Sudan: Burhan Supports Army Return to Barracks, Parties Holding to Elections

The head of the Transitional Sovereign Council in Sudan, Lt-Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (AP)
The head of the Transitional Sovereign Council in Sudan, Lt-Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (AP)
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Sudan: Burhan Supports Army Return to Barracks, Parties Holding to Elections

The head of the Transitional Sovereign Council in Sudan, Lt-Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (AP)
The head of the Transitional Sovereign Council in Sudan, Lt-Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (AP)

The head of the Transitional Sovereign Council in Sudan, Lt-Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, announced the final exit of the military establishment from the political process.

Burhan stressed that the political parties would not participate in the transitional period in response to the protesters' demands: "Soldiers belong in the barracks, and parties go to elections."

Sudanese political parties and the military signed a framework deal on Monday that they said would pave the way for the two-year civilian-led transition toward elections.

Addressing the signing ceremony, Burhan said that professional military commitment means military recognition of the civilian-led political leadership, remaining neutral, and limiting the army's mission to maintaining security.

He noted that the agreement is not limited to a specific party or entity but rather a "consensus and compromise to find solutions to national issues" with the participation of civil forces to end conflict and turmoil between civil and military forces and pave the way for a genuine democratic transition.

The army chief also vowed to turn the military into a constitutional institution "that any group or ideology can't politicize."

Burhan stressed that the civil authority is responsible for setting the national security goals and linking them to foreign and military policy, calling on the civilian power to respect the military and refrain from interfering in its affairs.

The official affirmed that the Freedom and Change forces could join the agreement at any time and commit to addressing people's demands to achieve freedom, peace, and justice.

"The army will return to its barracks, but the political parties have to aim for the elections instead of ruling. We are committed to exit from politics and stop interfering in the political life, and we expect the politicians to stop interfering with the army," Burhan asserted.

He renewed his commitment to move forward and work with the civil forces to complete the transition to free and fair elections by the end of the transitional period.

He called on the international community to support the transition in Sudan by lifting all sanctions and removing their effects, renewing Sudan's membership in the African Union (AU), and fulfilling economic support and normalization with international financial institutions to support the transition's requirements.

Burhan thanked Sudan's friends and all regional and international aid and facilitation groups.

For his part, Vice President of the Sovereign Council Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, affirmed his strict and institutional commitment to democratic transformation and the protection of the transitional period until elections.

Addressing the signing ceremony, Hemedti acknowledged that the October 2021 incident was a political mistake due to differences between various components and wrongdoings.

He indicated: "we have worked to address it by communicating with the revolutionary forces," adding that everyone must apologize for the state's violence and mistakes towards societies throughout various eras, which wasted opportunities for national construction.

Hemedti reiterated the importance of establishing transitional justice, redressing grievances, healing wounds, and building a healthy and tolerant society.

He said that the withdrawal of the military establishment from politics was necessary to establish a sustainable democratic system, which required the commitment of political forces and parties.

He stressed the importance of conducting deep reforms in the military institution that lead to building a national, professional, and independent army that protects the democratic system.

Hemedti said that the most prominent current challenges facing the next civil-led government were implementing the Juba agreement, completing the peace agreement with the non-signatory movements, and addressing the issue of eastern Sudan.

The VP addressed the political and youth forces opposing the agreement, saying that the main interest is establishing a civilian-led government capable of running the state and conducting a comprehensive constitutional dialogue to address all issues.

He asserted the youth that the agreement paves the way for their participation in decision-making at the local government level, representing the basis of the democratic system.

Hemedti thanked the international community for its efforts to reach the framework agreement, calling on it to support Sudan in achieving cooperation and shared interests.



US Criticizes Israel on Gaza Civilian Toll

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R) and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron hold a press conference at the State Department in Washington, DC, December 7, 2023. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R) and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron hold a press conference at the State Department in Washington, DC, December 7, 2023. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)
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US Criticizes Israel on Gaza Civilian Toll

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R) and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron hold a press conference at the State Department in Washington, DC, December 7, 2023. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R) and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron hold a press conference at the State Department in Washington, DC, December 7, 2023. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his strongest public criticism of Israel's conduct of the war on Hamas in south Gaza, said there was a gap between the government's declared intentions to protect Palestinian civilians and the casualties.

