Closing summary
It’s 2am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv and we’re about to close this blog. Our live coverage will resume later today. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
South Africa has launched a case against Israel at the UN’s international court of justice (ICJ) accusing the state of committing genocide in its military campaign in Gaza. Israel responded to the allegations “with disgust”, calling South Africa’s case a “blood libel” and urging the ICJ to reject it. Any case at the ICJ is likely to take years to resolve, but South Africa has called for the court to convene in the next few days to issue “provisional measures” calling for a ceasefire.
At least 21,507 people have been killed in Gaza since the war with Israel broke out nearly 12 weeks ago, according to Friday figures from the territory’s health ministry. That figure included 187 fatalities over the previous 24 hours. At least 308 people have been killed while sheltering in UN shelters in Gaza since the war began, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees also said.
The UN’s top aid official has “strongly condemned” reports that Israeli troops opened fire on an aid convoy in the Gaza Strip on Thursday. The director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) had earlier on Friday accused Israel of firing on an aid convoy as it returned from northern Gaza along a route designated by the Israeli army. Martin Griffiths, the UN emergency relief coordinator, said the convoy was fired upon despite being “clearly marked”. “Attacks on humanitarian workers are unlawful,” he added.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said he is “very concerned” about the growing threat of infectious diseases facing the people of Gaza. Nearly 180,00 people are suffering upper respiratory infections and about 136,400 cases of diarrhoea have been recorded since mid-October, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a social media post on Friday. Half of the diarrhoea cases have been among children aged under five, he said.
The Joe Biden administration has once again bypassed congressional review for weapons sale to Israel. The US state department said secretary of state Antony Blinken informed Congress that he had made a second emergency determination covering a $147.5m sale for equipment required to make the 155mm shells that Israel has already purchased function.
Israel has detained at least 14 Palestinians, including a child, during its latest raids inside the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Friday. On Thursday the UN published a report deploring what it said was a “rapid deterioration” of human rights in the West Bank and urged Israeli authorities to end violence against the Palestinian population there.
Qatari mediators have told Israel that Hamas has “agreed in principle” to resume talks on the release of further hostages held in Gaza, according to a report by Israel’s Walla news on Friday. But a senior Hamas official later told Al Jazeera there is currently no talk of a hostage exchange before fighting in Gaza stops. Separately, a Hamas official said that a delegation from the militant group was due in Cairo on Friday to look at an Egyptian plan for a ceasefire that would end the war in Gaza.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, is “gravely concerned” about the further spillover of the conflict in Gaza which could have “devastating” consequences for the entire region, his spokesperson has said. In a statement on Friday, Guterres warned of a “continued risk of wider regional conflagration” the longer the conflict in Gaza continues.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said it located and destroyed a hideout belonging to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in northern Gaza. An investigation by IDF troops found the apartment, located on the outskirts of Gaza City, as well as a large tunnel system under it which was part of a network used by senior Hamas members, an IDF spokesperson said on Friday.
Iran has announced it has hanged four people it claims were engaged in “sabotage” on behalf of Israel. The three men and one woman had been sentenced to death on charges of “moharebeh”, or “waging war against God”, and “corruption on Earth” through their “collaboration with the Zionist regime”, and were executed in Iran’s north-west province of West Azerbaijan.
Updated
Three Palestinian brothers who were detained by Israeli soldiers in Gaza have said they and other men were beaten, stripped to their underwear, burnt with cigarettes and subjected to other forms of mistreatment during their detention.
Sobhi Yaseen, his brothers Sady and Ibrahim told Reuters they were taken by the Israeli military from their homes in northern Gaza in early December, and held for up to two weeks at unknown locations including a military barracks or camp.
Sobhi told the news agency that while he was detained, he was beaten and that his captors were “smoking and putting out cigarettes on our backs, spraying sand and water on us, urinating on us”.
Ibrahim described having his hands bound and being blindfolded as he was held for interrogation. He said he was not allowed to sleep and forced to stand for hours, while soldiers “would hit you alternately in the head and body”.
In response, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson’s office said it was operating “to dismantle Hamas’ military capabilities” and rescue hostages captured by the Palestinian militant group. Detainees were treated in accordance with international law, and were often required to hand over clothes to ensure they were not carrying weapons or explosives, the office said.
The UK ambassador to the United Nations underscored her country’s commitment to Israel’s security during her address to security council members in New York.
Barbara Woodward, speaking at a UN security council meeting earlier today, noted Israel’s need to address the threat posed by Hamas “but too many civilians have been killed”.
She said Israel must comply with international humanitarian law and clearly differentiate between terrorists and civilians during its military actions.
Israel must also stop settler violence immediately and hold the perpetrators accountable, she said, as she urged Israel to adhere to its commitments and cease all settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) should demonstrate a genuine commitment to a two-State solution, she added.
Here are some of the latest images we have received from Gaza, Israel and the occupied West Bank.
A Hamas official has responded to Israeli media reports that the militant group has “agreed in principle” to resume talks on a new hostage release deal.
As we reported earlier, a report claimed Qatari mediators have told Israel that Hamas “agrees in principle” to return to the negotiating table to try to reach a deal on the release of further hostages held in Gaza in exchange for a weeks-long pause in fighting.
Osama Hamda, a senior Hamas official, told Al Jazeera that there is currently no talk of a hostage exchange before fighting in Gaza stops.
He added that a possible release of captives in exchange for a month-long ceasefire, a detail that was reported by Israeli media, has not been discussed.
A US citizen living in Egypt was arrested in Kenya after allegedly seeking to join a terrorist organisation in the wake of the Hamas 7 October attacks on Israel, authorities said.
Karrem Nasr, 23, of Lawrenceville, New Jersey, was arrested on 14 December after flying from Egypt to Nairobi, where he was planning to meet with members of the al-Shabaab terrorist group before travelling to train in Somalia, where the terror organisation is based, according to federal prosecutors.
Nasr was “motivated by the heinous terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas” on 7 October and “devoted himself to waging violent jihad against America and its allies,” they said.
He was returned to the US on Thursday and was scheduled to appear on Friday before a federal magistrate in Manhattan, AP reported. He has been charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation, and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Any case at the UN’s international court of justice (ICJ) is likely to take years to resolve, but South Africa has called for the court to convene in the next few days to issue “provisional measures” calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
In March 2022, the ICJ ordered Russia to halt its offensive in Ukraine, an order which was supposed to be legally binding, but Moscow ignored it anyway. Any such ruling however is likely to significantly sway international public opinion.
Article IX of the Genocide Convention allows any state party to the convention to bring a case against another to the ICJ, even if it doesn’t have any direct link to the conflict in question. Last year, the court ruled that the Gambia could bring a genocide claim against Myanmar. The court also ruled in a case between Croatia and Serbia that depriving a people of food, shelter, medical care and other means of subsistence constitutes genocidal acts.
