Israel-Hamas War - What happened on day 68?

Four IDF soldiers were lightly wounded by controlled explosions and friendly fire during a widespread IDF, Shin Bet and Border Police operation in the West Bank, the Israeli military said Monday.

The four were injured during a raid of the Jenin refugee camp. They were treated at the scene and rushed to a nearby hospital for further treatment, the IDF said.

The IDF continued operating for over 30 hours in Jenin, Hebron and other sites used by Palestinian terrorists across the West Bank.

Rocket sirens were heard in Sufa.

The Biden administration is holding up the sale of more than 20,000 US-made rifles to Israel over concerns about attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank, Axios said on Wednesday, citing two unnamed US officials.

The Biden administration had intended to present Israel with a series of steps that needed to be taken to allow for the creation of a Palestinian state as part of the potential normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and the Jewish state.

“One of the things we had planned and put on the table was a very robust number of steps toward an independent Palestinian state,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Wednesday.

This was something “we were actively working on in the lead-up to the October 7” attack by Hamas against southern Israel, he said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had been scheduled to visit Israel and Saudi Arabia to discuss a normalization deal between the two countries, but that trip as planned had never happened.

Instead, Hamas infiltrated southern Israel, murdered more than 1,200 people, and seized some 240 hostages, which immediately froze the Saudi deal.

Hamas supporters take part in a protest in support of the people of Gaza in Hebron, West Bank, December 1, 2023 (credit: WISAM HASHLAMOUN/FLASH90)

The Biden administration, however, has spoken of the need to launch a new peace process after the Gaza war to create a two-state resolution to the conflict, with the Palestinian state encompassing territory in Gaza and the West Bank.

It has supported Israel’s military campaign to oust Hamas from Gaza and has called for a revamped Palestinian Authority to govern the enclave.

An Associated Press poll published Wednesday showed that 60% of the Palestinians in the West Bank want the PA to be dissolved. The poll, which had a 4% margin of error, was conducted among 1,231 people from November 22 to December 2.

It was conducted amid high Palestinian casualties as a result of the Gaza war. Hamas on Wednesday said more than 18,000 Palestinians have been killed, without differentiating between terrorists and civilians, or between those killed in Israeli strikes and those killed in Hamas’s own missiles that fell short. Israel has said at least 7,000 of those killed in Gaza were Hamas combatants.

Fifty-seven percent of respondents in Gaza and 82% in the West Bank said they backed Hamas’s October 7 attack, the poll showed. Support for Hamas has decreased and now represents 44% of those in the West Bank and 42% in Gaza.

Ninety-two percent of those polled said they wanted PA President Mahmoud Abbas to resign.

Israeli officials oppose PA-controlled state

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the PA cannot govern Gaza once the war is over, adding that the 1993 Oslo Accord that created it was a mistake.

Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely told Sky News she did not support Palestinian statehood.

The “Oslo paradigm failed on October 7, and we need to build a new one,” Hotovely said. “The biggest question is what type of Palestinians are on the other side; that is what Israel realized on October 7.”

The reason Oslo failed is because “the Palestinians never wanted to have a state next to Israel,” she said. “They wanted to have a state from the River to the Sea.”

Hotovely told the interviewer: “Why are you obsessed with a formula that never worked; that created these radical people on the other side.”

In Washington on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden called on Netanyahu to change the makeup of his coalition to allow for support for a two-state resolution to the conflict.

“Israeli has a tough decision to make,” he said. “Bibi has got a tough decision to make. There’s no question about the need to take on Hamas. There’s no question about that. None. Zero. They have every right.”

“This government in Israel is making it very difficult for him to move” forward, so “I think he has to change... this government,” Biden said. “This is the most conservative government in Israel’s history – the most conservative. I’ve known every, every single head of state in Israel since Golda Meir. And I’ve known them because I’ve spent time with them.”

He highlighted in particular National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit), saying those in the government now are a “different group” then previous coalitions.

“Ben-Gvir and company and the new folks, they – they don’t want anything remotely approaching a two-state solution,” Biden said. “They not only want to have retribution,” but “they don’t want a two-state solution. They don’t want any – anything having to with the – the Palestinians.”

He acknowledged that the Palestinians have not done a good job at governance, and that “a lot has happened that’s very negative,” adding that this does not absolve Israel of the obligation to move forward with a two-state resolution to the conflict.

“We have to work toward bringing Israel together in a way that provides for the beginning of an option – an option of a two-state [solution],” Biden said. “Such a move is important if Israel wants to advance its regional ties such as with Saudi Arabia.”

Israeli officials called for an international coalition to halt the threat the Houthi Iranian proxy group poses to international shipping in the Red Sea.

"The Houthis have crossed a redline in the Red Sea,” President Isaac Herzog stated in a message he posted on X.

“The US-led international activities against the Houthi terror pirates must be bolstered and strengthened in the form of a truly international coalition,” he stated.

Herzog said that the “continued acts of terrorism and piracy against ships of all nationalities and ownerships require the entire international community to act, united, forcefully and decisively, to stamp out this vile threat to the global economy and trade.”

