Israel urged by UN and US officials to avoid repeat of northern Gaza devastation | First Thing
Head of UN agency said Israel is repeating horrors from past weeks'. Plus, Volodymyr Zelenskiy will address US senators
Good morning.
Israel has been urged by UN and US officials to avoid a repeat of the devastating impact that its operations in northern Gaza had on civilians as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) expanded their ground offensive against Hamas farther south to the city of Khan Younis.
How many are displaced in Gaza? About 1.8 million people in Gaza, or roughly 75% of the population, have been displaced, according to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA.
How many have been killed? The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says almost 16,000 Palestinians have been killed in retaliatory attacks, about 70% of them women and children. It follows Hamas militants killing 1,200 people and seizing 240 hostages on 7 October.
How many have been killed since the ceasefire ended? About 900 killed since the truce ended on Friday, according to the health ministry, who say thousands more are missing and feared buried in rubble.
How much additional aid has the White House requested? The supplemental funding request that the White House outlined in October included roughly $60bn in additional aid for Ukraine.
Why do hard-right Republicans oppose additional aid? Rightwing lawmakers have argued the US should not be sending so much money to Ukraine when those funds could be better used to address border security, even though US assistance to Ukraine represents less than 1% of the nation's GDP.
What's the latest in the fighting? Russian forces are assaulting Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine from two new directions, Ukrainian officials said on Monday, as Moscow expanded its bid to capture the near-encircled town. Moscow has been trying for nearly two months to seize Avdiivka, an industrial town in the eastern Donetsk region that has become the fiercest flashpoint on the sprawling frontline.
Continue reading...