December 20, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Our live coverage of Israel’s war with Hamas has moved here.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a press briefing at the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva on December 15.

The head of the United Nations’ health agency on Thursday warned of the “toxic mix of disease, hunger and lack of hygiene and sanitation” faced by people in Gaza as he called for an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas.

“Gaza is already experiencing soaring rates of infectious disease outbreaks. Diarrhoea cases among children aged under 5 are 25 times what they were before the conflict,” he said. “Such illnesses can be lethal for malnourished children, more so in the absence of functioning health services. We need a ceasefire now.”

Tedros’ comments come amid multiple calls from UN agencies for a pause in fighting to help relief efforts in Gaza.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned Thursday that intense fighting is impeding efforts to assist people in Gaza. He called for “conditions to allow for large-scale humanitarian operations” to be “reestablished immediately.”

On Wednesday, the World Food Programme said half of Gaza’s population is starving and residents are often going entire days without eating. Meanwhile, UNICEF warned Tuesday that children and families “are not safe in hospitals” in Gaza as the enclave’s wider health care system teeters on the edge of collapse. 

UN vote: President Joe Biden said Wednesday the United States is still working through whether to support a UN Security Council resolution that calls for a halt in Gaza hostilities to allow more aid into the enclave after a vote on the matter was pushed to Thursday.

Last week, the wider UN General Assembly voted to demand an immediate ceasefire, in a rebuke to the US, which has repeatedly blocked ceasefire calls in the Security Council.

Blinken speaks during a news conference on Wednesday, December 20, at the State Department in Washington, DC.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called out countries on Wednesday for not demanding that Hamas surrender its arms.

The secretary of state noted that “understandably, everyone would like to see this conflict end as quickly as possible,” but, he observed, “if it ends with Hamas remaining in place and having the capacity and the stated intent to repeat October 7th again and again and again, that’s not in the interests of Israel, it’s not in the interests of the region, it’s not in the interests of the world.”

Asked about the growing death toll in Gaza, Blinken reiterated calls for the fighting to “move to a lower-intensity phase.”

“We expect to see and want to see a shift to more targeted operations with a smaller number of forces that’s really focused in on dealing with the leadership of Hamas, the tunnel network, and a few other critical things,” he said. “And as that happens, I think you’ll see, as well, the harm done to civilians also decrease significantly.”

Blinken’s comments come as the UN Security Council continues to negotiate a resolution calling for a suspension in fighting and encouraging more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, and as the United States’ support for the motion remains unresolved.

CNN’s Becky Anderson, Michael Williams, Kevin Liptak and Jennifer Deaton contributed to this report.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned Thursday that intense fighting is impeding efforts to assist people in Gaza. 

Guterres called for “conditions to allow for large-scale humanitarian operations” to be “reestablished immediately.”

The Israeli military released videos it says show a network of tunnels in the center of Gaza City.

The army said it uncovered the network after securing operational control over Palestine Square, a plaza in the city’s center. The videos purport to show a series of tunnel shafts and access points leading underground.

In one video, a camera descends a long ladder before proceeding along a narrow, arched hallway to reach a blast door.

In a different video, a camera descends a long spiral staircase into another tunnel. In one clip, a passageway to the tunnel network, hidden behind an electricity box, is identified.

Several of the tunnel shafts appear to have been demolished, which the Israeli military said had been done by Hamas fighters.

In a briefing with journalists, Israeli army spokesperson Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said the tunnels were a “substantial, elaborate network of interconnected command control positions.”

Within the tunnels, Israeli forces found food, water, electric infrastructure, and communications capabilities, Lerner said.

It is not possible for CNN to immediately verify all the Israeli military’s claims.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a Cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv on December 17.

The father of one of the hostages killed by Israeli troops inside Gaza has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of cowardice for failing to call him or visit him to express condolences.

Avi Shimriz, the father of 26-year-old Alon, who was captured by militants from Kfar Aza on October 7, was speaking to Israel’s Channel 13 News following the disclosure of new details about how his son, and two other men, were killed.

Netanyahu did visit Wednesday with the mother of another of the slain hostages, Iris Haim, who lost her son Yotam in the same incident.  

