The New State of the War in Gaza

from The New York Times I'm Sabrina. tavernes and this is the. [Music]. daily The Accidental killing of three. hostages by Israel's military has. shocked Israelis and is Raising new. questions about the way that Israel is. conducting its war against. Hamas today I spoke with my colleagues. Patrick Kingsley and hias.

about whether Israel's military campaign. is working and the humanitarian crisis. it has left in its. [Music]. [Applause]. [Music]. wake it's Thursday December. [Music]. 21st so Patrick Israel's war against. Hamas is now in its 11th week and and we.

wanted to come to you to really look. closely at this question of what has. Israel achieved so far in this war. Israel of course has pledged to destroy. Hamas how far has it come on that front. and then late last week something. happened that seemed to make that. question even more urgent Israel's. military accidentally killed three. Israeli hostages in Gaza and the. interpretation was that this symbolized. some of the problems with the way Israel. had been conducting the war so let's. start with that.

tell me about that killing and what it. means well according to the military. narrative three hostages who were. captured on October 7th during the Hamas. Le attack on Israel escaped their. captivity and tried to make a break for. Freedom towards the Israeli military. Lines by advancing slowly waving a white. flag having taken off their shirts so. that the Israeli soldiers would see that.

they were not carrying guns or strapped. to any suicide bombs and despite that. Israeli soldiers against the rules of. war and their instructions by the. military fired on the three escaped. hostages killing two one managed to make. it into a building and shouted in Hebrew. he then left the building and was shot. dead upon leaving it.

and in Israel this was seen as a huge. shock and a great. [Music]. tragedy that Israel would kill some of. its own in particular the people that. all Israelis have been rooting for for.

for the past 11. weeks I'm going to say this government. you murdered my son twice you let the. Hamas take my son on October 7th and you. killed my son on December. 14th and it also raised questions about. the Israeli military's conduct in. general and invited accusations that if. this is how they treat Israelis waving a.

white flag how must the Israeli military. outside of the public eye treat. Palestinian civilians in similar. [Music]. situations and how does the government. see that I mean is this incident leading. to any kind of rethinking about how it's. Prosecuting its. War well according to prime minister. Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night.

no he said that it was Israel's military. campaign in Gaza that had succeeded in. releasing 100 or so hostages in previous. rounds of. exchanges and that only further military. action in Gaza would lead to the release.

of more if not all of the Israeli. hostages remaining in Gaza so according. to prime minister. Netanyahu the strategy Remains the Same. and Israel will keep on pressing ahead. with its invasion in Gaza not only to. dismantle Hamas but also to get back its. hostages but two days after Netanyahu. made that speech secretary Austin the. United States and Israel have never been. more determined and theine in our share.

values our share interest and our share. goals his defense minister yab Gallant. stood alongside secret of Defense Austin. and appeared to announce a shift in. strategy soon we will be able to to. distinguish between different areas in. in Gaza in every area where we achieve. our mission we will be able to uh turn. transition gradually to the next phase.

and start working on bringing back local. population that means he said that soon. Israel will transition gradually to. another phase of the fighting and would. even allow parts of the gazen population. to return to their homes Now that. statement from Minister Gallant will. have to be assessed against what Israel. actually does on the ground.

but in terms of rhetoric it marks a. significant shift it's the clearest. indication from an Israeli minister so. far in the war that following weeks of. pressure Israel is preparing to slow. down its military operation in Gaza. which of course would be a huge shift in. strategy and that will be something that. all of us and I'm sure you Patrick will. be watching very closely as the weeks go. on here let's step back for a second and. look look at the broader question what.

has Israel achieved so far. militarily their stated goal is to. destroy Hamas where is Israel in terms. of achieving that goal Israel has made. some Headway they have captured large. parts of Northern Gaza preventing Hamas. from accessing many of its military. installations and rocket launchers in. those areas that they would otherwise be. using to fire on Israel they've also. begun to do the same thing in the.

southern part of the Gaza Strip the. Israeli military has also said that it's. killed several high ranking Hamas. commanders including the commander of. its rocket Division and the commander of. hamas's so-called Naval Commandos all of. which we are told were involved in some. way in the attack on Israel on October. 7th what Israel has not done is establ. Lish control over all of Gaza City which.

was until the invasion at least the main. administrative hub for Hamas in the. territory and which therefore still. retains huge symbolic value and they. have not captured all of Khan Unis the. big city in southern Gaza where we. understand most of the Hamas leadership. has fled. to and they have not killed as they have. threatened to do the top top leadership. of Hamas including y sinoa the head of.

