Israel-Hamas war: Netanyahu pulls negotiators from Qatar

The United Kingdom announced it will conduct surveillance flights over Israel and Gaza as part of hostage rescue efforts.

The surveillance aircraft "will be unarmed, do not have a combat role, and will be tasked solely to locate hostages," the Ministry of Defense said.

It said only information relevant to hostage rescue will be shared.

It did not give any additional details about the flights. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he does not see a role for the Palestinian Authority (PA) in post-war Gaza.

That is according to Israeli media reports on remarks Netanyahu made at a news conference in Tel Aviv, in which he condemned the PA, which governs parts of the occupied West Bank but not Gaza, which has been under the control of the militant, Islamist Hamas group since 2007. 

Netanyahu said the Palestinian Authority "pays murderers. They educate their children to hate Israel and, to my sorrow, to murder Jews, and ultimately for the disappearance of the State of Israel."

"I'm not prepared to delude myself and say that this defective thing, established under the Oslo Accords in a terrible mistake," should be allowed to govern Gaza, The Times of Israel quoted him as saying. 

"We would be putting the same element — utterly unreformed, utterly unchanged — into Gaza, and that's what even the best of our friends suggest. I think differently. I oppose it," he said. 

Netanyahu said Israel should take charge of Gaza's security and would have to do so for years to come.

Earlier in the day, US Vice President Kamala Harris said, "We want to see a unified Gaza and West Bank under the Palestinian Authority, and Palestinian voices and aspirations must be at the center of this work."

Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party and has ruled the enclave ever since.

Israelis released in the past week by Hamas in Gaza called for the immediate release of the hostages still in captivity.

Yelena Trupanov, 50, joined a rally in Tel Aviv just two days after being freed, telling the crowd:

"I came to thank you because without you, I wouldn't be here. Now we must bring back my [son] Sasha  and everyone. Now."

The Times of Israel newspaper cited another former hostage, Hadas Calderon, who told the thousands of people gathered about the uncertainty and terror of being held hostage, adding that her husband, Ofer, is still in Gaza.

Similar messages from other released hostages were shown on video.

In one, 85-year-old Yaffa Adar called on "the decisionmakers, get the children and everyone out. ... I am a voice for many mothers and grandmothers asking, 'Release the children now.' I want to see them now. Not when I'm in a coffin."

A seven-day truce, during which Hamas had released 110 hostages, ended on Friday. The Israeli military said Saturday that Hamas continues to hold 137 people hostage. 

More than 240 people — Israelis and foreign nationals — were abducted to Gaza on October 7 by Hamas militants who burst through the border with Israel and killed 1,200 people, according to local authorities.

Israel responded with a bombing campaign and ground offensive against Hamas — a group designated as a terrorist organization by the US, the EU and several other governments.

Israel's retaliation has destroyed large areas of Gaza and killed more than 15,000 people, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday urged Israel to protect civilians during its military operation in Gaza, saying it was "a moral responsibility and strategic imperative."

"In this kind of a fight, the center of gravity is the civilian population. If you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat," the former four-star general said.

He was speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California, saying he had "learned a thing or two about urban warfare" while fighting the so-called Islamic State (ISIS).

"Like Hamas, ISIS was deeply embedded in urban areas. And the international coalition against ISIS worked hard to protect civilians and create humanitarian corridors, even during the toughest battles," Austin said.

"The lesson is not that you can win in urban warfare by protecting civilians. The lesson is that you can only win in urban warfare by protecting civilians," he added.

Austin also called the US commitment to Israel's security "ironclad."

French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that the "total destruction" of the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas could take a decade, if it is even possible. 

"The total destruction of Hamas, what is that? Does anyone think that's possible? If that's it, the war will last 10 years," Macron said Saturday at a press conference on the sidelines of the COP28 climate change summit in Dubai.

Macron urged Israel to clarify its war aim.

The French president also criticized the continuation of Israel's bombardment in the Gaza Strip following the end of a weeklong truce.

"The right fight against terrorism is not systematic and permanent bombing," Macron asserted, again calling for an immediate cease-fire.

