The IDF Thursday said it is making slow but steady progress in Gaza ground fighting against Hamas, including killing several Hamas militants in what the IDF described as a significant tunnel.

The IDF released footage Thursday showing several Hamas fighters killed in the tunnel. The video appears to show a camera lowered into the tunnel when a Hamas fighter touches it before being hit by either a shot or an explosive. Bodies of other Hamas fighters are then seen on the floor of the tunnel.

According to the IDF, more than 100 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza fighting.

The Gaza Ministry of Health reports 18,787 Gazans have been killed and 50,897 injured since the war started Oct. 7.

Al Jazeera reports that at least 26 people were killed Thursday in an Israeli air strike in Rafah in southern Gaza, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health. The ministry said at least 179 people were killed and 300 wounded over the past day.

At least eight Israeli soldiers were seriously wounded Thursday in the fighting including 82nd battalion commander Lt. Col. Shahar Barkai. Two other Maglan special force troops were also wounded, according to the IDF.

Those casualties came just a day after 10 IDF soldiers were killed and six wounded in Gaza ground fighting.

Hamas military spokesman Abu Obaida said on Telegram that the Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing, killed and wounded dozens of Israeli troops and partially or completely destroyed 72 Israeli Army vehicles within the last 72 hours.

Though Al Jazeera reported those numbers, they could not be independently confirmed.

Hamas also on Thursday called for mass worldwide demonstrations 'in solidarity with Gaza.'

The IDF said it apprehended "dozens of terror operatives in the Gaza Strip and transferred them for further questioning."

"During operational activity in the area of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, IDF troops located a building used by Hamas terrorist operatives and located weapons inside. Additionally, during engagements with terrorists in the area of the hospital, a number of terrorists were killed by IDF troops," the IDF said in a statement.

According to another IDF statement Thursday, the Paratroopers Brigade has operated over the past week killing and apprehending Hamas fighters and uncovering and destroying more tunnel networks.

"During searches in the areas and the residences of Hamas operatives, soldiers of the 7421st Battalion found ready-to-launch Grad missiles, hundreds of explosive devices, dozens of weapons, and a lathe used to produce rockets," the IDF statement said. "Additionally, soldiers of the 202nd Battalion discovered several memory cards containing materials filmed by Hamas terrorists on Saturday, October 7th."

Top US official arrives in Israel amid public rift over Gaza
Tel Aviv (AFP) Dec 14, 2023 –

Top White House official Jake Sullivan arrived in Israel on Thursday amid a public rift over civilian casualties in Gaza more than two months into the Israel-Hamas war.

President Joe Biden's national security adviser was greeted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of talks expected to focus on Israel's military offensive in the Palestinian territory.

A photo shared by the Israeli prime minister's office showed Sullivan and Netanyahu shaking hands in Tel Aviv.

It said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that "an expanded meeting with the members of the war cabinet will be held later".

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant also met Sullivan and told him the war would "last more than several months," according to his office.

"Hamas is a terrorist organization that built itself over a decade to fight Israel, and they built infrastructure under the ground and above the ground and it is not easy to destroy them.

"It will require a period of time — it will last more than several months, but we will win and we will destroy them."

Ahead of his trip, Sullivan told a Wall Street Journal event he would discuss a timetable to end the war and urge Israeli leaders "to move to a different phase from Palestinian presidency slams mosque 'desecration' by Israel army
Jenin, Palestinian Territories (AFP) Dec 14, 2023 –

The Palestinian presidency on Thursday condemned what it called the "shameful desecration" of a mosque in the occupied West Bank by Israeli troops who were seen reciting a Jewish prayer.

Video footage obtained by AFP showed soldiers inside a mosque in Jenin refugee camp using loudspeakers to recite the Shema Yisrael, a central prayer in Judaism.

Towards the end of the clip, laughter can be heard as troops walk outside the mosque and a Hanukkah song rings out from the loudspeaker.

It was not clear when the footage was filmed but Israeli forces were engaged in a deadly raid in Jenin this week that saw 11 Palestinians killed, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

"Israeli occupation forces' desecration of a mosque in the Jenin camp is shameful and condemnable behaviour," Palestinian presidency spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement.

He warned against "dragging the region into a religious war" and of "the repercussions of these attacks".

"The flames of religious war that Israel seeks to ignite will not be limited to Palestinian region only, but will extend to the entire world if it remains silent about Israel's crimes and violations of the rights of Palestinian people."

Abu Rudeineh called on the international community and the United States to "put pressure on Israel to stop its violations against Palestinian people, their property and their sanctities".

The Israeli army said the soldiers involved had been removed from operational duties to face disciplinary procedures.

Army spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a statement: "Steps will be taken accordingly against those who don't act according to IDF (army) values."

In Gaza, where Israel is engaged in fierce fighting with Hamas and has shelled the territory for weeks, the Hamas antiquities ministry estimates more than 100 mosques have been destroyed.

the kind of high-intensity operations that we see today."

The United States is a major funder of the Israeli military and last week vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution that called for a ceasefire.

The war began when militants from the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas burst across the Gaza border on October 7 and killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to the Israeli authorities.

In response, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas and launched a relentless bombardment and ground invasion that has left swathes of Gaza in ruins.

The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory says 18,787 people have been killed, mostly women and children.