This blog is now closing and a new one will open later today, but for all of our latest updates – see our full coverage of the Israel-Gaza war, and a summary of the key events so far.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has released its daily report on the war.
Here is what the report had to say on internally displaced people:
Preliminary estimates by humanitarian actors on the ground indicate that at least 100,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have arrived in Rafah over the past days, following the intensification of hostilities in Khan Younis and Deir al Balah, and the Israeli army’s evacuation orders. Already on 20 December, Rafah was estimated to be the most densely populated area in Gaza, exceeding 12,000 people per square kilometre. The new influx of IDPs has further exacerbated conditions related to the already overcrowded space and limited resources.
And this on aid:
Supplies of medical aid and food have continued to entered Gaza in the past days through Rafah crossing with Egypt. This included 110 trucks on 27 December and another 76 trucks on 28 December. These quantities remain well below the daily average of 500 truckloads (including fuel and private sector goods) that entered every working day prior to 7 October. Key impediments remain on carrying out humanitarian operations inside Gaza. As noted by the Secretary-General, “an effective aid operation in Gaza requires security; staff who can work in safety; logistical capacity; and the resumption of commercial activity. These four elements do not exist.”
Let’s find out more about Judith Weinstein – An American, Canadian and Israeli woman who was thought to have been held hostage in Gaza.
Weinstein and her husband, Gad Haggai, had been thought to be 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 he was “devastated” to learn of Weinstein’s death, especially after hearing about the couple during a meeting with their daughter.
The families “have been living through hell for weeks. No family should have to endure such an ordeal,” he said in a statement.
It’s understood that Weinstein, 70, and Haggai, 73, were taking an early morning walk near their home in kibbutz Nir Oz on the morning of the attack.
Weinstein was born in New York and was an active member of the kibbutz, a small community near the Gaza border, where she taught English to children with special needs. The kibbutz said she also taught meditation techniques to children and teenagers who suffered from anxiety as a result of rocket fire from Gaza. Haggai was a retired chef and jazz musician.
“Judy dedicated her life to serving others, spending years teaching English and using her passions for poetry, puppeteering, and mindfulness to empower children of all backgrounds,” her family said in a statement.
Nir Oz was one of the hardest-hit Israeli communities on 7 October with roughly one quarter of its residents killed or kidnapped.
Updated
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.
Its artistic director Ahmed Tobasi told AFP the theatre in Jenin refugee camp had become a symbol of Palestinian resistance against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.
He said troops broke into and vandalised the small cultural centre earlier this month during a wider raid on Jenin, leaving behind a trail of damage and Stars of David graffitied across the walls. The theatre said soldiers also arrested several employees in their homes.
Tobasi, who said he was among those detained, is now back at work and determined to keep the centre open.
“For me, this is resistance,” the 39-year-old said as he gave AFP a tour of the theatre, which was set up in 2006.
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.
The Israeli army described the wider raid on Jenin, which Palestinian health authorities say killed 11 people, as designed to combat “terrorists” in the camp.
Staff spent several days clearing up and plan to stage their first big event, an end-of-year workshop for young actors, on Sunday.
The army has not responded to AFP’s request for comment.
Reged Ahmad here picking up the blog from Leonie Chao-Fong.
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.
In July, the Israel’s foreign ministry put forward the name of Benny Kashriel, mayor of Ma’ale Adumim, near Jerusalem, to succeed Alon Bar, a career diplomat due to retire in the summer of 2024.
Kashriel, 72, has been mayor of the urban settlement of nearly 40,000 inhabitants since 1992, and heads a local branch of the right-wing Likud party of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel has not yet submitted an official request to Rome for accreditation.
But a diplomatic source told AFP on Thursday, confirming press reports, that Italian authorities had sent a number of messages indicating that they considered the appointment inappropriate. Contacted by AFP, Israel’s foreign ministry declined to comment.
Italy’s right-wing coalition government led by Giorgia Meloni supports Israel in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
But Rome also considers that the settlements established in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967 – and deemed illegal by the United Nations – are an obstacle to peace.
Summary of the day so far
It’s 1am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
A total of 21,320 Palestinians have been killed and 55,603 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, a Gaza health ministry spokesperson 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.
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. Egyptian security sources had previously said the proposal included a multi-stage ceasefire involving prisoner releases by Israel and Hamas.
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.
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. Some 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 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.
Updated
Israeli airstrikes hit near the Syrian capital, Damascus, and in the country’s south, Syria’s defence ministry and state media has said.
A statement from the Syrian defence ministry reads:
At approximately 23:05 (20:05 GMT) today, the Israeli enemy carried out air strikes from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting some points in the southern region.
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, Reuters reported.
Updated
Hamas delegation to visit Cairo to discuss Egypt's ceasefire proposal – report
A Hamas official has said that a delegation from the Palestinian militant group is due in Cairo on Friday to give its “observations” about an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire that would end the war in Gaza.
The Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP:
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”.
As we reported earlier, Egypt has said that it put forward a framework proposal to end the conflict in Gaza. The plan includes three stages ending with a ceasefire, according to an Egyptian official, who added that further details of the plan would be released once it had received responses.
The plan was put last week to officials of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which is also battling Israeli forces in the territory, AFP reported. Citing sources close to Hamas, it said the 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.
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, it said.
Updated
Benjamin Netanyahu has cancelled a war cabinet meeting that was scheduled for tonight 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.
Netanyahu’s decision to cancel tonight’s meeting, the Times of Israel reported, has been “influenced by his far-right coalition partners” who have rejected any discussion about the role of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in a postwar Gaza governance. The report continues:
This leaves few if any other options, but Netanyahu has appeared committed to keeping his coalition intact and has accordingly sought to delay ‘day-after’ discussions for nearly three months.
