White House "concerned" by reports Israel military is using white phosphorus The White House says it is “concerned” over new reports that Israel used US-supplied white phosphorus in a bombing attack in Lebanon that injured civilians and burned down houses. John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council, has just been briefing reporters aboard Air Force One, and was asked about the allegations. Israel has previously denied it uses white phosphorus, which critics say put civilians at risk of serious and long-term injury, and is banned from use in civilian areas. On at least three occasions, 10, 11 and 16 October, Israel launched attacks in southern Lebanon, with Human Rights Watch posting links to video of “155mm white phosphorus artillery projectiles being used, apparently as smokescreens, marking or signaling”. Kirby said the Biden administration would be raising the new report with Israel’s government: We’ve seen the reports, we’re certainly concerned about that. We’ll be asking questions and trying to learn a little bit more. It’s important to remind that white phosphorus does have a legitimate military utility in terms of illumination and reducing smoke to conceal movements. And obviously any time that we provide items like white phosphorus to another military, it is with full expectation that it’ll be used for legitimate purposes and in keeping with the law of armed conflict. Here are some more images of the Israel-Gaza war, sent to us over the news wires today: EU leaders call for ceasefire discussion at summit Four European leaders, Leo Varadkar of Ireland, Pedro Sanchez of Spain, Robert Abela of Malta and Alexander De Croo of Belgium, have written to EU president Charles Michel calling for a discussion about a Gaza ceasefire at the upcoming union summit, CNN reports. According to the US network, the letter expresses the “alarm” over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza. The four have been among the most vocal of Europe’s leaders in questioning Israel’s military campaign and its effect on the civilian population. “Given the gravity of the situation and the potential of an escalation in the West Bank and regionally, it is imperative for us to hold a serious debate on the war during the upcoming European Council that will take place on December 14 and 15,” the leaders wrote to Michel. Qatar has been talking with Israeli authorities to see if it has any interest in resuming negotiations over a possible new pause in the fighting in Gaza, according to a journalist for Axios who says he has spoken with two sources in Israel who have knowledge. The report directly contradicts the position of diplomats at the annual Doha Forum conference in Qatar, who have said they are not expecting any reopening of Gaza ceasefire talks for some weeks. Axios correspondent Barak Ravid posted a series of messages to his X account on Monday afternoon claiming that he learned from his sources that Qatari mediators “contacted Israel over the weekend”. Israel, he said, expressed a willingness to engage in discussions as long as any agreement included the release of women still being held hostage by Hamas, as well as elderly, sick or wounded men. There is no way to immediately independently verify the claim. The official stance of Qatar, as the Guardian’s Patrick Wintour reports, is that negotiations over any new ceasefire are far off and probably would not happen until Israel can point to the killing or capture of some of Hamas’s key leaders as a sign its military operation has achieved its purpose. Dozens arrested at ceasefire protest in Washington DC Several dozen people were arrested in Washington DC on Monday at a protest calling for the US to push for a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Activists representing the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Jewish Voice for Peace and other groups briefly protested in a Senate office building before police ended the demonstration and took dozens into custody. US Capitol police said they arrested 51 people, Reuters said. One climbed 51ft (15.5 meter) black steel sculpture. Others chanted “ceasefire now” and wore shirts with the slogan “invest in life” as they linked arms. The protestors want Congress to reject a $106bn budget request from Joe Biden, including money for Israel. Sandra Tamari, executive director of the Adalah Justice Project, said: “Funding more death and destruction of human life ... makes no one secure and instead fuels hatred and continued war. “The Senate must heed our urgent demand to stop funding militarism and instead invest in life.” US cautions Israel over white phosphorus A second US official has expressed concern over Israel’s reported use of white phosphorus in military operations in Lebanon, adding that the Biden administration had been forthright over the obligations of international humanitarian law. State department spokesperson Matthew Miller, in a lunchtime briefing to reporters, echoed the position of National Security Council representative John Kirby, who told journalists aboard Air Force One en route to Pennsylvania earlier that the US would be asking questions of Israel to clarify how white phosphorus it supplied had been used. Miller said: Obviously there is a legitimate military use for white phosphorus. But that does not include using them on civilians. It means that if you use them, you have to do everything you can to minimize civilian harm. Anytime that we provide items like white phosphorus, or really anything to another military, we do it with the expectation that it will be used for legitimate purposes, and in full keeping with international humanitarian law and the law of armed conflict. We have been clear in all our conversations with [Israel] that they need to comply. We have been quite clear in that at the highest possible levels of this government. On Monday, the Washington Post reported that Israel had used “US-supplied white phosphorus munitions” in a military operation in southern Lebanon in October. Nine people were reportedly injured in the attack. Israel to open Kerem Shalom crossing on Tuesday to increase aid deliveries