Shimriz expressed deep frustration over learning that Israeli soldiers had managed to kill the Hamas fighters holding the three hostages and get so close to gathering intelligence that could have saved them. 

He said commanders had failed to tell soldiers there could be hostages in the area and said that photographs of the hostages should have been circulated so soldiers might recognize them.

But he acknowledged that troops in the field faced difficult circumstances.

“I cannot complain to our troops because they have encountered different situations where [Hamas] tried to ambush them and they suffered losses. I don’t want another such incident on my conscience,” he said.

President Joe Biden said the United States is still working through whether to support a United Nations Security Council resolution that calls for a halt in Gaza hostilities to allow humanitarian aid.

Biden, who was asked by a reporter Wednesday when Israel should move to a less intensive phase of its conflict with Hamas, pointed to the negotiations at the UN as a reason not to give a firm answer.

Biden’s comments suggest US support is still an unresolved matter inside the White House.

Earlier, a vote on the matter was pushed to Thursday.

Meanwhile, Hamas’ political chief is in Egypt for talks. The visit comes after Israel proposed a pause in fighting in exchange for the release of about 40 hostages, although an Israel official said they were not near a deal yet.

Here are the latest headlines:

Israel and Cyprus have come a step closer to agreeing on the creation of a maritime corridor that would allow goods to bypass Israel on the way to Gaza, the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The maritime corridor would allow “the direct transfer of humanitarian aid and goods to the Gaza Strip,” the statement said.

If the corridor goes ahead as planned, it would be the first time Israel has eased its sea blockade on Gaza since it was imposed in 2007 when Hamas took control. 

On a diplomatic trip to Cyprus, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen along with Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos visited the port of Larnaca, which is situated around 370 km (230 miles) northwest of Gaza. It is expected to be the starting point of the corridor, according to the statement. 

Cohen said the goods will be subject to a security inspection at Larnaca that will be carried out “in coordination with Israel.” 

The corridor could be used as an axis for the transfer of humanitarian aid in the coming weeks, Cohen added. 

The minister stressed that the creation of the maritime corridor to Gaza will “help Israel’s economic disengagement from the Strip.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday that combatting “terrorist groups“ cannot mean “hitting civilian populations.”

He was speaking in an end-of-year interview with French broadcaster France 5. 

The fight against Hamas and other “terrorist groups” in the Middle East concerned countries beyond Israel, Macron said. But the security response to terrorism should not include massive destruction, “including civilian infrastructure and hitting civilian populations.”

There were fresh exchanges between the Israeli military and Hezbollah across the Lebanon-Israel border on Wednesday.

Hezbollah said it targeted Israeli military helicopters with surface-to-air missiles and also launched attacks on several other locations along the border, including Margaliot, near the town of Kiryat Shmona.

The Israeli military said artillery and tanks struck several locations in Lebanon in response to incoming fire. One man was killed when Israeli forces opened fire on the Lebanese border town of Kafr Kila, Lebanon’s National News Agency said.

The remark is an indication that Israel remains focused on its perceived need to rebuild deterrence in the north of the country as well as in the south.

US President Joe Biden speaks at an economic event at the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on December 20.

President Joe Biden says the United States is still working through whether to support a United Nations Security Council resolution that calls for a halt in Gaza hostilities to allow humanitarian aid.

Biden, who was asked by a reporter when Israel should move to a less intensive phase of its conflict with Hamas, pointed to the negotiations at the UN as a reason not to give a firm answer.

Biden’s comments suggest US support for the resolution is still an unresolved matter inside the White House.

Earlier, a vote on the matter was pushed to Thursday.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters there were still “active discussions” on the resolution but said the US needed to see specific condemnation of Hamas as part of the resolution.

The voices of the three hostages who were accidentally killed by Israeli troops were captured on a GoPro camera mounted on an Israeli military dog five days before they were shot, a military spokesperson said.

The video, located by Israeli forces on Tuesday, shows the recording took place during an exchange between Israeli forces and Hamas militants at a site where the three hostages were being held, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said at his daily press briefing. The dog was killed in the exchange. 

He did not provide details about what the hostages were saying.