The outlet reported that Netanyahu has agreed to discuss the matter at a meeting of the larger security cabinet on Tuesday.
The US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, has spoken with Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, today to discuss Gaza.
The pair spoke about Israel’s military campaign in the territory and preparations for the stabilisation phase that will follow major combat operations, Associated Press reported that Pentagon press secretary, Pat Ryder, said.
Austin reiterated the US’s resolve to ensure that Hamas can no longer threaten Israel’s security and he also underscored “the importance of protecting Gaza’s civilians and accelerating humanitarian assistance”, he said.
Austin and Gallant also discussed other threats to regional security, including Hezbollah’s activities in southern Lebanon, Houthi attacks against ships in the Red Sea, and Iranian-backed militia attacks against US forces in Iraq and Syria, Ryder added.
As we reported earlier, at least 20 people were killed and 55 wounded by an Israeli airstrike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Here’s our video report:
Updated
Israeli “aggression” targeted the vicinity of Damascus, Syrian state TV said on Thursday, Reuters reports.
According to Syrian state TV, explosions were heard in the vicinity of the Syrian capital earlier today and investigations were ongoing to verify their nature.
Two Qatari aircraft carrying aid to Palestinians in Gaza have landed in Al Arish, Egypt, the Qatari foreign ministry announced on Thursday.
The two aircraft were carrying 49 tons of aid, including food, medical aid and shelter supplies. Thursday’s aid brings the total amount of Qatari aid sent to Gaza to 1,642 tons.
Two Qatari Aircraft Carrying Aid to Palestinians in Gaza Land in Egypt's Al-Arish#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/KpILqujqnY
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) December 28, 2023
Updated
The Palestinine Red Crescent Society evacuated 8 casualties, including children, after Israeli forces targeted a house in Al Zawaida in central Gaza strip, the PRCS said on Thursday.
In a video posted on to X, PRCS teams can be seen searching through rubble amid flames as injured Palestinains are evacuated to hospitals.
🚨The PRCS teams evacuate 8 casualties, 🚑including children, due to the Israeli targeting of a house in Al-Zawaida in the central #Gaza Strip, causing it to catch fire. 👇In this video, we witness horrifying scenes of a large fire, and ambulance teams working under ⚠️dangerous… pic.twitter.com/3FKW1936Os
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 28, 2023
Summary of the day so far
It’s just past 10pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
At least 20 people were killed and 55 wounded by an Israeli airstrike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip today, 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. A total of 21,320 Palestinians have been killed and 55,603 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, a Gaza health ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.
Egypt said it has put forward a framework proposal to end the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip that includes three stages ending with a ceasefire, and said it was awaiting responses on the plan. Egyptian security sources had previously said the proposal included a multi-stage ceasefire involving prisoner releases by Israel and Hamas. Egypt would give further details of the plan once those responses are received, an official said.
Israel’s war cabinet is expected to meet on Thursday night to discuss its plan for Gaza after the war with Hamas ends, according to reports. The meeting comes following reports that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has been refusing to arrange a meeting on decisions relating to “the day after” and plans for control of the Palestinian territory.
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.
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. Israel’s military campaign and its repeated orders for civilians to evacuate to the south of the Gaza Strip have led to the displacement of 85% of the Palestinian population.
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. Some 83 children have been killed in the West Bank in the past 12 weeks, Unicef said in a statement – more than double the number of children killed in all of 2022. 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.
Joe Biden has said he is “devastated” to learn of the death of Judith 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”.
Many of the hostages released from detention in Gaza by Hamas in November still require intensive treatment for the trauma from their weeks in captivity, a leading Israeli psychiatrist has said. Among the 14 freed hostages treated at the Ichilov Tel Aviv medical centre were child hostages who had been drugged by their captors, those who had subjected to or witnessed sexual abuse, a woman who had been kept in a tiny cage, and another who had a breakdown after being kept in complete darkness for days, she said.
The UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) has said that 40% of Gaza’s population is now at risk of famine. Every day in the Palestinian territory is “a struggle for survival, finding food and finding water,” Thomas White, the director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, said. The agency said the “only remaining hope is a humanitarian ceasefire.”
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.
Israeli officials have hinted that the “diplomatic hourglass” is running out to reach a negotiated solution to the escalating fighting on the boundary with Lebanon. Security sources said the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired the most rockets and weaponised drones on Wednesday that it had in any single day since the clashes across the border began.
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.
The IDF has published its final findings of an investigation into the 15 December killing of three Israeli hostages by its troops during fighting in a battle-torn neighbourhood of Gaza City. The army identified the three killed hostages as Yotam Haim and Alon Shamriz, who were taken from Kfar Aza kibbutz during Hamas’s 7 October attack, and Samer El-Talalqa, taken from Nir Am kibbutz.
The investigation found that IDF forces on the ground did not have “sufficient awareness” of the possibility that troops would encounter captives in a situation that was not a special operation to rescue them, despite the army having intelligence of possible hostages in the area, the Times of Israel reported.
In a statement, the IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi said the shooting “did not match the risk and the situation”, adding:
The (military) failed in the mission of rescuing the abductees in this incident. The entire chain of command feels responsible for the difficult event, grieves over this outcome and shares in the grief of the three families of the abductees.
In its report, the IDF said that despite the soldiers clearly violating the rules of engagement, the enormous complexity of the circumstances led to no immediate punishment, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Joe Biden has said he is “devastated” to learn of the death of Judith Weinstein, 70, during the Hamas attacks on 7 October.
Weinstein, a US-Canadian-Israeli triple citizen, had been thought to be the oldest woman among the hostages still held in Gaza.
