WORLD BRIEFING: December 29, 2023
Israel - Gaza War
A delegation of Hamas officials is scheduled to travel to Cairo on Friday, to give its "observations" about an Egyptian plan for a ceasefire that would end the war in Gaza, a Hamas official told the AFP news agency
Sirens sounded throughout the day in Israel's north, warning of rocket fire and hostile aircraft infiltrations. The IDF said it carried out an "extensive strike" in Lebanon, targeting launch positions and a Hezbollah military compound. Hezbollah claimed it has neutralized most of the IDF's observation devices on the border with Israel - Haaretz
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stated that as long as he continues to serve in his position, Israel will not transfer sums to the Palestinian Authority which Israel deducts from taxes meant to be allocated to it.
The Saudi Al Arabiya news website reported that 11 members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed on Thursday night in an attack near Damascus international airport, attributed to Israel. According to the report, the attacked was carried out as a delegation of commanders of the Revolutionary Guard in eastern Syria were arriving at the airport. Norat Rasheed, a commander, was injured in the attack.
The Israeli army said that there were several launches from Lebanese territory towards northern Israel, and they had responded by striking the source of the attacks with artillery - Al Jazeera
According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry: 21,110 killed, 55,243 wounded in Gaza
Ukraine War
At least 18 people were killed and 132 wounded in a wave of Russian strikes across Ukraine - including Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro and Kharkiv. Ukraine's military says Russia launched a "massive" attack with 158 drones and missiles - the air force says it has "never seen so many locations targeted simultaneously.”
Russia "used nearly every type of weapon in its arsenal", Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says. Nationwide - at least 18 killed & 132 injured, reports Suspilne News. In Kyiv at least 3 killed and 28 injured. A school building was hit in Odesa, injuring seven people, including a child. 4 killed and 22 injured in strikes elsewhere in the region.
Russian targets across Ukraine included a maternity hospital, a shopping mall, a school, numerous residential buildings, a warehouse. Russia will likely claim these were all legitimate military targets.
Russia deployed rockets as far west as Lviv Ukraine. Local media reporting at least 30 injured; 16 have been hospitalised
A Russian missile appears likely to have entered the airspace of NATO-member Poland on Friday, a Polish general said, after an unidentified aerial object was spotted in the early morning hours amid a heavy Russian attack on Ukraine overnight. General Maciej Klisz, operational commander of Polish armed forces, said the object most likely left Polish airspace after spending less than three minutes over the country's territory and went back over Ukraine - Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin allegedly told Chinese President Xi Jinping that Russia plans to continue its war against Ukraine for “at least five years"
Elsewhere
Iran executed on Friday four people, including a woman, whom it accused of being "saboteurs" with links to Israel's Mossad intelligence service, the Mizan news agency affiliated to the judiciary said. The executions took to five the number of people put to death this month in a decades-long shadow war that has seen Iran accuse Israel of attacks on its nuclear effort, charges the latter has never confirmed or denied.
An award-winning architect in Bangladesh, one of the nations most at risk from flooding driven by climate change, has developed an ingenious two-floor housing solution to help people survive what scientists warn is a growing threat.