Israel is bowing to international pressure to speed up the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza by announcing it will open a new site for the security screening of supplies. A spokesperson for Cogat, the Israeli government department responsible for coordinating activities in the territories, said that the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza will be open for “security screening to increase humanitarian aid for Gaza”. The spokesperson said it would double the amount of aid getting in, although it will not enter Gaza at the crossing. Trucks containing water, food, medical supplies and shelter equipment will be screened there, the spokesperson said, then join other aid screened at the more southerly Nitzana crossing to be transported to the Rafah crossing in and then into Gaza. The Times of Israel reported that Kerem Shalom will open on Tuesday. The newspaper further reported that Israel is blaming the United Nations for the hold up in aid, claiming it wasn’t getting supplies to the region quickly enough. On Sunday, only about 100 trucks carrying aid entered Gaza, dropping to little more than 60 on Monday, UN sources said, well below 20% of the daily total before the 7 October Hamas attack. EU chief: Action needed on West Bank violence Josep Borrell, foreign policy chief of the European Union, has been speaking about a proposal to impose sanctions against Jewish settlers responsible for violence against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. He was speaking to reporters in Brussels after EU foreign ministers debated possible next steps in their response to the crisis sparked by Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel. His plan, backed by France, Germany and Italy, adds sanctions against violent settlers to those on Hamas. Reuters said Borrell did not give specifics, but spoke in general terms about the neet for sanctions: The time has come to move from words to actions... and to start adopting the measures we can take with regard to the acts of violence against the Palestinian population in the West Bank. Daily settler attacks have more than doubled since the Hamas attack and Israel’s assault on Gaza, the United Nations says. Borrell said the ministers had not yet shown the unanimous support that would be necessary to pass sanctions but stressed he had not yet submitted a formal proposal. He said EU officials would draw up a list of people known for attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank and he would then propose they be sanctioned for human rights abuses. More than a dozen members from the group Jewish Elders for Palestinian Freedom have chained themselves to railings at the White House to protest Joe Biden’s request to Congress for funds for Israel. “We are Jewish elders, bubbies, tetas, and grandmothers chaining ourselves to the White House, demanding the US stop funding and arming genocide against Palestinians,” the elders said in a tweet. Demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, the tweet added: “This is not complicated. Never again means never again for anyone”. According to a separate post by Jewish Voice for Peace, the protest involved 18 elders. It comes and was planned to coordinate with the US president’s Hannukah Party at the White House later on Monday. Here’s the latest report from the Guardian’s Julian Borger in Jerusalem on the 66th day of the Israel-Gaza war: Israel has rejected suggestions it is trying to force Palestinians out of Gaza as Arab leaders and aid officials warn its intensifying ground offensive could leave civilians with few other options. Some of the heaviest close-quarters fighting in more than two months of conflict took place over the weekend, as the Israel Defense Forces tried to consolidate control of urban centres in northern Gaza and pursued Hamas leaders in the heart of the biggest city in the south, Khan Younis. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, claimed dozens of Hamas fighters had surrendered, calling it the beginning of the end for the militant group that has controlled Gaza since 2007. Hamas called the claim “false and baseless”. Meanwhile, the group issued fresh demands for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails to be released and threatened the lives of the hostages it holds if they were not. Israel believes Hamas is still holding about 137 hostages, while there are thought to be 7,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, many detained without charge. Family members of the hostages protested at the Knesset on Monday after being refused admission to a meeting the foreign affairs and defence committee held with Netanyahu, where they sought to keep pressure on the prime minister to keep the lives of hostages central to his decisions. Summary of the day so far... It’s 9.30pm on Monday in Tel Aviv and Gaza City. Here’s what we’ve been following today: The White House said it is “concerned” over reports that Israel’s military is using white phosphorus bombs against target in Lebanon. At a morning briefing, John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council, said use of the highly incendiary substance could legally be used for a smokescreen to conceal military operations, but that the US would seek clarification from Israel about how stocks were being used. Israel’s defense minister Yoav Gallant gave a fleeting and noncommittal answer when asked at his Monday briefing about reports the country was using white phosphorus in military attacks. The Israeli Defense Forces operate “according to international law”, he said. Gallant also said Israel had “no intention” of staying permanently in Gaza after the completion of its military campaign to eliminate Hamas. The country was open to discuss alternatives about who will control the territory as long as it is not a group hostile to Israel, he said, and would consider an agreement with Hezbollah in Lebanon if security guarantees were received. The Gaza health ministry updated casualties since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on 7 October, stating that 18,205 Palestinians have been killed, and 49,645 injured. The