Susan Akram, director of the international human rights clinic at Boston University, said:
Genocidal intent is assumed to be the most difficult element to prove, but Israelis in charge of prosecuting this conflict have made a plethora of statements that easily prove the requisite intent to ‘destroy in whole or in part’ the Palestinian population in Gaza.
As examples, Akram pointed to Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant’s reference to Palestinians in Gaza as “human animals” and Israeli army Major General Ghassan Alian’s subsequent statement that: “Human animals must be treated as such. There will be no electricity and no water [in Gaza], there will only be destruction. You wanted hell, you will get hell.”
Biden bypasses Congress again for weapons sale to Israel
The Joe Biden administration has once again bypassed congressional review for weapons sale to Israel as more than 21,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes since October 7.
On Friday, the US state department said that secretary of state Antony Blinken informed Congress that he had made a second emergency determination covering a $147.5m sale for equipment required to make the 155mm shells that Israel has already purchased function. The State department said:
Given the urgency of Israel’s defensive needs, the secretary notified Congress that he had exercised his delegated authority to determine an emergency existed necessitating the immediate approval of the transfer.
The emergency determination allows the purchase to bypass the requirement of congressional review for foreign military sales.
Earlier this month, Blinken made a similar decision, approving $106m worth of 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition to Israel.
For the full story, click here:
Updated
A member of the UK parliament, Claudia Webbe, has hailed South Africa’s decision to launch a case against Israel in the International Court of Justice over accusations of Israel committing “genocidal” acts in Gaza.
Webbe, who represents Leicester East, tweeted:
“I fully support South Africa invoking the Genocide Convention today, against Israel, at the International Court of Justice.
The UK government, prime minister and Labour party leader should consider their complicity and position.
Ceasefire now.”
As a UK Member of Parliament, I fully support South Africa invoking the Genocide Convention today, against Israel, at the International Court of Justice.
— Claudia Webbe MP (@ClaudiaWebbe) December 29, 2023
The UK government, Prime Minister and Labour Party leader should now consider their complicity and position.
Ceasefire Now
Palestine foreign ministry 'welcomes' South Africa's launch of genocide case against Israel at ICJ
Palestine’s foreign ministry has welcomed South Africa’s decision to launch a case at the International Court of Justice in which it accused Israel of “genocidal” acts in Gaza.
In a statement released on Friday, Palestine’s foreign ministry said:
Israel’s stated policy, acts and omissions are genocidal in character [,] are committed with the requisite specific intent to the destruction of the Palestinian people under its colonial occupation and apartheid regime in violation of its obligations under the Genocide Convention. Urgent intervention and action is needed to protect against and prevent further harm [t]o the Palestinian people.
The court must immediately take action to protect the Palestinian people and call on Israel, the occupying power, to halt its onslaught against the Palestinian people, in order to ensure an objective legal resolution.”
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates // welcomes the decision of the Government of #South_Africa to institute proceedings against #Israel before the International Court of Justice regarding Israel committing the crime of #genocide 🇿🇦 🇵🇸 @DIRCO_ZA @CIJ_ICJ… pic.twitter.com/fMzYOeFjWt
— State of Palestine - MFA 🇵🇸🇵🇸 (@pmofa) December 29, 2023
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UN humanitarian chief 'strongly condemns' attack on aid convoy
The UN’s top aid official has issued a strong condemnation after reports that Israeli troops opened fire on an aid convoy in the Gaza Strip on Thursday.
As we reported earlier, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) affairs in Gaza said Israeli soldiers fired at an aid convoy as it returned from northern Gaza along a route designated safe by the Israeli military.
Martin Griffiths, the UN emergency relief coordinator, said the convoy was fired upon despite being “clearly marked” and “its movements coordinated with the parties”.
“Attacks on humanitarian workers are unlawful,” he posted to social media, adding that “the conflict must stop”.
I strongly condemn an incident yesterday in which an aid convoy was fired upon while traveling from northern Gaza to Rafah.
— Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) December 29, 2023
The convoy was clearly marked and its movements were coordinated with the parties.
Attacks on humanitarian workers are unlawful. The conflict must stop.
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of UNRWA, said the agency coordinates all of its movements with Israeli authorities, adding:
Shooting & other attacks on aid workers + convoys hinder lifesaving operation in #Gaza.
Shooting & other attacks on aid workers + convoys hinder lifesaving operation in #Gaza@UNRWA coordinates all its movements with the Israeli Authorities #NotATarget https://t.co/AEeJAIfMGN
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) December 29, 2023
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Summary of the day so far
It’s 10.30pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
South Africa has launched a case at the UN’s international court of justice (ICJ) against Israel for what it said were “genocidal” acts in Gaza. In its application on Friday, South Africa asked the court to issue provisional, or short-term, measures ordering Israel to stop its military campaign in Gaza, which it said were “necessary in this case to protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people”. Israel rejected the charge, with a foreign ministry spokesperson blaming Hamas for the suffering of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by using them as human shields and stealing humanitarian aid from them.
At least 21,507 people have been killed in Gaza since the war with Israel broke out nearly 12 weeks ago, according to Friday figures from the territory’s health ministry. That figure included 187 fatalities over the previous 24 hours. At least 308 people have been killed while sheltering in UN shelters in Gaza since the war began, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees also said.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said he is “very concerned” about the growing threat of infectious diseases facing the people of Gaza. Nearly 180,00 people are suffering upper respiratory infections and about 136,400 cases of diarrhoea have been recorded since mid-October, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a social media post on Friday. Half of the diarrhoea cases have been among children aged under five, he said.
Qatari mediators have told Israel that Hamas has “agreed in principle” to resume talks on the release of further hostages held in Gaza in exchange for a weeks-long pause in fighting, according to a report by Israel’s Walla news on Friday. Separately, a Hamas official said that a delegation from the militant group was due in Cairo on Friday to look at an Egyptian plan for a ceasefire that would end the war in Gaza. Sources close to Hamas say Cairo’s three-stage plan provides for renewable ceasefires, a staggered release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel, and ultimately a ceasefire.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said it located and destroyed a hideout belonging to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in northern Gaza. An investigation by IDF troops found the apartment, located on the outskirts of Gaza City, as well as a large tunnel system under it which was part of a network used by senior Hamas members, an IDF spokesperson said on Friday.
The director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has accused Israel of firing on an aid convoy in Gaza. In a social media post, Thomas White said: “Israeli soldiers fired at an aid convoy as it returned from northern Gaza along a route designated by the Israeli army – our international convoy leader and his team were not injured but one vehicle sustained damage.”
Israel has detained at least 14 Palestinians, including a child, during its latest raids inside the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Friday. On Thursday the UN published a report deploring what it said was a “rapid deterioration” of human rights in the West Bank and urged Israeli authorities to end violence against the Palestinian population there.
Two Al Jazeera journalists have been assaulted by Israeli soldiers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank near Dura, in the Hebron region, the news network reported. It said Israeli soldiers “severely beat” one of its correspondents and a photographer and confiscated all their equipment while they were working.