Foreign Minister Eli Cohen called on the international community to act “aggressively” to protect the shipping lanes.

Houthi military helicopter flies over the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in the Red Sea in this photo released November 20, 2023 (credit: Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS)

Houthi attacks intensify against maritime traffic

A tanker in the Red Sea off Yemen's coast was fired on by gunmen in a speedboat and targeted with missiles, maritime sources said on Wednesday, the latest incident to threaten the shipping lane after Yemeni Houthi forces warned ships not to travel to Israel.

A second commercial vessel was also approached by the speedboat in the same area though not attacked, British maritime security firm Ambrey and other sources said.

Separately, a US defense official in Washington said the US Navy destroyer Mason on Wednesday shot down a Houthi drone launched from Yemen that was headed in its direction, as it responded to reports of an attack on a commercial vessel.

The US official said Houthis had attacked the commercial vessel Ardmore Encounter in skiffs and that two missiles were fired from Yemen that missed the ship. The Ardmore Encounter reported no damage or injuries and continued on its way.

Ardmore Shipping Corp, owner and operator of the Ardmore Encounter, confirmed the vessel came under attack while transiting the Red Sea.

"No one boarded the vessel and all crew members are safe and accounted for. The vessel remains fully operational with no loss of cargo or damage onboard, and is considered to be out of immediate danger," the company said in a statement, adding the ship "received military assistance during the attack."

The Iran-aligned Houthi group has sought to support their Palestinian ally Hamas in the Gaza war by firing missiles at Israel and threatening shipping in the busy Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest incidents in the busy shipping route off Yemen's coast.

Over 70% of Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip support Hamas' decision to carry out the October 7 Massacre and the vast majority do not believe that Hamas carried out atrocities during the massacre, according to a new poll published by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) on Wednesday.

The poll found that there were "significant differences" between the attitudes of West Bank residents and Gaza residents. In the West Bank, 82% believed that Hamas' decision to launch the attack was correct and only 12% said it was incorrect, while in Gaza, 57% said it was correct and 37% said it was incorrect.

Additionally, while 85% of West Bank Palestinians expressed satisfaction with Hamas' behavior in the war, only 52% of Gazan Palestinians felt the same. In reference to specifically Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, 57% of West Bank residents expressed satisfaction with his role, while 43% of Gazans said the same.

Palestinians in general expressed disappointment with Fatah and the PA, with only 22% expressing satisfaction with Fatah's role in the war and only 14% expressing satisfaction with the PA's role.

Among the respondents, 85% said that they did not see videos showing the atrocities committed by Hamas against Israeli civilians on October 7. Only 7% of respondents said that they believed that Hamas committed such atrocities.

Palestinian Hamas militants take part in an anti-Israel rally in Gaza City May 22, 2021 (credit: REUTERS/MOHAMMED SALEM)

The poll found that 95% of Palestinians believe Israel has committed war crimes during the war, while only 10% said that they believe Hamas has committed such crimes.

The majority of the respondents said as well that they believe that the massacre was conducted as "a response to settler attacks on al-Aqsa Mosque and on Palestinian citizens and for the release of prisoners from Israeli prisons," while only 14% thought it was an Iranian plot to thwart Arab normalization with Israel.

While 70% of West Bank residents believe Hamas will win the war, only half of Gazans believe the same. A third of Gazans believe that Israel will emerge victorious.

Who should rule Gaza after the war?

When asked about who would be likely to rule Gaza after the war, nearly two thirds (73% in the West Bank and 51% in Gaza) said that Hamas would still be in power, while 11% said a PA national unity government would rule but without PA President Mahmoud Abbas. Additionally, 7% said that the PA under Abbas would rule Gaza, 4% said Israel would rule, 3% said one or more Arab countries would control the Strip, 2% said a unity government under Abbas would rule, and 1% said the UN would be in charge.

When asked who they would prefer to see controlling Gaza after the war, 75% of West Bank residents said Hamas, while only 38% of Hamas residents said the same. 16% of the respondents said a PA national unity government without Abbas should rule, 7% said the PA under Abbas should rule, 3% said one or more Arab countries should control the Strip, another 3% said a unity government under Abbas should rule, and 2% said the IDF should be in charge.

Some 72% of respondents said that they think Hamas will succeed in returning to rule Gaza after the war, while 23% said they do not believe Hamas will manage to do so.

Additionally, if the West Bank and Gaza are unified under the PA after the war, 70% of respondents said they would be opposed to the deployment of an Arab security contingent in the area, although support for such a contingent would rise to 45% if it provided basic, administrative, and health services.

About half of West Bank residents and Gazans said that they expect a ceasefire in Gaza within the next few weeks, while a quarter said that they expect the war to continue for weeks or months. Some 28% of West Bank respondents and 9% of Gazan respondents said that they expect Israel to "unilaterally end the war and begin to withdraw under the pressure" from Hamas.

