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1 min ago

Netanyahu repeats call for Israeli control of disarming Gaza as military advances in south. Here's the latest

From CNN staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israeli troops should retain control for the disarmament of Gaza after the war with Hamas, again rejecting the idea that an international force could be responsible for security in the strip.

"On the day after: Gaza must be disarmed. And in order for Gaza to be disarmed, there’s only one force that can ensure that — and this force is the IDF," Netanyahu told a news conference Tuesday.

It comes after Netanyahu told CNN last month that Israel's security role in a post-war Gaza would be an “over-riding, over-reaching military envelope,” without explaining what that meant.

On the ground Tuesday, Israel's military reported intense fighting in southern Gaza as it surrounded the strip's second-largest city of Khan Younis. The IDF also said it had encircled the northern Jabalya refugee camp, which it claims is a Hamas stronghold.

Here's what else you need to know:

• UN visa: Israel's foreign minister said he revoked the United Nations' humanitarian coordinator's visa due to the "bias of the UN." It comes as multiple UN officials warn of an "apocalyptic" situation in Gaza for displaced civilians, who face overcrowding and the spread of disease. Nearly 1.9 million people, more than 80% of Gaza's population, have been displaced, a UN agency said. Meanwhile, nearly 16,000 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 60% of homes destroyed since October 7, according to the strip's Hamas-run government.
• "Tasteless" comment: Remarks by an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson to evaluate civilian deaths in Gaza in “ratios” were “tasteless," a UN spokesperson said Tuesday. IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus told CNN Monday that two Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza for every Hamas militant is a “tremendously positive ratio” given the challenges of urban combat. "Every loss of life is sad, I should have chosen my words more carefully," Conricus said Tuesday.

• US moves: President Joe Biden's administration has begun to stress publicly that US efforts to shape Israel’s military operations to be more surgical and deliberate to limit civilian casualties in Gaza have been fruitful. The US expects the current phase of Israel’s ground operation in the south to last several weeks before Israel transitions to a lower-intensity, hyper-localized strategy that targets specific Hamas personnel, multiple senior administration officials told CNN. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new policy to prevent extremist Israeli settlers responsible for violence in the West Bank from coming to the US.
• Biden decries Hamas: Biden on Tuesday decried sexual assaults committed by Hamas during its October 7 terror attack on Israel and called on “all of us” to condemn the acts. His comments come as Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal has faced fierce criticism for not more forcefully condemning the acts by Hamas — underscoring a divide in the party over the Israel-Hamas war.
• Gaza aid: Fifty trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing Tuesday, including two fuel trucks, an Egyptian official said. The US military airlifted another 36,000 pounds of critical supplies to Gazans on Tuesday, the Pentagon said, as the US also announced an additional $21 million in aid. Meanwhile, power has been returning gradually to Gaza following Monday's blackout, the only remaining major telecoms operator in the strip said.
• Wider conflict: The IDF said Tuesday that it struck Lebanese soldiers while acting in "self defense" against Hezbollah militants.  A Lebanese soldier was killed and three others were wounded in the Israeli attack, the Lebanese army said. It comes as Lebanon's caretaker prime minister said he wants to spare his country "from any major war that might occur" as the Israel-Hamas conflict stokes regional tensions.

1 hr 4 min ago

Biden decries Hamas sexual assaults and says they must be forcefully condemned

From CNN's Kevin Liptak

President Joe Biden on Tuesday decried sexual assaults committed by Hamas during its October 7 terror attack on Israel and called on “all of us” to condemn the acts.

“Over the past few weeks, survivors and witnesses of the attacks have shared the horrific accounts of unimaginable cruelty. Reports of women raped — repeatedly raped — and their bodies being mutilated while still alive — of women corpses being desecrated, Hamas terrorists inflicting as much pain and suffering on women and girls as possible and then murdering them. It is appaling,” Biden said at a fundraising event in Boston.
The world, he said, “can’t just look away at what’s going on. It’s on all of us … to forcibly condemn the sexual violence of Hamas terrorists without equivocation.”