The Israeli military said a Palestinian rammed a car into people in the occupied West Bank on Friday, wounding four, according to medics. Soldiers “neutralised” the driver at the scene near a military post south of the city of Hebron, the military said.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, is “gravely concerned” about the further spillover of the conflict in Gaza which could have “devastating” consequences for the entire region, his spokesperson has said. In a statement on Friday, Guterres warned of a “continued risk of wider regional conflagration” the longer the conflict in Gaza continues.
Iran has announced it has hanged four people it claims were engaged in “sabotage” on behalf of Israel. The three men and one woman had been sentenced to death on charges of “moharebeh”, or “waging war against God”, and “corruption on Earth” through their “collaboration with the Zionist regime”, and were executed in Iran’s north-west province of West Azerbaijan.
Hamas 'ready in principle' to resume talks over hostage release, Qatar tells Israel - report
Qatari mediators have told Israel that Hamas has “agreed in principle” to resume talks on the release of further hostages held in Gaza in exchange for a weeks-long pause in fighting, according to a report.
Citing three Israeli officials, Israel’s Walla news outlet is reporting that the Qatari mediators have conveyed a message to Israel that Hamas “agrees in principle” to return to the negotiating table to try to reach a deal.
The deal would involve the release of about 40 hostages still being held by Hamas in exchange for a few weeks of a ceasefire and other conditions, the report says.
The talks would be centred around a proposal put forward by the head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, David Barnea, a few weeks ago during a meeting with the head of the US CIA, Bill Burns, and the Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abd al-Rahman al-Thani.
That proposal included the release of about 40 hostages held in Gaza, including women, men over the age of 60 and those requiring urgent medical treatment. In return, Israel would halt military operations in Gaza for a week or two, and release a number of Palestinians who have been held in Israeli prisons.
An Israeli official said the Qatari message was still very preliminary but described it as a positive development, Walla reported. The official said:
We have moved from a standstill to a very cold situation.
Another Israeli official said Israel has not yet received a detailed proposal from the Qataris and is waiting to hear more details.
UN chief 'gravely concerned' further spillover of Gaza conflict
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, is “gravely concerned” about the further spillover of the conflict in Gaza which could have “devastating” consequences for the entire region, his spokesperson has said.
In a statement issued by Stéphane Dujarric, Guterres warned of a “continued risk of wider regional conflagration” the longer the conflict in Gaza continues.
He described the escalating violence in the Israel-occupied West Bank as “extremely alarming”, noting “intensified Israeli security forces operations, high numbers of fatalities, settler violence and attacks on Israelis by Palestinians”.
The UN chief was also “increasingly concerned” about the “spillover effects of the continuing attacks by armed groups in Iraq and Syria, as well as the Houthi attacks against vessels in the Red Sea, which have escalated in recent days”, he said, adding:
The Secretary-General urges all parties to exercise maximum restraint and take urgent steps to de-escalate tensions in the region.
The Secretary-General again appeals to all members of the international community to do everything in their power to use their influence on the relevant parties to prevent an escalation of the situation in the region.
Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz has held a phone call with Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz.
During the call, Scholz underscored the need to protect civilians and avoid regional conflict, according to a statement from the German federal government.
Gantz informed the chancellor of the latest developments in Gaza and on Israel’s northern border, the statement said.
WHO chief 'very concerned' about threat of infectious diseases in Gaza
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said he is “very concerned” about the growing threat of infectious diseases facing the people of Gaza.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, posting to social media, warned that people who have been displaced from their homes have been falling sick while sheltering in overcrowded health facilities.
Nearly 180,00 people are suffering upper respiratory infections and about 136,400 cases of diarrhoea have been recorded since mid-October, he said. Half of the diarrhoea cases have been among children aged under five, he said.
He said the WHO and its partners are working “tirelessly” to support Gaza’s health authorities by supplying medicines, testing kits and trying to improve access to safe water, food, hygiene and sanitation services.
As people continue to be massively displaced across the south of #Gaza, with some families forced to move multiple times and many sheltering in overcrowded health facilities, my @WHO colleagues and I remain very concerned about the increasing threat of infectious diseases.… pic.twitter.com/yszTuAN8Eu
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) December 29, 2023
Israel rejects genocide case as 'baseless' - full statement
Here’s the full Israeli foreign ministry response to news that South Africa has launched a case at the International court of justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of “genocidal” acts in Gaza.
Israel rejects “with disgust” the “blood libel” spread by South Africa in its application to the UN’s top court, Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat posted on social media. He continued:
South Africa’s claim lacks both a factual and a legal basis, and constitutes a despicable and contemptuous exploitation of the Court.
South Africa is cooperating with a terrorist organization that is calling for the destruction of the State of Israel.
The Hamas terrorist organization - which is committing war crimes, crimes against humanity and sought to commit genocide on 7 October - is responsible for the suffering of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by using them as human shields and stealing humanitarian aid from them.
Israel is committed to international law and acts in accordance with it, and directs its military efforts solely against the Hamas terrorist organization and the other terrorist organizations cooperating with Hamas.
Israel has made it clear that the residents of the Gaza Strip are not the enemy, and is making every effort to limit harm to civilians and to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
We call on the International Court of Justice and the international community to completely reject South Africa’s baseless claims.
Israel rejects with disgust the blood libel spread by South Africa in its application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
— Lior Haiat 🇮🇱 (@LiorHaiat) December 29, 2023
South Africa's claim lacks both a factual and a legal basis, and constitutes a despicable and contemptuous exploitation of the Court.
South Africa… pic.twitter.com/dqyhY8WYE0
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Israeli military says it destroyed hideout belonging to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said it located and destroyed a hideout belonging to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in northern Gaza.
An investigation by IDF troops found the apartment, located on the outskirts of Gaza City, as well as a large tunnel system under it, a spokesperson said.
An IDF spokesperson said the apartment was part of a network of tunnels constructed by Hamas, where senior members of the militant group moved and operated, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The tunnel was later destroyed by combat engineers, the spokesperson said.
From the Times of Israel’s Emanuel Fabian:
The IDF says it has located and demolished a hideout apartment belonging to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in northern Gaza, along with a large tunnel system under it.
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) December 29, 2023
The apartment, located on the outskirts of Gaza City, was found by the 14th Reserve Armored Brigade and later… pic.twitter.com/QYaHoeCwVT
Israel accuses South Africa of 'collaborating' with Hamas after 'baseless' genocide court appeal
Israel has rejected South Africa’s announcement that it has launched a genocide case at the UN’s international court of justice accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
A statement from Israel’s foreign ministry, reported by Reuters, reads:
South Africa is collaborating with a terrorist group that calls for Israel’s destruction. The people of Gaza are not an enemy of Israel, who is making efforts to limit harm to non-combatants.
South Africa launches genocide case against Israel at UN's top court
South Africa said it had approached the UN’s international court of justice (ICJ) under the Geneva convention with respect to acts committed by Israel in Gaza.
In a statement, South Africa said it was ‘“gravely concerned with the plight of civilians” caught in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip “due to the indiscriminate use of force and forcible removal of inhabitants.”
