Israel-Hamas war live updates: Pressure grows in Israel for another deal to release remaining hostages
NBCDec 31, 2023
Fighting in North Gaza Intensifies, Rockets Fired Toward Tel Aviv
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Image copyright: Maja Hitij/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
Israel's bombardment of the northern Gaza Strip escalated on Thursday, with intense fighting being reported in and around Jabalia near Gaza City and Hamas firing rockets at Tel Aviv. Residents of the area said communications had been cut since Wednesday and that Israeli forces, including snipers, had fully encircled Jabalia. The World Health Organization reported Thursday the last hospital in the north of the Strip has effectively ceased functioning over the past two days.
Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said Israel may soften its resistance to having the Palestinian Authority (PA) control Gaza after the war ends and that "Israel has no interest in controlling civil affairs in Gaza" but that there needs to be a "moderate Palestinian governing body" with "broad support." He stressed that the PA would need to be reformed; previous statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the PA returning to Gaza to govern the strip.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
Though, of course, Israel has a right to dismantle Hamas's military capabilities, it must wage this war in a humane way. The amount of civilians being killed will only galvanize Palestinians against peace and push them into the arms of Hamas. A more thorough and surgical campaign is now needed to eliminate Hamas's leadership in Gaza, as Israel is losing global support.
Pro-Israel narrative
Though this has been a tragic war, Israel cannot allow Hamas to survive. It also seems that the Biden administration wants to pressure Israel into a ceasefire, to which Israel must push back against such short-sighted thinking. Israel is a sovereign country and has the right to defend itself from terrorism and pursue its own interests. Hamas's military capabilities must be eliminated so that the group can never launch a terrorist attack like Oct. 7 again.
Pro-Palestine narrative
Israel continues to demonstrate that its war is not against Hamas but against the Palestinian people as a whole. Nowhere in Gaza is safe, and Israel has effectively rendered the north of the strip uninhabitable. Israel is killing Palestinians at an unprecedented rate and clearly wants to make the entire Gaza Strip unlivable. Though the US, Israel's biggest ally, wants to minimize the war's intensity, it must instead exert more pressure to end the war completely.
