Attention to the Unseen

The Associated Press reports: The Israeli military campaign in Gaza, experts say, now sits among the deadliest and most destructive in recent history. In just over two months, the offensive has wreaked more destruction than the razing of Syria’s Aleppo between 2012 and 2016, Ukraine’s Mariupol or, proportionally, the Allied bombing of Germany in World War II. It has killed more civilians than the U.S.-led coalition did in its three-year campaign against the Islamic State group. The Israeli military has…

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The Washington Post reports: Weeks before Israel sent troops into al-Shifa Hospital, its spokesman began building a public case. The claims were remarkably specific — that five hospital buildings were directly involved in Hamas activities; that the buildings sat atop underground tunnels that were used by militants to direct rocket attacks and command fighters; and that the tunnels could be accessed from inside hospital wards. The assertions were backed by “concrete evidence,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said as…

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The New York Times reports: During the first six weeks of the war in Gaza, Israel routinely used one of its biggest and most destructive bombs in areas it designated safe for civilians, according to an analysis of visual evidence by The New York Times. The video investigation focuses on the use of 2,000-pound bombs in an area of southern Gaza where Israel had ordered civilians to move for safety. While bombs of that size are used by several Western…

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The Guardian reports: Emmanuel Macron has said that Israel’s goal of fighting terrorism did not mean it had to “flatten Gaza”, referring to its response to Hamas’s attack on 7 October. “We cannot let the idea take root that an efficient fight against terrorism implies to flatten Gaza or attack civilian populations indiscriminately,” Macron told the France 5 broadcaster. The French president called on Israel “to stop this response because it is not appropriate, because all lives are worth the…

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.@chrislhayes: “There is no terrorist attack, no matter how horrific—and truly Oct. 7 was horrific—that can wash clean what we are seeing in Gaza and what we as Americans and our government are abetting. It must end. We must stop it.” pic.twitter.com/2nKYlWoaGl — All In with Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) December 20, 2023

NBC News reports: A number of Democratic lawmakers who served in the military and in the CIA say Israel’s tactics in the Gaza Strip are endangering efforts to defeat Hamas militants and called on President Joe Biden to use “all our leverage” to secure an immediate shift in Israel’s approach. In a letter sent Monday to Biden, the House lawmakers said they were “deeply concerned” by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s current military strategy in Gaza. “The mounting civilian death…

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The New York Times reports: Voters broadly disapprove of the way President Biden is handling the bloody strife between Israelis and Palestinians, a New York Times/Siena College poll has found, with younger Americans far more critical than older voters of both Israel’s conduct and of the administration’s response to the war in Gaza. Voters are also sending decidedly mixed signals about the direction U.S. policy-making should take as the war in Gaza grinds into its third month, with Israelis still…

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The Kyiv Independent reports: “If you want to live, dig.” The words, often spoken by Ukrainian troops, are universal advice for trench warfare in general, but especially for both sides in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Normally expressed as advice to the individual soldier, the maxim now applies to the country as a whole. Twenty-one months into the full-scale war, World War I-style tactics, with the high-tech edge brought by drones and other innovations, continue to dominate. Russia and Ukraine are…

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  Katie Couric talks with Peter Beinart, editor-at-large at Jewish Currents, about how his views on the Israel Palestine conflict changed after visiting the West Bank and talking with Palestinians. He also shares his ideas for how the conflict could finally end, using South Africa and Northern Ireland as guides.