reuters.
The official said the attack caused minor damage but no injuries.
The reported attack is the first time the embassy has been targeted in more than a year. It comes as bases housing US personnel have been targeted in Iraq and Syria dozens of times since the war in Gaza began.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the embassy attack. The US has blamed recent attacks on Iran-backed groups.
The U.S. Embassy is seen from across the Tigris River in Baghdad, Iraq [File, Khalid Mohammed/AP Photo] -
8 Dec 2023 – 16:40
(16:40 GMT)Israeli soldier wounded in occupied West Bank attack
The Israeli army says the soldier was injured after a gun attack on a military position near the village of Yavd.
It said that it returned fire at the attacker.
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8 Dec 2023 – 16:35
(16:35 GMT)
US envoy to UN: ‘We do not support calls for an immediate ceasefire’
Robert Wood has told the Security Council that Hamas “continues to pose a threat to Israel and remain in charge of Gaza”.
“For that reason, while the United States strongly supports the durable peace in which both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security, we do not support calls for an immediate ceasefire,” he said.
“This would only plant the seeds for the next war because Hamas has no desire to see a durable peace, to see a two-state solution,” he said.
The US is one of five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council. The other permanent members are China, France, Russia and the UK.
Ambassador Robert Wood speaks to reporters during a press conference before the United Nations Security Council meeting [File, Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images via AFP] -
Lebanon says military hospital hit in Israeli attack
The Lebanese military says there is material damage but no casualties from the attack on the hospital in Ain Ebel in southern Lebanon.
Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah group, as well as fighters from the armed wing of Hamas based in Lebanon, have exchanged cross-border attacks since October 8.
Earlier this week, a Lebanese soldier was killed by Israeli shelling near the border, the first such casualty of the war. The killing prompted a rare expression of regret from Israel, which said Lebanese forces were not the target of the attack.
A picture taken from the Israeli side of border with Lebanon shows smoke billowing following Israeli bombardment around the southern Lebanese village of Aita al-Shaab on Friday [Jalaa Marey/AFP]
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Hamas says several captives ‘killed and injured’ in Israeli attacks
Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, says a number of captives have been “killed and injured” in Israeli air strikes.
In a statement, it said “barbaric strikes on parts of Gaza City” caused the deaths and injuries. It did not provide details.
There was no immediate comment by Israel.
The Qassam Brigades also said it launched a barrage of rockets towards Tel Aviv “in response to the massacres committed against civilians”.
Israel’s army said a “heavy barrage of rockets” was just launched at Tel Aviv and central Israel and sirens are sounding.
Earlier, the group said it destroyed nine Israeli army vehicles. Three were struck east of Khan Younis with 105 anti-tank weapons, and six were destroyed in the Sheikh Radwan and Zeitoun neighbourhoods in Gaza City, it added.
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Lots of UN talk on ceasefire – but all depends on US veto power
All eyes are on the United States and whether it will support further Security Council action as requested by the UN secretary-general.
We spoke to the US deputy ambassador to the UN, and it was clear from his comments that the US position has not changed.
He said the US still believes that the best way to get aid into Gaza is through quiet negotiations, which he told me are “ongoing as we speak with Israel and other partners in the region”.
This is happening as the secretary-general took this unprecedented step of putting the call for a ceasefire on the council’s agenda.
But of course, it takes a council vote to actually implement that ceasefire, and diplomatic efforts here at the UN have been incredibly intense.
The secretary-general was on the phone yesterday speaking to the US secretary of state, the UK foreign minister and officials from Jordan, Egypt, Qatar – all of the players in the region. There is also diplomacy going on behind the scenes here at the United Nations.
But given the resistance of the United States to further action, we’re also seeing that a potential vote on the resolution to establish a humanitarian ceasefire is being delayed until later in the afternoon and possibly until next week.
The UN Security Council meets on Gaza at UN headquarters in New York City on December 8, 2023 [Yuki Iwamura/AFP] Photos: Yafa Hospital in central Gaza damaged
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[Doaa Rouqa/Reuters] 
[Doaa Rouqa/Reuters] 
[Doaa Rouqa/Reuters] -
8 Dec 2023 – 15:51(15:51 GMT)
Israeli ambassador accuses UN of double standard in invoking Article 99
Gilad Erdan, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, has renewed his criticism of the global body’s leadership.
