On the 23rd local time, the health department of the Gaza Strip issued a statement saying that since the outbreak of the current round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict on October 7, the Israeli army's military operations in the Gaza Strip have killed 20,258 Palestinians and injured 53,688. In the past 24 hours alone, at least 201 Palestinians have been killed and 368 others injured in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army said it would expand its military operations in southern Gaza in the coming days
On the 23rd, the Israel Defense Forces said that the Israeli army is currently focusing on Hamas's underground tunnels and will further expand its military operations in the southern Gaza Strip in the coming days. Hamas said several of the detainees were likely killed in the Israeli attack.
The Israeli military said on the 23rd that in the past few weeks, the Israeli army has launched a military operation in the Issa area south of Gaza City, destroying a number of important Hamas targets, including underground tunnels connecting important facilities and buildings where militants are hiding. The Israeli army also claimed to have carried out airstrikes on a number of "high-value targets", including an airstrike on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on the 22nd, killing a person in charge of supplying weapons and equipment to Hamas. The Israeli army spokesman also said that so far, the Israeli army has destroyed or captured about 30,000 weapons in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas said detainees had been killed in Israeli attacks
On the 23rd, the Qassam Brigades, an armed wing affiliated with Hamas, said that due to the Israeli attack, the group had "lost contact" with the armed men responsible for guarding five Israeli detainees. A spokesman for the Kasan Brigade said the five detainees "were likely to have died in the attack." ”
On the same day, Hamas released a number of videos showing the group's militants continuing to strike Israeli military targets in the Gaza Strip, including Israeli fighters and vehicles, and said that the recent Hamas actions had caused "heavy casualties" to the Israeli army.
The Israeli Defense Minister travels to Beit Hanoun, a town in the northern Gaza Strip
According to a report by the Times of Israel on December 23 local time, Israeli Defense Minister Gallant and wartime cabinet member Gantz went to the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun and met with military officials. On the 18th of this month, the Israeli army announced that it had taken full control of Beit Hanoun.
Regular hospitals in the Gaza Strip are overcrowded, and schools have been converted into field hospitals
As a result of the sharp increase in the number of wounded and the dwindling number of operational medical facilities, a secondary school in the central Gaza Strip was converted into a field hospital. The converted field hospital has only one doctor in al-Bashir. He said that there is no need to meet medical needs and that there is a shortage of necessary medical supplies.
The emergency room where Bashir is located was originally a classroom. He said the hospital receives dozens of injured patients every day, many of whom are children. Some of the injured were supposed to be treated in regular hospitals, but due to the strain on medical resources, they had to be sent here. However, the medical conditions here are very poor, there is a lack of medical necessities, and there is a severe shortage of manpower, so the wounded can only be simply disinfected and bandaged. This seriously affects the treatment of the injured.
According to US media analysis, the Israeli army dropped hundreds of heavy bombs on the Gaza Strip within a month
△ Ruins after a bomb attack on the Gaza Strip
Satellite imagery from this period shows more than 500 craters in the Gaza Strip with a diameter of more than 12 meters, which are consistent with those left by heavy bombs weighing about 900 kilograms, the article said. Experts say the Israeli army's massive use of such heavy bombs in highly populated areas like the Gaza Strip has caused a spike in local death tolls, and it will take decades for the Gaza Strip to recover.
The WHO Director-General welcomed the Security Council's adoption of the resolution on humanitarian assistance for the Gaza Strip
△ World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (data map)
The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2720 on the 22nd with 13 votes in favor and 2 abstentions, calling for "immediate, safe and unhindered direct large-scale humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians throughout the Gaza Strip" and "creating conditions for a continued cessation of hostilities". On the 23rd local time, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on social media to welcome the adoption of resolutions related to humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip by the United Nations Security Council. He said the resolution stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian corridors to ensure the safe delivery of food and medical supplies to people in need in the Gaza Strip. At the same time, the resolution calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all detainees and concerns about their medical needs. This shows that the members of the UN Security Council have reached a rare agreement in this conflict, which is a positive step forward.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the most urgent need for the people of the Gaza Strip right now is an immediate ceasefire. More than 20,000 people have been killed, mostly women and children, and more than 53,000 have been injured. At the same time, the threat of famine and infectious diseases remains enormous. The humanitarian crisis has been exacerbated by the destruction of health facilities, attacks on health workers, and the lack of medical supplies, food, drinking water, fuel and electricity.
Hamas: The UN Security Council resolution on aid is not enough to meet the needs of the people in the Gaza Strip
Regarding the resolution adopted by the Security Council on the 22nd, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) issued a statement on the same day, saying that the resolution is not enough to meet the current needs of the people in the Gaza Strip. The statement also said that over the past five days, the U.S. government has been trying to erase important elements of the draft resolution, which has ultimately led to the weakening of the resolution's effectiveness. This act of the United States is contrary to the will of the international community and the UN General Assembly.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called for the acceleration of the implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions on humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip
△ The United Nations Security Council held a meeting (data map)
According to the Palestinian News Agency, on the evening of the 22nd local time, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the resolution on humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip adopted by the United Nations Security Council is a step in the right direction and helps alleviate the suffering of the people in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called for the acceleration of the implementation of the resolution and called on the United Nations to establish a mechanism for its implementation as soon as possible. In addition, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on the international community to continue to exert pressure on Israel to halt its military operations, implement the two-state solution and realize the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.
Fighting continued along the Lebanese-Israeli provisional border
On the 22nd local time, the Lebanese Allah Party issued a statement saying that its armed men had struck Israeli troops in Manala and other places on the same day. According to a report by the Lebanese state news agency, the towns of Naqoura and Eta Shaab on the Lebanese side of the Lebanese-Israeli temporary border were shelled by Israeli forces several times on the same day.
On the same day, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that a number of rockets from the Lebanese side of the Lebanese-Israeli interim border had struck Metura and other places. In response, Israeli forces carried out artillery shelling and launched air strikes by fighter jets on a series of Lebanese Allah strongholds on the Lebanese side of the temporary border.
Source丨CCTV News