"As we stand here almost a week into this campaign into the south... it remains imperative that Israel put a premium on civilian protection," Blinken told a press conference after meeting British Foreign Secretary David Cameron in Washington on Thursday.

"And there does remain a gap between... the intent to protect civilians and the actual results that we're seeing on the ground."

Israel says it must wipe out Hamas after its attack on Israel two months ago and is doing everything possible to get civilians out of harm's way, including warnings about military operations.

A senior US State Department official said Blinken spoke earlier Thursday with Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer to say the US is pleased with new deliveries of fuel to Gaza but still wants to see those and other assistance deliveries increased.

At the same time, Blinken told Dermer that civilian casualties remain too high and that Israel must step up its efforts to reduce them, according to the official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the private diplomatic discussion.

US President Joe Biden spoke separately by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jordan's King Abdullah on Thursday.

Biden "emphasized the critical need to protect civilians and to separate the civilian population from Hamas including through corridors that allow people to move safely from defined areas of hostilities," the White House said.

More than 17,170 Palestinians have been killed and 46,000 wounded, according to the Gaza health ministry, since Oct. 7, when Israel began bombarding Gaza in response to a cross-border rampage by Hamas fighters. The Hamas attack killed 1,200 people, with 240 people taken hostage, according to Israel's tally.

The Israeli military on Friday said 92 of its soldiers had been killed in Gaza fighting since its ground incursions began on Oct. 20.


Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee, US Lawmakers Discuss Situation in Gaza

The committee called on the international community to take serious and immediate steps to ensure the delivery of emergency assistance to Gaza. SPA
The committee called on the international community to take serious and immediate steps to ensure the delivery of emergency assistance to Gaza. SPA
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Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee, US Lawmakers Discuss Situation in Gaza

The committee called on the international community to take serious and immediate steps to ensure the delivery of emergency assistance to Gaza. SPA
The committee called on the international community to take serious and immediate steps to ensure the delivery of emergency assistance to Gaza. SPA

Members of the Ministerial Committee, assigned by the Riyadh-hosted Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit, met Thursday with US lawmakers in Washington.

The meeting with members of the US House of Representatives and Senate was attended by Committee Chairman and Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, and the Turkish Ambassador to Washington Hasan Murat Mercan, who represented his country in the committee.

Meeting participants discussed the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and its surroundings, the military escalation, and efforts exerted to impose an immediate ceasefire, protect civilians, and ensure application of international law and the international humanitarian law.

Members of the committee called on the international community to take serious and immediate steps to ensure the delivery of emergency humanitarian, food, and medical assistance into Gaza.

Members underscored the need for active roles of parliaments and civil-society organizations in urging governments to end the Israeli occupation authorities’ violations against the Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including in East Jerusalem.

Committee members also stressed the importance of reviving the political track to achieve comprehensive and lasting peace following the ceasefire based on a two-state solution and the relevant international resolutions that can lead to realizing the legitimate rights of the Palestinians in establishing their independent and sovereign state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.


Hamas Says Repelled Israeli Rescue Attempt, Hostage Killed

Members of Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades. dpa
Members of Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades. dpa
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Hamas Says Repelled Israeli Rescue Attempt, Hostage Killed

Members of Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades. dpa
Members of Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades. dpa

The armed wing of Hamas said on Friday it had repelled an attempted hostage rescue by Israeli special forces in the Gaza Strip, inflicting several military casualties, and that a captive also died in the incident.

The Israeli military, which freed a captive soldier in Gaza in late October and is waging a Gaza offensive designed in part to recover 138 remaining hostages, had no immediate comment.

In a statement distributed on Telegram, Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades said its fighters discovered a special forces unit mounting a rescue attempt and attacked it, killing and wounding several soldiers. It did specify the location of the incident.

It said a captive Israeli soldier was killed, naming him as Sa'ar Baruch, 25. Lists of the hostages published by Israel identify one of them as Sahar Baruch, a civilian student who was 24 when he was seized from his home during the deadly Oct 7 cross-border Hamas rampage that sparked the war.


