WORLD BRIEFING: December 27, 2023
Israel - Hamas War
Israel's military chief said the war against Hamas in Gaza will continue for "many more months," echoing comments from Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the conflict is far from ending. Meanwhile, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also said Israel is in a "multi-arena war" in the region. A Netanyahu ally met with senior US officials to discuss the transition to a new phase of the war to maximize focus on high-value Hamas targets, a White House official told CNN. They also spoke about steps to improve the humanitarian situation, hostages, and plans for post-war Gaza.
World Health Organization officials visited hospitals across Gaza, detailing "harrowing accounts" of suffering shared by health workers and patients. More than 20,000 people have been killed since the war began in early October, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry. Some 241 people were killed and 382 people injured in 24 hours, the ministry said Tuesday - CNN
Three Palestinian internet providers said Tuesday that communications and internet in Gaza are fully down and crews are working to restore services.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was no different from Adolf Hitler and likened Israel's attacks on Gaza to the treatment of Jewish people by the Nazis. NATO member Turkey, which supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has criticised Israel's air and ground assault on Gaza, called it a "terror state" and said its leaders must be tried in international courts. Sharpening his rhetoric, Erdogan said Turkey would welcome academics and scientists facing persecution for their views on the conflict in Gaza, adding Western countries supporting Israel were complicit in what he called war crimes. "They used to speak ill of Hitler. What difference do you have from Hitler? They are going to make us miss Hitler. Is what this Netanyahu is doing any less than what Hitler did? It is not," Erdogan said. - Reuters
Gaza's death toll from Israeli attacks has risen to at least 21,110 since October 7th, according to the Gaza Health Ministry
Ukraine War
The Ukrainian Navy has described the claimed destruction of a Russian landing ship in the occupied Crimean Peninsula as a "serious blow" to Russia's war operations against Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Air Force said on December 27 that "waves" of Russian kamikaze drones targeted Ukrainian territory overnight, with 32 of 46 drones shot down. One person was killed - RFE/RL
The Ukrainian military's commander in chief, General Valeriy Zaluzhniy, said Kyiv's forces had retreated from Maryinka and new defense lines had been prepared outside the strategic town, which Russia claims to have captured - RFE/RL
A Russian strike on a train station in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson has killed at least one person and wounded four others.
A move by Japan to provide Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine will have "grave consequences" for Russia-Japan ties, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday - Reuters
Elsewhere
Poland’s political battle over state media continued Wednesday as the president filed a revised spending bill in defiance of the new pro-European Union government ‘s goal of freeing the media from political control. President Andrzej Duda, an ally of the previous right-wing government, had vetoed the new government’s bill that provided 3 billion zlotys ($762 million) for the public media. His proposed bill strips that funding out. Poland’s state-owned media have become the first battleground between the coalition government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the conservative Law and Justice party which formerly held power and whose allies retain a presence at state news agency headquarters - AP