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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 434

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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Friday, December 15, 2023

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Families of hostages held captive by Hamas terrorists in Gaza march near the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv on December 15, 2023, calling on the government to negotiate an immediate hostage release deal, after the IDF mistakenly shot and killed 3 Israeli hostages in northern Gaza earlier in the day. (Chen Leopold)

Live updates (closed)

Dec. 15: IDF kills 3 hostages in error; Mossad head said in Europe in hostage deal bid

Troops mistakenly kill hostages Yotam Haim, Samar Talalka and Alon Shamriz after misidentifying them as terrorists * PM: Unbearable tragedy * IDF says it bears responsibility

10:35 pm

White House offers condolences after Al Jazeera says journalist killed in Israeli strike
9:35 pm

Hundreds march in flash protest in Tel Aviv calling for gov't initiative for hostages' release
9:21 pm

ICRC chief reportedly refused to take photo with hostages' families during Tel Aviv meeting

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greets US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Tel Aviv, December 14, 2023. (Amos Ben Gershon/GPO)

Some Biden aides pushing for end of current phase this year

White House ups pressure on Israel to end ‘high-intensity’ fighting in Gaza soon

By Jacob Magid and ToI Staff

Officials say visiting Sullivan urged Israeli leaders to scale down military ops Hamas in coming weeks; Biden tells Israel: Go after Hamas but ‘be more careful’ with Gaza civilians

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (right) meets with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Tel Aviv, December 14, 2023. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Gallant warns US war against Hamas will take ‘more than several months’

By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff

Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu attends the funeral of Israeli soldier Moshe Yedidia Leiter, at Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem on November 12, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Far-right minister calls for Israel to ‘fully occupy’ Gaza, reestablish settlements

Yahya Sinwar, Hamas's Gaza chief, speaks during a meeting in Gaza City, on April 30, 2022. (Mahmud Hamas/AFP)

Hamas chief Sinwar’s ‘days are numbered,’ senior US official warns

By Jacob Magid and ToI Staff

Biden administration official says terror group’s Gaza leader has the blood of 38 Americans killed on October 7 ‘on his hands’

A leaflet apparently airdropped by the IDF in Gaza offers monetary rewards for information on Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, his brother Muhammed, Rafaa Salameh and Muhammad Deif, December 14, 2024. (Screenshot from X used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Israel said to place $400,000 bounty on Hamas leader Sinwar

By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff

IDF intelligence chief says war still 'has months to go'

Bodies of 3 hostages recovered by IDF, as three more soldiers killed in Gaza

By Emanuel Fabian, ToI Staff and Agencies

The Israel Defense Forces announced on Friday that troops operating in Gaza had recovered the bodies of two soldiers and one civilian hostage who were taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7. The military also announced the deaths of three more soldiers as heavy fighting continued... Continue Reading

Left to right: Elia Toledano, Cpl. Nik Beizer, Sgt. Ron Sherman, taken hostage by Hamas on October 7. Their bodies were recovered by the IDF and returned to Israel on December 15, 2023. (Courtesy)

A Hamas tunnel discovered by IDF troops in northern Gaza's Salatin, close to Jabaliya, December 7, 2023. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)

IDF trial of flooding Hamas tunnels with seawater proves successful, ToI told

By Emanuel Fabian

Aviv Asher, 2.5 years old, her sister Raz Asher, 4.5 years old, and mother Doron, return to Israel from captivity in Gaza on Friday, Nov. 24, 2023. (IDF via AP)

Freed from Gaza, mom kidnapped with daughters is ‘still sleeping with one eye open’

Accounts from former hostages paint a picture of injuries, food deprivation, skin branding for children and the joy and relief of returning home: ‘I didn’t know if I would survive’

Inside story

Israel urging US not to talk publicly about two-state solution — officials

WASHINGTON -- Israeli leaders have been privately urging the Biden administration to refrain from publicly talking about the two-state solution in the fallout of Hamas's October 7 terror onslaught, four Israeli and US officials told The Times of Israel this week. The message is not just being voiced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose resonance... Continue Reading

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, second right, confers with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, right, during their meeting with US President Joe Biden, left, to discuss the war between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv on October 18, 2023. (Miriam Alster/Pool Photo via AP)

President Isaac Herzog speaks during an interview at his official residence in Jerusalem, December 14, 2023. (AP/Maya Alleruzzo)

‘My nation is in trauma’: Herzog says now not the time to discuss 2-state solution

By AP and ToI Staff

Pulling tomatoes off the vine to the sound of artillery fire

We 15 volunteers needed to fill 80 pallets of 6 two-liter tubs each, if we wanted to help keep the farm on its feet

Sarah Bernstein

The shared pain of ordinary people caught in the crossfire

Compassion is not a zero-sum game; rather, we should feel empathy for those suffering, regardless of our politics or allegiances

Rachel Sharansky Danziger

Seeds and dreams

When I experience the tiny joys of daily life, I remind myself to be like Joseph and store them for the hard times to come (Miketz)

Steven Zvi Gleiberman

If I don’t know Hebrew, how can I be in the Israeli army?