Israel, on Reuters Finding its Forces Killed Lebanon Journalist, Says Area a Combat Zone

Smoke rises after an Israeli strike over a forested area near Alma Al-Shaab in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel on December 6, 2023. (AFP)
Smoke rises after an Israeli strike over a forested area near Alma Al-Shaab in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel on December 6, 2023. (AFP)
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Israel, on Reuters Finding its Forces Killed Lebanon Journalist, Says Area a Combat Zone

Smoke rises after an Israeli strike over a forested area near Alma Al-Shaab in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel on December 6, 2023. (AFP)
Smoke rises after an Israeli strike over a forested area near Alma Al-Shaab in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel on December 6, 2023. (AFP)

The Israeli military, responding on Friday to a Reuters investigation that determined its forces killed a Reuters journalist in southern Lebanon on Oct. 13, said the incident took place in an active combat zone and was under review.
Without directly addressing the death of Issam Abdallah, a military statement said that at the time Lebanese Hezbollah fighters had attacked across the border and Israeli forces opened fire to prevent a suspected armed infiltration, Reuters said.
"On Oct. 13, 2023, the terrorist organization Hezbollah launched an attack on multiple targets within Israeli territory along the Lebanese border," said the statement issued by the Israeli army.
"One incident involved the firing of an anti-tank missile, which struck the border fence near the village Hanita. Following the launch of the anti-tank missile, concerns arose over the potential infiltration of terrorists into Israeli territory.
"In response, the Israeli army used artillery and tank fire to prevent the infiltration. The Israeli army is aware of the claim that journalists who were in the area were killed.
"The area is an active combat zone, where active fire takes place and being in this area is dangerous. The incident is currently under review," the statement said.
The Reuters investigation found that an Israeli tank crew killed Abdallah, a visuals journalist, and wounded six reporters by firing two shells in quick succession from Israel while the journalists were filming cross-border shelling.
The two strikes killed Abdallah, 37, and severely wounded Agence France-Presse (AFP) photographer Christina Assi, 28, just over a kilometer from the Israeli border near the Lebanese village of Alma al-Chaab.


Civilians Injured in South Lebanon… 3 Hezbollah Members Killed

The funeral of a Hezbollah member killed in confrontations in the south (EPA)
The funeral of a Hezbollah member killed in confrontations in the south (EPA)
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Civilians Injured in South Lebanon… 3 Hezbollah Members Killed

The funeral of a Hezbollah member killed in confrontations in the south (EPA)
The funeral of a Hezbollah member killed in confrontations in the south (EPA)

Israel and Hezbollah continued to trade fire on Thursday while the Lebanese party said it carried out a number of attacks targeting military sites and several gatherings of Israeli soldiers.
Hezbollah mourned three of its members who were killed "while carrying out their jihadist duty," the party said in a statement.
However, it did not state that they were killed "on the road to Jerusalem," a phrase listed in their previous statements symbolizing their solidarity and support for Hamas in its conflict with Israel in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said while visiting troops near the border with Lebanon, “If Hezbollah chooses to start an all-out war then it will by its own hand turn Beirut and southern Lebanon, not far from here, into Gaza and Khan Younis.”
Several students were injured after Israeli shelling on Thursday struck an educational institution in the southern Lebanese town of Qunin.
As a result of the Israeli aggression against southern Lebanon between October 8 and December 5, the Lebanon Disaster Risk Management Unit said it registered 20,000 displaced people from villages in Tyre district, south Lebanon, Lebanon state-run NNA news said.
Thousands were displaced to other areas and were not registered within the Disaster Risk Management Unit, NNA added.
The unit spoke about a lack of resources to provide services, saying nearly 40 villages on the border with Israel are still not safe for civilians to return.
Later in separate statements, Hezbollah said its fighters targeted the Bayad Blida and Al-Jerdah areas, in addition to several gatherings of Israeli soldiers near the Mitat barracks and the Jal Al-Allam site.
Hezbollah said that among the 11 attacks carried out on Thursday, the party targeted Al-Marj Site and Ramim Forest in the occupied Lebanese Hounin village, in addition to an Israeli barracks in Matat, a village abutting the Lebanese border.
Villages adjacent to the Blue Line in the western and central sectors experienced a cautious calm at night on Wednesday, disturbed by flare bombs, reconnaissance flights, and a shell that landed in the sea off the Bab Al-Tem area in the locality of Qassimiya.
In Marjayoun, NNA said one person was wounded by Israeli shelling that targeted the Tallet Hamames in Serda.
The man was transferred to the Marjayoun Governmental Hospital. NNA’s correspondent also reported that the Marjayoun plain was subject to Israeli artillery shelling on Thursday.
Meanwhile, an Israeli civilian was killed after Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile from the Lebanese border Thursday.
In response, the Israeli Army said it struck the source of the fire with attack helicopters, tanks, and artillery.


