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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Monday, December 18, 2023

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US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (left) meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on December 18, 2023. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Live updates (closed)

Dec. 18: US defense chief tells Israel to plan for ‘transitioning to next phase’ of Gaza war

By Ricky Ben-David and ToI Staff

Austin says he’s not dictating timelines * US-led coalition to counter Houthis * IDF shells Syrian Army outpost after rocket fire * 7 soldiers killed in Gaza; ground op toll at 129

10:18 pm

US defense chief urges Israel to plan for 'transitioning to next phase' of Gaza war
9:44 pm

US announces new international mission to counter Houthi attacks on ships in Red Sea
9:35 pm

San Francisco begins charging protesters who blocked Bay Bridge while demanding Gaza ceasefire

Mossad chief meets Qatari PM, CIA director in Warsaw for hostage talks

Renewed Israeli interest in 2nd deal comes after three hostages were mistakenly killed by IDF in Gaza; sources familiar with negotiations warn of ‘long, complicated’ process ahead

File: Mossad chief David Barnea speaks during the opening ceremony of the Eli Cohen Museum in Herzliya, December 12, 2022. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

A neon sign reading 'Bring them home,' referring to the Israeli hostages held by terrorists in Gaza since the October 7 Hamas onslaught, is displayed atop the Charles Bronfman Auditorium (Heichal HaTarbut) at HaBima Square in Tel Aviv on December 9, 2023. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)

Israel may let Hamas choose next hostages to be freed in talks on new truce – report

Demonstrators lift Hamas flags during a rally after the Friday prayer in Hebron in the West Bank on December 15, 2023, protesting Israel's ongoing war against the Gaza-ruling Hamas terror group. (Photo by HAZEM BADER / AFP)

‘Financially solid’: Despite war with Israel, Hamas’s funding remains resilient

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Israeli soldiers are seen in a tunnel that the military says Hamas terrorists used to attack the Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip, December 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

ToI podcast

Daily Briefing Dec 18: Day 73 – Massive tunnel uncovered as others flushed with seawater

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian on lessons learned from the accidental killing of 3 hostages in Gaza, a new international alliance against Houthis, and escalations in the north

Donation request

Support a grassroots Israeli aid group

The Shiloni Project, started by moms, is a grassroots volunteer group that supports IDF units and individuals displaced from their homes and currently residing in hotels in the Jerusalem and Tel Aviv areas. Learn more >

Relatives and friends, including mother Dikla (C-R) and father Avi (C-L), mourn as they gather for the funeral of Alon Shamriz, mistakenly killed by Israeli forces in Gaza on December 15 after being held by Hamas since October 7, in Kibbutz Shefayim near Tel Aviv on December 17, 2023. (Oren ZIV / AFP)

'IDF abandoned my son on Oct 7, and murdered him on Dec 14'

Slain hostage’s dad says IDF murdered him, calls for recognizing him as fallen soldier

Father of Alon Shamriz, 26, says lawlessness led to soldiers mistakenly shooting him in Gaza, mourns what would have been a ‘day of celebration’ had troops saved him

This photo released by the Israel Defense Forces on December 17, 2023, shows a sign reading "Help, 3 hostages," that was put up in Gaza by three Israeli hostages who were later mistakenly killed by troops. (Israel Defense Forces)

Halevi to troops, after 3 hostages killed: IDF doesn’t shoot people waving white flag

By Emanuel Fabian

Relatives and friends mourn as they gather for the funeral of Alon Shamriz, an Israeli hostage who was mistakenly killed by the IDF in Gaza, in Kibbutz Shefayim on December 17, 2023. (Oren ZIV / AFP)

Family mourns hostage Alon Shamriz killed by IDF in error, blames government for death

People wait at a gas station in Tehran on December 18, 2023, as fuel distribution across 70 percent of Iran's gas stations was disrupted due to a 'possible sabotage, state media reported. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Israel-linked group claims cyberattack that shut down 70% of Iran’s gas stations

By ToI Staff and Agencies

Tehran cites ‘software problem’ as cause for shutdown; group known as Gonjeshke Darande takes responsibility, says attack is response to Iranian aggression

Gaza war claims lives of five soldiers amid battles for Hamas strongholds

By Emanuel Fabian, Joshua Davidovich, ToI Staff and Agencies

Some $1.36 million in cash found in suitcases at home of Hamas official in northern Gaza; number of airstrikes falls; Pentagon chief visits to press for narrowing offensive