Palestinian respondents expressed widespread satisfaction with Yemen's role in the war, with 89% of West Bank residents and 68% of Gazans expressing satisfaction with Yemen's role. In comparison, 56% of Palestinians expressed satisfaction with Qatar's role, 49% expressed satisfaction with Hezbollah's role, 35% were satisfied with Iran's role, 34% with Turkey's role, 24% with Jordan's role, and 23% with Egypt's role.

The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia sat at the bottom of the list, with only 8% of Palestinians expressing satisfaction with the UAE's role and only 5% expressing satisfaction with Saudi Arabia's role.

Palestinians split on what Israel's goal in war is

When asked about what they thought Israel's goals in the war were, 53% said that they believed Israel intends to destroy Gaza and kill or expel its population while 42% said that they think the goal is to exact revenge against Hamas and destroy the terrorist factions in the Strip.

The vast majority of respondents also said that they believe Israel will fail in eradicating Hamas, with only 8% thinking that Israel will succeed, although West Bank residents are more sure of this failing than Gaza residents (87% compared to 44%).

Of the respondents, 71% said that they believe Gazans who were displaced by the war will be able to return to their homes after the war, although West Bank respondents were much more optimistic about this than Gazans. (83% compared to 53%)

A majority of the respondents (52%) blamed Israel for the suffering of Gazans in the war, while 26% blamed the US, 11% blamed Hamas, and 9% blamed the Palestinian Authority.

Gazan face difficulties accessing necessities

Gazan respondents were also asked about humanitarian conditions in the Strip, with 44% saying that they have enough food and water for a day or two and 56% saying that they do not.

Only one third of Gazan respondents said that they can reach a place where they can access food or water.

Two thirds of Gazan respondents said that they had a family member who had been killed or injured in the war. Some 36% said that none of their family members have been killed or injured.

Most of the Palestinians polled (85%) said that they supported the release of Israeli women and children held hostage by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

The PCPSR interviewed 1,231 adults in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for the poll.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who will visit Israel on Thursday and Friday, will likely make other stops in the region during his trip, the White House said on Wednesday.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby, speaking to reporters, did not detail what other stops Sullivan might make.

The economic cost of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on Arab neighbors Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan could rise to at least $10 billion this year and push more than 230,000 into poverty, according to a UN study.

The war has come at a time when the three Arab countries face a struggle with fiscal pressures, slow growth and steep unemployment and has deterred much-needed investment and hit consumption and trade. Lebanon is in deep economic crisis.

The study, commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme, said the cost of the war for the three states in terms of loss of GDP may amount to $10.3 billion or 2.3 %, and could double if it lasts another six months.

"This is a massive impact," Abdallah Al Dardari, UN assistant secretary-general and UNDP's Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS) who lead the study told Reuters.

"The crisis was a bomb in a already fragile regional situation.. It soured sentiment with fear of what could happen and where things are going," he added.

Israeli soldiers at the Jabalya refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, during an Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip, December 12, 2023 (credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Experts are already preparing for post-war reconstruction

Israel launched its campaign to annihilate Hamas after the group attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and taking 240 people hostage.

Since then, Israeli forces have laid much of Gaza to waste, with more than 18,000 people killed, according to Gaza's Hamas-governed health authorities, and many thousands more feared lost in the rubble or beyond the reach of ambulances.

Dardari said the scale of destruction in Gaza within such a brief time was unprecedented since World War Two.

"To lose 45-50 % of all housing in one month of fighting... We have never seen anything like this... the relationship between destruction level and time, it's unique," Al Dardari added.

Dardari, an economist and expert on reconstruction in conflict zones, said his team of experts were already reaching out to development funds and multilateral financial institutions on post-war reconstruction scenarios for Gaza.

Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh said in a televised address on Wednesday that any arrangement in Gaza without Hamas is a "delusion".

"We are open to discuss any ideas or initiatives that could end the (Israeli) aggression and open the door for putting the Palestinian house in order both in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip," Haniyeh added.

Israeli Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely rejected the possibility of a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in an interview with Sky News on Wednesday, saying that the Palestinians only want one state "from the river to the sea."

BREAKING: Israeli ambassador @TzipiHotovely rejects the idea of a two-state solution

"The answer is absolutely no", she says.https://t.co/cjkJJFipKp

📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/9z0fMWSSui

— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 13, 2023

"I think it's about time for the world to realize the Oslo paradigm failed on October 7 and we need to build a new one," said Hotovely. When asked if a new paradigm would include a Palestinian state, the ambassador said "absolutely no."

"Israel knows today and the world should know now that the reason the Oslo accords failed was because the Palestinians never wanted to have a state next to Israel, they want to have a state from the river to the sea."

A section of the controversial Israeli barrier is seen close to a Jewish settlement near Jerusalem (credit: REUTERS)

Hotovely called the two-state solution "a formula that never worked, that created this radical people on the other side," questioning why the interviewer was "obsessed" with the two-state solution.

Biden stresses 'you can't say no Palestinian state'

In recent comments, US President Joe Biden stated that, moving forward, “we have an opportunity to begin to unite the region... and they still want to do it. But we have to make sure that [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] understands that he’s got to make some moves to strengthen... You cannot say no Palestinian state... That’s going to be the hard part.”