Earlier today, the kibbutz Nir Oz said she was “murdered in the massacre” on 7 October and that her body remains in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, the US president said:
This tragic development cuts deep, coming on the heels of last week’s news that Judith’s beloved husband, Gad Haggai, is believed to have been killed by Hamas. We are holding Judith and Gad’s four children, seven grandchildren, and other loved ones close to our hearts. I will never forget what their daughter, and the family members of other Americans held hostage in Gaza, have shared with me. They have been living through hell for weeks. No family should have to endure such an ordeal. And I reaffirm the pledge we have made to all the families of those still held hostage: we will not stop working to bring them home.
Updated
Two wounded Palestinian children have arrived in France to receive hospital treatment, according to the French foreign ministry.
The ministry added that it remained extremely concerned by the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Reuters reported.
Hamas open to any proposals for 'complete and final' end to Gaza war, says official
A Hamas official has said the Palestinian militant group is “open to any ideas or proposals for a complete and final cessation of aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip”.
Osama Hamdan, at a press conference on Thursday, said Hamas is not interested in a “partial or temporary cessation of aggression”, AP reported.
He reiterated Hamas’s position that the remaining hostages who have been held in Gaza since the 7 October attacks on Israel would only be released after a permanent ceasefire is implemented, the report said.
Asked about current discussions about a roadmap to end the war, including a framework proposal put forward by Egypt, Hamdan said the governance of Gaza would be a “decision of the Palestinian people alone” and that Palestinians in Gaza would “not accept a leadership that comes on the back of a Zionist or American tank or under the protection of this tank”.
Updated
Israel is preparing to allow the partial return of residents to evacuated towns along the Gaza border, war cabinet minister Benny Gantz has said.
Gantz, who heads the National Unity party, said Israel is “getting closer to the day when we can allow a return to some of the communities”, the Times of Israel reported.
The minister told representatives of several southern regional councils that he had discussed a partial return to the evacuated towns and that “we are all preparing for it”. He added:
I will work to have the issue brought up for discussion in the war cabinet in the near future.
About 125,00 people have been evacuated from Israeli towns and villages on the borders of Gaza and Lebanon since 7 October, the news outlet said.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images sent to us from Gaza and Israel.
Updated
At least 20 people were killed and 55 wounded by an Israeli airstrike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip today, according to a Gaza health ministry spokesperson.
The incident occurred near the Kuwaiti hospital, Al Jazeera reported, citing its correspondent who said he witnessed “a Palestinian girl who was injured, seriously injured, and another woman whose face was fully covered with blood” as casualties entered the hospital.
“The airstrike has completely flattened the residential building that is full displaced people,” the correspondent said.
Until now rescue operations by the ambulances and civil defence teams continue to pull the people from under the rubble.
The report has not been verified. The Israel Defense Forces have not yet commented on the report.
Updated
Israel’s war cabinet is expected to meet tonight to discuss its plan for Gaza after the war with Hamas ends, according to reports.
The meeting comes following reports that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has been putting off the discussion of plans for control of the Palestinian territory.
Netanyahu has reportedly refused multiple requests from security officials to arrange a meeting on decisions relating to “the day after” Israel declares it has achieved its goals against Hamas in control of the Gaza Strip.
Updated
Israeli military 'regrets harm to civilians' after dozens killed in refugee camp strike
The Israeli military has said it “regrets the harm” caused by an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) 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.
An Israeli military official, speaking to Israel’s Kan news today, said:
The type of munition did not match the nature of the attack, causing extensive collateral damage that could have been avoided.
In a later statement, the IDF said:
A preliminary investigation revealed that additional buildings located near the targets were also hit during the strikes, which likely caused unintended harm to additional uninvolved civilians.
The IDF said it “regretted the harm” to noncombatants in the incident, saying that the strike had targeted Hamas operatives but caused unexpected harm to civilians who were not involved.
Updated
A UN peacekeeper was injured when a group of young men attacked a patrol in south Lebanon, the UN mission has said.
In a statement, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) said a vehicle was also damaged during the Wednesday night incident in the village of Taybeh.
Attacks on individuals “serving the cause of peace are not only condemnable, but they are violations of resolution 1701 and Lebanese law”, it said.
Peacekeepers’ freedom of movement is vital as we work to restore security and stability along the blue line.
It called on Lebanese authorities to investigate the attack and bring the perpetrators to justice.
In a separate incident on Thursday morning, a peacekeepers’ convoy travelling through the border village of Kfar Kila was briefly blocked by residents, a Unifil spokesperson said. The peacekeepers were able to move on “after a brief discussion with locals”, they added.
Updated
Israel and Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon, have traded near-daily volleys of missiles, airstrikes and shelling across the UN-controlled blue line separating the countries since 7 October.
About 150 people in Lebanon have been killed, including 17 civilians, and 11 in Israel, including four civilians, with tens of thousands in both countries displaced from their homes.
Washington and Paris are leading intense secret negotiations to de-escalate the hostilities along the blue line, which are believed to include the possibility of finally resolving disputed territory on the border and persuading Hezbollah to withdraw its forces north of the Litani River, about 35km away.
The move would be in accordance with a UN resolution from the last war in 2006, but Hezbollah draws much of its grassroots support from the southern towns and villages closest to Israel, which were occupied for the better part of two decades before Israel withdrew its forces in 2000, and is unlikely to willingly concede its raison d’etre. A senior European diplomat in the region said:
The tit-for-tat on the blue line is clearly and steadily getting worse. Hezbollah engages in this sort of brinkmanship from time to time, but our prevailing assessment is that escalation is becoming more and more likely.
Updated
Israeli officials have hinted that the “diplomatic hourglass” is running out to reach a negotiated solution to the escalating fighting on the boundary with Lebanon.
