Top US officials will travel to Israel this week, Biden says
From CNN's Betsy Klein
A pair of top US officials will travel to Israel this week for key meetings during a critical moment for the war, President Joe Biden announced Tuesday.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan will travel to the region “this week,” Biden said. He will meet with the Israeli War Cabinet, the president added, to “emphasize our commitment to Israel as well as the need to protect civilian life and assure more humanitarian assistance flows and reaches into Gaza for Palestinian civilians.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will also travel to the region.
Austin, Biden said, will “step up the international efforts to protect the free flow of commerce through the Red Sea.”
Those meetings come following a warning from Biden that Israel was losing international support for its campaign against Hamas amid heavy bombardment of Gaza.
5:17 p.m. ET, December 12, 2023
Canada says it supports a ceasefire in Gaza, parting ways with US policy
From CNN’s Paula Newton in Ottawa
In an apparent change from previous policy statements, Canada announced Tuesday that it would back a non-binding UN resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a joint statement with the leaders of Australia and New Zealand earlier Tuesday saying they wanted to see a pause resumed “and support urgent international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire."
Canada has previously supported humanitarian pauses but has never categorically called for a ceasefire.
Speaking Tuesday, Trudeau called the statement “comprehensive” and said he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Canada’s position to join the international call for a humanitarian ceasefire.
Canada’s foreign minister underscored the reason for the change, telling reporters Tuesday that Canada continues to condemn the “horrific” brutality employed by Hamas.
“From the very beginning we have said that Israel has the right to defend itself and how Israel defend itself matters,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly, adding that “we must recognize that what is unfolding before our eyes will only enhance the cycle of violence, this will not lead to the durable defeat of Hamas.”
Some background: The UN General Assembly voted Tuesday to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, days after the United States blocked a similar resolution in the smaller Security Council.
A majority of 153 nations voted for the ceasefire resolution in the emergency special session Tuesday, while 10 voted against and 23 abstained.
5:00 p.m. ET, December 12, 2023
UN General Assembly demands immediate ceasefire in Gaza
From CNN's Caitlin Hu
The results of a draft resolution vote are seen on a screen as the UN General Assembly holds an emergency special session on the Israel-Hamas war at the United Nations headquarters on December 12. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
The UN General Assembly voted to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in war-torn Gaza, in a rebuke to the United States which last week blocked a similar resolution in the smaller Security Council.
A majority of 153 nations voted for the ceasefire resolution in the General Assembly’s emergency special session Tuesday, while 10 voted against it and 23 abstained.
Tuesday’s brief resolution called for a ceasefire, for all parties to comply with international law, and for humanitarian access to hostages as well as their “immediate and unconditional” release. It notably contained stronger language than an October vote in the assembly that had called for a “sustained humanitarian truce.”
While a General Assembly vote is politically significant and is seen as wielding moral weight, it is not binding, unlike a Security Council resolution.
Israel, with staunch US backing, has rejected calls for a ceasefire, though it previously agreed to a seven-day truce for the release of hostages held in Gaza.
On Friday, the United States vetoed a ceasefire resolution in the UN Security Council, which had been approved by a majority of the powerful 15-member council.
4:35 p.m. ET, December 12, 2023
Israel begins flooding Gaza tunnels with seawater “on a limited basis,” US official says
From CNN's Natasha Bertrand
The Israelis informed the US that they have begun “carefully testing out” flooding some of Gaza's tunnels with seawater “on a limited basis” to test the ability to degrade the tunnel network on a larger scale, a US official told CNN on Tuesday.
The Israelis are still unsure of whether it will work, the official said, but they assured the US that they are being careful to only test it in tunnels where they do not believe hostages are being held.
CNN has asked the IDF for comment.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s office said it believes 135 hostages are still being held by Hamas, some of whom are believed to be US citizens.
The Israeli military said earlier this month that it destroyed at least 500 tunnel shafts in Gaza and located more than 800 around the Palestinian enclave. The IDF said last week that many of the tunnel shafts "were located in civilian areas" and inside civilian structures.
