According to Tor Wennesland, UN Coordinator of the Middle East Peace Process: “Israeli settlements are illegal and extremism in the West Bank must end. There is no justification for the actions committed on October 7 and the indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel is unacceptable. Houthi attacks threaten the safety of navigation in the Red Sea.” “Hate speech must be fought and those responsible for promoting extremism must be held accountable. We must work seriously on the two-state solution as it is considered the best solution to the conflict in the Middle East.” The Coordinator complained that humanitarian aid in Gaza is insufficient.
According to the Israeli army, 31 soldiers have been injured or killed in clashes in the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours. “The tunnel we discovered in northern Gaza is 50 meters deep underground and is wide enough to fit a large vehicle in,” the Israeli army said.
Tunnel warfare expert Daphne Barak said, “The northern Gaza tunnel is very similar to the tunnels dug by North Korea into its southern neighbor. I see something of a much higher level of sophistication and, as you described, much larger and more solid and not just dug by hand but actually using sophisticated civilian equipment.”
According to the Financial Times, quoting an Israeli official: “The price Israel must pay for Hamas soldiers hostages is a crucial issue.” The Israeli President made it known that: “We are ready for another humanitarian truce to allow the release of the kidnapped people.”
Meanwhile, ships that will be part of the Task Force against Houthi attacks are starting to arrive in the waters of the Red Sea. “The U.S. Navy carrier strike group, led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, is approaching Yemen. There appear to be 43 warships in the region.”
Pentagon chief L. Austin announced on December 19, as planned, the creation of an international mission, mainly with the participation of NATO allies, to protect merchant ships from Eastern Europe through the Red Sea from bombing.
“Today I am announcing the launch of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a major new multinational security initiative,” announced the US Secretary of Defense. In addition to the United States, the mission will include Great Britain, Canada, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Bahrain. The true current number of participants in the mission is even higher, but some countries do not want to talk publicly about their participation.
The mission will be coordinated by the already existing Combined Task Force 153, created to maintain maritime security in this region in April 2022. There are only 39 states.
It should be remembered that among all the recent attempts by the Yemeni Ansarallah movement to attack ships in the Red Sea, the raid on the container ship Palatium III, owned by the Swiss company MSC, has a peculiarity: it is the first to occur with an Iranian ballistic missile. This marks the first recorded case in modern history of a successful attack with this type of weapon on a moving ship in real combat conditions.
And now a look at the area of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict updated at 5pm on December 19th.
The Israeli Channel 12, quoting Defense Minister Yoav Galant, writes: “The military operation will expand to include other areas of the Gaza Strip.”
In the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli troops are systematically advancing: Al-Auda hospital has been surrounded, IDF forces have started combing. At the same time, fighting occurred in the vicinity of the Shadiya Abu Ghazala school. On December 19, Israeli air attacks were recorded on the eastern areas of the Jabalia camp, in the north of the Gaza Strip, coinciding with a fierce battle waged by the resistance against the occupation army. At 7pm news arrives that the Israeli army claims to now have full operational control of the Jabalia camp.
Yesterday the same was announced regarding Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza, where the army will hand over responsibility to the Gaza Division.
This reportedly indicates the firm grip and employment of the sector.
In the coastal area the Israelis managed to reach the Arafat school complex in the Ar-Rimal area. The parties also continue to fight for control of Al-Yarmouk Street, with the most intense clashes occurring in the area of the local stadium and Al-Qattan training centre.
In the south of the enclave, the IDF is trying to advance towards a section of the Salah ed-Din highway in Deir al-Balah province for subsequent encirclement of nearby settlements. In Khan Yunis the front line does not change much: the Israelis fight in densely populated urban areas and are still far from occupying the city center.
On Israel’s northern border, Hezbollah fighters again attacked Israeli positions, while the IDF shelled populated areas in southern Lebanon. Aita al-Shaab was also under fire, where the funeral of one of the members of the Lebanese group was taking place.
On December 19, the al Qassam bombed “Greater Tel Aviv” by the Al-Brigades with a volley of missiles. According to Al Jazeera correspondent Elias Karam: “on the 74th day of the war, it is as if we were on the first day of the war, the missile attack that hit Tel Aviv was very large and hit many large cities, as if we were at the beginning of the battle that brought more than 5 million Israelis into shelters.”
At least three raids were recorded against southern Lebanon coming from northern Israel.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