A report from Israel’s Kan radio on Thursday, after a particularly intense rocket salvo hit the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, quoted a government source as saying that the parties were “approaching the point when the chance of reaching an agreement that might guarantee that Hezbollah was distanced from the border would be exhausted … The sand in the diplomatic hourglass in Lebanon is running out.”
Those remarks followed comments by the foreign minister, Eli Cohen, after a trip to the north on Wednesday. He said:
There are only two options – a political solution or military operation. What existed prior to 7 October won’t any more … We will grant a certain amount of time for a political solution. And if none is [reached], all options are on the table.
Another minister, Benny Gantz, said that the “situation on Israel’s northern border demands change”. He said at a press conference on Wednesday:
The stopwatch for a diplomatic solution is running out; if the world and the Lebanese government don’t act in order to prevent the firing on Israel’s northern residents, and to distance Hezbollah from the border, the IDF will do it.
The kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel has confirmed the death of Judy Weinstein, one of the hostages taken by Hamas during the 7 October terror attacks.
Weinstein, 70, an American-Canadian-Israeli triple citizen, was “fatally wounded” on 7 October during the attacks alongside her Israeli-American husband, Gadi Haggai, 73, a spokesperson for the kibbutz said.
The bodies of the couple “remain held in captivity by Hamas”, a statement said. It continued:
Judy was an English teacher, who specialised in teaching children with special needs. For the past few years she has also taught mindfulness to children and teenagers who suffered from anxiety caused by the ongoing rocket fire from Gaza.
Updated
Children being killed in West Bank at 'unprecedented levels', says UN
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.
Eighty-three children have been killed in the West Bank in the past 12 weeks, Unicef’s regional director for the Middle East and north Africa, Adele Khodr, said in a statement on Thursday. That figure is more than double the number of children killed in all of 2022, she said.
“This year has been the deadliest year on record for children in the West Bank,” she said. In addition, she said that more than 576 children have been injured and others have reportedly been detained since 7 October. She added:
As the world watches on in horror at the situation in the Gaza Strip, children in the West Bank are experiencing a nightmare of their own. Living with a near-constant feeling of fear and grief is, sadly, all-too-common for children affected.
She said the UN agency urged all parties to abide by their obligations “to protect children from conflict-related violence and protect their most basic right simply to be alive,” adding:
Children should never be the target of violence, no matter who or where they are.
Updated
Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, visited Cyprus last week for talks on setting up a maritime humanitarian corridor to Gaza.
During his visit to Nicosia, Cohen expressed support for creating a “fast track” for aid to be sent to Gaza by sea.
“International aid, well supervised, will help the region gain more stability and prosperity,” he said after talks with his Cypriot counterpart, Constantinos Kombos.
Under the plan, the aid would be checked in Cyprus by a joint committee, including representatives from Israel. Cyprus has said it is ready to deliver large quantities of aid through this “maritime lifeline”, which expected to provide “a sustained flow of high-volume humanitarian assistance to the civilians” in Gaza.
The initiative faces logistical, political and security challenges, as Gaza lacks port facilities. The UK has offered amphibious vessels able to access the territory’s coastline without the need for special infrastructure, according to Reuters.
Updated
Israel grants preliminary approval for maritime aid corridor from Cyprus to Gaza
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.
Cyprus, the closest EU member state to the Middle East, has offered to establish a humanitarian corridor to collect, inspect and store aid before shipping it to Gaza, about 230 miles (370km) away.
The Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson, Lior Haiat, said on Thursday that Israel had tentatively approved a system to allow international aid to be checked “with Israeli supervision” in Cyprus before being delivered directly to the territory, AFP reported. He told the news agency:
There’s a basic authorisation to use this route, but there are still some logistical problems that are waiting to be solved.
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.
According to the Cyprus news agency, citing official sources, Cyprus has completed its part of the necessary procedures, but the issue of the security of the ships and their crews approaching Gaza was raised, as well as who would receive the aid.
Updated
The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, warned against any escalation in the conflict in Gaza as he met the Lebanese prime minister, Najib Mikati.
Cameron, posting to social media, said an escalation of the conflict in Gaza to Lebanon, the Red Sea or the wider region would “add to the extremely high level of danger and insecurity in the world”.
He added that he was grateful to the Lebanese prime minister for “discussing these crucial issues with me today and for Lebanon’s efforts to prevent such escalation”.
Cameron’s post comes as the war in Gaza threatens to spill outside the borders of Israel and the Palestinian territories, and amid intensifying clashes along the Lebanon-Israel border between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli forces.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
It is 5pm in Gaza City and in Tel Aviv. Here are the latest headlines …
Egypt said on Thursday that it had put forward a framework proposal to end the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip that includes three stages ending with a ceasefire, and said it was awaiting responses on the plan. Egyptian security sources had previously said the proposal included a multi-stage ceasefire involving prisoner releases by Israel and Hamas.
The main focus of fighting 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. Israel’s military campaign and its repeated orders for civilians to evacuate to the south of the Gaza Strip have led to the displacement of 85% of the Palestinian population.
A total of 21,320 Palestinians have been killed and 55,603 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said on Thursday. Qidra said 210 Palestinians had been killed in the past 24 hours. The health ministry in Gaza is run by Hamas.
The UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) has said 40% of Gaza’s population was now at risk of famine. The agency said it was distributing flour to families in southern Gaza but there was “simply not enough food”. The schools that it has converted into shelters are four times over capacity.
A UN report published on Thursday deplored 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 office of the UN high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR) said it had recorded mass arbitrary detentions, unlawful detentions, and cases of reported torture and other forms of ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees. It said about 4,785 Palestinians had been detained and 300 killed in the occupied West Bank since 7 October.
