December 11, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Qatar will continue to make payments to Gaza to support the enclave, as it has been doing for years, the Qatari minister of state for foreign affairs told CNN’s Becky Anderson on Monday.

His remarks come amid increased anger in Israel about years of payments from the Gulf state to Hamas, under a deal which used to see Qatari diplomats arrive in the enclave every month with suitcases containing $15 million in cash.

The cash deliveries were supposed to help pay Gaza’s civil servants. Pictures in 2018 showed workers lining up to receive $100 bills.

Israel approved the deal in a security cabinet meeting in August 2018, during a previous Benjamin Netanyahu tenure as prime minister. At that time, Netanyahu was criticized for being soft on Hamas.

After Qatar’s envoy to Gaza, Mohamed Al Emadi, delivered the first suitcases of cash in November 2018, Netanyahu defended the initiative.

Among his critics at the time were then-education minister Naftali Bennett, who called the funds “protection money.” Bennett later became prime minister himself in a short-lived government that spanned the political spectrum.

On Sunday, he told CNN that he had stopped allowing the payments to be made in cash when he became prime minister, calling the cash suitcases a "horrendous mistake."

Mounting criticism: The deal is one reason why many Israelis today place part of the blame for the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Netanyahu personally. Numerous people told CNN they believed that allowing the payments made Hamas stronger and, ultimately, made the brutal attacks worse.

Retired Maj. Gen Amos Gilad, who argued against giving Hamas cash when he was in the security establishment, Sunday told CNN that the money was “like oxygen” and that Hamas used it to cement its grip on Gaza.

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) will on Tuesday resume its emergency session on the situation in Gaza, days after the United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire.

Representatives from Egypt and Mauritania invoked UNGA resolution 377 which says the organization can convene to make recommendations when the security council “fails to exercise its primary responsibility to act as required to maintain international peace and security.”

Meanwhile, fighting has continued in the southern city of Khan Younis as Israel’s ground offensive grinds on. And, despite hopes that a key crossing between Israel and Gaza would open Monday to allow more aid to enter the enclave, that looks set to be delayed for at least another day.

Here are the latest developments:

General strikes were declared Monday in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Lebanon and Jordan in a display of solidarity with Gaza, as fighting between Israel and Hamas continues in the enclave.

In East Jerusalem, shops were shuttered and the streets and alleyways were deserted, as Palestinians stayed home. In the occupied West Bank, public transport, schools, banks and shops have also been closed.

In Lebanon, government institutions and schools as well as places of higher education are closed, according to the National News Agency (NNA).

Jordan has also come to a standstill as citizens observe the strike, with pictures from the capital of Amman showing rainy, empty streets and shops closed for the day.

Posters with the slogan "#strikeforgaza" have been plastered on walls calling for support of Gaza and solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

UNRWA, the main UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, said it was backing the strike in Jordan, including its schools. UNRWA runs 161 schools in the country, educating more than 113,000 students, according to its website.

The Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza did not open on Monday, according to Israeli authorities, despite hopes that more humanitarian aid could start flowing into Gaza after being processed there.

Israel announced last week it would open the crossing for the inspection of aid trucks “in the next few days.” The British defense secretary, Grant Shapps, who visited Israel last week, said on Monday the crossing would “open today.”

But Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said Monday that, while it was ready to inspect more aid at the crossing, it couldn’t do so because the aid did not make it there.

The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been the only one open to humanitarian aid since the October 7 Hamas terror attack.

The United Nations has been calling for several weeks for the Kerem Shalom crossing to be opened, saying it would facilitate deliveries of more vital humanitarian aid to Gaza. 

A senior Arab diplomatic source told CNN the opening of the Kerem Shalom was important because “there are only so many trucks than can physically enter through Rafah.”

Kerem Shalom was the main cargo crossing into Gaza before the war. It is unclear whether aid trucks will be allowed to travel to Gaza through the crossing after inspection or whether they would need to travel through the Rafah crossing. The two crossings are just a few miles apart.

Israel appeared to blame the UN for the delay on Monday, with the COGAT statement saying: “The UN must do better - the aid is there, and the people need it.”

But an international humanitarian official told CNN the opening of the crossing was postponed because Egypt did not want to allow aid trucks into Gaza. The official said Egypt wanted to “keep [the] border area clear for the VIP visitors to Rafah” and added the crossing should open tomorrow.

CNN has asked Egyptian authorities for comment.