The president’s comments come as Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal has faced fierce criticism for not more forcefully condemning the acts by Hamas — underscoring a divide in the party over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said in a new statement Tuesday that she “unequivocally condemns Hamas’ use of rape and sexual violence as an act of war,” following comments she made to CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday that set off a firestorm among her Democratic House colleagues.

Read the full story.

1 hr 3 min ago

UN rejects idea of acceptable ratios for Gaza's civilian deaths after Israeli military's comments 

From CNN’s Caitlin Hu

Remarks by an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson to evaluate civilian deaths in Gaza in “ratios” were “tasteless," a United Nations spokesperson said Tuesday.

On Monday, IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus told CNN that two Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza for every Hamas militant is a “tremendously positive ratio” given the challenges of urban combat. 

“We're not in the business of establishing those kinds of ratios, which I think are tasteless, to say the least," said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary general.

The UN’s focus is on avoiding any civilian deaths, Dujarric said at his daily press briefing on Tuesday — though he acknowledged this had not been successful in Gaza.

Almost 16,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, according to figures compiled by the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza.

IDF clarification: On Tuesday, Conricus clarified that the IDF had not confirmed the reported death ratio was accurate, adding he had only meant to say he had seen a news report attributing those numbers to an unnamed Israeli official. 

He repeated Israel’s regular assertion that the IDF was aiming to kill “as low as possible a number of civilians” and blamed Hamas for using people as human shields.

Conricus also insisted that a ratio of two civilians killed per combatant was better than seen in urban combat in places like Raqqa and Deir Ezzor in Syria, but added: “Every loss of life is sad, I should have chosen my words more carefully.”

4 hr 53 min ago

Israel revokes top UN official's visa over alleged bias

From CNN's Mitchell McCluskey

Israel has revoked the visa of the United Nations humanitarian coordinator due to the "bias of the UN," according to the Israeli minister of foreign affairs.

“We will no longer be silent in the face of the bias of the UN,” Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Cohen said Lynn Hastings, who is the deputy special coordinator for the Middle East peace process and the UN resident coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, failed to speak out against Hamas for the acts committed during its October 7 attack.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary general, said Hastings had her visa revoked last week. Still, Dujarric said the UN secretary general has “full confidence” in Hastings. 

“I can only reiterate the Secretary-General's full confidence in Ms. Hastings, the way she's conducted herself, and the way she's done her work,” Dujarric said.

1 hr 14 min ago

Current phase of Israel's ground operation of Gaza could end by January, US officials say

From CNN's Natasha Bertrand, MJ Lee, Alex Marquardt and Oren Liebermann

US officials expect the current phase of Israel’s ground operation of Gaza targeting the southern end of the strip to last several weeks before Israel transitions, possibly by January, to a lower-intensity, hyper-localized strategy that narrowly targets specific Hamas militants and leaders, multiple senior administration officials tell CNN.

But as the war enters this new ground, the White House is deeply concerned about how Israel’s operations will unfold over the next several weeks, a senior US administration official said.

The US has warned Israel firmly in “hard” and “direct” conversations, they said, that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) cannot replicate the kind of devastating tactics it used in the north and must do more to limit civilian casualties.

The US has conveyed to Israel that as global opinion has increasingly turned against its ground operation, which has killed thousands of civilians, the amount of time Israel has to continue the operation in its current form and maintain meaningful international support is quickly waning.

In perhaps the most direct public warning to date, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin admonished Israel that it can “only win in urban warfare by protecting civilians.”

Speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum over the weekend, Austin said US support for Israel is “not negotiable,” but he said Israel risks replacing a “tactical victory with a strategic defeat” if it did not do more to prevent civilian deaths.

Read more about the US view of Israel's ground operation of Gaza.

