Mossad Director Visited Doha for Gaza Deal Talks, Axios
The Mossad director’s trip to Qatar was part of an effort to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas before the inauguration of President-elect Trump in January. David Barnea’s visit comes after several months of deadlock in the negotiations and Qatar’s decision to suspend its mediation efforts.
UN General Assembly Demands Ceasefire in Gaza and Backs UN Agency Helping Palestinian Refugees, AP
The votes culminated two days of speeches overwhelmingly calling for an end to the 14-month war between Israel and the militant Hamas group and demanding access throughout Gaza to address the growing humanitarian catastrophe.
US General Monitors First Withdrawal of Israeli Troops From Lebanon, Reuters
A top U.S. military officer visited Beirut on Wednesday to monitor the withdrawal of the first Israeli troops from Lebanon under a ceasefire agreement reached last month, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Accuses U.S. and Israel of Orchestrating Assad Ouster, The Washington Post
His remarks, while steeped in the Islamic Republic’s rhetorical tradition of condemnations of Israel and its Western allies, verged at moments into rare confluence with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s characterizations of Assad’s fall. In an address earlier this week, Netanyahu said the collapse of the Assad regime was “a direct result of the blows” Israeli forces “have dealt to Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran.”
Child Killed After Shooting Attack on Israeli Civilian Bus in the West Bank, CNN
A ten-year-old boy has been killed in a shooting attack in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to the Hadassah Medical Center, after an assailant opened fire at an Israeli civilian bus. Three others were injured when the bus was shot, according to authorities.
Israel Kills 36 Palestinians in Gaza, Targets Volatile Aid Route, Reuters
At least eight Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in two Israeli airstrikes that targeted groups of Palestinians tasked with securing trucks bringing aid into the Gaza Strip on Thursday, medics said.
Israeli Strikes Kill 12 Guarding Gaza Aid Lorries, Medics Say, BBC
At least 35 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza, including 12 guarding incoming aid lorries, local medics and the Hamas-run Civil Defence authority say. Seven guards were killed in a strike in Rafah while protecting aid lorries from violent armed theft, which UN workers say is the main obstacle to getting supplies into southern Gaza. Another attack left five guards dead in Khan Younis.
Vatican Officials, Palestinian President Discuss Gaza’s ‘Very Serious’ Needs, Reuters
A statement said Abbas also met with the Catholic Church’s top diplomatic officials to discuss the “very serious humanitarian situation in Gaza, where it is hoped that there will be a ceasefire and the release of all hostages as soon as possible.”
Intelligence, Not Evidence: Knesset Greenlights Controversial Law Expanding Detentions Without Trial, Haaretz
These injunctions could bar a person from entering certain areas, leaving their place of residence, or leaving the country. A person could also be required to reside in a certain location and have restrictions placed on their driving, internet use and oral or written communications with certain individuals.
Will UNDOF, the Peacekeeping Force on the Israel-Syria Border, Survive the Fall of Assad?, Haaretz
Amir Tibon writes, “On Sunday, Israel officially admitted that it had sent its military across the 1974 armistice line and effectively taken over the buffer zone and adjunct Syrian territory. UNDOF remained silent. The only sign of life, so to say, from the peacekeeping mission, was a news story published by the Nepali newspaper Everest Post, in which Nepali UNDOF staffers shared that they were barricading in the base amid shelling and gunfire.”
A Year Ago, an Israeli Airstrike Buried Me Alive. I’m Still Clawing My Way Out, +972
Mohammed Mhawish shares, “These days, as I mark the one-year anniversary of that attack from exile in Cairo, I still hear the explosion in my dreams. I still wake up in a cold sweat, reaching out to make sure my son is breathing beside me. The physical scars have mostly healed, but the emotional ones remain as fresh as the day it happened. People tell me I should be grateful we survived, and I am. But surviving isn’t the same as living.”