One Palestinian has been killed and at least 15 injured in overnight raids by the Israeli military targeting money exchange shops in cities in the occupied West Bank. Israel’s national security minister published an image that he claimed showed items confiscated by Israel. In his message, Itamar Ben-Gvir claimed that “tens of millions of shekels, safes, documents, recording systems and telephones that were intended to finance Hamas terrorism were confiscated”.
The number of Israeli service personnel injured during the war against Hamas has now reached roughly 3,000. That figure includes nearly 900 soldiers wounded since Israel began its ground offensive inside Gaza in late October. More than 160 soldiers have been killed since the ground operation began. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
A drone has crashed near a village in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, Israel’s army has said, after an Iraqi armed group with links to Hamas militants claimed responsibility for an attack in the area. Israeli media reported that a drone probably carrying explosives launched from Syria was shot down late Wednesday evening south of the settlement of Eliad, causing no injuries but some material damage. On Thursday Israel said it had shot down a drone that crossed into its territory from Lebanon.
Israel’s military chief, Herzi Halevi, has said his forces were “at a very high level of readiness” amid escalating Hezbollah attacks from Lebanon. The Israeli war cabinet minister, Benny Gantz, separately said the situation on the country’s northern border “demands change” and the time for diplomacy was running out.
Germany and its EU partners are examining whether they could mount a new maritime mission to protect commercial vessels under threat of attack in the Red Sea, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday. Yemen’s rebel Houthis have been targeting vessels using the Red Sea and Suez canal route in order, they say, to target shipping with links to Israel.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images sent to us from Gaza and Israel.
Updated
Reuters reports that the main focus of fighting is now in central areas south of the wetlands that bisect the Gaza Strip, 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.
The eastern part of Bureij was a scene of heavy fighting on Thursday morning, with Israeli tanks pushing in from the north and east, residents said.
One Palestinian man, who gave his name as Omar, told Reuters by phone: “That moment has come, I wished it would never happen, but it seems displacement is a must. We are now in a tent in Deir al-Balah because of this brutal Israeli war.”
He said he had been forced to move with at least 35 family members.
Updated
Egypt says it has proposed a framework to end the conflict in Gaza
Egypt said on Thursday that it had put forward a framework proposal to end the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip that includes three stages ending with a ceasefire, and said it was awaiting responses on the plan.
Egypt would give further details of the plan once those responses are received, Reuters reports Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt’s State Information Service, said in a statement.
The proposal is an attempt “to bring viewpoints between all concerned parties closer, in an effort to stop Palestinian bloodshed and the aggression against the Gaza Strip and restore peace and stability to the region”, he said.
Egyptian security sources had previously said the proposal included a multi-stage ceasefire involving prisoner releases by Israel and Hamas. One Egyptian source said the idea of a postwar Gaza administration was raised.
Earlier this week Jordan’s King Abdullah II visited Cairo for talks about Gaza with Egypt’s president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.
More than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its campaign there, according to the local authorities, and Israel has lost at least 160 soldiers in its ground campaign. More than 55,000 Palestinians have been wounded, and 85% of the population of the territory has been displaced.
Updated
Chen Almog-Goldstein, one of the hostages freed during the temporary ceasefire, has told Reuters in an interview that she is worried about the women still being held captive by Hamas in Gaza, some of whom she said were seriously injured.
She told Reuters that at one point her family was placed in a hideout with a group of female captives.
She said the hostages were “beaten, handcuffed for some hours. Not just men, women were beaten too and we heard of sexual abuse, some first hand and some were girls we met who had witnessed it or had heard about it, harm inflicted at gunpoint.”
She told the news agency: “They said they could deal with the physical injuries but they didn’t know how they could deal with the way they were hurt sexually.”
“It is hell there,” said Almog-Goldstein. “[The remaining hostages] are trying to keep their morale up but when we were let out, they were already on the edge.”
Hamas has denied accusations of sexual abuse. About 240 hostages were seized from Israel on 7 October, and it is believed by Israeli authorities that there are 19 women among 129 hostages remaining captive and kept incommunicado in Gaza.
Almog-Goldstein, 49, a social worker, was held for 51 days alongside three of her children. Her husband and eldest daughter were killed on 7 October when gunmen broke into the family safe room in kibbutz Kfar Aza.
Earlier today a spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry said that Russia continues to work with both Israel and Qatar toward the release of three Russian citizens believed to be held by Hamas, but said that it is “not very easy”.
Updated
An Israeli airstrike on a home in the northern town of Beit Lahiyeh – one of the first targets of Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza that began in October – buried at least 21 people, including women and children, according to a family member.
Bassel Kheir al-Din, a journalist with a local TV station, told Associated Press the strike flattened his family house and severely damaged three neighbouring homes. He said 12 members of his family – including three children aged two, seven and eight – were buried and presumed dead, and that nine neighbours were missing.
In central Gaza, Israeli warplanes and artillery pounded the built-up Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps, levelling buildings, residents said.
Associated Press reported that a hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah received the bodies of 25 people killed overnight, including five children and seven women, hospital records showed on Thursday. Non-stop explosions could be heard throughout the night in the town – where hundreds of thousands of people have sought shelter, with many spending cold nights sleeping on what is left of pavements.
“It was another night of killing and massacres,” said Saeed Moustafa, a resident of the Nuseirat camp. He said people were still crying out from the rubble of a house hit by an airstrike on Wednesday. “We are unable to get them out. We hear their screams but we don’t have equipment,” he said.
Updated
Germany and EU partners are examining whether they could mount a new maritime mission to protect commercial vessels under threat of attack in the Red Sea, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.
“We as the German government are ready for this. It is important that we as the EU are able to act as quickly as possible in view of the ongoing attacks,” Reuters reports the spokesperson said, adding that a decision on the matter had not yet been taken.