It said there were “ongoing reports of international crimes, such as crimes against humanity and war crimes” being committed as well as “reports that acts meeting the threshold of genocide” in the Palestinian territory.
An application in this regard was filed before the court on 29 December 2023 in which the court is requested to declare on an urgent basis that Israel is in breach of its obligations in terms of the genocide convention, should immediately cease all acts and measures in breach of those obligations and take a number of related actions.
It said South Africa “condemns all violence and attacks against all civilians, including Israelis”, adding that it had continuously called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and for talks to resume “that will end the violence arising from the continued belligerent occupation of Palestine”.
Updated
UN security council meeting amid reports of escalation tensions in West Bank
The UN security council is now meeting in New York on the situation in the Middle East, amid reports of escalating tensions in the occupied West Bank.
Last week the council adopted a resolution calling for a scale-up in aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip. The resolution passed with 13 votes in favour and the US and Russia abstaining.
Khaled Khiari, the assistant secretary general for the Middle East at the UN, told council members that “intense” Israeli ground operations and fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters continued in most areas of Gaza.
“Civilians from both sides, particularly in the Gaza Strip currently, continue to bear the brunt of this conflict,” he said.
Khiari warned of the risk of regional spillover of the conflict that could have potentially devastating consequences. There were “continued daily exchanges” of fire across the Blue Line between Lebanon and Israel, he said, adding:
Increasingly, there have been strikes on civilian areas, with civilian casualties, on both sides of the Blue Line, in addition to a rising number of fatalities among combatants.
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At least 308 people have been killed while sheltering in UN shelters in Gaza since the war began, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said.
In a social media post, it said at least 1,095 people had been injured while sheltering in UNRWA shelters. “Nowhere is safe in Gaza,” it added.
Initial reports indicate on 25 December, 2 people sheltering in @UNRWA Maghazi Prep School were killed & 1 injured, result of a direct strike.
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 29, 2023
Since the war began, at least 308 people sheltering in @UNRWA shelters have been killed & 1,095 injured.
Nowhere in📍#Gaza is safe. pic.twitter.com/FZEOTdgErf
Updated
The international aid group Mercy Corps has warned about famine and disease facing Palestinians in Gaza amid relentless fighting and with insufficient humanitarian aid.
Half a million people face “catastrophic hunger and starvation” in the Palestinian territory, said Kate Phillips-Barrasso, a vice-president at the group.
In a statement reported by AP, she said the amount of lifesaving goods being allowed inside Gaza was a drop in the ocean and had not yet increased to the level necessary to meet people’s basic and critical needs, even after Israel opened its Kerem Shalom border crossing.
Updated
Denmark has said it will send a frigate to join a US-led Red Sea naval protection force operation next month.
The new defensive coalition effort, called Operation Prosperity Guardian, will attempt to ward off mounting attacks from Yemen’s rebel Houthis on merchant shipping.
The Danish defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, said in a statement on Friday:
We are concerned about the serious situation unfolding in the Red Sea, where unprovoked attacks against civilian shipping continue.
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Summary of the day so far
It’s nearly 6.30pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
At least 21,507 people have been killed in Gaza since the war with Israel broke out nearly 12 weeks ago, according to the latest figures from the territory’s health ministry. That figure includes 187 fatalities over the past 24 hours. In addition, 300 Palestinians have been reportedly killed during Israeli raids and security operations in the occupied West Bank since 7 October.
A baby has been rescued from under rubble in Rafah after an Israeli airstrike that killed 20 people and wounded 55 others, according to a Gaza health ministry spokesperson.
A Hamas delegation is due in Cairo on Friday to look at an Egyptian plan for a ceasefire that would end the war in Gaza, a Hamas official said. The plan was put last week to officials of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which is also battling Israeli forces in the territory. Sources close to Hamas say Cairo’s three-stage plan provides for renewable ceasefires, a staggered release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel, and ultimately a ceasefire.
The director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has accused Israel of firing on an aid convoy in Gaza. In a social media post, Thomas White said: “Israeli soldiers fired at an aid convoy as it returned from northern Gaza along a route designated by the Israeli army – our international convoy leader and his team were not injured but one vehicle sustained damage.”
Israel has detained at least 14 Palestinians, including a child, during its latest raids inside the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Friday. On Thursday the UN published a report deploring what it said was a “rapid deterioration” of human rights in the West Bank and urged Israeli authorities to end violence against the Palestinian population there.
Two Al Jazeera journalists have been assaulted by Israeli soldiers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank near Dura, in the Hebron region, the news network reported. It said Israeli soldiers “severely beat” one of its correspondents and a photographer and confiscated all their equipment while they were working.
The Israeli military said a Palestinian rammed a car into people in the occupied West Bank on Friday, wounding four, according to medics. Soldiers “neutralised” the driver at the scene near a military post south of the city of Hebron, the military said.
Iran has announced it has hanged four people it claims were engaged in “sabotage” on behalf of Israel. The three men and one woman had been sentenced to death on charges of “moharebeh”, or “waging war against God”, and “corruption on Earth” through their “collaboration with the Zionist regime”, and were executed in Iran’s north-west province of West Azerbaijan.
Updated
Updated
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have streamed into an already crowded town at the southernmost end of Gaza in recent days, according to the United Nations, fleeing Israel’s bombardment of the centre of the strip, where hospital officials said dozens were killed on Friday, the Associated Press reports.
Israel’s air and ground offensive against Hamas has displaced 85% of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million residents. People have arrived in Rafah in trucks, in carts and on foot. Those who haven’t found space in the already overwhelmed shelters have built tents on the roadsides.
“People are using any empty space to build shacks,” said Juliette Touma, director of communications at UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. “Some are sleeping in their cars, and others are sleeping in the open.”
Israel’s campaign, which has already flattened much of the north, is now focused on the urban refugee camps of Bureij, Nuseirat and Maghazi in central Gaza, where Israeli warplanes and artillery have levelled buildings.
But fighting has not abated in the north, and the city of Khan Younis in the south, where Israel believes Hamas’s leaders are hiding, is also a smouldering battleground. Militants have continued to fire rockets, mostly at Israel’s south.
The war has already killed more than 21,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and sparked a humanitarian crisis that has left a quarter of Gaza’s population starving.
An additional 187 Palestinians were killed across the Gaza Strip over the past day, Ashraf al-Qidra, a spokesperson for the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory, said on Friday. The ministry’s death toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Updated
Iran says it executed four people it claims engaged in ‘sabotage’ for Israel
Iran has announced it has hanged four people it claims were engaged in “sabotage” on behalf of Israel (see 7.56am post).
They were executed in Iran’s north-west province of West Azerbaijan, the judiciary’s Mizan website reported.
The three men and one woman had been sentenced to death on charges of “moharebeh”, or “waging war against God”, and “corruption on Earth” through their “collaboration with the Zionist regime”.
The group “committed extensive actions against the country’s security under the guidance of Mossad”, Mizan said.