Hamas in Gaza his brother Muhammad. another powerful figure Muhammad Dave. the military commander of Hamas in Gaza. and his Deputy Maan Issa all four of. those men and many other senior leaders. in the Gaza Strip remain at large and. while they remain alive one of the key. goals that Israel's set out remains. unfulfilled but what about the foot. soldiers what about the broader. population of Hamas combatants that is a.

subject of debate Hamas and the gazen. health authorities which are overseen by. Hamas have not released a number for the. number of fighters from Hamas and other. armed groups who have been killed during. this war Israel has it says that 7,000. militants have been killed by the. Israeli Army since October 7th if that. is true it accounts for roughly a. quarter of the estimated.

25,000 Hamas Fighters that were thought. to have been in Gaza at the start of the. war we have no way of verifying the. number we also don't know how much it. overlaps if at all with the roughly. 20,000 gazin who the G and health. Ministry says have died during this. war okay so it looks like the record so. far is pretty mixed in terms of getting. senior leadership of. Hamas what has that meant in terms of of. how Hamas is able to operate it means.

that Hamas can still fire some Rockets. into Israeli airspace still showing that. they retain some military. capabilities over the weekend in. Jerusalem we went to our Bombshells. after a barage was fired into the skies. above Jerusalem which is quite a long. way from Gaza and suggests that Hamas or. its allies still retain some long range. rocket. capabilities and in Gaza itself Hamas.

seem still very able to mount a doggy. defense of its. strongholds every day or even several. times a day Hamas posts video propaganda. videos of what it says are its Fighters. ambushing Israeli tanks and Israeli. troops and there was certainly one. incident in recent days in which Hamas. managed to Ambush nine is. soldiers killing two very senior.

commanders in the field which again just. shows that Hamas remains a potent. military force in Gaza do we know. Patrick on the point of the ambushes. what's the toll that this Urban Warfare. is taking on the IDF the Israeli. military well since the ground Invasion. began in late October more than 120. Israeli soldiers have been killed in. Gaza making it one of the deadliest. military operations for the Israeli Army.

itself in years and what's extraordinary. about that number is that according to. our reporting roughly 20% of the Israeli. soldiers killed in Gaza during this war. were killed by members of their own team. 20% were killed by members of their own. team meaning killed accidentally by. other military personnel by the military. itself right that is a very high number. and very unusual for a modern military. like I'm thinking of the US and Iraq it.

was nowhere near that and seems to kind. of be speaking to something going wrong. on the ground right like extreme chaos. or just things have gotten out of. control that's certainly one. interpretation we understand that the. soldiers have been killed through. variety of accidental gunfire shelling. perhaps even some air strikes a mix of. of causes that nevertheless add up to a. broader picture which is is that a lot. of mistakes are being made by the.

Israeli military I've been talking to. our colleague renan Bergman who. specializes in the Israeli Security. Services his analysis is that a lot of. the troops on the ground in Gaza are. actually reservists so they're not. necessarily up to speed with all the. latest tactics or skills despite several. weeks of intense training at the start. of the war before The Invasion formally. began and now these reservice soldiers. are entering a very complex Battlefield.

with Hamas Fighters popping out of. tunnels and mistakes are therefore. happening at a staggeringly high rate so. Patrick putting all of this together on. the one side we have the Israeli. military which despite making some big. mistakes on the battlefield seems to. have also gained some territory and. taken out at least some keyas Fighters. but on the other side we have Hamas. which is still a force that's able to. Ambush Israeli even in the north and.

fire Rockets into Israel still so I. guess going back to my original question. which was is Israel's military campaign. working it sounds like there's just not. a super clear-cut answer to that that's. exactly it in some senses Israel has had. military success but because Israel set. the bar for its Victory so high at the. start of the war in October. remember they said they wanted to.

dismantle. Hamas that means anything short of that. makes it harder for Israel to declare. Victory if hamas's leaders is still at. large if Hamas still controls part of. the territory if they still have some. rocket launching capabilities as they. clearly do at the moment that then stops. short of the goals that Israel set. itself at the start of its Counterattack. and Hamas will be able to claim that. it is in fact the Victor in this war.

because it is still standing and. Palestinian civilians will be caught in. the middle of this fight for however. long it goes on right the key takeaway. here is the absolutely astronomical loss. of civilian life in Gaza and disruption. to anything like normal living inside. the Gaza Strip the UN says that. 85% of. have been displaced from their homes.