UN: More than 12,000 Killed in Sudan War

A camp for Sudanese refugees in Chad (Reuters)
A camp for Sudanese refugees in Chad (Reuters)
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UN: More than 12,000 Killed in Sudan War

A camp for Sudanese refugees in Chad (Reuters)
A camp for Sudanese refugees in Chad (Reuters)

The United Nations announced Thursday that more than 12,000 people have been killed since fighting between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted in mid-April, saying the country is now facing the largest child displacement crisis in the world.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report that an estimated 6.6 million people have fled their homes, taking refuge inside and outside the country, with children representing about half of the people displaced.
“Sudan is now the country with the largest number of displaced people and the largest child displacement crisis in the world,” it noted.
The report also said that the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project website (ACLED) estimates that more than 12,190 people have been killed since the fighting broke out in April, including 1,300 people who were killed between 28 October and 24 November.
Compared to the previous four weeks, the website recorded a 10 percent decrease in battles and a 38 percent decrease in explosions and remote violence in Sudan.
According to the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), over 700 people detained by RSF, many of whom are children, have yet to be released. The condition of the detainees is reported to be dire.
HAC also noted that between April and 15 October, international humanitarian partners reached about 4.5 million people with life-saving assistance.
Humanitarian organizations operating in Sudan require $2.6 billion to provide life-saving multi-cluster and protection assistance to 18.1 million people in desperate need through the end of this year.
The appeal is only 38.6 percent funded, with $989.3 million received as of 7 December, according to the Financial Tracking Service.
Humanitarian Response
In a related development, head of the Peace Commission and Rapporteur of the Supreme Peace Council, Suleiman Mohamed al-Dabello, said on Thursday that the impact of the war and its effects on the displaced people have put great pressure at the health and educational levels in cities and villages across the country, stressing the need to provide essential services to Sudan.
Speaking at a forum on humanitarian response operations in the city of Port Sudan, al-Dabello stressed the need for strict adherence to the laws and regulations governing humanitarian work among all parties working in this field.
He said the forum reaffirms the government's commitment to all laws and agreements signed with agencies and humanitarian organizations.
Shelling in Khartoum
At the field level, the Sudanese Army and the RSF traded fire in several areas of the capital. Eyewitnesses said they heard the sound of violent and successive artillery shelling in areas located east of Khartoum.
They said the Sudanese army, positioned in the Wadi Seidna military base in north Omdurman, shelled a number of RSF positions in various districts of the city.
Local sources in Khartoum said bombs fell in the Jarif West district of Sudan's capital, destroying a number of houses without causing any casualties. However, they said, the shelling caused panic among citizens.


UN Security Council to Consider Urging Gaza Ceasefire

An empty UN Security Council chamber is seen in January 2018. Drew Angerer / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
An empty UN Security Council chamber is seen in January 2018. Drew Angerer / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
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UN Security Council to Consider Urging Gaza Ceasefire

An empty UN Security Council chamber is seen in January 2018. Drew Angerer / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
An empty UN Security Council chamber is seen in January 2018. Drew Angerer / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File

