WORLD BRIEFING: December 4, 2023
Israel - Hamas War
Israel’s military widens its ground offensive in southern Gaza as Palestinian officials say more than 800 people killed since Saturday. Israeli forces arrest more Palestinians in overnight and early morning raids across the occupied West Bank - Al Jazeera
Israel on Sunday said it killed a key Hamas commander responsible for the October 7 attacks that left around 1,200 Israelis dead and scores of others abducted - CNN
A video taken in an abandoned Gaza hospital appears to show the decomposing bodies of babies who were left behind during evacuations. The paediatric intensive care unit at al Nasr children's hospital was evacuated around 10 November as the Israeli military continued its ground invasion into northern Gaza and called for people to leave the area.During the week-long ceasefire, Mohammed Baalousha, a journalist with the Emirati TV channel Al Mashhad, entered the building where he found the bodies of several infants who had to be left in their beds while others escaped. Filmed around two weeks after the hospital was emptied, footage from the channel appeared to show at least three of five dead infants, according to Sky News' US partner site NBC. Their bodies were decaying, including one that had insects appearing to crawl over its chest. All were near catheters and ventilators and one infant appeared to still be connected to a machine that measures the oxygen levels in blood, with tanks of the gas nearby, NBC reported.
Ukraine War
The White House budget chief warned the US Congress on Monday that failure to agree fresh funds for Ukraine by the end of the year would “kneecap” Kyiv on the battlefield. In a letter to the House Speaker, the director of the Office of Management and Budget Shalanda Young said time was rapidly running out to support Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion. “I want to be clear: without congressional action, by the end of the year we will run out of resources to procure more weapons and equipment for Ukraine,” Young wrote. “Cutting off the flow of US weapons and equipment will kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield,” she added. President Joe Biden asked Congress in October to approve $106 billion in national security funding, including support for Ukraine and for Israel’s war against Hamas - AFP
82 evacuees from Gaza arrive in Odesa Oblast - Odesa Military Administration. 45 of them are children. Currently, 19 people are accommodated in Odesa. They are being assisted in the preparation of documents.
Elsewhere
'Everything indicates’ a Chinese ship damaged the Baltic pipeline on purpose, Finland says. “I would think that you would notice that you’re dragging an anchor behind you for hundreds of kilometers,’ says minister.
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko arrived in China for negotiations on economic and trade investments with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Lukashenko's press office reported on Dec. 3.