that's approaching 2 million people and. even if the war was to end tomorrow it. isn't clear where many of them would be. able to live and it's unclear where all. these people are supposed to. go to many Israelis this is a painful. but Justified response to a Hamas attack. on October 7th and that they need to go. to these great extents in Gaza in order.

to prevent a repeat in the future but to. Palestinians and to many observers. outside this is an unmitigated disaster. that seems to have no. end Patrick thank you thank you. [Music]. Sabrina.

we'll be right. back Hiba welcome to the show thanks for. having me so Hiba we just talked to our. colleague Patrick Kingsley about where. things stand with Israel's military. campaign and you know this question of. how far Israel has or has not come. toward its goal of eliminating Hamas and. he told me that has led to around 85 5%. of the population of Gaza being.

displaced so I wanted to ask you Hibba. what does that look like in Gaza so. what's been happening over the last two. weeks is that just as a truce between. Israel and Hamas ended the Israeli. military began issuing orders for Gins. in the middle and southern areas of the. strip to evacuate so people started. fleeing to rafah On the Border with. Egypt where hundred of thousands of. others that already fled during the.

beginning of the war and in the nearly. three weeks since more people started. fleeing there ra saw a 400% increase in. its population density according to the. United Nations which also said that it's. now the most densely populated area in. Gaza so huge number of people descending. on this tiny patch of land right and as. the displacement crisis grows conditions. there are becoming increasingly. worse The South was already.

overcrowded and un shelters where most. of the people that have fled to the. South are staying in and our mostly. schools are now operating four times. over their capacity an average of 12,000. people are staying in one un School turn. shelter wow as of now 12,000 people in a. school mhm sharing only a few bathrooms. with no running water or access to. cleaning.

products so shelter has become a really. dire problem in this trip but it's also. not the only dire problem food shortages. are leading people to go hungry the UN. recently found that 50% of displaced. families in Gaza reported having members. who go to sleep hungry at. night and on top of the hunger access to. clean water has been a major issue in.

Gaza people have struggled to find clean. drinking water and have resulted to. drinking salty water sea water water. that hasn't been. filtered and you know speaking to people. over the last few weeks they've told me. that a lot of them have went days with. only drinking one cup of water and now. what we're seeing amid all of these. horrible conditions is that cases of.

infectious diseases are being reported. the World Health Organization said last. week that at least. 369,000 cases of infectious diseases. have been reported in Gaza since the War. Began and all of these numbers are. estimated to be very underreported. because many people who are sick are. unable to reach a hospital or a clinic. to get diagnosed so we don't really know.

the the real number but the more people. are crowded together and sharing. bathrooms and drinking contaminated. water the more we're going to see people. getting. [Music]. [Laughter]. sick and the truth is that I've been. reporting on Gaza since the start of the. fighting and I've spoken to dozens of. people from across the strip. but you know me and other reporters.

we're not there we're not on the ground. I am personally based in Jerusalem and. we're not able to go in and report from. there so we start most of our days you. know my colleagues and I with basically. scrambling to reach anyone on the ground. sometimes we would call people all day. and reach one person some days we would. reach no. one and you know often I would call. someone to ask about something specific. and they would immediately start telling.

me about their desperate situation. without me even asking they would tell. me how they're staying in overcrowded. shelters and they're with people they. don't even know that their kids are sick. that they are you know hungry and. thirsty that they can't even go to the. bathroom and when they do they have to. queue for hours to get in and it's not. even clean so it's been. almost like every story has had those.

themes running through it but one. woman's story really stuck with me and. my colleague Amir harud spoke to her a. week ago over the phone her name. [Music]. is is a 46-year-old mother of. 10 her oldest son is 24 and and her. youngest daughter is.

six and they fled from the North during. the first few weeks of fighting and. after moving around a few times they. ended up all sharing one tent at a un. shelter on the beach in rafah and from. what she was. describing it is a horrible situation. they're sleeping on the. sand that she says was not clean because. people were dumping dirty water there. because the rains were causing the sand.

to become muddy and because there's no. sanitation or sewage systems there's. also no garbage collecting services in. Gaza and what we're seeing is that. garbage is piling up nearly everywhere. and the beach is no. exception and now that it's winter and. the temperatures are dropping you know. it's getting cold and it's a tent it.

doesn't protect them and at one point. during the. interview my colleague Amira asked her. if she feels. safe and she immediately said. no she said that they can hear the sound. of Israeli air strikes above them at. night they're not able to sleep because. of the anxiety and the fear knowing that. bomb are being dropped around them.