The militants who held the three hostages were killed during the fighting which appears to have allowed the hostages to flee, Hagari said, citing an initial Israel Defense Forces analysis of the GoPro video. 

Israel is reeling from the IDF’s admission that it shot and killed three hostages in Gaza on Friday. They had been taken hostage by Hamas during the group’s October 7 terror attack.  

On Saturday, an IDF official said they emerged from a building tens of meters away from a group of Israeli troops. They were shirtless and were waving a white flag, according to the official, who spoke to journalists on the condition of anonymity to speak freely about an ongoing investigation.  

At least one soldier felt threatened and opened fire, killing two of the men immediately. The third was wounded and ran back inside the building. The Israeli unit overheard a cry for help in Hebrew, at which time the brigade commander ordered his troops to stop shooting. However, there was another burst of gunfire. The third hostage died later.  

CNN’s Richard Allen Greene and Joshua Berlinger contributed reporting to this post.

The Security Council Chamber at UN headquarters in New York on December 20.

The United Nations Security Council is again delaying a vote on the Gaza resolution, a staffer at the office of the United Nations secretary-general’s office confirmed to CNN.

The vote is now slated for Thursday, a staffer said.

The vote on this resolution, which is drafted by the United Arab Emirates, had already been delayed multiple times amid disagreement on text that could gain a “yes” vote from the United States, or at least an abstention, which would allow the measure to pass.

A diplomatic source tells CNN that key issues with the draft that remain in negotiation are the “cessation of hostilities” language and the call for the UN to “establish a monitoring mechanism in the Gaza Strip with the necessary personnel and equipment, under the authority of the United Nations Secretary-General.”

Israel will oppose bringing forward the annual budget for the United Nations agency that carries out humanitarian work in Gaza, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen has instructed the Israeli delegation to the UN “to oppose bringing forward the annual budget of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees,” according to the foreign ministry.

Cohen said bringing forward the budget from 2025 to 2024 would be precedent-setting and dangerous, “especially in light of the evidence of Hamas using the organization’s facilities as terrorist infrastructure.”

Cohen said that “UNRWA is part of the problem, not part of the solution. The countries of the world must put an end to UNRWA’s perpetuation of the conflict, and (its) turning a blind eye for years to incitement to terrorism and Hamas’ cynical use of agency facilities and Gaza residents as human shields.”

Cohen instructed the Israeli delegation to the UN to oppose any move that would advance the agency’s annual budget, claiming that transferring a budget to UNRWA “without substantially changing its objectives and functioning would send the wrong message of a return to the routine of before the October 7th.”

CNN is reaching out to UNRWA for a response to Cohen’s remarks.

A truck carrying humanitarian aid provided by the International Medical Corps moves at the Israeli side of the Kerem Shalom border crossing with the southern Gaza Strip on December 19.

At least 165 humanitarian aid trucks crossed into Gaza on Tuesday, Israeli authorities say. The trucks were previously inspected at Israeli crossing points, the government said.

Israel’s office for Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said 75 trucks were inspected at the Kerem Shalom crossing and passed directly into Gaza.

Another 90 trucks were inspected at the Nitzana crossing and transferred into Gaza through the Rafah crossing from Egypt. 

COGAT said seven ambulances were also inspected and transferred to Gaza.

President Joe Biden speaks to the media upon arrival in Milwaukee on Wednesday.

President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that the US is pushing for Israel and Hamas to reach a deal that would include a pause in fighting and the release of hostages.

Earlier, CNN reported that a general framework had emerged in talks that would entail hostages being released in phases in exchange for a cessation in fighting.

Sources stressed, however, that a deal was not imminent.

“These are very serious discussions and negotiations, and we hope they’ll lead somewhere,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Kirby said he didn’t have anything specific to announce Wednesday.

Biden was also asked to respond to reports from the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Ministry of Health that the death toll in Gaza since October 7 will likely surpass 20,000 later Wednesday, the president told reporters traveling with him in Milwaukee, “It’s tragic,” before boarding his motorcade.

CNN’s Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.

The conflict between Israel and Hamas “needs to move to a lower intensity phase,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.