The three men were identified as Vafa Hanareh, Aram Omari and Rahman Parhazo. The woman was named as Nasim Namazi.
Updated
Israel’s military has said it has been attacking what it described as “Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure” inside Lebanon.
In a statement posted to the messaging app Telegram, the IDF said:
Over the last hour, a number of launches from Lebanon toward Israel were identified, two of which crossed into Israeli territory. In response, IDF artillery struck the sources of the fire.
Moreover, the IDF struck a Hezbollah terrorist cell responsible for launching anti-tank missiles in the area of Aitaroun and a missile launcher used to launch toward the area of Bar’am in northern Israel earlier today.
Additionally, over the last few hours, IDF fighter jets struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in the area of Wadi Hamul in Lebanon. Among the targets struck were launch sites, a military compound, and additional terrorist infrastructure.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Al Jazeera journalists 'severely beaten' by Israeli soldiers, says network
Al Jazeera reports that two of its journalists have been assaulted by Israeli soldiers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank near Dura, in the Hebron region.
The news network claims that Montaser Nassar, one of its correspondents, and a photographer accompanying him were attacked, writing:
The soldiers severely beat the men and confiscated all their equipment, including a mobile phone, while they were on the roof of a house preparing to shoot a live report. Nassar said the soldiers attacked them without warning and did not issue a request to leave before beating the men.
Data from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has shown that since 7 October the conflict between Israel and Hamas has been the deadliest period for journalists since it began gathering data in 1992.
As of 23 December, the CPJ’s preliminary investigations showed 69 journalists and media workers were confirmed dead, including 62 Palestinians, four Israeli, and three Lebanese media workers. Three journalists were reported missing and 20 journalists were reported arrested.
Updated
A baby named Mariam Abu Akel has been rescued from under the rubble in Rafah after an Israeli airstrike, Reuters reports. The airstrike killed 20 people and wounded 55, according to the health ministry spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qidra.
Arafat Barbakh reports that the baby’s skin was grey with dust and that she made some noise as rescuers reached into the rubble to free her legs and lift her clear. Her family had been sheltering in the Abu Edwan family’s house after they fled their own home.
Mariam’s mother and sister were both killed in the strike along with members of the Abu Edwan family and people from other families temporarily living with them. Her father and brother, Hamed, still a toddler, also survived the blast.
When Mariam was lifted free, a rescuer ran with her in his arms to take her to hospital. Doctors there swabbed her cuts.
At another airstrike site, rescuers pulled out two infant girls. In an ambulance, medics sponged a thick layer of dust from their faces as a badly bleeding boy sat opposite them, dazed.
In the hospital, children lay for treatment on the floor. A boy with bandages around his head and blood covering his face was crying. Next to him lay another boy with a brace around his neck. The two small girls lay on a stretcher.
Nadeen Abdulatif, 13, stood by a pile of debris next to the Rafah house where she and her family had taken shelter after their own home in Gaza City was ruined by an airstrike targeting the building next door and which killed her older brother.
She said she could not stop thinking about being killed, or her other brother dying. The airstrike during the night had blown out the windows and rattled the building.
“My brother was shaking. I was shaking. I was scared. I didn’t move from my place because of how terrified I was,” she said.
Updated
Juliette Touma, director of communications at UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, has told the Associated Press that in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip that “people are using any empty space to build shacks. Some are sleeping in their cars, and others are sleeping in the open.”
Updated
Local media are reporting an Israeli airstrike on the town of Naqoura in southern Lebanon.
More details soon …
The Israeli military said a Palestinian rammed a car into people in the occupied West Bank on Friday, wounding four, according to medics.
Soldiers “neutralised” the driver at the scene near a military post south of the city of Hebron, AFP reports that the military said.
The paramedic service said that it treated one person in moderate condition and three others who were lightly wounded. There were no immediate reports concerning the driver’s condition.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
It has just gone 2.30pm in Gaza City and in Tel Aviv. Here are the latest headlines …
A Hamas delegation is due in Cairo on Friday to look at an Egyptian plan for a ceasefire that would end the war in Gaza, a Hamas official said. The plan was put last week to officials of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which is also battling Israeli forces in the territory. Sources close to Hamas say Cairo’s three-stage plan provides for renewable ceasefires, a staggered release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel, and ultimately a ceasefire.
Tens of thousands of newly displaced Palestinians are huddling under tarpaulins on Friday in the centre of the territory after fleeing the latest offensive by Israeli tanks, while the country’s warplanes targeted the south, flattening homes and burying families as they slept. The UN estimates that 85% of Gaza’s population has already been displaced, some multiple times.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Friday that at least 21,507 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since the war with Israel broke out nearly 12 weeks ago. The figure includes 187 fatalities over the past 24 hours. The ministry added that 55,915 people have been wounded in Gaza during the fighting.
Thomas White, the director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, has accused Israel of firing on an aid convoy. In a social media post he said “Israeli soldiers fired at an aid convoy as it returned from northern Gaza along a route designated by the Israeli army – our international convoy leader and his team were not injured but one vehicle sustained damage.”
Israel has named another soldier killed fighting inside the Gaza Strip. In addition it says the families of two soldiers have been notified that they were “seriously injured in various battles in the northern Gaza Strip”. At least 160 IDF troops have been killed during the ground operation in Gaza. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting that Israel has detained at least 14 Palestinians, including a child, during its latest raids inside the Israeli-occupied West Bank. On Thursday the UN published a report deploring what it said was a “rapid deterioration” of human rights in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and urged Israeli authorities to end violence against the Palestinian population there.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has also issued a video interview with a paramedic at their ambulance centre in the Jabaliya refugee camp. In the video he describes ambulance staff being made to undress and being beaten and interrogated by Israeli forces operating inside Gaza.
Israeli airstrikes hit near the Syrian capital Damascus late on Thursday, Syria’s defence ministry and state media has said.
Turkey’s state-run news agency says security forces have detained 32 people suspected of links to the Islamic State extremist group. The suspects were allegedly planning to carry out attacks on synagogues and churches as well as the Iraqi embassy in Turkey.
Pakistan has banned New Year’s Eve celebrations to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, the government said late Thursday, urging people instead to “observe simplicity”.
Reuters has spoken to Mohammed Abu Mussa, a volunteer who prepares dead bodies for burial in Gaza. He told the news agency:
The challenges we face are too much, there is shortage in the knives and the scissors that we need to prepare the shrouds and cut them. As you know, there is a blockade and there are no materials in the Gaza Strip, so we find difficulties getting knives, scissors and cotton.
He added that so many people are dying that sometimes donated shrouds are not enough, and he has to wrap four of five people in one shroud.
Abdel-Hamid Abdel-Atti, a local journalist, told Reuters that he had buried six of his loved ones including his mother and brother, after they were pulled from rubble following an Israel attack.
