In the West Bank, Israeli settlers set fire to a home and vandalize and damage a water well in Jabaris. Israeli forces shoot and kill a Palestinian man and injure 4 others during a raid in Balata refugee camp. Israeli forces also shoot and kill a Palestinian man during a raid in Qalqilya. Elsewhere, Israeli forces shoot and injure 2 Palestinians, including a child, during a raid in Beit Furik. Israeli forces also demolish 7 Palestinian structures in Area B near Bethlehem. Meanwhile, Israeli forces demolish 2 homes in Za’atra. Israeli forces also evict a Palestinian family from their home in Jalbun for 4 days to turn it into a military outpost. Separately, Israeli forces arrest 40 Palestinians during raids in and around Hebron, Qalqilya, Ramallah, Salfit, and Jerusalem. In Gaza, Israeli forces bomb Nuseirat refugee camp, Rafah, Khan Yunis, Gaza City, and Jabalia refugee camp, killing dozens of Palestinians, including at least 33 people in an airstrike on a post office sheltering refugees in Nuseirat refugee camp. Israeli forces also bomb and kill 15 people tasked with guarding humanitarian aid convoys in Rafah and Khan Yunis. Meanwhile, Israeli forces shoot and kill Palestinian doctor Saeed Joda while he is heading from the Kamal Adwan Hospital to al-Awda Hosptial. Israeli forces also order the evacuation of parts of the Rimal and Sabra neighborhoods of Gaza City. In Lebanon, Israeli forces bomb Khiam, killing 1 person. In Syria, Israeli forces bomb the Damascus area. (AJ, AJ, AJ, AJ, AP, AP, HA, REU, UNOCHA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA 12/12; AJ, AJ, AP, HA, HA, HA 12/13; UNOCHA 12/17)
More than 44,834 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, including at least 17,500 children and 11,487 women, and around 106,356 have been injured since 10/7/2023. At least 10,000 people are missing in rubble. 812 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 10/7/2023, including 170 children. More than 6,500 people have been injured. Israel reports that 1,139 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed and 5,400 have been injured in Israel since 10/7/2023, including Israeli soldiers. In addition, 384 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 2,485 injured in Gaza since the ground invasion began on 10/27/2023. Over 1.93 million Palestinians, nearly 85% of the population of Gaza, have been displaced since 10/7/2023. There has been a complete electricity blackout in Gaza since 10/12/2023 due to the Israeli blockade. 87% of all housing units in Gaza have been destroyed or severely damaged since 10/7/2023. (AJ, HA, UNOCHA, UNOCHA, WAFA 12/12)
Israel seizes 55 dunams (13.5 acres) of land near Qatanna and Biddu to expand the Har Adar settlement. (WAFA 12/12)
Haaretz reports that 4 Palestinians have died while being interrogated by the Shin Bet since 10/7/2023. (HA 12/12)
PA president Mahmoud Abbas meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican. Abbas also inaugurates the new Palestinian embassy building in the Vatican and meets with Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati in Rome. The PA, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the OIC, and the GCC condemn Israel’s massacre of Palestinians in Nuseirat refugee camp. (AJ, REU, WAFA, WAFA 12/12; AJ, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA 12/13; WAFA 12/14)
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres says he is “concerned over the hundreds of Israeli air strikes on several locations in Syria.” U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan defends Israel’s conduct in Syria during a trip to Israel, saying Israel is identifying “potential threats” and “neutralizing” them. Sullivan meets with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying after the meeting that it is time to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza and that he got the sense that Netanyahu is ready for a deal. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Israel is attacking Syria to make sure that military equipment does not fall into the “wrong hands.” (AJ, AJ, AJ, AP, AP, AX, HA, NYT, NYT, REU, REU 12/12; AP 12/13)
Former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant meets with U.S. secretary of defense Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon. Gallant has an ICC warrant out for his arrest. (AJ 12/13)
Airwars releases “Patterns of harm analysis, Gaza October 2023,” a report on the first 3 weeks of Israel’s war on Gaza after 10/7/2023. The report concludes that by “almost every metric, the harm to civilians from the first month of the month of the Israeli campaign in Gaza is incomparable with any 21st century air campaign. It is by far the most intense, destructive, and fatal conflict for civilians that Airwars has ever documented.” (Airwars 12/12)
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump tells Time magazine that he is not committed to the 2-state peace proposal he presented in his previous presidency and that a lasting peace does not necessarily include 2 states. (AX 12/12)