EXPLAINER
Houthi attacks are discouraging shipping through the Red Sea, as Gaza’s health system collapses – here are major update.
Here’s how things stand on Friday, December 22, 2023:
The latest developments
- Over two-thirds of all structures in northern Gaza have been destroyed since the war began, making the enclave look like a different colour and texture from space, reported the Associated Press news agency on Thursday, citing mapping experts based in the United States.
- Northern Gaza no longer has any functional hospitals, reported the World Health Organization on Thursday.
- Amid Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd and Hong Kong’s OOCL have become the latest shipping companies to avoid the waters, according to their announcements on Thursday.
- On Thursday, Canada announced a temporary immigration visa for relatives of Canadian citizens and permanent residents affected by the Gaza war, but warned that leaving would be difficult and dependent on Israel’s approval.
- Israel’s army said on Thursday that it intercepted a barrage of rockets fired by Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades.
Human impact and fighting
- A total of 20,057 Palestinians have been killed and 53,320 injured by Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
- Israel targeted several areas across Gaza overnight, including Nuseirat and Deir el-Balah in the centre, as well as Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, according to Al Jazeera Arabic and the Wafa news agency.
- The proportion of households in Gaza affected by high levels of acute food insecurity is the largest ever recorded globally, says an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report published on Thursday. Additionally, Gaza’s entire 2.3 million population is at risk of famine.
- Israel’s war on Gaza has been the deadliest for modern day journalists, reported the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Thursday. CPJ has recorded 68 media worker killings in the region over the past 10 weeks.
Diplomacy
- The United Nations Security Council has once again postponed voting on a resolution for the Israel-Gaza war.
- Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the foreign minster of the United Arab Emirates, one of the few Arab countries to have official diplomatic ties with Israel, met with Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh on Thursday. The two discussed humanitarian aid for the enclave and Al Nahyan urged negotiations for a two-state solution, reported Reuters.
- Israel’s Eilat port has seen an 85 percent drop in activity since the Iran-backed Houthi group ramped up attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, the port’s chief executive said on Thursday.