He said he obtained shrouds from a hospital, and described the process of preparing them for burial as the most painful experience of his life, saying:
The first one I did was my brother, the rest came wrapped in blankets and I asked they don’t be taken off, I put the shrouds over the blankets, and tied them carefully, before paying them farewell. As I wrapped them in shrouds I wondered what was their fault. Why did Israel kill them as they slept in peace?
Updated
187 Palestinians killed by Israel inside Gaza in last 24 hours, total death toll now more than 21,500 – ministry
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Friday that at least 21,507 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since the war with Israel broke out nearly 12 weeks ago.
AFP reports the figure includes 187 fatalities over the past 24 hours. The ministry added that 55,915 people have been wounded in Gaza during the fighting, which began on 7 October after the surprise Hamas attack inside southern Israel.
In addition, 300 Palestinians have been killed during Israeli raids and security operations in the occupied West Bank since 7 October.
The Hamas attack on 7 October killed about 1,200 in Israel, and an estimated 240 people were abducted and taken as hostages inside Gaza. Just over 100 of those have been freed to date. Israel has said it has lost at least 160 troops during its ground campaign inside the Gaza Strip.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Israel and Gaza.
Updated
Turkey’s state-run news agency says security forces have detained 32 people suspected of links to the Islamic State extremist group. The suspects were allegedly planning to carry out attacks on synagogues and churches as well as the Iraqi embassy in Turkey. Citing the Anadolu Agency, AP reports the suspects were detained in raids carried out at dawn on Friday in nine provinces.
Al Jazeera is carrying a report of an Israeli raid on the village of Deir Abu Meshaal, which is near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
21-year-old Mohammed Wajeeh told the network “They were very barbaric in their intervention. They searched everything. They destroyed the kitchen. They went upstairs and downstairs. They did not leave anything.”
Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim reported that the Israeli security forces “went door to door arresting Palestinians. They blindfolded them, tied their hands and took them to an open building on the street where they were detained for hours.”
Tens of thousands of newly displaced Palestinians are huddling under tarpaulins on Friday in the centre of the territory after fleeing the latest offensive by Israeli tanks, while the country’s warplanes targeted the south, flattening homes and burying families as they slept.
The UN estimates that 85% of Gaza’s population has already been displaced, some multiple times.
Reuters journalists at the scene of one airstrike in Rafah that obliterated a building saw the head of a buried toddler sticking out of the rubble. The child screamed as a rescue worker shielded his head with a hand, while another swung a sledgehammer at a chisel, trying to break up a slab of concrete to free him.
Sanad Abu Tabet, a neighbour, said the two-story house had been crowded with displaced people. After morning broke, relatives came to collect the dead wrapped up in white shrouds. A man partly unwrapped one, to stroke the face of a dead child.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been fleeing the crowded central districts of Bureij, Maghazi and Nuseirat, ordered out by Israeli forces whose tanks advanced from the north and east.
“We suffered a lot. We had the whole night without shelter, under rain and it was cold, we were with our kids and elderly women,” Um Hamdi told Reuters while cooking porridge in a pot over an open fire, surrounded by children.
The UN has stated that 40% of Gaza’s population are now at risk of starvation. Very little humanitarian aid is getting into the territory, and the UN’s agency for assisting Palestinian refugees reported this morning that Israel fired upon a humanitarian convoy yesterday.
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has called the latest phase of the Israeli assault inside Gaza an essential stage of its mission to destroy Hamas.
In Rafah, Abdel Nasser Awadallah stood inside a wooden frame that would be wrapped in plastic to make a tent, and spoke of the family he had lost.
“I buried my children, a … 16-year-old, another one aged 18. Something I really can’t believe. I buried my children at 6am while their bodies were still warm. Also my nephew. He was 2 years old. I buried him. I buried my wife,” he said.
“I never thought in my life that I will bury my children, I thought they would bury me.”
Updated
The Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting that Israel has detained at least 14 Palestinians, including a child, during its latest raids inside the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
It reports that raids occurred in Tulkarem province, Jericho, Deir Abu Meshaal and al-Amaari refugee camp in Ramallah. It also reports Israeli raids in Hebron and al-Far’a refugee camp.
Yesterday the UN published a report deploring what it said was a “rapid deterioration” of human rights in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and urged Israeli authorities to end violence against the Palestinian population there.
It said 300 Palestinians had been killed in the occupied West Bank since 7 October and about 4,785 Palestinians had been detained by Israel.
Volker Türk, the UN human rights chief, said: “The use of military tactics means and weapons in law enforcement contexts, the use of unnecessary or disproportionate force and the enforcement of broad, arbitrary and discriminatory movement restrictions that affect Palestinians are extremely troubling.”
Updated
Israeli soldiers fired on Gaza aid convoy, says UN official
Thomas White, the director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, has accused Israel of firing on an aid convoy.
In a post to social media he said:
Israeli soldiers fired at an aid convoy as it returned from northern Gaza along a route designated by the Israeli army – our international convoy leader and his team were not injured but one vehicle sustained damage – aid workers should never be a target.
Updated
Here are some images sent to us over the news wires showing Israeli military vehicles operating among the wrecked housing in the Shujaiya neighbourhood of the Gaza Strip.
Updated
The IDF has reported that sirens are again sounding in northern Israel. Since 7 October Israel and anti-Israeli forces have regularly exchanged fire over the UN-drawn blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon.
Updated
Israel has named another soldier killed fighting inside the Gaza Strip. In addition it says the families of two soldiers have been notified that they were “seriously injured in various battles in the northern Gaza Strip”.
On Thursday Associated Press reported that the number of Israeli forces personnel injured during the war had risen to roughly 3,000. At least 160 IDF troops have been killed during the ground operation in Gaza.
Local authorities said that more than 21,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli military action inside Gaza since 7 October, and 300 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank while 85% of the civilian population in Gaza has been displaced.
Updated
Iran has hanged four people convicted of spying for Israel, AFP reports the judiciary said on Friday, less than two weeks after authorities had executed a man on similar grounds.
“Four members of a sabotage group related to the Zionist regime … were hanged this morning” in Iran’s northwestern province of West Azerbaijan, the judiciary’s Mizan online website reported.
The three men and one woman had all been sentenced to death on charges of “moharebeh”, or waging war against God, and “corruption on Earth” through their “collaboration with the Zionist regime”.
The group “committed extensive actions against the country’s security under the guidance of the Mossad”, Mizan said.
Updated
In its latest operational update, Israel’s military has said it is “extending operations in the area of Khan Younis”.
It claims to have “eliminated dozens of terrorists using aerial strikes, and sniper and tank fire”.
It also claims that in “intelligence-based searches” of residences in the Jabaliya refugee camp it found “weapons, Hamas military certifications and textbooks about the IDF”.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Israeli shelling over two days near Al-Amal hospital in southern Gaza’s main city Khan Younis has killed 41 people, the Palestinian Red Crescent said on Thursday.
The casualties include “displaced persons seeking shelter” at Red Crescent premises, AFP reports that it said.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has also issued a video interview with Mohammed Salah, who it says is a paramedic at their ambulance centre in the Jabaliya refugee camp. In the video he describes ambulance staff being made to undress and being beaten and interrogated by Israeli forces operating inside Gaza.