The UN Security Council meets on Gaza Friday under acute pressure from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and will vote on urging an immediate ceasefire after weeks of ruinous war.
Even though the civilian death toll in the Palestinian territory is mounting and living conditions are described as catastrophic amid Israel's bombardment, the outcome of the session is up in the air, said AFP.
In a letter to the council on Wednesday, Guterres took the extraordinary step of invoking the UN charter's Article 99, which states that the secretary-general may bring to the attention of the council "any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security."
No one in his job had done this in decades.
Guterres wrote: "Amid constant bombardment by the Israel Defense Forces, and without shelter or the essentials to survive, I expect public order to completely break down soon due to the desperate conditions, rendering even limited humanitarian assistance impossible."
He called for a "humanitarian ceasefire" to prevent "a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians" and the entire Middle East.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric expressed hope that the council will heed Guterres' urgent appeal.
Dujarric said that since Wednesday the UN chief has spoken with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and their counterparts from several other countries.
'Catastrophic'
Israel has been pressing for the destruction of Hamas over the October 7 attack, when militants broke through Gaza's border, killing around 1,200 people and seizing hostages, 138 of whom remain captive, according to Israeli figures.
The bloodiest ever war between Israel and Hamas is now in its third month, with the death toll in Gaza soaring above 17,000, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Israel's relentless bombardment and shelling has reduced much of Gaza to rubble.
Israel is severely restricting the entry of food, water, fuel and medicine, and 1.8 million people (80 percent of Gaza's population) have been forced to leave home to escape Israeli attacks.
After Guterres sent his urgent letter, the United Arab Emirates prepared a draft resolution that will be put to a vote on Friday, said the delegation from Ecuador, which chairs the council this month and thus decides on scheduling issues.
The latest version of this document seen Thursday by AFP calls the humanitarian situation in Gaza "catastrophic" and "demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire."
The short text also calls for protection of civilians, the immediate and unconditional release of all the hostages Hamas is still holding, and humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip.
But the outcome of a vote is not clear -- four earlier drafts presented since the war broke out were rejected by the Security Council.
The council finally managed to speak out on the war in mid-November as it approved a resolution calling for "humanitarian pauses and corridors" in Gaza -- not a ceasefire.
The United States, Israel's most powerful ally, which vetoed one of the earlier draft resolutions and rejects the idea of a ceasefire, has said a new resolution from the council at this stage would not be "useful."
"Our position hasn't changed," said the deputy US ambassador, Robert Wood.
"We again think that the best thing that we can do, all of us, for the situation on the ground, is to let the quiet behind-the-scene diplomacy that is going continue," Wood said.
Agnes Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International, said "the US and all other members of the UN Security Council have a clear obligation under international law to prevent atrocities."
"There can be no justification for continuing to block meaningful action by the UN Security Council to stop massive civilian bloodshed, the complete collapse of the humanitarian system, and even worse horrors resulting from the breakdown of public order and massive displacement," she added.
The Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, said "we sincerely hope that the Security Council will adopt that resolution and will listen to brave, courageous, principled position of the secretary-general."
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Wednesday said Guterres' tenure was "a danger to world peace" after he invoked Article 99.


Israel Pursues Hamas in and Around Gaza's Biggest Cities

Palestinians try to rescue a woman stuck under the rubble of a destroyed building following Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman)
Palestinians try to rescue a woman stuck under the rubble of a destroyed building following Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman)
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Israel Pursues Hamas in and Around Gaza's Biggest Cities

Palestinians try to rescue a woman stuck under the rubble of a destroyed building following Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman)
Palestinians try to rescue a woman stuck under the rubble of a destroyed building following Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman)

