Live updates | Israel plans to keep fighting as other countries call for a cease-fire in Gaza
Associated PressDec 01, 2023
UN: Gaza 'Living Hell’ After Heavy Rains Flood Makeshift Camps
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Image copyright: Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip continues to deteriorate after heavy rainfall washed out tents and flooded some areas. Nearly all of Gaza's population — estimated at around 85% [of the strip's population of over 2M people] — have been displaced by Israeli bombardment and military operations, with hunger and disease increasingly running rampant. The head of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees described the situation as a “living hell" as fighting rages across the entire strip.
Israeli officials disputed US Pres. Joe Biden's comments that Israel's bombing campaign has been indiscriminate. One official also rejected an intelligence assessment reported by CNN that 45% of the 29K air-to-ground munitions that Israel has dropped on Gaza since Oct. 7 have been unguided "dumb bombs," saying that a bomb's accuracy is determined by the pilot dropping the munition.
The Spin
Pro-Israel narrative
Though this has been a tragic war, Israel cannot allow Hamas to survive. Hamas seized upon the temporary pause to mark Israeli positions and prepare itself for continued attacks on Israeli forces in Gaza. Indeed, the pace at which Israeli forces maneuvered in Gaza threw Hamas's military leadership off-kilter, and Israel will have to work intelligently in its campaign in the south of the strip to fully eliminate the terrorist group so it can never launch an 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 unlivable. Unfortunately, the temporary ceasefire only gave civilians a few days of relative rest, and now Israel has returned to killing Palestinians at an unprecedented rate. The US, Israel's biggest ally, must exert more pressure to end the war.