Speaking at the Security Council, he referenced Guterres’s invocation of Article 99 of the UN Charter, which warns the war in Gaza “may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security”.
“Is the war in Ukraine not a threat to international peace and security?” Erdan asked.
“Do the millions of displaced Syrians and the children whose corpses were found foaming at the mouth in Douma not symbolise a threat to regional stability?” he asked, referring to a chemical attack on civilians that international investigators determined was committed by Syria’s air force.
“Is watching thousands of Yemeni children die in war while tens of thousands starve not worthy enough to invoke Article 99?”
he said.He added the “true path to ensure peace is only through supporting Israel’s mission – absolutely not to call for a ceasefire”.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan attends a UN Security Council meeting [File: Brendan McDermid/Reuters] -
Those against ‘displacement’ of Palestinians must back ceasefire: Palestinian UN envoy
Riyad Mansour has delivered a passionate appeal to the Security Council, calling on member states to support the draft ceasefire resolution.
“Are we supposed to pretend we don’t know the objective [of Israel] is the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip, the dispossession of and forcible displacement of the Palestinian people when so many Israeli representatives could not refrain from admitting it?” he asked.
“If you are against the destruction and displacement of the Palestinian people, you have to be in favour of an immediate ceasefire,” he said.
“Enough is enough. They are playing games with and they’re taking you for a ride, and you need to wake up and see reality as is,” Mansour added.
“Everything we built as humanity after the Second World War was to prevent these horrors,” he said. “Now, they are taking place in Gaza against the Palestinian people.”
Riyad H. Mansour called for a ceasefire in a passionate appeal [File, David ‘Dee’ Delgado/Reuters] -
Guterres calls for ‘immediate humanitarian ceasefire’
“The brutality perpetuated by Hamas can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
“The people of Gaza are looking into the abyss. The international community must do everything possible to end their ordeal. I urge the council to spare no effort to push for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire for the protection of civilians and for the urgent delivery of life-saving aid.
“The eyes of the world and the eyes of history are watching. It is time to act.”
Antonio Guterres attends a United Nations Security Council meeting about his invoking Article 99 of the United Nations charter to address the humanitarian crisis in [Shannon Stapleton/Reuters] -
UN chief continues
“Intense bombardments and hostilities, Israeli restrictions on movement, fuel shortages and interrupted communications make it impossible for UN agencies and their partners to reach most of the people in need.
“The people of Gaza are being told to move like human pinballs, ricocheting between ever smaller slivers of the south without any of the basics of survival. But nowhere in Gaza is safe.
“Gazans are running out of food.
“The WFP has provided food and cash assistance to hundreds and thousands of people across Gaza since the crisis began and is ready to scale up its operations. However, that would require effective access to all people in need and at least 40 trucks of food supplies a day, many times the current level.”
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More from Guterres
“The threat to the safety and security of United Nations staff in Gaza is unprecedented. More than 130 of my colleagues have already been killed, many with their families. This is the largest single loss of life in the history of our organisation.
“I cannot emphasise strongly enough the UN is totally committed to stay and deliver for the people of Gaza. And I pay tribute to the heroic humanitarian aid workers who remain committed to their work despite the enormous dangers to their health and their lives. But the situation is simply becoming untenable”.
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UN chief addresses Security Council
Antonio Guterres has begun his address to the Security Council during a discussion of the resolution for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza.
This is what he has said so far:
- “We have already seen the spillover in the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. There is clearly, in my view, a serious risk of aggravating existing threats to the maintenance of international peace and security.”
- “The risk of collapse of the humanitarian system is fundamentally linked to the complete lack of safety and security for our staff in Gaza and with the nature and intensity of military operations which are severely limiting access to people in desperate need.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres [File: Caitlin Ochs/Reuters]
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What is Article 99?