2 hr 4 min ago

Israeli military should retain control for disarmament of Gaza after war, Netanyahu says

From CNN's Tamar Michaelis in Tel Aviv and Lauren Kent in London

Israel's military should retain control for the disarmament of Gaza after the war with Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday, rejecting the idea that an international force could be responsible for security in the strip. 

"On the day after: Gaza must be disarmed. And in order for Gaza to be disarmed, there’s only one force that can ensure that — and this force is the IDF," Netanyahu told a news conference Tuesday.
"No international force can be responsible for that. We saw what happened to other places where international forces were brought for disarmament purposes." 

It's not the first time Netanyahu has called for post-war Israeli military control in Gaza.

In November, Netanyahu told CNN that Israel's security role in a post-war Gaza would be an “over-riding, over-reaching military envelope,” but did not explain what that meant.

2 hr 6 min ago

Israeli military spokesperson seeks to clarify comments on civilian casualties in Gaza

From CNN’s Richard Allen Greene in Tel Aviv

The Israel Defense Forces spokesperson who on Monday told CNN that killing two Palestinian civilians for every Hamas militant in Gaza would be a “tremendously positive ratio” on Tuesday said the IDF had not confirmed those numbers were accurate. 

Jonathan Conricus, the spokesperson, said he had only meant to say he had seen a news report attributing those numbers to an unnamed Israeli official. “I confirmed that I saw the report. I didn’t confirm the numbers yet,” he told CNN.

The AFP news agency, citing a briefing for foreign media by senior Israeli military officials, reported Monday that the Israeli military believes about two civilians have been killed in Gaza for each Hamas militant.

AFP reported that the Israeli military official, when asked to confirm reports that around 5,000 Hamas militants had been killed, replied: “The numbers are more or less right.”

Nearly 16,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, according to figures from the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza.

Conricus said the IDF wants to get accurate numbers of civilians and combatants killed, adding that he thought the number would be known before the end of the war.

And he said the Israeli military was talking about active combatants when it counted how many Hamas fighters it killed: “Our definition is combatants, people who are fighting,” he said. 

He repeated Israel’s regular assertion that the IDF was aiming to kill “as low as possible a number of civilians” and blamed Hamas for using people as human shields. 

He insisted again that a ratio of two civilians killed per combatant was better than seen in urban combat in places like Raqqa and Deir Ezzor in Syria, but added, “Every loss of life is sad, I should have chosen my words more carefully.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israeli troops should retain control for the disarmament of Gaza after the war with Hamas, again rejecting the idea that an international force could be responsible for security in the strip.

"On the day after: Gaza must be disarmed. And in order for Gaza to be disarmed, there’s only one force that can ensure that — and this force is the IDF," Netanyahu told a news conference Tuesday.

It comes after Netanyahu told CNN last month that Israel's security role in a post-war Gaza would be an “over-riding, over-reaching military envelope,” without explaining what that meant.

On the ground Tuesday, Israel's military reported intense fighting in southern Gaza as it surrounded the strip's second-largest city of Khan Younis. The IDF also said it had encircled the northern Jabalya refugee camp, which it claims is a Hamas stronghold.

Here's what else you need to know:

President Joe Biden on Tuesday decried sexual assaults committed by Hamas during its October 7 terror attack on Israel and called on “all of us” to condemn the acts.

The president’s comments come as Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal has faced fierce criticism for not more forcefully condemning the acts by Hamas — underscoring a divide in the party over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said in a new statement Tuesday that she “unequivocally condemns Hamas’ use of rape and sexual violence as an act of war,” following comments she made to CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday that set off a firestorm among her Democratic House colleagues.

Read the full story.

Remarks by an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson to evaluate civilian deaths in Gaza in “ratios” were “tasteless," a United Nations spokesperson said Tuesday.

On Monday, IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus told CNN that two Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza for every Hamas militant is a “tremendously positive ratio” given the challenges of urban combat. 

