WORLD BRIEFING: December 6, 2023
Israel - Hamas War
Israel's military is reporting intense fighting in southern Gaza as it surrounds the strip's second-largest city of Khan Younis. Israeli forces on Tuesday also encircled the Jabalya refugee camp, which Israel claims is a Hamas stronghold. The crowded camp has been hit by renewed Israeli strikes in recent days following the end of a weeklong pause in the conflict. US officials expect the current phase of Israel's ground operation to last several weeks before Israel transitions, possibly by January, to a lower-intensity strategy that narrowly targets specific Hamas militants and leaders. Nearly 16,000 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 60% of homes have been destroyed in the region since October 7, according to the strip's Hamas-run government - CNN
Facing a soaring death toll from Israel's renewed offensive in southern Gaza, the Biden administration is trying to pressure its ally to minimize civilian deaths while stopping well short of the kind of measures that might force it to listen, such as threatening to restrict military aid - Reuters
Israeli forces are battling Hamas militants across Gaza in intense fighting that has prevented the distribution of vital aid in much of the territory and brought some of the devastation and mass displacement seen in the north to the south - AP
Ukraine War
U.S. Senators began blaming each other Tuesday for the looming potential failure to provide additional aid to Ukraine as fragile negotiations over a national security package continued to break down amid Republican demands for far-reaching immigration restrictions. “If funding for Ukraine fails, the failure will solely be on the Republican Party,” Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, blasting the GOP for demanding border security changes to support Ukraine funding. At least a dozen Republicans walked out of a classified briefing led by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other Biden officials on the status of Ukraine’s war effort Tuesday afternoon, shrugging off a presentation that was meant to pressure them to back the aid. Some Republican senators, led by Sen. Tom Cotton (Ark.), confronted Schumer for not providing someone to brief them on border security in addition to Ukraine, before walking out in protest.
U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday said it has filed war crime charges against four members of the Russian military accused of abducting and torturing an American during the invasion of Ukraine in a case that’s the first of its kind. The four Russians are accused of kidnapping the American from his home in a Ukrainian village in 2022. The American was beaten and interrogated while being held for 10 days at a Russian military compound, before eventually being evacuated with his wife, who is Ukrainian, U.S. authorities said. The American told federal agents who had traveled to Ukraine last year as part of an investigation that the Russian soldiers had abducted him, stripped him naked, pointed a gun at his head and badly beaten him, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said - AP
Elsewhere
President Vladimir Putin was escorted to the Middle East by four Russian fighter jets on Wednesday for a rare trip abroad, during which he will discuss oil, Gaza and Ukraine with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Putin's meeting with the prince known as MbS comes after oil prices fell despite a pledge by OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, to further cut output - Reuters