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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 430

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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Sunday, December 17, 2023

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A soldier stands at the entrance to a large Hamas tunnel found near the Erez border crossing in the northern Gaza Strip, in a handout image published December 17, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF: Project led by Muhammad Sinwar, brother of Hamas leader

IDF uncovers largest-ever Hamas attack tunnel, near northern Gaza border crossing

By Emanuel Fabian

Massive underground network is 50 meters deep in some places and wide enough for vehicles; footage from Strip shows terror group building passages with tunnel-boring machines

Palestinians at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on December 17, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Israel finds tunnels under vacation homes of Yahya Sinwar, other top Hamas officials

By Emanuel Fabian, ToI Staff and Agencies

This handout photo distributed by the Israel Defense Forces on December 16, 2023, shows Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip amid the war against Hamas. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF says it nabbed some 90 terror operatives at north Gaza hospital, seized weapons

By Emanuel Fabian

This photo released by the Israel Defense Forces on December 17, 2023, shows signs reading 'SOS' and 'Help, 3 hostages,' that were put up in Gaza by three Israeli hostages who were later mistakenly killed by IDF troops. (Israel Defense Forces)

Live updates (closed)

Dec. 17: Israel said to let Hamas pick next hostages to be freed in talks on new ceasefire

Visiting Middle East, Pentagon chief to reportedly declare new maritime protection force for Red Sea after repeated attacks by Iran-backed Houthis * Ground op toll reaches 122

9:35 pm

Father of slain hostage says IDF murdered him; calls for him to be recognized as fallen soldier
9:15 pm

Army says it hit Hezbollah site in Lebanon, cell readying to fire anti-tank missile
9:10 pm

Pentagon chief to reportedly declare new maritime protection force for Red Sea

Reporter's notebook

Partisan divisions resurface at rival rallies for release of Gaza hostages

On a sidewalk opposite the Kirya army base in Tel Aviv, Meirav Leshem Gonen erected a tent together with other relatives of Israelis who are being held hostage in Gaza. “We’re sleeping here tonight and every night going forward until we are no longer ignored,” Leshem Gonen, whose daughter Romi is a hostage, told The... Continue Reading

Eyal Lahiani, right, speaks at a rally in Tel Aviv, Israel on December 16, 2023 with a demonstrator at another rally in favor of a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas. (Canaan Lidor/Times of Israel)

A rally calling for the release of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, December 16, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Families rally for hostage deal, say IDF pressure failed, after mistaken killings

By Canaan Lidor and Agencies

Families of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and supporters attend a rally calling for their return, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, December 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Israel said looking to boost efforts for new hostage deal, but expects hard road ahead

From the blogs

‘Friendly fire,’ that horrific oxymoron

Casualties in these tragic accidents are doubled: those who are killed, and those who must live with their fatal mistakes

This undated photo provided by Rachel Goldberg shows her with her son Hersh Goldberg-Polin. (Courtesy of Rachel Goldberg via AP)

Interview'I know there must be a woman in Gaza who’s just like me'

Facing the unthinkable, Rachel Goldberg is just doing her best to bring her son home

By Deborah Danan

When Hersh Goldberg-Polin was taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, his mother says her heart was torn out and taken away. Now, she sprints through an endless marathon to get him back

Poll: Most young Americans think Israel should be ‘ended and given to Hamas’

Over half of young Americans surveyed on Israel’s conflict with Hamas believe the Jewish state should cease to exist, and instead be replaced by a Palestinian entity, according to an online poll conducted this week. The monthly Harvard CAPS/Harris poll found continuing support for Israel in its campaign against Hamas among every age... Continue Reading

Illustrative: Pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel demonstrators rally near Columbia University in New York on November 15, 2023. (Spencer Platt/ Getty Images via AFP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant during a press conference in Tel Aviv, December 16, 2023. (Noam Revkin Fenton/ Flash90)

Defense chiefs take blame for hostage killings, note complexities of Gaza battlefield

By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff

Halevi, Gallant and Netanyahu reject calls to halt fight for deal freeing remaining hostages, promise changes as some say liberal open-fire policies responsible for tragic outcome

Samar Talalka is laid to rest in southern Israel, on December 16, 2023 after he was accidentally killed by IDF troops in Gaza where he had been held hostage. (Flash90)

Hostage Samar Talalka, mistakenly killed by IDF, buried; no government reps on hand

Inbar Haiman, taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 from the Supernova desert rave. It was announced on December 16 that she was killed by Hamas in Gaza. (Courtesy)

Hostage Inbar Haiman, 27, murdered in Hamas captivity, officials say

Op-ed

‘And suddenly darkness’: IDF’s tragic killing of 3 hostages a new, heartbreaking blow

The Israel Defense Forces knew how dangerous and complex the war against Hamas would be on the terrorist army's home ground in Gaza. And knew nonetheless that it was a war that had to be fought after October 7 -- a war that has yet to be won -- to make sure that Hamas... Continue Reading

Noam Peri, whose father Chaim Peri, 79, is held hostage in Gaza, speaks as the families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza hold a press conference at "Hostages Square," outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, December 16, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Family and friends of Samer Fouad Al-Talalka mourn and bury him in Hura, southern Israel, on December 16, 2023. He was accidentally killed in Gaza on December 15, 2023, by IDF forces after being held captive by Hamas. (Flash90)

