Day 67 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Tuesday, Dec. 12

As fighting intensified in the Gaza Strip over the weekend, the president's comments on Monday marked a new level of public pressure from Washington.

Rina Bassist, Ezgi Akin, Beatrice Farhat, Elizabeth Hagedorn, Adam Lucente, Jack Dutton, Jared Szuba and Al-Monitor’s contributors on the ground in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel contributed to this blog.

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Live updates (all times EDT):

Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023

4:31 pm: UNGA overwhelmingly backs Gaza cease-fire resolution

On Tuesday, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voted in favor of a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza, after a similar resolution introduced in the Security Council last week was vetoed by the United States. The vote saw 153 in favor, 10 against and 23 abstentions.

Unlike Security Council resolutions, those from the General Assembly are not binding, although they do have symbolic political weight.

2:00 pm: Israeli military reportedly flooding Hamas tunnels

The Israeli military has started pumping seawater into the vast complex of Hamas tunnels in Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing American officials briefed by the IDF. The report said this operation, which could take weeks, is only one of several measures deployed by the IDF to empty and destroy the tunnels. No Israeli official has thus far confirmed the report. Asked by reporters last week about the possibility of flooding the tunnels, IDF chief Herzi Halevi said only that it was “a good idea.”

1:15 pm: Biden calls on Netanyahu to 'change' his government

US President Joe Biden said Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has to change” his government and that the Israeli leader “can’t say no” to a future Palestinian state.

“Israel’s security can rest on the United States, but right now it has more than the United States. It has the European Union, it has Europe, it has most of the world. … But they’re starting to lose that support by indiscriminate bombing” in Gaza, Biden was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Biden’s comments marked a new level of public pressure from Washington after Netanyahu openly rejected the US proposal for the Palestinian Authority to come to power in postwar Gaza.

“I will not allow Israel to repeat the mistake of Oslo,” Netanyahu said Tuesday, in reference to US-brokered 1993 talks that established the PA in cooperation with Israeli security echelons. Netanyahu has long criticized the Oslo Accords, which were never fully implemented.

Biden offered a public rebuke to Netanyahu’s remarks during a campaign donors event just hours later, specifically mentioning Israel’s far-right security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, saying Israel’s coalition is “the most conservative government in Israel’s history.”

“This government in Israel is making it very difficult for him to move,” Biden said. US national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are expected in Israel in the coming days.

11:38 am: Israeli military recovers bodies of 2 Israelis kidnapped by Hamas

The bodies of 28-year-old Eden Zacharia and 36-year-old Ziv Dado, both kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, were retrieved from the Gaza Strip by Israeli troops, public broadcaster Kan reported.

A convoy of hundreds of vehicles carrying family members of the abductees arrived Tuesday evening at the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem in another effort to pressure the government to achieve a deal for the release of the hostages.

6:20 am: Kerem Shalom crossing station inspects aid deliveries to Gaza

The Kerem Shalom crossing station on the Israel-Gaza border is now inspecting aid deliveries to Gaza, according to the Israeli military. A statement issued by Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories read, “This crucial step is set to expand the volume of aid reaching Gaza. We trust the UN did all the adjustments to receive and distribute the aid.” On Monday the Israeli government approved the plan to use the Kerem Shalom and Nitzana crossing stations for security inspections of trucks carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza. After inspection, the trucks must drive back to the Rafah crossing on the Egypt-Gaza border, from where they can enter the Strip.

4:25 am: Houthi missile hits Norwegian-flagged tanker in latest Red Sea attack

A Norwegian-flagged commercial oil tanker with no apparent connection to Israel was hit by an anti-ship cruise missile fired from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen, US military officials said late on Monday. The MT Strinda issued a distress call reporting it had taken damage from the hit in the southern Red Sea north of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, leading the USS Mason, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer operating nearby, to respond in assistance, an official told Al-Monitor. Jared Szuba reports.

4:20 am: Israeli forces storm hospital in north Gaza

Israeli forces entered the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip after besieging and bombarding it for days, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said. Israeli troops were rounding up men in the hospital courtyard, including medical staff, the ministry said, expressing concern that they would be killed or arrested.

Al Jazeera reported that medical staff inside the hospital were shot and killed. “We urge the UN, World Health Organization and the International Committee of the Red Cross to take immediate action to save and protect the lives of those inside the hospital,” the ministry said in a statement. According to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, around 3,000 displaced people are believed to be trapped inside the hospital, in addition to 64 patients.

1:51 am: Dozens killed in heavy Israeli bombardment in south Gaza

At least 20 Palestinians, including six children, were killed in heavy Israeli airstrikes in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, the WAFA news agency reported. Israeli jets, meanwhile, continue to pound Khan Yunis, where several deaths were reported. The Israeli military has ramped up its ground and air campaign in the southern Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of people have fled since the start of the war on Oct. 7.

12:12 am: Four Palestinians killed in Israeli drone strike in Jenin

At least four Palestinians were killed and several others injured in an Israeli drone strike in the West Bank city of Jenin, according to the official WAFA news agency. Israel says the four killed belonged to the militant group Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.

Israeli forces raided al-Sibat neighborhood and other areas in Jenin, where heavy clashes were reported. Director of the Jenin government hospital Wissam Bakra told WAFA that Israeli forces encircled three hospitals in the area. Six people, including one woman, were arrested during the raid. Israel has ramped up its raids in the West Bank since the war in Gaza began on Oct. 7. Since then, 279 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli raids and settler attacks in the territory.

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