On Wednesday the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said he was opposed to the expansion of the EU’s Operation Atalanta anti-piracy mission in the Indian Ocean to encompass maritime traffic through the Red Sea and Suez Canal, but that Spain was willing to consider the creation of a different mission to tackle the problem.
Yemen’s rebel Houthis have been targeting vessels using the Red Sea and Suez canal route in order, they say, to target shipping with links to Israel.
Updated
Gaza health ministry: 21,320 Palestinians killed and 55,603 injured in Israeli strikes since 7 October
A total of 21,320 Palestinians have been killed and 55,603 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said on Thursday.
Reuters reports that Qidra said 210 Palestinians had been killed in the past 24 hours. The health ministry in Gaza is run by Hamas.
Eighty-five per cent of the Palestinian population in Gaza has been displaced after repeated calls by the Israeli military for civilians to evacuate to the south of the territory, where many are now struggling to find food while living in makeshift shelters. The UN refugee agency in the Gaza Strip has said 40% of the population is at risk of famine.
Earlier today, a UN report said at least 300 Palestinians had been killed since 7 October in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, said: “The use of military tactics means and weapons in law enforcement contexts [by Israel], the use of unnecessary or disproportionate force, and the enforcement of broad, arbitrary and discriminatory movement restrictions that affect Palestinians are extremely troubling.”
Updated
Israel has shot down a drone that crossed into its territory from Lebanon on Thursday, the military said, according to a report from Reuters. Air raid sirens sounded in northern Israel and there were no immediate reports of casualties.
Summary of the day so far …
It is 2pm in Gaza City and in Tel Aviv. Here are the latest headlines …
A UN report published on Thursday deplored 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 office of the UN high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR) said it had recorded mass arbitrary detentions, unlawful detentions, and cases of reported torture and other forms of ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees. It said about 4,785 Palestinians had been detained and 300 killed in the occupied West Bank since 7 October.
One Palestinian has been killed and at least 15 injured in overnight raids by the Israeli military targeting money exchange shops in cities in the occupied West Bank. Israel’s national security minister published an image that he claimed showed items confiscated by Israel. In his message, Itamar Ben-Gvir claimed that “tens of millions of shekels, safes, documents, recording systems and telephones that were intended to finance Hamas terrorism were confiscated.”
The UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) has said 40% of Gaza’s population is now at risk of famine. The agency said it was distributing flour to families in southern Gaza but there was “simply not enough food”. The schools that it has converted into shelters are four times over capacity. More than 85% of Gaza’s population has been displaced following Israeli military orders for civilians to evacuate to the south of the territory.
Gaza’s health ministry has said 50 Palestinians have been killed on Thursday by Israeli strikes in Beit Lahia, Khan Younis and Maghazi. An Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza reported that “huge explosions were heard in the northern suburbs of Gaza City amid continued Israeli artillery shelling”. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said 10 people were killed and at least 12 injured in an Israeli bombing near its al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis. Gaza’s health ministry says Israeli military action has killed 21,110 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since Israel began its campaign against Hamas on 7 October, with 55,243 people wounded.
The number of Israeli service personnel injured during the war against Hamas has now reached roughly 3,000. That figure includes nearly 900 soldiers wounded since Israel began its ground offensive inside Gaza in late October. More than 160 soldiers have been killed since the ground operation began. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
A drone has crashed near a village in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, Israel’s army has said, after an Iraqi armed group with links to Hamas militants claimed responsibility for an attack in the area. Israeli media reported that a drone probably carrying explosives launched from Syria was shot down late Wednesday evening south of the settlement of Eliad, causing no injuries but some material damage.
Israel’s military chief, Herzi Halevi, has said his forces are “at a very high level of readiness” amid escalating Hezbollah attacks from Lebanon. The Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz separately said the situation on the country’s northern border “demands change” and the time for diplomacy was running out.
In Russia, the foreign ministry has said “a small number of Russian citizens remain in the Gaza Strip” and that it is still working to free hostages with Israel and Qatar. On 7 October about 240 people were abducted from southern Israel during the Hamas attack and taken captive inside Gaza, of which just over 100 have been subsequently released.
Denmark’s Maersk will sail almost all its container vessels that are travelling between Asia and Europe through the Suez canal from now on while diverting only a handful around Africa. Major shipping companies stopped using Red Sea routes and the Suez Canal earlier this month after Yemen’s Houthi militant group began targeting vessels it claimed had links to Israel.
Updated
UNRWA: 40% of Gaza's population now at risk of famine as there is 'simply not enough food'
The UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) has said that 40% of Gaza’s population is now at risk of famine.
In a post on social media, the agency said: “Gaza is grappling with catastrophic hunger. 40% of the population are now at risk of famine. The reality is, we need more aid. The only remaining hope is a humanitarian ceasefire.”
It quoted Thomas White, the director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, saying: “Every day is a struggle for survival, finding food and finding water.”
The agency said that “in southern Gaza, UNRWA continues distributing flour, reaching 145,724 families so far. Hot meals are provided in UNRWA school-turned shelters, but the average number of people in these shelters is more than 12,000 … four times over capacity. There is simply not enough food.”
Eylon Levy, the Israeli government spokesperson, has accused the UN of a failure to provide aid to civilians in Gaza. He claimed that Hamas hijacks aid and that the “UNRWA covers up for it”, and blamed the UN’s logistics for the closure of the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom border crossing this week.
Since the 7 October surprise Hamas attack inside southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people, Israel has put Gaza under an almost complete siege, insisting that any aid entering the territory is inspected by Israel, and at times cutting off utilities and communications inside Gaza. More than 85% of Gaza’s population has been displaced following Israeli military orders for civilians to evacuate to the south of the territory.