L-R: Sgt. First Class Urija Bayer, Sgt. First Class Liav Aloush, Master Sgt. (res.) Etan Naeh, Master Sgt. (res.) Tal Filiba, Sgt. First Class (res.) Lidor Yosef Karavani who were killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip on December 17, 2023 (courtesy)

Nahida Khalil Anton (left), and her daughter, Samar (via X)

IDF refutes claim it targeted sole Catholic church in Gaza after 2 women said killed

By ToI Staff and AFP

Shayna Goldberg

Finding strength in the strength of others

On the home front, it feels like we are trudging along, absorbing painful and devastating news one day after another

Displaced Gazans could be in a far safer area – why aren’t they?

The Al-Mawasi Strip was deemed most suited as a humanitarian zone. Instead, encampments are set up near Hamas installations

Anger is not a strategy

Rallying broad support for the war risks blinding Israelis to Gazans’ humanity and dashing hopes for a post-war peace

Neil Gronowetter

Tax the antisemitism out of US universities

Closing private checkbooks alone isn’t motivation enough to do the right thing and protect Jewish students

Woman injured in West Bank shooting attack; IDF searching for terrorists

By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff

Six-week-old baby in car unharmed, woman in stable condition; husband, reservist soldier on leave, fires back at attacker; separately, Palestinians say four killed by IDF in raid

An Israeli vehicle in which a woman was wounded after coming under fire in a West Bank terror attack on December 18, 2023 (Binyamin council)

First responders at the scene of a stabbing attack at the Rantis checkpoint in the West Bank on December 17, 2023. (Magen David Adom)

IDF reservist stabbed, moderately wounded by Palestinian in West Bank gas station

By Emanuel Fabian

A demolished school in the abandoned Palestinian village of Zanuta. The school was funded in part by the EU, as well as other foreign governments. The demolition of the school comes following threats by local extremists settlers against former residents of the village not to return, December 4, 2023. (Courtesy Southern Mount Hebron Activists group)

EU condemns demolition of West Bank Palestinian school funded by European bloc

By Jeremy Sharon

Yarden Roman-Gat in an interview with Leslie Stahl on '60 Minutes,' December 17, 2023. (Screen capture: '60 Minutes,' CBS. Used in accordance with clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Freed hostage tells CBS: ‘You can’t object to anything. It could cost you your life’

Yarden Roman-Gat says fear of sexual assault hung over her constantly during her 54 days in captivity. Now she is fighting for the freedom of her sister-in-law Carmel Gat

Houthi attacks on Israel-linked ships in Red Sea to raise prices of Far East imports

By Sharon Wrobel

Due to threat, global freight giants have halted Red Sea routes, diverting ships on longer, costlier voyage; shift set to impact Israel’s trade with Asia, as well as global trade

Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen publish a video showing how the group hijacked an Israeli-linked shipping vessel in the Red Sea on November 20, 2023. (Screen capture/X)

The USS Carney in the Mediterranean Sea, on November 12, 2018. (Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Ryan U. Kledzik/ US Navy via AP)

Oil giant BP joins mass exodus from Red Sea shipping as chemical tanker targeted

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Gaza aid trucks stolen by gunmen and looted, as convoys start crossing from Israel

By ToI Staff and Agencies

Videos appear to show trucks carrying crucial supplies seized by Hamas, fallen goods taken by civilians; Red Cross official says 79 trucks entered Sunday via Kerem Shalom crossing

Armed, masked men reportedly affiliated with Hamas can be seen atop trucks carrying humanitarian aid that arrived in the Gaza Strip via Egypt's Rafah crossing, December 17, 2023. (Screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Workers and staff unload medical aid delivered by the International Committee of the Red Cross at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, on December 9, 2023, amid continuing battles between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Human Rights Watch claims Israel starving Gaza civilians ‘as a method of warfare’

Illustrative: Laboratory mice. (toeytoey2530/Istock via Getty Images)

New Israeli study investigates childhood trauma and its prospects for reversal

By Renee Ghert-Zand

As concern mounts for the psychological health of young victims of the war and terror, Weizmann Institute researchers look at why some people are prone to triggering later in life

