Day 72 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Sunday, Dec. 17

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hinted at resumed Israel-Hamas talks as Gaza faces a hunger crisis.

Rina Bassist, Ezgi Akin, Beatrice Farhat, Elizabeth Hagedorn, Adam Lucente, Jack Dutton, Jared Szuba and Al-Monitor’s contributors on the ground in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel contributed to this blog.

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Live updates (all times EDT):

Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023

11:40 pm: Four Israeli soldiers killed overnight in Gaza

The IDF said that four soldiers were killed in Gaza overnight Sunday, bringing the toll of slain troops in the ground offensive against Hamas to 126, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said. Hagari also said that the military attacked over 150 targets across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours.

4:30 pm: Israel opens aid crossing for first time since war began

Israel opened the Kerem Shalom crossing with the Gaza Strip on Sunday for aid deliveries for the first time since Oct. 7 as the enclave faces severe shortages of food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies.

Since Hamas’ attack on southern Israel Oct. 7, all humanitarian aid has passed through the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which can handle only 100 trucks a day.

Israeli officials said the opening of Kerem Shalom will double the amount of food and medicine reaching Gaza.

2:00 pm: Israeli military exposes 2.5-mile long Hamas tunnel

The IDF announced Sunday that it had uncovered the largest-ever tunnel built by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The tunnel is roughly 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) in length and reaches 50 meters underground, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said, adding that it runs under northern Gaza at the Jabalia refugee camp, a longtime Hamas stronghold. Hagari showed a video of Mohammed Sinwar, brother of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and an operative in the group, traveling in a vehicle through the tunnel.

11:30 am: Israeli army reports striking targets in southern Lebanon

Israeli forces struck several positions along its northern border with Lebanon in a bid to prevent anti-tank missile attacks on Israeli territory, a spokesman said.

5:35 am: Gazans rush aid trucks at border crossing as hunger plagues Gaza

A group of people rushed an aid truck arriving in Gaza at the Rafah crossing and began taking supplies from the moving truck, footage broadcast Sunday on Al Jazeera shows.

The crossing, which connects the Gaza Strip with Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, has seen limited aid deliveries as the humanitarian crisis in the enclave grows more dire.

On Thursday, a top World Food Programme official warned that around half of all Gazans “are starving.”

“When it comes to the food security situation, we managed to do during the seven-day pause a survey, and what we found there was that half of the population are starving,” Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau told reporters.

5:00 am: Erdogan walks tightrope between West, Hamas

Despite his high-pitched criticism of Israel, Erdogan is expected to tread cautiously on ties with Hamas, unwilling to add further strain on Turkey’s relations with the West and jeopardize trade with Israel. Fehim Tastekin reports.

3:05 am: Relatives of Israeli Bedouins kidnapped by Hamas plead for France’s help

Relatives of Israeli Bedouins kidnapped by Hamas Oct. 7 are hoping to raise international awareness of their plight.

Several members of the Bedouin community living in the south of Israel, all relatives of Bedouin Israelis held in the Gaza Strip, traveled to Paris for three days to meet with decision-makers and push for their release. Rina Bassist reports.

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