WORLD BRIEFING: December 26, 2023
Israel - Gaza War
Gaza
At least 250 people were killed and 500 others were injured in Gaza over a 24 hour period, the Hamas-controlled health ministry said Monday. That brings the death toll to more than 20,000, with no indication that Israel's war against Hamas will end anytime soon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said over the weekend that the military was intensifying operations inside Gaza. He also vowed "a long fight" ahead in a speech on Monday, while family members of Israelis held hostage by Hamas interrupted his remarks to demand their immediate return. A close confidant of Netanyahu is expected to meet US officials today to discuss the next phase of the war, according to a source. Meanwhile, Egypt has proposed a three-phase plan to end the fighting — though it's unclear how it will be received by the warring parties.
Ukraine War
Ukraine struck a large Russian landing warship in Crimea with cruise missiles in an overnight attack that killed at least one person and could hinder any Russian attempt to seize more Ukrainian territory along the Black Sea coast. The Russian defence ministry, cited by the Interfax news agency, said Ukraine had used air-launched missiles to attack the Crimean port of Feodosia and that the Novocherkassk large landing ship had been damaged. Ukrainian Air Force Spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said he thought it would be hard for the Novocherkassk - which can carry tanks and armoured vehicles and be used to land troops ashore - to re-enter service. "We can see how powerful the explosion was, what the detonation was like. After that, it’s very hard for a ship to survive, because this was not a rocket, this is the detonation of munitions," he told Radio Free Europe.
Russian forces hit three humanitarian bases in Kherson, said the head of the emergency response unit for the Ukrainian Red Cross in Kherson Oblast Mykola Taranenko, in a comment to Hromadske radio on Dec. 25 - Kyiv Independent
A foreigner smuggling conscripts to Moldova exposed in Odesa. According to police, a foreigner living in Odesa offered the men to organize their departure to Moldova for $4500. The organizer was detained when he was delivering four men of military age to one of the border settlements under the guise of a taxi driver.
Elsewhere
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Tuesday released a sardonic statement about his transfer to an Arctic prison colony nicknamed the “Polar Wolf,” his first appearance since associates lost contact with him three weeks ago. Navalny, the most prominent and persistent domestic foe of President Vladimir Putin, is serving a 19-year sentence on an extremism conviction. He had been incarcerated in central Russia’s Vladimir region, about 230 kilometers (140 miles) east of Moscow, but supporters said he couldn’t be found beginning on Dec. 6. They said Monday that he had been traced to a prison colony infamous for severe conditions in the Yamalo-Nenets region, about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow - AP