A picture taken from the outskirts of south Lebanon's village of Aitaroun shows smoke billowing after a raid carried out by Israeli warplanes on December 17, 2023. (Photo by AFP)

IDF jets hit south Lebanon; video seems to show strike near Hezbollah funeral

By Emanuel Fabian, ToI Staff and AFP

Rocket, drone warning sirens sound in northern towns, army responds to sources of fire; IAF says it’s identified and thwarted over 100 aerial threats since October 7

File: Smoke billows above buildings after an Israeli strike on the outskirts of Damascus on November 22, 2023. (AFP)

Syria says two soldiers hurt, ‘material losses’ caused by alleged Israeli airstrike

By Emanuel Fabian and Agencies

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (center) speaks to reservist soldiers on the Lebanon border, December 17, 2023. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Gallant warns Hezbollah amid frequent attacks from Lebanon, IDF retaliatory strikes

By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff

Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the PLO Hussein al-Sheikh at a meeting in Amman, Jordan, November 4, 2023. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool photo via AP)

Senior PA official: Hamas must ‘reconsider all its policies and methods’ after war

By ToI Staff and Jacob Magid

Hussein al-Sheikh, seen as potential successor to Mahmoud Abbas, says ‘after all this [killing],’ there must be a ‘serious, honest and responsible assessment’ of Palestinian cause

Member of a bipartisan group of US senators Lindsey Graham looks on during a press conference in Tel Aviv on October 22, 2023. (GIL COHEN MAGEN / AFP)

GOP senator: Israel must accept two-state solution to normalize ties with Saudis

Illustrative: A strawberry farm near the city of Netanya, on February 20, 2022. (Yossi Zeliger/Flash90)

Volunteers help Arab Israeli farmers suffering from labor shortage amid war in Gaza

By AFP and ToI Staff

Jews and Arabs from Haifa head to Baqa al-Gharbiya to aid agriculture workers as Palestinian West Bank workers barred from entering Israel, Thai laborers have fled country

Pita Grill, on Manhattan's Upper East Side, was attacked in late November 2023. Police do not believe it was a hate crime. (Twitter/X via JTA)

'We don't know people's motives, but we're all on edge'

Hate, or just a crime? Either way, US Jewish restaurants find support after vandalism

By Jackie Hajdenberg

Antisemitism in the US and worldwide has skyrocketed since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre of 1,200 in Israel – and eateries supporting Israel or run by Jews have not been spared the brunt

More Headlines

A choir director works with singers from the the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the soloists of the Komische Oper Berlin during an acappella demo concert in Berlin, Germany on October 24, 2020 (STEFANIE LOOS / AFP)

Citing Gaza war, prominent German choir drops Handel’s 1739 ‘Israel in Egypt’ song

By Canaan Lidor

A woman walks past a menorah standing outside a Jewish synagogue ahead of the start of Hanukkah, in Miami Beach, Florida, December 1, 2023. (Rebecca Blackwell/AP)

Hundreds of US synagogues receive bomb threats as spree continues despite arrests

By PHILISSA CRAMER

L-R: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, President Isaac Herzog, Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as a ceremony marking the start of Yaron's second term, in Jerusalem, December 18, 2023. (GPO)

Central bank head urges lawmakers to avoid non-war spending with defense costs growing

By Sharon Wrobel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Kirya military HQ in Tel Aviv on December 17, 2023. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Unsatisfied with ‘Swords of Iron’ as name of Gaza war, Netanyahu floats alternatives

Surfers at the sea in Jaffa on sunset, on November 21, 2023. (Jamal Awad/ Flash90)

Yoga, surfing and fishing: Signs of normalcy on Tel Aviv beaches amid war with Hamas

By AFP and ToI Staff

A prison guard stands at Gilboa prison in northern Israel, on September 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

Jails running out of room due to war, prison service warns

Students walk through Harvard Yard, April 27, 2022, on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

Harvard early admission applications drop 17% compared to last year

Nice's Algerian defender Youcef Atal, center fights for the ball with Lorient's Tunisian defender Montassar Talbi, right, during the French L1 football match between FC Lorient and OGC Nice at the Stade du Moustoir in Lorient, western France, on October 30, 2022. (JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER / AFP)

Algerian soccer player facing jail time in France after sharing antisemitic clip

By AFP

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