Updated
Associated Press reports that the number of Israeli service personnel injured during the war against Hamas has now reached roughly 3,000.
That figure includes nearly 900 soldiers wounded since Israel began its ground offensive inside Gaza in late October. More than 160 soldiers have been killed since the ground operation began.
The Israeli Defense Ministry said it was working at “full capacity” to assist the wounded, and that it was cutting red tape and hiring employees to deal with the influx.
The news agency spoke to Jonathan Ben Hamou, 22, who lost his left leg beneath the knee after a rocket-propelled grenade struck the bulldozer he was using inside the Gaza Strip. “I’m not ashamed of the wound,” he said. “I was wounded for the country in a war inside Gaza. I am proud.”
Edan Kleiman, who heads the nonprofit Disabled Veterans Organization, which advocates for more than 50,000 soldiers wounded in this and earlier conflicts, told AP: “I have never seen a scope like this and an intensity like this. We must rehabilitate these people.”
Kleiman, who himself was wounded inside the Gaza Strip in the early 1990s, said he thinks Israeli authorities are not grasping the severity of the situation. He said the number of wounded is likely to stretch close to 20,000 once those diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder are included.
Israeli military action has killed 21,110 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since Israel began its campaign against Hamas on 7 October, according to figures released on Wednesday by the health ministry in the territory. In addition to the deaths, the ministry, which is run by Hamas, said 55,243 people had been wounded.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Updated
Denmark’s Maersk will sail almost all its container vessels that are travelling between Asia and Europe through the Suez Canal from now on while diverting only a handful around Africa, a Reuters breakdown of the group’s schedule showed on Thursday.
Major shipping companies, including container giants Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, stopped using Red Sea routes and the Suez Canal earlier this month after Yemen’s Houthi militant group began targeting vessels it claimed had links to Israel, disrupting global trade.
Updated
Here are some recent images sent to us over the news wires from Gaza and Israel.
Updated
UN report accuses Israel of mistreatment of detainees in occupied West Bank
A UN report published on Thursday deplored 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 office of the UN high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR) said it had recorded mass arbitrary detentions, unlawful detentions, and cases of reported torture and other forms of ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees. It said about 4,785 Palestinians had been detained in the occupied West Bank since 7 October.
“Some were stripped naked, blindfolded and restrained for long hours with handcuffs and with their legs tied, while Israeli soldiers stepped on their heads and backs, were spat at, slammed against walls, threatened, insulted, humiliated and in some cases subjected to sexual and gender-based violence,” OHCHR said.
The report, published by the Office of the UN high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR), said 300 Palestinians had been killed in the West Bank since 7 October. Most of the killings occurred during operations by Israeli security forces.
“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,” OHCHR chief, Volker Türk, said.
“I call on Israel to take immediate, clear and effective steps to put an end to settler violence against the Palestinian population, to investigate all incidents of violence by settlers and Israeli Security Forces, to ensure effective protection of Palestinian communities,” he added.
Reuters said there was no immediate comment from Israeli officials on the report.
Israeli security forces claimed to have confiscated “tens of millions of shekels, safes, documents, recording systems and telephones” that it said were intended to “finance Hamas terrorism” during overnight raids in the West Bank.
Updated
Russia says it is still working with Israel and Qatar to free hostages from Gaza
In Russia, Tass is reporting that the foreign ministry has said “a small number of Russian citizens remain in the Gaza Strip” and that Russia is still working to free hostages.
It cites Yuri Gorlach, a crisis director at the ministry, saying:
According to information from our foreign missions, our citizens remain in the Gaza Strip. This is … a small number. Either permission from the relevant authorities was not received, or they voluntarily refused to leave because there was no permission for their relative. Our foreign missions are closely monitoring the situation, and whenever possible we are trying to provide assistance to them on an individual basis.
Of those who have left Gaza, Gorlach said “Currently, there are over 600 people, including about 300 children, in ten temporary accommodation centres in … the Russian Federation.”
The ministry said that in total 1,125 people have left Gaza and arrived in Russia on special flights. Russia claims it has assisted in evacuating citizens of Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Sweden, and Morocco from Gaza.
On the hostage situation, Gorlach said:
There is one more aspect on which we worked with our Israeli colleagues – the release of Russian hostages, citizens with Russian citizenship. There was also very intensive work here. We managed to rescue most of them, we expect that this work will continue, it is not very easy.
As you understand, the situation in the region is not simple. The safe withdrawal of our hostages is also a task that we must solve extremely carefully … And we are working closely with the authorities of both Israel and Qatar, which also provides assistance.
The Israeli ambassador to Russia, Alexander Ben Zvi, has said that Israel believes three Russian citizens are still being held captive by Hamas inside Gaza. On 7 October about 240 people were abducted from southern Israel and taken captive inside Gaza, of which just over 100 have been subsequently released.
Updated
Gaza’s health ministry has said that 50 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes in Beit Lahia, Khan Younis and Maghazi.
An Al Jazeera correspondent inside Gaza has reported that “huge explosions were heard in the northern suburbs of Gaza City amid continued Israeli artillery shelling”. There are also reports that at least one Palestinian has been killed and a number of others injured in Israeli bombing of the al-Wafiya area in Khan Younis.
This map shows the latest information our graphics team had about the situation on the ground in Gaza.
In a statement, Israel’s military says it has been operating “in the heart of Daraj Tuffah” in Gaza City in the north of the territory.
It claims “after RPG missiles were fired from inside a building toward an IDF vehicle, IDF ground troops destroyed terrorist infrastructure located inside the building. Additionally, an anti-tank missile launch site where terrorist operatives were located was struck by the IAF with the direction of IDF ground forces, Over the last two days, IDF troops conducted operational activity in the Daraj Tuffah area and eliminated terrorists in both ground and aerial strikes.”