reported death toll has risen by more than 500 in the two days from Saturday, when it stood at 17,700, the ministry said. Italy, France and Germany called on the European Union to impose ad hoc sanctions against Hamas and its supporters. “We express our full support for the … proposal to create an ad hoc sanctions regime against Hamas and its supporters,” they said in a letter to the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell. France is also considering imposing national sanctions on those involved in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, the French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, has said. Fighting continued on the ground in the Gaza Strip, accompanied by repeated aerial bombardments from Israel. Rockets have also been fired into Israel from Gaza, and from anti-Israeli forces in Lebanon. Some of the heaviest close-quarters fighting in more than two months of conflict took place over the weekend, as the Israel Defense Forces tried to consolidate control of urban centres in northern Gaza and pursued Hamas leaders in the heart of the biggest city in the south, Khan Younis. UN security council ambassadors arrived in Egypt to visit the Rafah border crossing. An Egyptian foreign ministry official told the envoys during a briefing: “There is no justification to turning a blind eye to the pain and suffering inflicted on the Palestinian people in Gaza.” Israel told the UN that it “must do better” at delivering aid to people in Gaza. The country said it was willing to double the number of inspections, but that “aid keeps waiting at the entrance of Rafah”. Since 7 October Israel has essentially blockaded Gaza, including at times cutting off telecommunications. The Rafah crossing with Egypt is the only entrance or exit to Gaza that has been open with any regularity, and Israel insists on inspecting all cargo being sent into the territory. Israel’s military said 104 members of its forces have been killed in Gaza since the ground operation began. In addition the IDF said 582 soldiers were injured inside the Gaza Strip. It gives its total casualties since 7 October as 433 soldiers killed, and 1,645 wounded. The mayor of the south Lebanon village of Taybeh, Hussein Mansour, and a family member died when a missile fired by Israel’s military struck his home a few kilometers from the Israel border, a relative and Lebanon’s national news agency told Reuters. The shell did not explode, the relative said, but struck Mansour directly. A French frigate that shot down two drones in the Red Sea on Sunday was acting in self-defence after coming under attack from the unmanned aerial vehicles, France’s foreign ministry in Paris said on Monday. Sweden demanded the immediate release of an EU diplomat who has been held in an Iranian jail for more than 600 days and is facing trial on charges of spying for Israel. More than 200 people blocked entry to the ruling Conservative party’s headquarters in London before delivering an open letter to 10 Downing Street that calls on UK prime minister Rishi Sunak to back a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. White phosphorus: minister says Israel operates "according to international law" The Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant was guarded, and fleeting, when asked at his Monday briefing about reports of Israel using white phosphorus in military attacks. The Israeli Defense Forces operate “according to international law”, he said, before moving on to other topics. White phosphorus is, according to the World Health Organization, a chemical, waxy solid substance that “ignites instantly upon contact with oxygen. It is often used by militaries to illuminate battlefields, generate a smokescreen and as an incendiary”. Once ignited, white phosphorus is very difficult to extinguish. It sticks to surfaces like skin and clothing, and can cause deep and severe burns, penetrating even through bone, the WHO says. Its use is banned in civilian, populated areas, and Israel has denied using stocks of white phosphorus it obtained from the US as a weapon. It can be used legally as a smokescreen on the battlefield. Critics, however, accuse Israel of using white phosphorus bombs in Gaza and Lebanon, causing hospitalization of several civilians with severe burns, and the burning down of numerous properties. Defense minister: Israel has "no intention" of staying in Gaza Israel has “no intention” of staying permanently in Gaza after the completion of its military campaign to eliminate Hamas, and is open to discuss alternatives about who will control the territory as long as it is not a group hostile to Israel, a senior government official said. According to Reuters, defense minister Yoav Gallant also told reporters in Israel on Monday that the country was open to a possible agreement with Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, on condition any agreement included a safe zone along the border and proper security guarantees. Steven Spielberg, director of the multiple Oscar-winning 1993 movie Schindler’s List, has spoken out against the “unspeakable barbarity” of Hamas’s 7 October attacks on Israel. According to Haaretz, the Hollywood veteran made the remarks, his first since the Israel-Gaza war began, in a story featured on the website of the University of California’s Shoah Foundation that he founded. The center is collecting and acquiring testimonies from survivors and witnesses of the Hamas attacks, as it already does from Holocaust survivors. Spielberg said: I never imagined I would see such unspeakable barbarity against Jews in my lifetime. He said the war in Gaza had reopened old wounds for Jewish people, and that testimony from those caught up in it was equally as important as that from the Second World War: Both initiatives – recording interviews with survivors of the October 7 attacks and the ongoing collection of Holocaust testimony – seek to fulfill our promise to survivors: that their stories would be recorded and shared in the effort to preserve history and to work toward a world without antisemitism or hate of any kind. We must remain united and steadfast in these efforts.