ToI podcastDaily Briefing Dec 17: Day 72 – PM vows to press on with war after tragic killings in Gaza

Families and supporters of hostages held by terrorists since the October 7 assault hold a demonstration outside the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on December 15, 2023. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP)

ToI podcastDaily Briefing Dec 16: Day 71 – Israel reels from accidental killing of 3 hostages in Gaza

That 6-year-old boy kicking and screaming

’How do we talk to children amidst this cavernous loss?’ That’s what the blue-shirted counselors in the evacuees hotel ask me

Deterring the Houthis requires more than a textbook response

The Houthis want to be players on the world stage, so threats to their global good name may push them to reduce the threat they’ve become

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, December 16, 2023. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

'I’m proud I prevented establishment of a Palestinian state'

Pointing to Hamas’s ‘little state,’ Netanyahu touts his role blocking 2-state solution

By Jeremy Sharon and ToI Staff

Prime minister reiterates rejection of PA taking control of Gaza after war, hinting that US plan is an ‘illusion’ and claiming he may be able to bring Washington around

File: Smoke rises during an Israeli military raid in Tulkarem, in the West Bank, December 17, 2023. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

IDF: At least 4 gunmen killed in drone strikes during arrest raid near Tulkarem

By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff

File: Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Church in the Holy land Pierbattista Pizzaballa, leads a mass to Gaza Strip Palestinian Christian worshipers in the Roman Catholic Holy Family Church during the start of the Christmas holiday, in Gaza City, on December 19, 2021. (Atia Mohammed/Flash90)

Christian mother, daughter killed while sheltering in Gaza church, patriarch says

Sole Catholic church in Gaza claims pair killed by IDF sniper fire, generators and water source struck by tank; British MP says her family sheltering in church ‘days away from dying’

This picture taken early on December 16, 2023 shows a view of tents of Palestinians displaced by the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. (Mahmud Hams/AFP)

Communications blackout, rising hunger compound suffering in Gaza on 11th week of war

By Agencies and ToI Staff

People walk in Manger Square, adjacent to the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, December 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Bethlehem plans muted Christmas festivities under shadow of Israel-Hamas war

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Palestinian student supporters of the Hamas terror organization wave the group's flag during a rally at Birzeit University, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, May 19, 2022. (Flash90)

NY Times: Israel uncovered vast Hamas financial network in 2018, took no action

Report says Jerusalem, Washington were presented with evidence of Hamas assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars but chose not to stem the flow

View of structures in the former Jewish settlement of Gush Katif in the southern Gaza Strip on July 27, 2020. (Abed Rahim Khatib/ Flash90)

Majority of Israelis oppose annexation, resettlement of Gaza – poll

By Sam Sokol and JTA

President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal Herzog (right) visit with a wounded soldier and staff at the Loewenstein Rehabilitation Hospital in Ra'anana, November 13, 2023 (Courtesy of Loewenstein Hospital)

2,005 wounded on or since Oct. 7 are permanently disabled

War caught Israeli rehab hospitals unprepared to handle number of wounded

By Renee Ghert-Zand

Crucial aspect of recovery in danger if more beds are not opened and additional staff not hired to heal body and soul: ‘There is no rehabilitation without mental health’

French FM urges ‘immediate and durable’ truce, which Cohen casts as ‘gift for Hamas’

By ToI Staff and Agencies

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna on Sunday pressed for an "immediate and durable" truce in the Gaza war, adding that Paris is "deeply concerned" over the situation in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. "Too many civilians are being killed," Colonna said during remarks in Tel Aviv with her Israeli counterpart, Eli Cohen, as Israel... Continue Reading

Foreign Minister Eli Cohen (R) meets with visiting French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna on December 17, 2023 (Shlomi Amsalem/Foreign Ministry)

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron (3rd left) speaks with German Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock (left) after a group photo as they attend a NATO Foreign Ministers meeting at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, on November 28, 2023. (SAUL LOEB / POOL / AFP)

UK, Germany stress need for ‘sustainable ceasefire’ – soon but not ‘right now’

By Agencies and ToI Staff

More Headlines

Russian American writer Masha Gessen after receiving the Hannah Arendt Prize, in event room F61 in Bremen, Germany, Saturday, December 16, 2023. (Focke Strangmann/dpa via AP)

Jewish author who compared Israel to Nazi Germany receives German literary prize

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza hold a press conference at "Hostages Square," outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, December 16, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Who should be helped first in crisis? Experts say it’s not always women and children

By AP and ToI Staff

Armed Yemeni supporters of the Iran-backed Houthi rebels brandish their weapons at a rally in the capital Sanaa, January 27, 2022. (Mohammed Huwais/AFP)

US, UK forces down 15 drones over Red Sea as Houthis vow to keep up attacks on Israel

By ToI Staff and Agencies

Doron Katz Asher and her two young daughters Raz, 4, and Aviv, 2, are reunited with husband and father Yoni, on November 25, 2023. (Schneider Children's Hospital)

Released hostage says she survived captivity for sake of her daughters held with her

In this photo provided by Manuel Hernandez Lafuente, the CMA CGM Symi is seen at port in Valencia, Spain, Oct. 22, 2023. (Manuel Hernandez Lafuente via AP)

Shipping firms MSC and CMA CGM are latest to suspend passage through Red Sea

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Illustrative: A police car at the scene of a crime. (Israel Police)

Man shot dead in northern town of Ar’ara, in third killing within hours

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