In 2021, Hamas claimed to have built 500 kilometers (311 miles) worth of tunnels under Gaza, though it is unclear if that figure was accurate or posturing.
4:05 p.m. ET, December 12, 2023
"It can barely be described as living conditions anymore," aid official says of situation in Gaza hospital
From CNN’s Catherine Nicholls
The scene outside the Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital on December 9. CNN
There are barely “living conditions” for the people of the Gaza Strip, the emergency coordinator of operations for Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), said Tuesday.
“Living conditions…I mean it can barely be described as living conditions anymore. People are displaced once, twice, sometimes more. They just don’t know where to go anymore,” Marie-Aure Perreaut, who is based in the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, told CNN’s Isa Soares in an interview.
People sheltering in hospitals in Gaza are living in “horrendous conditions” without access to health care, she said.
While Gazans traveled to hospitals in search of safety, Perreaut said, they know that “this is just not the case.”
She described a lack of food and water, cold temperatures, overcrowding, and widespread diseases in hospitals, saying that the situation is “very, very tough.”
Many people are suffering from respiratory tract infections, diarrhea, and skin diseases such as scabies, she said.
"All of these are clear illustrations of the extremely tough and precarious living conditions,” Perreaut said, adding that, since health care centers were ordered to evacuate, people “just don’t have access to health care anymore.”
Half of the patients that MSF was treating were children under the age of five, she said.
“All those children are still living in those conditions, facing multiple evacuation orders in the south, and now, just do not have access to health care on top of it," Perreaut said.
Several hospitals in northern Gaza have ceased operations in recent weeks, saying they received orders from the Israeli military to evacuate. The Israeli military disputes issuing such an order.
Fuel shortages have forced several hospitals in Gaza to close, while others have shut down due to airstrike damage, the World Health Organization has reported.
The Israeli military says it only carries out operations in and around hospitals where they are being used by Hamas and other armed groups.
3:36 p.m. ET, December 12, 2023
Israel's defense minister says troops are operating deep underground in Gaza to destroy Hamas infrastructure
From Tamar Michaelis
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Tuesday that troops inside Gaza are operating deep underground.
“They are locating Hamas infrastructure and destroying it,” he said.
On a visit to a divisional headquarters in southern Israel, Gallant also said that the IDF located the two brothers of Ahmed Randor, the commander of Hamas’ Northern Brigade in Gaza who was killed.
“After the IDF eliminated Randor, the Northern Gaza Brigade commander, his brothers surrendered and now they are providing information to the IDF and ISA," Gallant said.
He went on to say that Hamas’ infrastructure in Gaza City and the northern area of the Gaza Strip was on the verge of collapsing. IDF operations were being conducted above and below ground, he said.
“Our troops also descend deep underground to locate [Hamas] bunkers, command centers, communication rooms and weapon storages," Gallant said.
Separately, IDF spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said the areas of Khan Younis in the south, as well as Jabalya and Shejaiya in the north, were the epicenters of the fighting.
3:31 p.m. ET, December 12, 2023
More than 70 medical staff at northern Gaza hospital arrested by Israeli military, doctor says
From CNN's Ibrahim Dahman and Tim Lister
The Israeli military arrested dozens of the medical staff at the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza on Tuesday, a senior doctor told CNN.
Dr Hossam Abu-Safia, head of pediatrics, said that the director was among those taken to an unknown destination.
The situation was “very dangerous” and the bombing became more intense Tuesday around the hospital, Abu-Safia told CNN in a phone interview. Then the Israeli military arrived and asked for all men between the ages of 16 and 65 to leave the building to be searched.
“Then it was the medical staff’s turn. Many of the medical staff have been arrested and taken to an unknown area, more than 70 medical staff,” he said.
He and five other doctors had been allowed to stay in the hospital to look after the intensive care unit and premature babies. “They asked us to gather in only one section or building [and] close all the doors and windows, and not to be near doors or windows.”
