WORLD BRIEFING: December 23, 2023
Israel - Hamas War
Israel says it has arrested 200 members of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups in the past week and taken them into its territory for questioning - BBC
U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday to discuss the situation in Israel and Gaza, according to the White House.
Hundreds of Israelis are protesting in Caesarea, on Israel's Mediterranean coast, calling for the ouster of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Roni Neiman, the uncle of Rotem, who was murdered at the Nova music festival near Re'im, siad at the demonstration that "a large majority think that this despicable man who sends soldiers to war but is afraid to attend their funerals should go home." - Haaretz
Hamas-run health ministry: 20,057 killed, 53,320 wounded in Gaza
Ukraine War
Ukrainian police have arrested a senior Defense Ministry official on suspicions that he embezzled nearly $40 million as part of a fraudulent purchase of artillery shells for Ukraine’s military. The Ukrainian authorities have been working to clean up the ministry since reports of graft and financial mismanagement led to the removal in September of the minister at the time. Ukraine’s security service announced the arrest of the senior official, whose name was not released, on Friday - NYT
"I am horrified by the news that another wave of indiscriminate Russian strikes has damaged facilities & critical supplies of 3 humanitarian organizations in Kherson today” - Denise Brown, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, condemned the strikes which also damaged homes, a hospital & left many injured.
Ukraine downed three Russian Su-34 supersonic striker/bomber aircraft on the southern front, Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk announced on Dec. 22.
Seven attack drones were destroyed over Odesa Oblast on the evening of December 22. The attack lasted from 18:00 to midnight. In Odesa district, when a downed drone fell, a shock wave damaged the windows of a school. No one was injured.
US President Joe Biden on Friday, Dec. 22, signed the “National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024” and it continues the operation of the Initiative for providing security assistance to Ukraine, authorizing within its limits the allocation of 300 million dollars for the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years (that is, until Sept. 2025). Funds to support Ukraine included in the US defense budget are separate from the $111 billion additional funding project stuck in Congress.
Elsewhere
More than 700 Airbus staff members reportedly have been left vomiting and with diarrhea after their Christmas dinner ended in disaster, prompting an investigation from public health authorities. The Regional Health Agency is investigating after the festive meal on Friday December 15 took a turn for the worst, with one worker at the European multinational aerospace company describing the sickness as "worse than childbirth", according to French newspaper LaDepeche. - The Standard
Russia’s Central Election Commission has refused to register journalist Yekaterina Duntsova’s voters’ committee. The commission said that 20 percent of the statements made by members of Duntsova’s voters’ committee contained errors and that the signature of one of the committee’s members resembled a cat. This decision prevents Duntsova from collecting signatures, which is required to move forward in the nomination process. During a commission session, Ella Pamfilova, head of the Central Election Commission, told Duntsova: “Yekaterina Duntsova, you are a young woman, you have everything ahead of you. Any minus can always be turned into a plus, any experience is still an experience.” Pamfilova rejectedopposition politician Alexey Navalny’s application to run for president in a similar manner back in December 2017. Duntsova saidshe would appeal the decision at Russia’s Supreme Court - Meduza