Israel wants a "security envelope" to prevent Hamas from being positioned on its border after the war in Gaza is over, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday.

"Israel will have to have a security envelope. We can never again allow terrorists to cross the border and butcher our people the way they did on October 7," senior adviser Mark Regev told reporters.

"That is not Israel taking territory from Gaza," he added. "On the contrary, that is creating security zones where you have a special situation on the ground which limits the ability of people to enter Israel to kill our people. It's common sense."

Reuters news agency reported Friday that Israel has told several Arab states that it wants to carve out a buffer zone on the Palestinian side of Gaza's border to prevent future attacks.

The sources told Reuters that Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia had been informed of the plan.

US Vice President Kamala Harris said too many innocent Palestinians had been killed in Gaza as Israeli warplanes and artillery bombarded the enclave on Saturday following the collapse of a truce with Hamas militants.

Speaking at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, Harris said Israel had a right to defend itself, but international and humanitarian law must be respected and "too many innocent Palestinians have been killed."

"Frankly, the scale of civilian suffering and the images and videos coming from Gaza are devastating," Harris told reporters.

She also sketched out a US vision for post-conflict Gaza, saying the international community must support recovery and Palestinian security forces must be strengthened.

"We want to see a unified Gaza and West Bank under the Palestinian Authority, and Palestinian voices and aspirations must be at the center of this work," she said, adding that Hamas must no longer run Gaza.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority governs parts of the occupied West Bank, but Hamas has controlled Gaza since 2007.

In a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi earlier Saturday, Harris said that "under no circumstances" would Washington allow the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, the besieging of Gaza or redrawing of its borders, according to a US summary of her talks.

The prospect of further cease-fires in Gaza appeared bleak on Saturday after Israel recalled its negotiators from Qatar and Hamas' deputy leader said any further exchange of prisoners would only happen after the war ended.

Saleh Arouri told pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera that any remaining hostages are men, "all of whom served in the (Israeli) army," currently or previously.

He said they would not be freed unless there was a truce and all Palestinian detainees were released.

"Let the war take its course. This decision is final. We will not compromise on it," Arouri said.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told reporters that Hamas violated the truce agreement by refusing to return two children and 15 women it is holding.

Israel said Saturday that it has reached a "dead end" in negotiations in Qatar over an end to the fighting in Gaza and has ordered its team to leave the Gulf Arab country.

"Due to the dead end in negotiations, and following instructions from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mossad head David Barnea ordered the negotiating team in Doha to return home," a statement from Netanyahu’s office published by the Times of Israel said.

"The Hamas terror group did not fulfill its obligations under the agreement that included releasing all the women and children that were on the list provided to Hamas that had authorized it," the statement continued.

It added a note of thanks to the CIA, Egypt and Qatar's prime minister for their mediation efforts that led to the release of 110 hostages during the weeklong truce between Israel and Hamas.

Qatar has been mediating efforts to secure a renewed pause in the conflict after the pause in fighting ended on Friday despite a third attempt at an extension.

The new talks focused on the potential release of new categories of Israeli hostages other than women and children and the parameters of a truce, Reuters news agency reported, citing a source briefed on the negotiations.

Israel and Hamas have traded blame over the reasons for the collapse of the truce.

Israel accused Hamas of refusing to release all the women it held. A Palestinian official said the breakdown occurred over female Israeli soldiers.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has urged Arab states to work together constructively for peace between Israel and the Palestinians after fighting resumed in Gaza following a weeklong truce.

"All those who want to end the suffering must work together now," Baerbock told DPA news agency in Berlin. "Because the key to a life in peace and security for the Israelis and Palestinians also lies in the region."

She added that "a close dialogue with the constructive and moderate Arab states in the region was important" to help restart the cease-fire that ended on Friday.

Baerbock stressed the "indispensable role" that Qatar is playing as a mediator in negotiating humanitarian ceasefires and the release of hostages.

She also spoke about the behind-the-scenes role played by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Bahrain and Morocco.

"In a situation where one more spark is enough to set the entire region on fire, Germany will continue to work intensively with its regional partners to ensure that Hamas no longer has the chance to bring the terror of October 7 upon Israel again and again," Baerbock said.

