Israel-Hamas war: List of key events, day 61

EXPLAINER

New statements from Hamas and Netanyahu amid heightened pressure on Gaza’s hospitals – here are the main updates.

Here’s how things stand on Wednesday, December 6, 2023:

The latest developments

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a press conference on Tuesday that Gaza will have to be demilitarised after the war.
• On Tuesday, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said the group is “well prepared” to fight no matter how long the war lasts.
• Germany’s harsh treatment of pro-Palestinian groups and climate activists has made it drop in global rankings for civil liberties, Civicus, an organisation monitoring civil society worldwide, reported on Wednesday.
• The Qatari-Saudi Coordination Council released a statement on Tuesday expressing “deep concern about the humanitarian catastrophe”, in Gaza. They called for compliance with international law, and to “intensify efforts” towards the two-state solution.
• On Tuesday, presidents of several United States college campuses including Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and University of Pennsylvania, testified in Congress on anti-Semitism in their campuses.

Human impact and fighting

• An Israeli attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza has killed at least six while injuring several others and destroying buildings, Al Jazeera correspondents reported from the site on Wednesday.
• Israel’s army claimed on Wednesday that it “eliminated” several Hamas commanders in air strikes. It also announced that two of its soldiers have been killed in confrontations with fighters in Gaza.
• For the third consecutive day, Rafah was the only governorate in Gaza where some aid distribution occurred.
• Fuel and medical supplies at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza are critically low, and could hold staff back from carrying out life-saving treatment, Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) said on Tuesday.
• The World Health Organization’s representative in Gaza, Richard Peeperkorn, said on Tuesday that the situation in the enclave is “close to being the darkest in human history”.
• In an hours-long raid on Jenin in the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces arrested at least 18 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian news agency, Wafa. Military vehicles also blocked ambulances’ rescue efforts.

Diplomacy

• On Tuesday, leaders of six Gulf countries and Turkey met in Qatar to discuss the Israel-Gaza war. Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani called for a permanent ceasefire and accused the international community of “turning their back” on the Palestinian people.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia today where talks will focus on bilateral relations and the Israel-Gaza war, a Kremlin spokesperson said on Tuesday.
• The Biden administration is moving to impose visa restrictions on Israeli settlers believed to be involved in undermining peace, security, or stability in the occupied West Bank, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Tuesday.
• The State of Palestine’s mission to the United Nations wrote to the president of the UN Security Council on Tuesday, urging it to act on Israel’s “non-compliance” with international law.
• The United Kingdom’s newly appointed foreign minister, David Cameron, is on his way to the US where one of the topics on the agenda is the Israel-Gaza war.
• Jeremy Corbyn, a member of the UK Parliament, wrote a letter to Cameron on Tuesday seeking clarification on whether British soldiers have been deployed to Gaza for Israel’s war. He also reiterated his demand for a permanent ceasefire.
• Nicaragua’s foreign minister arrived in the West Bank on Tuesday while the country also expressed its “fraternal and militant” solidarity with Palestine.
• In a statement to the press on Tuesday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said his country is moving to recognise the state of Palestine “even if it does not receive sufficient support” for it in the European Union.