Testimony of Mohammed Salah, a paramedic at the PRCS ambulance center 🚑 in #Jabalia about the beating and humiliation he and his colleagues endured during their arrest by the Israeli forces after the invasion of the #Jabalia ambulance center in northern #Gaza a week ago.
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 29, 2023
🚨The… pic.twitter.com/Hi9K192WzY
Updated
Summary of events so far
It’s 9am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. Here is a summary of the latest so far:
A Hamas delegation is due in Cairo on Friday to look at an Egyptian plan for a ceasefire that would end the war in Gaza, a Hamas official said. The plan was put last week to officials of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which is also battling Israeli forces in the territory. Sources close to Hamas say Cairo’s three-stage plan provides for renewable ceasefires, a staggered release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel, and ultimately a ceasefire to end the war sparked by the deadly 7 October attack on Israel, Agence France-Presse reports.
Hamas is “open to any ideas or proposals for a complete and final cessation of aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip”, an official with the Palestinian militant group has said. Osama Hamdan, at a press conference on Thursday, said Hamas is not interested in a “partial or temporary cessation of aggression”, adding that the remaining hostages held in Gaza would only be released after a permanent ceasefire is implemented.
An American warship has shot down a drone and an anti-ship ballistic missile fired Thursday by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, the US military said. Centcom said it was the 22nd attempted attack on international shipping by the Houthis since mid-October.
The US has imposed sanctions on a group of money exchange services from Yemen and Turkey alleged to help provide funding to Houthi rebels who have been launching attacks on commercial shipping vessels in the southern Red Sea.
Benjamin Netanyahu has cancelled a war cabinet meeting that was scheduled for Thursday night to discuss Israel’s plan for Gaza after the war with Hamas ends. The Israeli prime minister has reportedly refused requests from security officials to make plans for control of Gaza after the war with Hamas ends.
The main focus of fighting in Gaza is now in central areas, where Israeli forces have ordered civilians out over the past several days as their tanks advance. Tens of thousands of people fleeing the huge Nuseirat, Bureij and Maghazi districts were heading south or west on Thursday into the already overwhelmed city of Deir al-Balah along the Mediterranean coast, crowding into hastily built camps of makeshift tents.
A total of 21,320 Palestinians have been killed and 55,603 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, a spokesperson from the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said on Thursday.
At least 20 people were killed and 55 wounded by an Israeli airstrike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, according to a Gaza health ministry spokesperson. The incident occurred near the Kuwaiti hospital, Al Jazeera reported, adding that it had “completely flattened” a residential building full of displaced people. The report has not been verified.
The number of children who have been killed in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, has reached an “unprecedented” level, the UN children’s fund (Unicef) has warned on Thursday. About 83 children have been killed in the West Bank in the past 12 weeks, Unicef said in a statement. A separate UN report published on Thursday deplored what it said was a “rapid deterioration” of human rights in the West Bank and urged Israeli authorities to end violence against the Palestinian population there. The office of the UN high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR) said about 4,785 Palestinians had been detained and 300 killed in the occupied West Bank since 7 October.
Israeli airstrikes hit near the Syrian capital, Damascus, and in the country’s south on Thursday, its defence ministry and state media has said. The strikes are believed to have targeted a Syrian army air defence base and a radar station in the Tel al-Sahn area in the Sweida province in south-western Syria, according to sources.
Joe Biden has said he is “devastated” to learn of the death of Judy (also known as Judih) Weinstein, a US-Israeli-Canadian woman, during the Hamas attacks on 7 October. The kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel on Thursday said Weinstein, 70, was “fatally wounded” during the attacks alongside her Israeli-American husband, Gadi Haggai, 73. It said the bodies of the couple “remain held in captivity by Hamas”.
The Israeli military has said it “regrets the harm” caused by a strike that killed dozens of people in the Maghazi refugee camp in the centre of Gaza earlier this week. About 86 people were killed in the Israeli airstrike in the Maghazi camp, east of Deir al-Balah, late on Sunday, according to figures by the UN human rights office. “The type of munition did not match the nature of the attack, causing extensive collateral damage that could have been avoided,” an Israeli military official told Kan news on Thursday.
The Israel Defense Forces (DF) has admitted it “failed in its mission” after its soldiers mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages in Gaza earlier this month. In a report of its final findings of an investigation into the 15 December killing, the IDF’s chief of staff Herzi Halevi said it had “failed in the mission of rescuing the abductees” and that the shooting “did not match the risk and the situation”.
Pakistan has banned New Year’s Eve celebrations to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, the government said late Thursday, urging people instead to “observe simplicity”.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images coming out of Rafah in Gaza, where many have fled in an effort to escape the fighting and bombing:
Pakistan has banned New Year’s Eve celebrations to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, the government said late Thursday, urging people to instead “observe simplicity”.
In an evening televised address to the nation, prime minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said because of the situation in the Gaza Strip, the government had “completely banned all kinds of events regarding the New Year celebrations”, Agence France-Presse reports.
New Year’s Eve is usually marked in boisterous fashion in Pakistan, with fireworks and aerial gunfire – as well as a bank holiday on 1 January.
Sharjah, an emirate of the United Arab Emirates, has also banned New Year’s Eve fireworks over the war in Gaza.
The ban was “a sincere expression of solidarity and humanitarian cooperation with our siblings in the Gaza Strip”, Sharjah police said in a Facebook post.
The US has imposed sanctions on a group of money exchange services from Yemen and Turkey alleged to help provide funding to Houthi rebels who have been launching attacks on commercial shipping vessels in the southern Red Sea.
Included in the sanctions are the head of a financial intermediary in Sana’a, Yemen, along with three exchange houses in Yemen and Turkey, Associated Press reports.
US Treasury alleges that the people and firms helped transfer millions of dollars to the Houthis.
The sanctions block access to US property and bank accounts and prevent the targeted people and companies from doing business with Americans.
Thursday’s action is the latest round of financial penalties meant to punish the Houthis.
The group has sporadically targeted ships in the region in the past, but the attacks have increased since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. Houthi leaders have insisted Israel is their target.
Here are some of the latest images to come out of Israel:
An American warship has shot down a drone and an anti-ship ballistic missile fired Thursday by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, the US military said.
The Houthis have repeatedly targeted vessels in the vital Red Sea shipping lane with strikes they say are in support of Palestinians in Gaza. US Central Command (Centcom) said this in a statement, referring to a guided-missile destroyer.
The USS Mason (DDG 87) shot down one drone and one anti-ship ballistic missile in the Southern Red Sea that were fired by the Huthis.
There was no damage to any of the 18 ships in the area or reported injuries.
Centcom added that it was the 22nd attempted attack on international shipping by the Houthis since mid-October.
The attacks are endangering a transit route that carries up to 12 per cent of global trade, prompting the United States to set up a multinational naval taskforce earlier this month to protect Red Sea shipping.
