AT WAR: Israeli military commanders say their troops are in house to house gunbattles with Hamas militants as they close in on the center of the southern city of Khan Younis. A military spokesman said the Salah al-Din Road, the main highway that connects Khan Younis to northern Gaza, has become “a battlefield.”

  “Our forces find in nearly every building and house weapons and in many houses terrorists, and engage them in combat,” said Herzi Halevi, chief of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces. “We understand that part of their method is the weapons left in the houses. A terrorist arrives in civilian clothing and conducts combat from there.” 

  Hamas claims to have killed at least 10 Israeli soldiers and destroyed 24 military vehicles while their own hospitals have been flooded with the wounded and dying.

SEXUAL WARFARE: Nearly two months after the horrific Hamas attacks on Israel in which 1,200 people were killed, attention is beginning to focus on how the militants used sexual violence to terrify and humiliate their victims, many of whom were killed when it was over.

  Recent reporting says that some women were raped by as many as 10 men before they were mutilated alive and killed. Reports out of Israel say both men and women were shot in the genitals and women had breasts cut off or shot while alive.

  “Over the past few weeks, survivors and witnesses of the attacks have shared the horrific accounts of unimaginable cruelty,” President Biden told political donors at an event at the Westin hotel in Boston. “Reports of women raped — repeatedly raped — and their bodies being mutilated while still alive — of women corpses being desecrated, Hamas terrorists inflicting as much pain and suffering on women and girls as possible and then murdering them.”

  Hamas denies it, claiming its gunmen would never do such a thing because they were Muslim and rape is forbidden, but the physical evidence is overwhelming and witnesses can back it up.

  An Israeli paramedic testified by video to a United Nations hearing saying “Shooting was targeted at sexual organs. We saw that a lot. They had a thing with sexual organs, both with women and in men.”

  Former Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg asked at the hearing, “Do we believe the Hamas spokesperson who said that rape is forbidden and therefore it couldn’t possibly have happened on October 7th? Or do we believe the women whose bodies tell us how they spent the last minutes of their lives?” 

ORANGE ALERT: Asked twice last night by Fox News host Sean Hannity whether he would abuse his power if he returns to the presidency, Donald Trump dodged.

  “This guy, he says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’” Trump said to the audience, referring to Hannity. “I said, ‘No, no, no — other than Day 1.’ We’re closing the border. And we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.”

  Federal prosecutors have filed with the court their plans to use Trump’s long history of claiming non-existent election fraud, his support of militia groups, and threats against adversaries as supporting evidence in his trial for attempting to overturn the 2020 election.

BLOCKADE LIFTED: Under fire from both parties accusing him of damaging national security and military families, Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville lifted his personal blockade of about 440 military promotions.

  Tuberville has been blocking promotions that must be approved by the Senate as a way to force the Pentagon to abandon policies making it easier for soldiers to obtain promotions. He said he will continue to prevent promotions of the most senior officers.

IT’S POLITICAL: President Biden made an unusual political admission yesterday at a fundraiser in Boston, saying he’s not sure he’d be running for re-election if Donald Trump was not trying to take back the White House. “If Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I’d be running,” he told donors at a private home in Weston, Massachusetts. 

  This comes as polls show that the majority of Democrats would prefer a candidate other than the 81-year-old Biden. Democrats worry about Biden’s age, health, mental acuity and general ability to handle the job until age 86. 

  On the other side, Republican presidential candidates meet tonight for their fourth debate and again, Trump will not be among them. Sharing the stage will be Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, and Vivek Ramaswamy. Haley will be fighting to establish herself as the best alternative to Trump and DeSantis will be attempting to stay politically alive.

THE SPIN RACK: Six people were killed last night in a shooting spree in the San Antonio area. — Floodwaters are rising in the Pacific Northwest as torrents of rain continue to fall. —Speaker Mike Johnson yesterday promised to call a floor vote to authorize a formal impeachment inquiry against President Biden. Mainstream Republicans have been reluctant to move for impeachment because there’s no evidence against Biden to justify it. — Police found the body and identified the man whose Arlington, Virginia house blew up during a standoff with police. The cause of the blast that levelled and burned the house has not been determined. — Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” which she recorded when she was 13 and was released 65 years ago, has gone to No. 1 on the singles chart, for the first time ever.

BELOW THE FOLD: YouTube stunt performer Trevor Jacob, 30, has been sentenced to six months in jail for staging the crash of his single-engine airplane, posting video of it, and claiming it was an accident.

  Of course, there were a few giveaways that just maybe it wasn’t an accident. The former Olympic snowboarder had video from inside the cockpit, from the wing, from the plane as it plummeted, and from a selfie stick of himself parachuting to the ground.  

  Jacob said in a statement that “this experience has been so humbling” and described the sentence as the “right decision”.

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