Israel says its forces surround Gaza City

  • The Israeli military says it has surrounded Gaza City and is pressing forward, with a spokesman adding that a ceasefire is “not on the table” despite international pressure.
  • The army’s advance is pushing more Palestinians in Gaza City to desperately seek a safe haven, including at al-Shifa Hospital.

    Israel will deduct funds earmarked for Gaza from Palestinian Authority tax transfers

    The Israeli government’s security cabinet made the decision “to deduct all funds designated for the Gaza Strip” from the tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.

    “Israel is severing all contact with Gaza,” the government said in a statement.

    The transfers have come under renewed scrutiny after far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich this week announced he would not release the funds, accusing the PA of support the Hamas attack on October 7.

    Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said yesterday that the transfers should continue, however, in an effort to help “stabilise” the situation in the occupied West Bank, where attacks by Israeli forces and settlers have increased amid the Gaza war.

    GOP-led US House passes bill to give Israel $14bn, but cut tax agency budget

    President Biden has threatened to veto the House bill, accusing Republicans of staging a political stunt.

    Biden wants the US Congress to pass legislation that would both provide additional funding to Israel and Ukraine, but several GOP lawmakers want to separate the two issues.

    The bill that just passed in the House would provide Israel with 14.3bn, but take the funding from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Some top members of the US Senate, controlled by Democrats, also have raised objections to the House proposal.

    Drone shot down over Harir military base in northern Iraq: Report

    The armed drone was shot down at the base, which hosts US personnel, two security sources told the Reuters news agency.

    The sources said it was not clear if the incident caused any damage or casualties.

    Yesterday, the Pentagon said that bases housing US personnel in Iraq and Syria had been targeted 27 times since October 17.

    The US last week struck sites in Syria it said were used by Iran proxies to launch attacks, and the Biden administration has vowed to respond to further targeting of US personnel in the region.

    Ambulance sirens ring out in Gaza

    The sirens are ringing out amid Israel’s continued bombardment of the territory.

    The hum of Israeli military drones can also be heard over Gaza.

    Slain Palestinian journalist was latest ‘target’ amid Israeli attacks: AJ correspondent

    Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum says he was reporting alongside Mohammed Abu Hatab, a correspondent for Palestine TV who was killed in an Israeli attack a short while ago, for most of the day.

    But Abu Hatab went to his house in Khan Younis in southern Gaza in order to check on his family members, Abu Azzoum said.

    He was meant to return to the field and continue reporting. “But this time, he was the target and his family also were the targets [of] the ongoing Israeli bombardment,” Abu Azzoum said.

    “Mohammed … was reporting the truth and reality on the ground to the world.”

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