‘It will last more than several months, but we will win’: Israel’s defense minister says
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met with Sullivan today in Tel Aviv, where they discussed the ongoing war front in Gaza and threats brewing in the Middle East.
Prior to the meeting, Gallant said the U.S. and Israel “share common interests, common values and in this war, we also share common goals.”
He vowed to “destroy” Hamas, but noted it won’t be an easy feat. “It will require a period of time — it will last more than several months, but we will win and we will destroy them,” he said.
The two discussed ongoing developments in Gaza, the northern border with Lebanon, the need to allow Israeli citizens to return to their homes in the north, and Iranian aggression via its proxies in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.
Gaza hit with another phone and internet blackout
Gaza’s largest telecommunications provider, Paltel, is again no longer providing service.
“We regret to announce that all telecom services in Gaza Strip have been lost due to the ongoing aggression. Gaza is blacked out again,” Paltel announced today on X.
Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik, a company that tracks global internet connectivity, confirmed to NBC News that internet service in Gaza was out.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society announced it had completely lost contact with its operations room, and that this was the fifth blackout it had experienced since the war began.
Paltel, which provides the majority of phone and internet connections for Gazans, has suffered repeated outages since the war started. It has cited Israeli bombing and energy blackouts as the primary reasons.
Hamas' popularity increases against Palestinian Authority during war but majority remain unsupportive, poll finds
Hamas' popularity has increased since the attacks Oct. 7, but a majority of Palestinians still remain unsupportive of the group, a survey published yesterday found.
In the Gaza Strip, 42% supported Hamas, up from 38% before the war, with support for the Palestinian Authority dropping from 33% to 24%. More people now also support a two-state solution but majority still oppose its view of its impracticality due to expansion of Israeli settlements.
The poll was conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in the West Bank and Gaza between Nov. 22 and Dec. 2, with the interviews in Gaza conducted during the truce. A total of 1,231 people were interviewed, with 750 in the West Bank.
"The overwhelming majority condemns the positions taken by the US and the main European powers during the war and express the belief that they have lost their moral compass," the center said.
In Israel’s northern neighbor, worries grow that Netanyahu won’t stop with Gaza
BEIRUT — As Israeli forces expand their ground operations in southern Gaza, anxiety is running high internationally that Tehran’s proxies could try to broaden the war into a regionwide conflict.
Yet, despite the belligerent rhetoric from all sides since Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack and the escalation by members of the Iran-led “axis of resistance” — Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as powerful Iraqi Shia militias and Yemen’s Houthis — few officials who lead Israel’s northern neighbor believe that Iran and its partners want an all-out war.
Anxiety in Lebanon is instead focused on one wild card: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu’s political insecurity brought on by the crisis in Gaza and deepening unpopularity at home have many fearing that he could fire up the cross-border war to a full boil, spilling it into Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen and even scalding American naval assets in the Mediterranean Sea.
Many among Lebanon’s officialdom — NBC News spoke to a dozen diplomats, military chiefs and leaders of militant organizations for this article — fear that Netanyahu may turn his personal troubles into a regional nightmare.
Denmark arrests 7 people operating for Hamas, Netanyahu's office says
Denmark arrested seven operatives acting on behalf of Hamas, Netanyahu's office said in a statement today, adding they foiled an "attack aimed at killing innocent citizens on European soil."
"Hamas strives to expand its operational capabilities around the world and in Europe in particular in order to realize its ambitions to hit Israeli, Jewish and Western targets at any cost," it said, adding the "extensive exposure" of Hamas infrastructure in Europe was exposed today.
The identity of those arrested and their charges were not disclosed.
Hamas open to 'ideas or initiatives' that could end the war, top official says
As the death toll mounts in Gaza amid Israel's military campaign in the besieged enclave, Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas political bureau, said it's open to "any ideas or initiatives" that could end the war in Gaza and secure an independent state.
His comments appeared as backing a common state for the Palestinian people, one that would include the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip with Jerusalem as its capital.
"Any bets on arrangements in Gaza without Hamas and the resistance factions are an illusion and a mirage," he said in a televised address yesterday.
Bombardment of Khan Younis is so intense not all wounded can be rescued, medics say
The emergency room at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis was overwhelmed by wounded Palestinians as Israel maintained its relentless assault.
Artillery shelling continues in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Red Crescent says
The Palestine Red Crescent Society's teams were helping with an unspecified number of dead and wounded Palestinians in central Khan Younis as artillery shelling continued for hours, the group said in a statement posted on X.
The shelling is happening less than a mile away from the PRCS headquarters and Al-Amal Hospital, it said.
Sullivan meets with Netanyahu
Sullivan is currently meeting with Netanyahu.
The meeting is also being attended by the Israeli national security adviser and head of its National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi, and the U.S. presidential special envoy for the Middle East, Brett McGurk.
It will be followed by a meeting with the Israeli war Cabinet.
IDF denies report that it executed 15 people at a U.N. school in Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces denied an Al Jazeera report that said its troops had executed 15 people at a school run by the U.N. agency supporting Palestinians, saying the claims made were "deceitful" and "biased."
In the report, piles of bullet casings can be seen in the destroyed school with residents saying they found dead bodies.
The IDF said in a statement to NBC News that its soldiers operated within the area of the school after people were evacuated, finding weaponry and ammunition.
It "even encountered armed terrorists who were using civilian infrastructure and the population as human shields," it said.