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets of New York on Thursday, staging a mock funeral in a demonstration against Israel’s continued bombardment of Gaza.
Holding banners demanding an immediate ceasefire, the activists gathered in Manhattan’s Bryant Park while some briefly stood in the middle of the busy Sixth Avenue in the heart of New York’s Midtown district, Agence France-Presse reports.
Several women shrouded in black held baby dolls swaddled in white cloths to represent the toll the fighting has taken on children in the Gaza strip.
The mock funeral procession headed to New York’s iconic Times Square where the protest continued.
New York City has seen dozens of protests since the 7 October attack and Israel’s military response, with both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel demonstrators taking to the streets.
Here are some images of this latest protest:
The family of Judy Weinstein have released a photo of her and her husband, Gad Haggai.
Weinstein and her husband were thought to have been among the hostages still held in captivity. Six days ago, the Israeli kibbutz that they lived in, Nir Oz, announced that Haggai was killed on 7 October and his body was taken to Gaza.
On Thursday, the kibbutz said it had learned that Weinstein was also killed on the same day and her body is also being held in Gaza, Associated Press reports.
It was not immediately clear how Israeli authorities determined their deaths.
US president Joe Biden said in a statement he was “devastated” to learn of Weinstein’s death, especially after hearing about the couple during a meeting with their daughter.
A Hamas delegation is due in Cairo on Friday to look at an Egyptian plan for a ceasefire that would end the war in Gaza, a Hamas official said.
The plan was put last week to officials of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which is also battling Israeli forces in the territory.
Sources close to Hamas say Cairo’s three-stage plan provides for renewable ceasefires, a staggered release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel, and ultimately a ceasefire to end the war sparked by the deadly 7 October attack on Israel, Agence France-Presse reports.
It also provides for a Palestinian government of technocrats after talks involving “all Palestinian factions”, which would be responsible for governing and rebuilding in postwar Gaza.
The Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP on Thursday about the planned visit:
A high-level delegation from the Hamas political office will visit Cairo tomorrow to meet Egyptian officials and give the response of the Palestinian factions, including several observations, to their plan
The official said these observations focus on “the modalities of the planned exchanges and the number of Palestinian prisoners to be freed, as well as obtaining guarantees for a complete Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza”.
Qatar, backed by Egypt and the United States, last month helped broker a first week-long truce in which 80 Israeli hostages were freed in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
Welcome and opening summary
Hello and welcome to our latest blog on the Israel-Gaza war. It’s 7:21am in Gaza and Tel Aviv, I’m Reged Ahmad and I’ll be with you for the next while.
A Hamas delegation is due in Cairo on Friday to give its “observations” about an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire that would end the war in Gaza, a Hamas official has said. It comes after Egypt said it had put forward a framework proposal to end the conflict that includes three stages ending with a ceasefire, and said it was awaiting responses on the plan.
More on that shortly but first, here’s a summary of the latest events:
Hamas is “open to any ideas or proposals for a complete and final cessation of aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip”, an official with the Palestinian militant group has said. Osama Hamdan, at a press conference on Thursday, said Hamas is not interested in a “partial or temporary cessation of aggression”, adding that the remaining hostages held in Gaza would only be released after a permanent ceasefire is implemented.
Benjamin Netanyahu has cancelled a war cabinet meeting that was scheduled for Thursday night to discuss Israel’s plan for Gaza after the war with Hamas ends. The Israeli prime minister has reportedly refused requests from security officials to make plans for control of Gaza after the war with Hamas ends.
The main focus of fighting in Gaza is now in central areas, where Israeli forces have ordered civilians out over the past several days as their tanks advance. Tens of thousands of people fleeing the huge Nusseirat, Bureij and Maghazi districts were heading south or west on Thursday into the already overwhelmed city of Deir al-Balah along the Mediterranean coast, crowding into hastily built camps of makeshift tents.
A total of 21,320 Palestinians have been killed and 55,603 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, a spokesperson from the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said on Thursday.
At least 20 people were killed and 55 wounded by an Israeli airstrike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, according to a Gaza health ministry spokesperson. The incident occurred near the Kuwaiti hospital, Al Jazeera reported, adding that it had “completely flattened” a residential full of displaced people. The report has not been verified.
The number of children who have been killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has reached an “unprecedented” level, the UN children’s fund (Unicef) has warned on Thursday. About 83 children have been killed in the West Bank in the past 12 weeks, Unicef said in a statement. A separate UN report published on Thursday deplored what it said was a “rapid deterioration” of human rights in the West Bank and urged Israeli authorities to end violence against the Palestinian population there. The office of the UN high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR) said about 4,785 Palestinians had been detained and 300 killed in the occupied West Bank since 7 October.
Israeli airstrikes hit near the Syrian capital, Damascus, and in the country’s south on Thursday, Syria’s defence ministry and state media has said. The strikes are believed to have targeted a Syrian army air defence base and a radar station in the Tel al-Sahn area in the Sweida province in south-western Syria, according to sources.
Joe Biden has said he is “devastated” to learn of the death of Judith (also known as Judih or Judy) Weinstein, a US-Israeli-Canadian woman, during the Hamas attacks on 7 October. The kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel on Thursday said Weinstein, 70, was “fatally wounded” during the attacks alongside her Israeli-American husband, Gadi Haggai, 73. It said the bodies of the couple “remain held in captivity by Hamas”.
The Israeli military has said it “regrets the harm” caused by an Israeli strike that killed dozens of people in the Maghazi refugee camp in the centre of Gaza earlier this week. About 86 people were killed in the Israeli airstrike in the Maghazi camp, east of Deir al-Balah, late on Sunday, according to figures by the UN human rights office. “The type of munition did not match the nature of the attack, causing extensive collateral damage that could have been avoided,” an Israeli military official told Kan news on Thursday.
The Israel Defense Forces (DF) has admitted it “failed in its mission” after its soldiers mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages in Gaza earlier this month. In a report of its final findings of an investigation into the 15 December killing, the IDF’s chief of staff Herzi Halevi said it had “failed in the mission of rescuing the abductees” and that the shooting “did not match the risk and the situation”.
Israel has given preliminary approval to Cyprus to set up a maritime humanitarian aid corridor to Gaza, Israels’s foreign ministry has said. The proposal, which has been in the works for more than a month, aims to deliver large quantities of aid to Palestinians in Gaza. It comes after the UN security council last week passed a resolution calling for “safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale” into Gaza.
Italy has objected to Israel’s intention to nominate the mayor of one of the main West Bank settlements as ambassador to Rome, Agence France-Presse is reporting – citing a diplomatic source.
The Palestinian Freedom Theatre in the occupied West Bank will welcome actors back this weekend, just over a fortnight after an Israeli raid on the centre, Agence France Presse reports. Soon after the raid on 13 December a Freedom Theatre appeal for the release of its staff won international support, with demonstrations in the streets of New York and Paris and playwrights, actors and directors from Britain to Mexico expressing their support.