My commander asked this excellent question when I didn’t understand him at the shooting range. I’m glad I have a good answer

Sullivan says Palestinian Authority must be ‘revamped’ before it can govern Gaza

By ToI Staff, Jacob Magid and Agencies

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan reiterated the US's stance that the Palestinian Authority should be responsible for governing Gaza at the end of Israel's war with Hamas, but acknowledged that it would need to undergo significant changes to be fit to do so. Sullivan, who is currently... Continue Reading

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan meets with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on December 15, 2023. (Wafa)

Visiting ICRC head tells PM public pressure won’t sway Hamas to allow hostage visits

By Renee Ghert-Zand and ToI Staff

Visiting International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that public pressure will not work on Hamas, rejecting the notion in Jerusalem that her agency isn't doing enough to secure visits to the remaining 135 hostages in... Continue Reading

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greets visiting International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger in Israel on December 14, 2023. (Amos Ben Gershon/GPO)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during an interview at the United Nations headquarters ahead of the COP28 meeting in New York, November 29, 2023. (Andrea RENAULT / AFP)

Families of hostages meet with UN chief, accuse him of not doing enough to free them

Families of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza protest outside a Tel Aviv meeting of Red Cross International President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger on December 14, 2023 (Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

ToI podcastDaily Briefing Dec. 15: Day 70 – Red Cross visits, with no real response for hostages

Minister Benny Gantz attends a press conference at the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv, November 22, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Gantz swipes at Netanyahu, criticizes those creating ‘manufactured disputes’ with US

By Jacob Magid and ToI Staff

Looking to Gaza’s future, National Unity Party leader stresses Israel’s willingness to work with US and moderate Arab nations to build Gaza anew after Hamas rule is toppled

Illustrative: Prof. Amichai Cohen at a ToI Live event in Jerusalem's Israel Democracy Institute, December 15, 2022. (Oded Antman/IDI)

ToI podcast

What Matters Now to Prof. Amichai Cohen: Is the IDF acting legally in Gaza?

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

Questions answered include how Israel derives its legal legitimacy for self-defense and how, postwar, to try Hamas for international crimes against humanity

Participants hold up signs at the March for Israel rally organized by the Jewish Federations of North America on November 14, 2023, on the National Mall in Washington. (Daryl Perry)

American Jewry raised $1 billion for Israel in first month of war, scholars say

By Canaan Lidor

The Jewish Federations of North America is responsible for $602 million and the rest came from various groups and friendship associations, the Ruderman Program researchers estimate

Moshe Turk of the Chabad Jewish Center of Oakland looks at a damaged menorah at the Lake Merritt Amphitheater in Oakland, California, December 13, 2023. (Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images via JTA)

'We have crime, but this hit a new level of antisemitism'

Menorahs across the US vandalized as Jews celebrate Hanukkah amid antisemitism spike

By jacob gurvis

The damage comes as Jewish communities are on high alert due to rise in hate crimes around the globe after the Hamas Oct. 7 atrocities sparked the ongoing war in Gaza

Members of parliament, President Andrzej Duda, second right, and members of the Polish Jewish community for candle lighting on the last night of Hanukkah in the Warsaw parliament, Poland, on Thursday December 14, 2023. (AP/Czarek Sokolowski)

Polish leaders mark Hanukkah in parliament after far-right MP targeted earlier effort

By AP and ToI Staff

Top politicians join Poland’s Jewish community for candle lighting after extremist lawmaker put out menorah candles with fire extinguisher earlier in the week

Mazi Melesa Pilip, a Nassau County legislator, calls for the prosecution of the alleged assailant in the violent attack on a Jewish New Yorker in 2021, at a press conference, in Mineola, New York, Jan. 29, 2023. (Instagram, File)

GOP picks Ethiopian-born Israeli-American to run for seat of expelled NY Rep. Santos

Nassau County legislator and former IDF paratrooper Mazi Pilip to face off against Democratic former congressman Tom Suozzi in February 13 special election

Illustrative: Ships are seen at Saleef port in the western Red Sea Hodeida province, on May 13, 2019. (AFP)

Missile fired from Yemen strikes cargo ship in Red Sea hours after earlier attack

By Jon Gambrell

MSC Palatium III targeted by Iran-backed Houthis, in apparent attempt to hit the Al Jasrah, which was set on fire by a projectile earlier in the day

More Headlines

Weapons seized by the IDF following a 60-hour operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, December 14, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF pulls out of Jenin after 60 hours, says dozens arrested, bomb labs destroyed

By Emanuel Fabian

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen speaks with the media as she arrives for an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, December 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Danish police nab suspects over alleged Hamas plot against Jewish, Israeli targets

By ToI Staff and Agencies

The outside of Temple Israel in Canton, Ohio. (Google Maps screenshot: used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Ohio police arrest 13-year-old boy for plotting mass shooting at synagogue

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Hasan Bitmez, a Turkish lawmaker from the Islamist Saadet Partisi, speaks at the main chamber of the Turkish parliament in Ankara, December 12, 2023. (Selahattin Sonmez/Dia Images via AP)

Turkish lawmaker dies after collapsing during speech blasting Israel

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Illustrative photo of Israeli high schoolers taking an exam. (Yossi Zeliger/Flash90)

Israeli 10th graders still struggling, but dodge global post-COVID drop-off — study

By Gavriel Fiske

Aviad Frija (left) at a military courtroom, Dec. 5, 2023 (Walla screenshot); Yuval Castleman. (Courtesy)

Parents of reservist who shot dead civilian in terror attack pen apology letter

The national flag of the Peoples Islamic Republic of Iran flies outside its embassy in London, February 20, 2014. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

11 Iranian police killed in jihadist attack, state TV says

By AFP

Castro fashion store in Israel. (Courtesy)

Fashion chain Castro to bring back 90% of staff furloughed due to Hamas war

By Sharon Wrobel

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