The UN Security Council vote on the resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza comes after the UN chief on Wednesday invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter – a rare move aimed at formally warning the body of the global threat from Israel’s war on Gaza.
But what is Article 99 and does it have any real power to stop this war?
Find out here.
(Al Jazeera) -
Iranian foreign minister accuses Israel of ‘barbarity’
Hossein Amirabdollahian has accused Israel of “barbarity in the treatment of innocent captives and citizens”.
The Iranian foreign minister’s comments on X were in regards to images showing dozens of detained Palestinian men stripped to their underwear.
Detained journalist taken to Israeli military base, colleague says
Al-Araby Al-Jadeed journalist Diaa al-Kahlout, who is among dozens of Palestinian men detained in northern Gaza, has been transferred to an Israeli military base, one of his colleagues says.
Lamis Andoni from The New Arab, the English-language outlet for Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, told Al Jazeera that the news of al-Kahlout’s transfer has made them “really concerned about him”.
The Israeli army says it has been detaining and interrogating Palestinians over possible links to Hamas, but Andoni said this was “obnoxious” in the case of al-Kahlout.
“As a journalist, of course, you would have interviewed many Hamas members all the time, like all correspondents. So this is just an excuse to detain him and terrorise him and his family because he’s just another witness who has to be silenced,” she charged.
“This is the truth, and we know it. It’s not the first time that the Israelis have done it. They act with impunity because they were not held accountable for any of the murders of journalists, even with [Al Jazeera’s] Shireen Abu Akleh, who was very prominent.”
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UNSC vote on Gaza ceasefire ‘postponed’
We’re getting reports that the UN Security Council vote on the draft resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza will be delayed.
The 15-member body had been due to vote on the resolution on Friday morning in New York but Reuters cited diplomats as saying that it had now been postponed until 5:30pm local time (22:30 GMT).
The council is still due to meet and be addressed by the UN chief about the situation in Gaza at 15:00 GMT.
The UN Security Council [Andrea Renault/AFP] -
Gaza death and injury toll rises
The number of people killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7 has now risen to 17,487, from 17,177 the day before, according to the latest figures by the Health Ministry.
An additional 46,480 people have been wounded, spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra said.
A woman mourns over the bodies of family members killed during Israeli bombardment overnight, at al-Najjar hospital in Rafah Thursday [Said Khatib/AFP] ‘Tragic conditions’ at Khan Younis hospital after house nearby bombed
As we reported earlier, the Israeli forces have bombed a house next to El Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has now shared videos showing the “tragic conditions” inside the hospital after the attack.
The medical group says “dozens of injuries and casualties” have been brought to the hospital.
Protests in support of people in Gaza after Friday prayers
Sanaa, Yemen [Khaled Abdullah/Reuters] 
Hebron, occupied West Bank [Hazem Bader/AFP] 
Hebron, occupied West Bank [Hazem Bader/AFP] PA not the solution to controlling Gaza: Netanyahu
The Israeli prime minister has responded to Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh’s earlier comments and said the PA is not the solution to post-war governance of Gaza.
“A. There will be no Hamas – we will eliminate it. B. The very fact that this is the Palestinian Authority’s proposal only strengthens my policy: the Palestinian Authority is not the solution,” Netanyahu wrote on X.
A Bloomberg report, citing Shtayyeh, said the preferred outcome of the war would be for Hamas to become a junior partner under the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and help build an independent Palestinian state that includes the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the PA is not the solution to post-war governance of Gaza [Christophe Ena/Pool via AFP] -
Qatar’s Sheikh Mohammed, Blinken meet in DC
The prime minister and foreign minister of Qatar has held talks with the US secretary of state in Washington, DC.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Antony Blinken discussed the situation in Gaza, as well as ways to reduce the escalation and a ceasefire, according to a statement by Qatar’s foreign ministry.
Sheikh Mohammed affirmed Qatar commitment’s to continuing efforts to restore calm and reach a permanent ceasefire, stressing that the continued bombing of Gaza complicates mediation efforts and exacerbates the humanitarian catastrophe faced by its residents.