In October, Refaat Alareer was deliberating whether to stay at his home in the heart of Gaza City, or flee further south with his wife and six children.

As Israeli warplanes bombarded northern Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told civilians to evacuate their homes immediately and go south.

Civilians like Alareer were confronted with an impossible predicament. Stay home and risk being killed, or try to flee without protection. At the time, the 44-year-old writer and academic told CNN he and his family had no choice but to remain in the north, because they “have nowhere else to go.”

A professor of comparative literature at the Islamic University of Gaza, Alareer was famed for his role in chronicling Gazan experiences. He was instrumental in nurturing young Palestinian writers and helped them tell their stories in English, according to friends and colleagues.

Alareer spoke to CNN from Gaza City, on October 12 and October 13. He gave consent in written messages to share the recording in the event of his death.

Weeks later, on December 7, Alareer was killed by a strike in Shajaiya, in northern Gaza, his friend and colleague, Jehad Abusalim, confirmed to CNN. He was staying with his brother, his sister, and her four children, who were also killed, according to Abusalim, a writer, 35, based in Washington, DC.

He left behind his wife, and children aged 7 to 21. CNN has been unable to reach members of Alareer’s family.

Read the full story here.

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) will on Tuesday resume its emergency session on the situation in Gaza, according to a statement from UNGA President Dennis Francis, after the United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Friday calling for a humanitarian ceasefire.

In a letter shared by the UNGA president, representatives from Egypt and Mauritania called for the special meeting on Tuesday of the General Assembly "in our respective capacities as Chair of the Arab Group and Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Group."

The two representatives called for the resumption of the meeting invoking UNGA resolution 377 "United for Peace," which says UNGA can convene to make recommendations when the Security Council "fails to exercise its primary responsibility to act as required to maintain international peace and security." 

The meeting is expected to convene at 3 p.m. ET Tuesday, according to Francis.

Some context: The US vetoed a UN resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in war-torn Gaza amid growing concern about the civilian death toll there.

Thirteen countries were in favor of the resolution, while the US vetoed and the United Kingdom abstained.

A draft version of the resolution, presented by the United Arab Emirates, had called for “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” as well as “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages” and “ensuring humanitarian access,” according to a draft copy.

At least 97 other countries joined in the effort, co-sponsoring the UAE-drafted bill.

Friday’s vote followed UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ rare invocation of Article 99 of the UN charter, which allowed him to call a Security Council meeting on an “issue that may aggravate existing threats to the maintenance of international peace and security.”

The powerful tool hadn’t been used since 1989.

Three Israeli soldiers have been killed fighting against Hamas in Gaza, bringing the total number of Israel Defense Forces troops killed during the ongoing military operation in the enclave to 100, the IDF said Monday.

About 600 IDF members have been wounded since the ground invasion began on October 27, the IDF said Sunday.

At least 17,700 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza from October 7 through December 9, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, citing sources from the Hamas-controlled enclave. It said 70% of the fatalities were children, women, and the elderly.

Lebanon closed all government offices and public institutions nationwide on Monday in solidarity with Gaza, according to a government statement cited by state media.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced the closure "in response to the global call for Gaza and in solidarity with the Palestinians and our people in Gaza and the Lebanese border villages," the statement said.

Cross-border fire: On Monday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they identified "a number of launches" from Lebanon toward Israel, as crossfire continues along the two countries' border. Six launches were intercepted by Israel's air defenses, the IDF said, adding it is striking the sources. 

It comes a day after several Israeli soldiers were wounded in northern Israel by fire from Lebanon, the IDF said.

Dark clouds of smoke billowed over the skyline of Khan Younis on Sunday as Israel expanded its operations in southern Gaza, according to a video livestreamed by Reuters.

The video, filmed from the roof of the Nasser Medical Complex, shows heavy smoke on the horizon — with some explosions heard in the distance. CNN has also geolocated a video from social media that captured the sound of heavy gunfire in Khan Younis, where limited communications have made it challenging to obtain accurate information.

Meanwhile, the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, said the southern city has come under “a series of airstrikes and artillery shelling on a number of areas" Sunday and hospitals in the area are facing increased pressure.

In an update Sunday, Israel's military said it struck more than 250 Hamas targets in the past 24 hours, including what it called Hamas communication sites and tunnels.

It comes after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday issued “an urgent appeal” for civilians to evacuate from much of Khan Younis. It is unclear how many people were aware of the order given the lack of communications availability in much of Gaza. 

Catch up on the latest developments in the war: