Hanukkah begins with Israel in a armed conflict and still without about 120 people held hostage by Hamas…..
Israeli troops are now battling in South Gaza after they ran thru North Gaza and left it with vast destruction….
Israel announces it has captured hundreds of suspected Hamas fighters in the last 24 hours…..
US Sec of State Blinken complains about civilians in danger in Gaza while saying American supports Israel….
Here’s what we know:
The Israeli military posted unverified videos and maps that it claims showed rockets had been fired from areas in southern Gaza where civilians were seeking shelter.
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In Israel, Hanukkah begins in the shadow of two months of war.
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New arrivals in Rafah, fleeing the fighting in the north, face food shortages and airstrikes.
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Israel announces limited steps aimed at easing Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.
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British defense minister says the Palestinian Authority would need improvements before ever assuming governance of Gaza.
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The son of an Israeli war cabinet member was killed in action in Gaza.
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Here are some key moments in two months of war…..
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Iranian-backed Iraqi actors are exploiting the Israel-Hamas war to try to expel US forces from Iraq. Forcing the removal of the US military is one of Iran’s most important strategic objectives in the Middle East. CTP-ISW previously assessed that the dozens of Iranian-backed militia attacks on US military positions in recent weeks have been meant to impose a cost on the United States for supporting Israel while also eroding American willingness to remain militarily in Iraq and Syria. Iranian and Axis of Resistance leaders are operating on the theory that relatively low levels of militant pressure gradually diminish the willingness of the US political establishment to sustain deployments in the Middle East.