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‘They stripped them and took pictures, they tied them up’: Resident
Al Jazeera has spoken to a Beit Lahia resident who provided details on the Palestinian men who were stripped to their underwear during their detention by Israeli forces.
The resident, who shared his account on the condition of anonymity out of fear for their safety, said the Israeli army stormed the neighbourhood at about 10am, ordering residents to come down from their buildings and surrender themselves. The soldiers then ordered the women and children to go to Jabalia and Kamal Adwan Hospital. They also took the elderly men for interrogation inside an apartment, before telling them to follow the women.
“A neighbour of ours, a 58-year-old man, who was the director of a UNRWA school, they took him with the young men. They stripped them and took pictures, they tied them up. And they put them in their trucks and took them near the coastline,” the resident said.
The men were then lined up on the coastline and left in the cold for “14-15 hours”, according to the resident, who said some of those detained were interrogated and some were “beaten and insulted”.
Some of the detainees were then put in a truck and returned to Beit Lahia in the early morning hours, according to the resident.
Upon their return home, they found that at least seven houses had been burned, some houses were blown up and many families said their properties had been looted, the resident said.
“Many are still in custody, we don’t know anything about them,” they added.
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‘Society on brink of full-blown collapse’, says UNRWA’s Gaza chief
Thomas White says civil order is “breaking down” in the Gaza Strip.
“The streets feel wild, particularly after dark – some aid convoys are being looted and UN vehicles stoned. Society is on the brink of full-blown collapse. UNRWA continues to serve the population with the limited aid we have,” the director of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza wrote on X.
Amid intense Israeli bombardments, Palestinians in Gaza are dealing with a severe food crisis as the lack of aid trucks has left many on the brink of starvation.
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Two Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza battles, army says
Israel’s army has just announced the deaths of two more Israeli soldiers in battles in northern Gaza.
This brings the number of Israeli soldiers killed since October 7 to 420.
Israeli soldiers carry the flag-draped casket of soldier Staff Sergeant Emanuel Feleke during his funeral at the Kiryat Gat’s military cemetery, on Thursday [Ohad Zwigenberg/AP Photo] -
Palestinian presidency calls on UNSC to back Gaza ceasefire
Just a few hours before the UN Security Council is due to convene to discuss a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the war, the Palestinian presidency has urged all members to vote in favour of the measure.
“The Presidency emphasized that the time has come for the adoption of this resolution to halt the ongoing genocidal war inflicted upon the Palestinian people by the Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,” Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
The renewed push for a ceasefire was made by Arab states after UN chief Antonio Guterres invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter on Wednesday. The move formally warns the council of a global threat from the war. Guterres, who has repeatedly called for a humanitarian ceasefire, is due to brief the council.
“The Presidency urged the prompt delivery of urgent humanitarian aid, citing intentional hindrances imposed by the Israeli occupation authorities, resulting in a catastrophic situation, particularly in the Gaza Strip,” Wafa said.
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8 Dec 2023 – 13:30(13:30 GMT)
WATCH: Video shows Palestinian detainees stripped by Israeli forces
Dozens of Palestinians detained by Israeli forces were stripped to their underwear, blindfolded and made to kneel on a street in northern Gaza, according to images and videos widely circulated on social media and confirmed by the Israeli army on Thursday.
You can watch our video report below:
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Civil defence ‘committed to Gaza people’ despite critical shortages, attacks
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Ahmed al-Kahlout, the head of civil defence in North Gaza, has said rescuers have been left with just one vehicle but lack fuel to operate it.
Despite facing a slew of challenges, including a shortage of staff and equipment, as well the shelling of their teams resulting in 16 casualties, al-Kahlout stressed that the civil defence will continue helping Gaza’s residents.
“We cannot leave the field, and we will remain committed to our people, even if we have to walk on foot, and we will work with our own hands,” he said.
Al-Kahlout called for support and protection to ensure that the civil defence teams can continue operating.
Palestinians dig in the rubble of a house destroyed in the Israeli bombardment on Rafah on Thursday [Hatem Ali/AP Photo] Israel bombs oldest and biggest Gaza mosque
The Israeli military has bombed the oldest and biggest mosque, the Great Omari Mosque, in the Gaza Strip.
