EXPLANER
Houthi attacks discourage shipping via the Red Sea, as Gaza’s health system collapses – here’s a major update.
Here’s how things go on Friday, December 22, 2023:
Latest developments
- More than two-thirds of all structures in northern Gaza have been destroyed since the war began, giving the enclave a color and texture unlike that of space, the Associated Press news agency reported Thursday , citing US-based mapping experts.
- Northern Gaza no longer has functioning hospitals, the World Health Organization reported Thursday.
- Amid Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd and Hong Kong’s OOCL became the latest shipping companies to avoid the waters, according to their announcements on Thursday.
- Canada on Thursday announced a temporary immigration visa for relatives of Canadian citizens and permanent residents affected by the war in Gaza, but warned that departure would be difficult and depend on approval from Israel.
- The Israeli army said Thursday it had intercepted a barrage of rockets fired by Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades.
Human impact and fighting
- A total of 20,057 Palestinians have been killed and 53,320 injured by Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
- Israel targeted several areas of Gaza overnight, including Nuseirat and Deir el-Balah in the center, as well as Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, according to Tel Aviv Tribune Arabic and the Wafa news agency.
- The proportion of households in Gaza affected by high levels of acute food insecurity is the highest ever recorded in the world, according to an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report released on Thursday. In addition, all of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants are threatened with famine.
- Israel’s war on Gaza has been the deadliest for journalists in modern times, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported Thursday. CPJ recorded 68 killings of media workers in the region over the past 10 weeks.
Diplomacy
- The United Nations Security Council has once again postponed the vote on a resolution on the war between Israel and Gaza.
- Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates, one of the few Arab countries to maintain official diplomatic relations with Israel, met on Thursday with the Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) , Hussein al-Sheikh. The two discussed humanitarian aid for the enclave and Al Nahyan called for negotiations for a two-state solution, Reuters reported.
- Israel’s port of Eilat has seen an 85 percent drop in activity since the Iran-backed Houthi group stepped up attacks on ships in the Red Sea, the port’s general director said Thursday.