At least 50 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt on Saturday, in what is believed to be the first aid shipment since a weeklong truce collapsed and fighting resumed. Gaza is currently under a blockade from both Israel and Egypt.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said it received 50 trucks from its Egyptian counterpart via the Rafah border crossing.

"The trucks contain food, water, relief aid, medical supplies and medicines," the Palestinian Red Crescent said on social media.

At least 193 people have been killed in Gaza since the fighting resumed on Friday, according to the Hamas-controlled health authorities in Gaza. This brings the total death toll Gaza since October 7 to 15,207.

Hamas terror attacks on Israel on October 7 triggered the current Israeli military operation in Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has issued what is effectively an evacuation map to the residents of the besieged Gaza Strip, announcing Israel had "resumed strong action against Hamas and other terrorist organizations" in Gaza.

The IDF called on residents in the north to "immediately" evacuate their houses and move to shelters and schools in the west.

IDF Arabic Spokesman Avichay Adraee listed certain areas whose residents needed to evacuate, including Jabaliya, Shijaiyah, Zeitoun and Gaza's Old City. 

He singled out six buildings in Jabalia, listing them by name and asking their residents to evacuate.

Gaza City residents were asked to move westward and to other neighborhoods.

Before a one-week truce paused fighting in Gaza, the IDF had continuously called on Gaza's citizens to move southward. 

Israel struck a total of over 400 "terrorist targets" in Gaza since the collapse of the truce with Hamas, the Israel Defense Forces said on social media platform X.

In its operational updates, the IDF said it struck over 50 targets in the area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Fighter jets "struck an Islamic Jihad’s operational command center inside a mosque," it added.

The Israeli Navy attacked military targets used by Hamas Naval Forces, the update said.

The truce between Israel and militant Islamist Hamas ended without an extension on Friday, leading to renewed fighting. Israel and Hamas have traded blame over who is responsible for the collapse of the truce. 

Israel began its military operation against Hamas in Gaza following terror attacks by Hamas on October 7. The terror attacks led to around 1,200 people in Israel being killed by Hamas.

Syria's Defense Ministry and state media reported overnight Israeli airstrikes near Damascus on Saturday, albeit not reporting any casualties or injuries. 

"At approximately 1:35 a.m. today (Friday, 2235 GMT/UTC), the Israeli enemy carried out an air assualt from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights, targeting some points near the city of Damascus," the Syrian Defense Ministry said in a statement. 

The ministry statement followed similar reports on state television. 

Israel has struck government-controlled territory in Syria on a relatively small scale several times since Hamas' October 7 attacks and also on a fairly regular basis since the start of the Syrian civil war back in 2011. 

It's comparatively rare, however, for Israel to comment on the strikes, which often target Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Syria or other similar groups. 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor based in the UK, said the strikes hit in the area of the south Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab, where it said that "there are military forces working with the Lebanese Hezbollah." 

Hamas is a militant, Islamist, Palestinian group. The European Union as well as the United States, Germany and several other countries classify Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Hezbollah is an Iran-backed Shiite political party and militant group in Lebanon. Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several Sunni Arab countries, while the EU lists its armed wing as a terrorist group.

Welcome to our updates on the conflict between Israel and Hamas for Saturday, December 2.

The seven-day truce between Israel and the Palestinian militant Islamist group Hamas, punctuated by daily hostage-prisoner swaps between the two sides, expired without an extension in the early hours of Friday. 

Hostilities resumed almost as soon as the dawn deadline passed. 

Health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza reported at least 178 deaths on Friday as Israel resumed military operations. DW could not verify the figures, which do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but the UN has generally deemed them reliable in the past. 

Aid organizations appealed for a deal to allow trucks carrying supplies to continue entering Gaza, which had been possible during the truce.

Mediators from Qatar said they were still trying to revive the cease-fire as the fighting resumed. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Arab leaders on the sidelines of the UN's COP28 climate conference in Dubai to discuss the future of Gaza. He had been in Israel the previous day. 

mh/sms (AP, AFP, Reuters, DPA)