Dr Abu-Safia said the hospital was without water or power. “We are working with primitive flashlights to follow up on the patients left in the hospital.”
He said displaced women, children and the elderly remained at the hospital.
Asked about the alleged arrests at the Kamal Adwan hospital, the Israeli military said it continues “to act against Hamas strongholds" in the north of Gaza, among them the area of Beit Lahia.
The military was taking precautions "to mitigate harm to non-combatants," it said.
3:42 p.m. ET, December 12, 2023
Rifts between Biden and Netanyahu spill into public view amid ongoing Israeli operations in Gaza
From CNN's Kevin Liptak and Jeremy Diamond
President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pose for photos before a meeting in Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 18. Miriam Alster/Pool via Reuters/File
Rifts between the United States and Israel spilled into public view Tuesday as President Joe Biden warned that Israel was losing international support for its campaign against Hamas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly rejected American plans for post-war Gaza.
The divides, which until now had mostly been contained behind the scenes, reflected growing differences between the two staunch allies as the civilian death toll in Gaza mounts.
Speaking to Democratic donors in Washington, Biden voiced criticism of Israel’s hardline government and said Netanyahu needed to alter his approach.
“I think he has to change, and with this government, this government in Israel is making it very difficult for him to move,” Biden said, calling Netanyahu’s government the “most conservative government in Israel’s history.”
He warned support for the country’s military campaign is waning amid heavy bombardment of Gaza and added that the Israeli government “doesn’t want a two-state solution.”
Speaking ahead of Biden’s comments at the fundraiser, Netanyahu admitted Tuesday that he and the US president disagree on what should happen to Gaza after the war. In a statement, the Israeli leader said: “Yes, there is disagreement about ‘the day after Hamas’ and I hope that we will reach agreement here as well.”
The pair of remarks amounted to some of the most candid to date when it comes to the persistent differences between Israel and the United States, its top international ally.
Before the war broke out following Hamas’ terror attacks on October 7, Biden had been open in his criticism of Netanyahu’s governing coalition, which includes far-right parties. But he has mostly stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Netanyahu in public since the conflict began, despite mounting criticism of the Israeli campaign.
Netanyahu has been asked repeatedly for his vision for a post-war Gaza in interviews with international media since October 7, telling CNN’s Dana Bash in an interview last month that he did see a role for “some kind of civilian Palestinian authority,” albeit one that had been “reconstructed.”
But in his statement Tuesday before Biden’s remarks at the Democratic fundraiser, Netanyahu said: “I would like to clarify my position: I will not allow Israel to repeat the mistake of Oslo.”
Clarification: This post has been updated to include Biden's full remarks regarding Netanyahu and the Israeli government.
2:48 p.m. ET, December 12, 2023
Israel says nearly 200 humanitarian aid trucks inspected at Israeli crossings Tuesday
From Tamar Michaelis
Trucks are seen at Kerem Shalom on Tuesday, December 12. CNN
Israeli authorities say that 197 humanitarian aid trucks were screened and transferred to the Gaza Strip via the Rafah Crossing on Tuesday.
Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said that 117 trucks were inspected at Nitzana crossing and 80 at Kerem Shalom crossing.
The Israeli government has forbidden aid to be transferred directly from Israeli crossing points into Gaza.
Earlier Tuesday, CNN reported that the United States is pressuring Israel to open the Kerem Shalom border crossing to allow humanitarian aid trucks to go directly into Gaza on an emergency basis, according to US officials.
A spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister’s office declined to comment on the US move.
Israel has so far resisted the idea. It cut off all commercial and humanitarian aid traffic from Israel into Gaza since Hamas launched its surprise terrorist attack on October 7 and has vowed to sever all ties with Gaza.
Col. Moshe Tetro, a top official at Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), which coordinates the flow of aid into the strip, told CNN on Monday that allowing aid directly into Gaza from Kerem Shalom “is not on the table at the current time” and that it would require a “political” decision to change that.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond contributed reporting to this post.