Israel pressed on with its offensive in and around Gaza's main cities on Friday, more than two months after Hamas's deadly attack sparked a war that has claimed thousands of lives and left the Palestinian territory in ruins.
The death toll in Gaza has soared above 17,000, mostly women and children, the Hamas-run health ministry said, and vast areas of the besieged territory have been reduced to a rubble-strewn wasteland of bombed-out and bullet-scarred buildings.
Early Friday, the health ministry reported another 40 dead in strikes near Gaza City, and "dozens" more in Jabalia and Khan Yunis, reported AFP.
Israeli forces have encircled major urban centers as they seek to destroy Hamas over its unprecedented attack on October 7, when militants broke through Gaza's militarized border to kill around 1,200 people and seize hostages, 138 of whom remain captive, according to Israeli figures.
In a Thursday phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Joe Biden "emphasized the critical need to protect civilians and to separate the civilian population from Hamas", the White House said in a statement.
Biden also called for "corridors that allow people to move safely from defined areas of hostilities".
Backed by air power, tanks and armored bulldozers, Israeli troops are fighting in Khan Yunis, the biggest city in southern Gaza, as well as in Gaza City and Jabalia district in the north.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said troops had closed in on the Khan Yunis home of Hamas's Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, 61, vowing "it is only a matter of time until we find him".
Israeli television stations aired footage Thursday of tens of blindfolded Palestinian men wearing only underwear, guarded by Israeli soldiers in Gaza, setting off strong reactions on social media.
"We are investigating to see who is linked to Hamas and who is not," Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said at a press conference.
London-based news outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said one of its journalists was among them.
'We are dead already'
The fighting has pushed Gazans south, turning Rafah near the Egyptian border into a vast camp for many of the 1.9 million displaced by the conflict -- 80 percent of Gaza's population.
"Two months on the road, moving from one place to another. These are the hardest two months we have experienced in our lives," said Abdallah Abu Daqqa, displaced from Khan Yunis to Rafah.
Air strikes have followed them.
Eight more hit Rafah overnight. AFP journalists saw around 20 corpses in white body bags, including a child, at its Nasser hospital, while men gathered nearby to pray.
The mass civilian casualties in the conflict have sparked global concern, heightened by dire shortages caused by an Israeli siege that has seen only limited access for food, water, fuel and medicines.
Israel has approved a "minimal" increase in fuel supplies to prevent a "humanitarian collapse and the outbreak of epidemics", and called on the international community to "increase its capabilities" to distribute aid.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said there were "promising signs" Israel may open the southern Kerem Shalom crossing to aid deliveries.
But Hamas has declared a "state of famine" in northern Gaza, saying no aid has arrived there since December 1.
And Israeli rights group B'Tselem said the "minuscule amount of aid" allowed into the territory was "tantamount to deliberately starving the population".
"We are dying here, without even the need for rockets and bomb strikes. We are dead already, dead from hunger, dead from displacement," said Abdelkader al-Haddad, a Gaza City resident now in Rafah.
Intense fighting
The Netanyahu government has responded angrily to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoking the rarely used Article 99 of the world body's charter, calling on the Security Council to push for a ceasefire.
The Security Council will hold an emergency at 1500 GMT Friday to discuss the crisis.
The fighting in Gaza has killed 89 Israeli soldiers so far, including Gal -- the son of war cabinet minister Gadi Eisenkot -- on Thursday.
In a Thursday briefing, the Israeli military said troops had "killed Hamas terrorists and struck dozens of terror targets" in Khan Yunis, and raided a military compound of Hamas's Central Jabalia Battalion.
Hamas released footage of its fighters firing AK-47 assault rifles and grenade launchers from abandoned buildings in what it said was Gaza City, and said it was battling Israeli troops "on all axes of the incursion into the Gaza Strip".
The militant group said it had destroyed two dozen military vehicles in Khan Yunis and Beit Lahia in the territory's north, and its rockets continue to target Israel, though they have been intercepted by air defenses.
Lebanon tensions
Israelis remained deeply traumatized by the horror of the Hamas attack and fearful for the fate of hostages as they headed into the Jewish festival of lights, Hanukkah, from Thursday evening.
One of the worst-hit sites on October 7, the Supernova music festival, was recreated in a Tel Aviv exhibition hall to remember those killed and abducted by Hamas, complete with victims' tents and recovered belongings.
"My brother Idan Dor, 25, was murdered at this festival and it took eight days for us to be told he was dead," said Daniela Dor-Levin.
"He loved to dance, he had just started his life. He wanted peace."
Meanwhile on Thursday, an anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon killed a civilian in Israel, the Israeli army said.
Netanyahu warned Hezbollah that if it "chooses to start a global war, then it will turn Beirut and South Lebanon... into Gaza and Khan Yunis with its own hands".
An investigation by Agence France-Presse into an October 13 strike in southern Lebanon that killed a Reuters journalist and injured six others, including two from AFP, concluded that it involved a tank shell only used by the Israeli army in this region.