The mosque was built between 5CE and 7CE.
The Quds News Network has published images of the destruction of the mosque, which Al Jazeera has verified.
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Inside the damaged homes, debris-strewn streets of northern Gaza
Palestinian journalist Abdul Qader Sabbah has shared a video documenting the widespread destruction in the Tal al-Zaatar area in the northern Gaza Strip due to heavy Israeli air raids and artillery shelling.
You can watch the footage, which has been verified by Al Jazeera, below:
Four wounded as Israeli raids in occupied West Bank continue
Four Palestinians were wounded in an Israeli raid in Hizma, northeast of occupied East Jerusalem, Wafa news agency reported.
Israeli forces besieged a mosque in the town triggering a confrontation. The Palestinian Red Crescent said people suffered injuries from live rounds, shrapnel and suffocation due to tear gas.
This is the latest in a number of violent raids to have taken place today, including in Ramallah. Earlier this morning, Palestinian health authorities said six people were killed in the Far’a refugee camp by Israeli forces.
Since October 7, the UN agency for Humanitarian Affairs said at least 243 Palestinians have been killed across the occupied West Bank.
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8 Dec 2023 – 12:50(12:50 GMT)
‘Remarkable’ that Israel took the footage of Palestinian detainees
Muhammed Shehada, communications chief at Euro-Med Monitor, says it is “remarkable” that Israeli soldiers took “degrading and humiliating pictures” of Palestinian detainees.
“We’ve been seeing for at least four to five weeks since the ground invasion started, Israeli soldiers recording similar videos and leaking them to Telegram channel or to Israeli accounts on X. There were no Palestinian photographers in that area, so the only source of these images can be Israeli soldiers or the media personnel embedded with them,” Shehada told Al Jazeera.
He explained that sharing the footage and labelling it immediately as surrendering Hamas fighters served two goals.
“Number one is to create a false victory image for Israel to say that we are winning this fight. Number two is to terrorise, humiliate and frighten the rest of the population that is in Khan Younis or in Gaza’s northern half to coax them to flee en masse towards Rafah,” Shehada added.
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8 Dec 2023 – 12:30(12:30 GMT)
WATCH: Are Israel’s attempts to demoralise Palestinians backfiring?
While some US officials talk about the need to protect innocent Palestinian lives, President Biden has said almost nothing.
Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Steven Cook says it was a mistake for Biden to have offered a “bear hug” – complete, unconditional support for Israel. Now, Biden is stuck in a position of supplying weapons to Israel while asking it to allow basic food and water into Gaza.
Al Jazeera’s The Bottom Line speaks to Cook about where the conflict is heading. Watch the discussion below:
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Jordan-Palestine solidarity rally outside US embassy
Thousands of Jordanians have rallied in the capital, Amman, and several cities across the country to condemn Israel’s war on Gaza.
One demonstration took place near the US embassy, with demonstrators condemning the US for its staunch support of Israel. They also called for a boycott of US products and voiced support for the Palestinian resistance.
The demonstrators called for an end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the opening of the Rafah crossing and to scrap Jordan’s peace agreement with Israel.
People hold fake bodies wrapped in cloths during a protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza in Amman, Jordan, on December 8, 2023 [Alaa Al Sukhni/Reuters] Advertisement -
8 Dec 2023 – 12:10(12:10 GMT)
Israel must avoid civilian suffering: Germany
A spokesperson from Germany’s foreign office says ensuring lasting peace in the Middle East will not be possible as long as Hamas continues its attacks from the Gaza Strip.
As the UN Security Council meets later today to discuss the situation in Gaza, the spokesperson said Germany advocated for “further ceasefires”, adding that Israel must avoid civilian suffering during its military campaign in the south and abide by humanitarian law.
Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip arrive at a hospital in Khan Younis [Mohammed Dahman/AP Photo] -
8 Dec 2023 – 12:05(12:05 GMT)
Number of detained Palestinians released
We’ve managed to confirm that a number of Palestinians who were arrested in and around Beit Lahia in northern Gaza have been released.