The UN’s focus is on avoiding any civilian deaths, Dujarric said at his daily press briefing on Tuesday — though he acknowledged this had not been successful in Gaza.

Almost 16,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, according to figures compiled by the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza.

IDF clarification: On Tuesday, Conricus clarified that the IDF had not confirmed the reported death ratio was accurate, adding he had only meant to say he had seen a news report attributing those numbers to an unnamed Israeli official. 

He repeated Israel’s regular assertion that the IDF was aiming to kill “as low as possible a number of civilians” and blamed Hamas for using people as human shields.

Conricus also insisted that a ratio of two civilians killed per combatant was better than seen in urban combat in places like Raqqa and Deir Ezzor in Syria, but added: “Every loss of life is sad, I should have chosen my words more carefully.”

Israel has revoked the visa of the United Nations humanitarian coordinator due to the "bias of the UN," according to the Israeli minister of foreign affairs.

“We will no longer be silent in the face of the bias of the UN,” Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Cohen said Lynn Hastings, who is the deputy special coordinator for the Middle East peace process and the UN resident coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, failed to speak out against Hamas for the acts committed during its October 7 attack.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary general, said Hastings had her visa revoked last week. Still, Dujarric said the UN secretary general has “full confidence” in Hastings. 

“I can only reiterate the Secretary-General's full confidence in Ms. Hastings, the way she's conducted herself, and the way she's done her work,” Dujarric said.

US officials expect the current phase of Israel’s ground operation of Gaza targeting the southern end of the strip to last several weeks before Israel transitions, possibly by January, to a lower-intensity, hyper-localized strategy that narrowly targets specific Hamas militants and leaders, multiple senior administration officials tell CNN.

But as the war enters this new ground, the White House is deeply concerned about how Israel’s operations will unfold over the next several weeks, a senior US administration official said.

The US has warned Israel firmly in “hard” and “direct” conversations, they said, that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) cannot replicate the kind of devastating tactics it used in the north and must do more to limit civilian casualties.

The US has conveyed to Israel that as global opinion has increasingly turned against its ground operation, which has killed thousands of civilians, the amount of time Israel has to continue the operation in its current form and maintain meaningful international support is quickly waning.

In perhaps the most direct public warning to date, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin admonished Israel that it can “only win in urban warfare by protecting civilians.”

Read more about the US view of Israel's ground operation of Gaza.

Israel's military should retain control for the disarmament of Gaza after the war with Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday, rejecting the idea that an international force could be responsible for security in the strip. 

It's not the first time Netanyahu has called for post-war Israeli military control in Gaza.

In November, Netanyahu told CNN that Israel's security role in a post-war Gaza would be an “over-riding, over-reaching military envelope,” but did not explain what that meant.

The Israel Defense Forces spokesperson who on Monday told CNN that killing two Palestinian civilians for every Hamas militant in Gaza would be a “tremendously positive ratio” on Tuesday said the IDF had not confirmed those numbers were accurate. 

Jonathan Conricus, the spokesperson, said he had only meant to say he had seen a news report attributing those numbers to an unnamed Israeli official. “I confirmed that I saw the report. I didn’t confirm the numbers yet,” he told CNN.

The AFP news agency, citing a briefing for foreign media by senior Israeli military officials, reported Monday that the Israeli military believes about two civilians have been killed in Gaza for each Hamas militant.

AFP reported that the Israeli military official, when asked to confirm reports that around 5,000 Hamas militants had been killed, replied: “The numbers are more or less right.”

Nearly 16,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, according to figures from the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza.

Conricus said the IDF wants to get accurate numbers of civilians and combatants killed, adding that he thought the number would be known before the end of the war.

And he said the Israeli military was talking about active combatants when it counted how many Hamas fighters it killed: “Our definition is combatants, people who are fighting,” he said. 

He repeated Israel’s regular assertion that the IDF was aiming to kill “as low as possible a number of civilians” and blamed Hamas for using people as human shields.