Blinken’s comments echo what Biden administration officials have told Israel privately, CNN previously reported, which is that the US wants Israel to shift to a lower-intensity phase of the war in the next several weeks.

Earlier this week, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav said the military will gradually transition to the next phase of the war and expects displaced Palestinians from northern Gaza to return to their homes before those from the south. 

“Soon we will be able to distinguish between different areas in Gaza. … In every area where we achieve our mission, we will be able to transition gradually to the next phase and start working on bringing back the local population. This can be achieved maybe sooner in the north rather than in the south,” the minister said.

Yotam Haim.

The mother of one of the Israeli hostages killed accidentally by the IDF last week in Gaza has sent a message to the unit involved in the shooting, saying “everything that happened is completely not your fault.”

Iris Haim, the mother of Yotam Haim, addressed the battalion involved in the incident in which her son was killed along with two other Israeli men whom Hamas had kidnapped.

Haim continued: “I ask you to stay safe and always keep in your thoughts that what you’re doing is the best possible thing in the world to help us, as the Jewish people, and we all need you to be safe and sound. Don’t hesitate for a single moment - if you see a terrorist, don’t think that you have deliberately killed a hostage, you need to protect yourselves because that’s the only way you would be able to protect us.” 

Iris Haim speaks about her son at a news conference at the Israel Embassy in London on November 20.

Haim reiterated her belief that the actions taken by the IDF unit were “likely the right thing to do at that moment,” adding her family is not “judging you or angry with you.”

More on Haim: 28-year-old Haim was a gifted musician and heavy metal fan. He had played the drums for 20 years and was supposed to perform at a Metal Music Festival in Tel Aviv on October 7th with his band, Persephore. He last spoke with his family that morning. He told them his house had burned down before losing contact with them at 10:44 a.m., soon after which he was kidnapped by Hamas, according to the family forum.

CNN’s Richard Allen Greene and Joshua Berlinger contributed reporting to this post.

Israel’s domestic security agency, the Shin Bet, is investigating the directors of at least two hospitals in Gaza, a source told CNN Wednesday. 

The source was responding to a question about whether either the Shin Bet or the Israel Defense Forces is holding at least four named doctors whose hospitals have said they were seized by the IDF.

The source said the Shin Bet – formally known as the Israel Security Agency – was investigating Ahmad Al-Kahlot, the head of Kamal Adwan hospital, and Mohammad Abu Salamiya, the head of Al-Shifa hospital.

The source, asking not to be named in discussing the Israeli investigations, did not confirm that the Shin Bet was holding two other doctors CNN asked about: Ahmad Mhana the head of Al-Awda hospital, whose staff said he was detained on Monday; and Nasr Imad Eddin Madhoun from Kamal Adwan hospital, whose colleagues said he was detained on December 12. The source referred CNN to the IDF, which did not respond to questions about any of the four doctors. 

The Shin Bet released an edited video Tuesday of the interrogation of Al-Kahlot in which he said the Hamas political leadership used the hospital in the early days of the war because they felt they would not be targeted there. He also said that he, along with some other medical staff, were members of Al Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing. 

It is not clear whether Al-Kahlot was speaking under duress, nor whether he has had access to a lawyer at any time since his arrest on December 12.

Abu Salamiya was detained by the IDF in November as he accompanied a medical convoy south from the hospital. The IDF said at the time Salamiya was “apprehended and transferred” for questioning “following evidence showing that the Shifa Hospital, under his direct management, served as a Hamas command and control center.”

Hamas-linked authorities in Gaza say at least 40 medical staff have been detained by the IDF across the enclave.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a cabinet meeting at the Kirya in Tel Aviv, Israel, on December 17.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Wednesday to continue fighting until Hamas is “eliminated” as the UN Security Council is set to vote on a Gaza resolution that is expected to include a call for a new pause in fighting. 

The Council is expected to vote Wednesday on a resolution to spur more humanitarian aid into Gaza. Intensive negotiations were underway for the draft resolution, which was said to have originally included a call for a “cessation of hostilities.” The vote has been delayed as diplomats work on language that would gain a “yes,” or at least an abstention by the United States, which vetoed a previous ceasefire motion.