Farmer Killed in Missile Strike from Lebanon, Israel Radio Says

Smoke rises after an Israeli strike over a forested area near Alma Al-Shaab in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel on December 6, 2023. (AFP)
Smoke rises after an Israeli strike over a forested area near Alma Al-Shaab in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel on December 6, 2023. (AFP)
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Farmer Killed in Missile Strike from Lebanon, Israel Radio Says

Smoke rises after an Israeli strike over a forested area near Alma Al-Shaab in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel on December 6, 2023. (AFP)
Smoke rises after an Israeli strike over a forested area near Alma Al-Shaab in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel on December 6, 2023. (AFP)

A guided-missile attack from Lebanon killed a 60-year-old farmer in northern Israel on Thursday, Israel's public broadcaster Kan said, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Beirut would be turned "into Gaza" if Hezbollah started an all-out war.

The Israeli army said Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah fighters carried out the anti-tank attack. Hezbollah said later in a statement that one of the 11 attacks it carried out on Thursday targeted an Israeli barracks in Matat, a village abutting the Lebanese border.

Israel's Magen David Adom ambulance service said it pronounced the man's death at Fassuta about 3 km (1.8 miles) from Matat, which the Israeli military had reported coming under a missile attack. Israeli helicopters, tanks and artillery retaliated against the source of fire across the border.

"If Hezbollah chooses to start an all-out war then it will by its own hand turn Beirut and southern Lebanon, not far from here, into Gaza and Khan Younis," Netanyahu said while visiting troops near the border.

It was not immediately clear whether Netanyahu was speaking to the soldiers when the civilian was killed or whether he was anywhere near where the missile struck. A spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Hezbollah announced numerous attacks from Lebanon into northern Israel on Thursday that it said were in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

The Palestinian Hamas militant group carried out an Oct. 7 assault on Israel, prompting an Israel retaliatory offensive in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Iran backs both Hamas and Hezbollah.


UN Aid Chief Cites ‘Promising Signs’ in Talks to Open Gaza Crossing

 Palestinians displaced by the Israeli ground offensive on the Gaza Strip set up a tent camp in the Muwasi area Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. (AP)
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli ground offensive on the Gaza Strip set up a tent camp in the Muwasi area Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. (AP)
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UN Aid Chief Cites ‘Promising Signs’ in Talks to Open Gaza Crossing

 Palestinians displaced by the Israeli ground offensive on the Gaza Strip set up a tent camp in the Muwasi area Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. (AP)
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli ground offensive on the Gaza Strip set up a tent camp in the Muwasi area Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. (AP)

United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Thursday there was some hope that the Kerem Shalom crossing in Israel could soon be opened to allow more humanitarian supplies into Gaza, where the Israel-Hamas war has left people desperately short of basic needs.

"We're still negotiating, and with some promising signs at the moment," Griffiths told reporters in Geneva. "There are promising signs now that that may be able to open soon."

If that were to happen, Griffiths said it would represent a major boost for humanitarian operations seeking more access to the densely populated Palestinian enclave, which has been widely devastated by Israeli bombardment in the two-month-old war.

"It would be the first miracle we've seen for some weeks, but would also be a huge boost to the logistical process and logistical base of a humanitarian operation," he said about the possible opening of Kerem Shalom.

He said the warring parties were more willing to open the crossing "probably not in one go, but certainly gradually".

Aid currently being allowed into Gaza comes only through the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border, which was designed for pedestrian crossings and not trucks.

The Kerem Shalom crossing was used to carry more than 60% of the truckloads going into Gaza before war erupted on Oct. 7. It sits at Gaza's southern border with Israel and Egypt and Griffiths said both Israel and Egypt had become much more open to the idea of reviving the route.

Israeli attacks on Gaza after a short-lived truce have forced scores of people to flee to the south of the enclave, prompting fears among aid and health organizations that overcrowding and the lack of food and clean water could spread disease.

Griffiths deplored the precarious state of aid efforts, saying, "we do not have a humanitarian operation in southern Gaza that can be called by that name anymore".

"The pace of the military assault in southern Gaza is a repeat of the assault in northern Gaza," he added, referred to a part of the enclave that has been largely cut off from humanitarian aid.

Griffiths described the aid operation in Gaza was "at best humanitarian opportunism," where humanitarian workers were struggling to get the most essential supplies to people in dire need.

"It's erratic. It's undependable," Griffiths said of the aid operation. "And frankly, it's not sustainable."