and when we asked her what are they. eating she said nothing they don't have. anything to eat and she told us that her. six-year-old was so hungry that she. would always ask for. food she would say mama I want food mama. I want food but she had nothing to give. her she told us that she's been going. around her area knocking on people's.

doors and asking if they could spare. some clean water for her to give to her. children so she's actually begging for. clean water right and what about water. to wash and bathe her children in well. they're. using contaminated water that she told. us smells really bad and they're using. that to drink and to wash. and she was telling us how when she.

washed her hands in this water she felt. dirtier and not cleaner that her hands. smelled worse after she washed. them and the lack of Clean Water meant. that they haven't been able to shower or. clean themselves and she told us that. two of her daughters her youngest have. lice and she can't even brush their hair. or wash it. because she can't afford shampoo so she.

was considering cutting their hair just. to avoid that altogether they've also. got skin rashes and have been itching. uncontrollably but the most striking. fact about this family is that only days. after arriving at this un shelter on the. beach the entire family began feeling. sick she was telling us how all of her. children as well as herself have had a.

high. fever and have been vomiting and having. diarrhea and they haven't been able to. go to a hospital or to see a doctor for. several reasons one being that hospitals. are completely overwhelmed and there. won't be anyone available to help them. there and they're new to the area they. don't know ra so they don't know know. which clinics exist and if they're even.

open or operational and even if they did. find the clinic she told us that they. were too weak to walk there so they have. nothing to do except wait it out so she. hasn't actually had a diagnosis then. because she actually can't get to the. hospital. exactly she was telling us that her. 9-year-old son was having seizures from. what she assumed was the high fever but. she couldn't know for sure and she was.

telling us how her six-year-old daughter. Hala is so weak that she's sleeping all. day she's lying down and she is too. tired to even scratch her own. skin so she's been asking her mom to. scratch it for her and she is now too. weak to ask for. food so she's no longer begging for. food. right she cannot.

[Music]. eat she feels really helpless and there. are not many options for her to help her. kids and she told us that although. they've been there for only a week at. the shelter but it feels like 60 years. for her because every day has. been so difficult on its.

[Music]. own and have you been in touch with Sama. since then no my colleague Amir and I. have been trying to reach her for days. but we don't know what samah and her. family are going through now we don't. know if they've gotten better or if. they've gotten worse we don't know if if.

samah and her children are still. [Music]. alive so Hiba you've watched this change. over the last few weeks in Gaza this. real breakdown in conditions on the. ground what are you going to be watching. for in the next few weeks the next few. weeks in Gaza are probably going to be.

very difficult the World Health. Organization said that they estimate. that more people could die at the end of. all of this from infectious diseases and. hunger than from air strikes and we're. going to start seeing more and more dire. conditions in the South specifically in. Rafa as more people flee there and as. supplies continue to dwindle and. as hospitals continue to go out of.

service so the next couple of weeks in. Gaza are going to be very. [Music]. difficult and I I don't really know what. will happen but I keep thinking back to. all the people I've spoken to over the. last few weeks and what they told me is. that all they want is to be able to.

sleep for a full night. uninterrupted even sleep in their own. beds go back to their homes that they've. left to share a meal with family members. or even see family members that they. haven't been able to see for weeks and. to take a warm. shower just simple daily things that we. take for granted but that feel. impossible for people in. [Music].

Gaza Hiba thank you thank you. [Music]. Sabrina we'll be right. [Music]. back here's what else you should know. today on Wednesday European countries.

struck a major deal to overhaul their. migration system in an effort to address. surging anti-immigrant sentiment that is. fueling the rise of far-right political. parties across the continent the. agreement will make it easier to deport. failed Asylum Seekers and to limit entry. of migrants into the European. Union it seeks to give governments a. greater sense of control over their. borders while bolstering the eu's role. in migration treating it as a European.

issue not just a national. one the agreement has been in the works. for years but negotiators were under. pressure to finalize it ahead of. Elections this summer across the Block's. 27. [Music]. Nations today's episode was produced by. relle Banja Ricky nety Sydney Harper and. Diana win it was edited by Mark George. and Lindsay Garrison with help from Lisa.

Chow fact checked by Susan Lee contains. original music by Dan Powell and Pat. mccusker and was engineered by Chris. Wood our theme music is by Jim brunberg. and Ben Lanser of. wonderly special thanks to Amir. Huda that's it for the daily I'm Sabrina. tavernes see you. [Music].

tomorrow.