December 11, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Five reservists were killed on Sunday during a raid on what the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said were “terror infrastructure sites” in the area of a school in southern Gaza.

“During the battle, an explosive device was detonated at the (IDF) forces and terrorists were identified in the area. The troops responded with live fire, directed aircraft and tanks, initiated contact, killed the terrorists, and struck the terror infrastructure in the area,” the IDF said in a statement. 

Shots were fired at IDF troops from the school, it added.

The IDF said it identified the five killed soldiers and notified their families.

Previous reporting from CNN’s Richard Allen Greene, Amir Tal, Tamar Michaelis, Tim Lister, Mick Krever, Alex Marquardt and others.

Shadi Shaheen and his family used to run a car dealership in Gaza. But when the Israel-Hamas war began and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) called on residents of his area to evacuate, he did. Now, his family is among 70 people sheltering in two houses in Deir Al-Balah, located in the central part of the Gaza strip.

Meanwhile, the bombings in the neighborhood he left behind destroyed his house and his business — eight new cars costing $220,000 were destroyed in the bombings, he added.

“All our memories and properties were lost, and our dreams have gone,” Shaheen said. “This was our father's trade and we young generation inherited this … we lost everything we owned.”

The Palestinian father also told CNN about the bombing near the houses his family and others are sheltering in. “There is bombing nearby, the girls are crying … and they are trembling out of fear.”

A factory operating on solar energy is their source of recharging phone batteries. When the winter sun does not shine, there is also no recharge, he said.

Staff of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Gaza feel “abandoned by the international community” after the United States vetoed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza last week, UNRWA Chief Philippe Lazzarini told CNN on Monday. 

The UNRWA chief said that his staff felt “deep frustration, deep disappointment, [and] outrage” at the failure of the UN to approve the resolution, adding that the system in Gaza is “teetering on the edge of a collapse.”

Gaza is “very close” to seeing “a breakdown of civil order,” which will not allow the agency to operate anymore, he said, noting how some civilians in Gaza have resorted to looting warehouses in desperation.

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.