Hamas warns Israel ‘what is coming is worse and greater’
Hamas’s armed wing has threatened to carry out “worse and greater” attacks on Israeli civilians, the Institute for the Study of War says. Meanwhile, the UN General Assembly is due to hold an emergency meeting on a draft ceasefire resolution.
Monday 11 December 2023 15:00, UK
Key points
- Israel appears to be trying to clear Gaza of Palestinians – UN agency head View post
- UN aid boss ‘out of words’ to describe scenes in Gaza View post
- Hamas ‘threatens to conduct more terror attacks’ against Israelis, says US thinktank View post
- Stuart Ramsey:Hamas outgunned and outnumbered – and some blame leader View post
- Alistair Bunkall:Israel-US relationship likely to become increasingly strained View post
- The war explained:What is Nakba? View post|A short history of this conflict View post|Why Qatar led ceasefire negotiations View post
- Updates from Alistair Bunkall, Alex Rossi and Stuart Ramsay in Jerusalem. Live reporting by Jess Sharp and Emily Mee
Volunteers start preparations for field hospital
Volunteers have started preparing for the building of a field hospital in Gaza, the Palestinian Red Crescent has said.
The Qatari facility is due to be built in the southern border city of Rafah.
It will include 50 beds, an operating room and an intensive care unit, the organisation said.
Several hospitals in the enclave have been forced to cease all operations due to a lack of fuel and medical supplies.
The WHO has warned the health situation in the region is “catastrophic” and resupplying facilities has become “extremely difficult”.
‘You don’t know whether tomorrow morning they’ll keep you alive or kill you’
Former hostage Sharon Alony-Cunio has said those held in captivity by Hamas are facing a “Russian roulette”.
Ms Alony-Cunio survived 52 days as a hostage in Gaza with her two little girls before she was released in an Israel-Hamas exchange.
She is back home with her twin three-year-olds, Julie and Emma, but her husband remains captive.
“Every minute is critical. The conditions there are not good and the days go on for ever,” she said in her first interview since being released.
“It’s a Russian roulette. You don’t know whether tomorrow morning they’ll keep you alive or kill you, just because they want to or just because their backs are against the wall.”
She was reluctant to describe the full extent of the conditions because her husband is still being held hostage, but said: “Every day there is crying, frustration and anxiety. How long are we going to be here?
“Have they [Israel] forgotten about us? Have they given up on us?”
Other hostages would give up food for the young girls, she said.
“You don’t know if in the evening there will be a pita [bread] so in the morning you save some for the evening. Everything is very calculated, a quarter of a pita, half a pita to keep for the next morning.”
Sometimes they were fed dates and cheese and sometimes they would split meat, rice and rations for six among the 12 of them.
Ms Alony-Cunio said she is now “petrified” she will be told her husband is no longer alive.
“We are not just names on a poster. We are human beings, flesh and blood. The father of my girls is there, my partner, and many other fathers, children, mothers, brothers,” she said.