The Israeli army says a few of them had surrendered, but many of them were at the UN schools thinking that was a safe haven, and suddenly, the army appeared and took them away.
Some of these men would have been interrogated by the Israeli army and also by Shin Bet, the intelligence service, and that would’ve happened either in Israel or in a special facility that has been created in Gaza.
One person were identified by locals as a student. One man was there with his two children. Another was described as a shopkeeper with no links to Hamas. And there was a well-known local journalist among them.
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8 Dec 2023 – 12:00(12:00 GMT)
Photos: Yaffa Hospital severely damaged by Israeli attacks in Gaza’s Deir el-Balah
[Ashraf Amra/Anadolu] 
[Ashraf Amra/Anadolu] 
[Ashraf Amra/Anadolu] 
[Ashraf Amra/Anadolu] -
8 Dec 2023 – 11:50(11:50 GMT)
Israeli army launches ‘precise raids’ around Khan Younis
The Israeli army says it has struck 450 targets in the Gaza Strip with attacks from the air, sea and land over the past 24 hours.
It added that it killed a large number of Hamas fighters in a series of “precise raids” that lasted about two hours.
Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip arrive at a hospital in Khan Younis [Mohammed Dahman/AP Photo] -
8 Dec 2023 – 11:45(11:45 GMT)
‘Civil order is breaking down in Gaza’
Thomas White, the director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, says “civil order is breaking down” in the besieged enclave.
“The streets feel wild, particularly after dark – some aid convoys are being looted and UN vehicles stoned. Society is on the brink of full-blown collapse,” White said on X.
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Tensions are high in occupied East Jerusalem
We can bring you more updates from our correspondent Sara Khairat in occupied East Jerusalem where she says tensions are high today.
“To give you an idea about the atmosphere in occupied East Jerusalem as well as the occupied territories, shopkeepers are saying they are shutting their stores early.
“They are worried they’ll be arrested any moment even for crossing the road. One person told us he was detained for throwing rubbish. They were questioned and then threatened with arrest.
“You have the Israeli police turning up, preventing anyone from posting on social media in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. If you even raise the Palestinian flag, that’s illegal.”
A woman walks next to Israeli Border Police officers while Muslim Palestinians hold Friday prayers in Jerusalem [Ammar Awad/Reuters] -
Palestinians prevented from worshipping at Al-Aqsa Mosque
Every week, young worshippers heading to Al-Aqsa Mosque are prevented from entering.
They don’t even manage to get close enough because Israeli forces, every single Friday, push them back with tear gas and water spray. They only allow those who are older to get past.
Usually, around 60,000 to 70,000 worshippers attend Friday prayer at Islam’s third holiest site. Last week, it was around 5,000.
Israelis are saying they’re doing this to prevent any tension because there’s a war and under an emergency law. But Palestinians see it as another excuse to prevent movement and to stop them from being able to go about their daily lives.
Israeli forces stand guard as Palestinian Muslims perform Friday noon prayers on the street in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Ras al-Amud on December 1, 2023 [Ahmad Gharabli/AFP] -
8 Dec 2023 – 11:10(11:10 GMT)
US unlikely to push for a ceasefire at UNSC meeting
As the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) prepares to meet to discuss a ceasefire, the US will likely push against it, says Ahmed Bedier, president of the United Voices for America.
Bedier told Al Jazeera that it’s probable that the US will act as they have at other UNSC meetings about the war – either “find some flaw in the language” of the resolution, abstain or veto it.
“Especially in an election year and [President] Biden is behind in the polls, and it seems both parties (Democrats and Republicans) are trying to position themselves as who is stronger on Israel,” he said. “So definitely that pressure is there, and the power of the pro-Israel lobby and their pressure and the funding for campaigns is definitely having a significant impact on the decisions.”
Bedier added that the US is capable of controlling Israel, but the “will” is not there yet. The US has become more critical of the death toll, but if they were serious about taking a stance, they could withhold weapons from Israel, he said.
Smoke rising above buildings during an Israeli strike in northern Gaza [Jack Guez/AFP]