WORLD BRIEFING: December 2, 2023
Israel - Hamas War
Renewed fighting in Gaza stretched into a second day on Saturday after talks to extend a week-old truce with Hamas collapsed and mediators said Israeli bombardments were complicating attempts to again pause hostilities. Eastern areas of Khan Younis in southern Gaza came under intense bombardment as the truce deadline lapsed shortly after dawn on Friday, with columns of smoke rising into the sky, Reuters journalists in the city said - Reuters
Health officials in Gaza said at least 32 civilians had been killed and dozens injured, most of them women and children, in the first hours of the resumption of fighting in the strip after a 7-day truce expired early Friday - UPI
An Israeli official told the Wall Street Journal that Israel is willing to consider future pauses in the war in Gaza to allow for the release of as many hostages as possible. According to the report, the official said that “we can negotiate while we still fight” and that the expired deal to halt fighting was “made possible due to the pressure of our military operation on the ground.” - Haaretz
Ukraine War
A Russian general has been killed after being blown up on a mine in Ukraine, several pro-Kremlin sources say. Maj-Gen Vladimir Zavadsky, 45, was deputy commander of the 14th army corps at the time of his death, they say. At least six other Russian generals are thought to have died since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. There has been no word from the Russian Defence Ministry about the incident, and there are conflicting reports about where it happened. The ministry has on several occasions previously made no mention of senior officers' deaths, even after close relatives have spoken publicly about them. Reports say Maj-Gen Zavadsky was killed on Wednesday afternoon. - BBC
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree increasing Russian troop numbers by 15%. Some 170,000 will be added to the number of serving personnel in stages, bringing the total to 1,320,000. The defence ministry said the move was a response to an increase in threats, including from the expansion of Nato. Russia is thought to have sustained heavy casualties in more than a year-and-a-half of fighting in Ukraine, even though it does not release figures - BBC
Elsewhere
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says he has told Turkey’s president that “the time has come” to let Sweden become a member of the military alliance.Turkey and Hungary are the only NATO countries that have not yet formally approved Sweden’s accession bid. Stoltenberg told The Associated Press that he urged Turkey to finalize the process as he met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday on the sidelines of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai - AP