The claims have not been independently verified.
Israel’s military has also released more images which show its tropps operating within undisclosed locations within Gaza.
Updated
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has posted to social media to say that 10 people have been killed and “at least 12 injured” in a bombing near its Al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis.
The message states that “this is the third targeting of the hospital area in less than an hour” by Israeli forces.
🚨 عاجل: عشرة شهداء و 12 اصابة على الأقل خلال قصف بالقرب من مستشفى الأمل التابع للجمعية في خانيونس.
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 28, 2023
ويعتبر هذا الاستهداف الثالث لمحيط المستشفى خلال اقل من ساعة. #لست_هدفا ❌#مستشفى_الأمل
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Israel’s national security minister has published an image on social mediathat he claims shows items confiscated by Israel in overnight raids in the occupied West Bank.
In his message, Itamar Ben-Gvir claims that “tens of millions of shekels, safes, documents, recording systems and telephones that were intended to finance Hamas terrorism were confiscated.”
Ben-Gvir also states that “21 suspects, residents of Ramallah, Jenin, Hebron, Tulkarem, Atil and Albira” were arrested.
לאחר מבצע נרחב הלילה ביהודה ושומרון הוחרמו עשרות מיליוני שקלים, כספות, מסמכים, מערכות הקלטה וטלפונים שהיו מיועדים למימון טרור החמאס – את המבצע המיוחד ביצעו יחד כוחות גדולים של יחידת להב 433, מג"ב, צה"ל ושב"כ, שבסיומה - נעצרו 21 חשודים תושבי רמאללה, ג'נין, חברון, טול כרם, עתיל… pic.twitter.com/FQnxwF3AhK
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) December 28, 2023
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
An Israeli teenager has become the first person to be jailed for being a conscientious objector since the latest conflict broke out, the Jerusalem Post has reported.
Tal Mitnick, 18, has been jailed for 30 days after going to an army recruitment centre with a group of protesters to announce his refusal to enlist, the paper reported, adding that he had been given an “exceptionally long” sentence for a first time refuser. It attributed the following statement to him:
I refuse to believe that more violence will bring security, I refuse to take part in a war of revenge. I grew up in a home where life is sacred, where discussion is valued, and where discourse and understanding always come before taking violent measures.
In the world full of corrupt interests in which we live, violence and war are another way to increase support for the government and silence criticism.
We must recognise the fact that after weeks of the ground operation in Gaza, at the end of the day – negotiations, an agreement, brought back the hostages. It was actually military action that caused them to be killed.
Because of the criminal lie that ‘there are no innocent civilians in Gaza’, even hostages waving a white flag shouting in Hebrew were shot to death.
I don’t want to imagine how many similar cases there were that were not investigated because the victims were born on the wrong side of the fence.
Updated
A drone has crashed near a village in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, Israel’s army has said, after an Iraqi armed group with links to Hamas militants claimed responsibility for an attack in the area.
Israeli media reported that a drone probably carrying explosives launched from Syria was shot down late Wednesday evening south of the settlement of Eliad, causing no injuries but some material damage.
The Israeli army told AFP that the drone had crashed near Eliad, but gave no further details.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose formation of pro-Iran armed groups, said in a statement it had hit a “vital target” south of Eliad with “appropriate weaponry”. AFP reported further:
Since the war in Gaza began, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks against US and international coalition forces in Iraq and Syria.
Washington has counted 103 attacks against its forces in Iraq and Syria since 17 October, according to a US military official.
Most of those attacks have been claimed by factions of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq that oppose US support for Israel in its war against Hamas.
But the group has so far claimed few direct attacks against Israeli interests.
Israel conquered part of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war before annexing the territory in 1981.
Here are some of the latest images coming to us from Gaza:
Updated
Money exchange shops in West Bank raided by Israeli forces, reports say
One Palestinian has been killed and at least 15 injured in raids by the Israeli military targeting money exchange shops in cities in the West Bank, Al Jazeera is reporting.
The broadcaster’s correspondent, Imran Khan, who is in Ramallah, said 10 raids had taken place in cities including Ramallah, al-Bireh, Hebron, Halhul, Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarem and Jericho.
Israel has said the exchange shops are used by the Palestinian resistance movement to finance their activities, according to Khan, who added:
The raid here in Ramallah was unparalleled. I counted at least 20 vehicles entering the city around 1am (23.00 GMT Wednesday). Then there were fierce clashes that broke out in Al-Manara Square, which is in the centre of the city.
There was a controlled explosion around 3am (01.00 GMT). Israeli forces went into a money exchange shop and arrested the owner of the shop.
This was a raid unlike any other we have seen in the centre of Ramallah.
Updated
The Israeli army has announced the deaths of three more soldiers in the Gaza Strip, bringing the total number killed in the territory since 7 October to 167.
They were named as Maj Dvir David Fima, 32, from Kfar Yonah; Capt (res) Neriya Zisk, 24, from Masu’ot Itzhak; and Sgt first class (res) Asaf Pinhas Tubul, 22, from Kiryat Motzkin.
Updated
France's Macron calls for 'lasting ceasefire' in call with Netanyahu
French president Emmanuel Macron has demanded a “lasting ceasefire” in Gaza during a call with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, his office has said, as an escalating humanitarian crisis grips the Palestinian territory.
“France will work in the coming days in cooperation with Jordan to carry out humanitarian operations in Gaza,” the French presidency added in a statement, according to AFP.
Macron, an ally of Netanyahu since the start of the war triggered by the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October, told the Israeli premier of his “deepest concern” about civilian deaths and the humanitarian emergency in Gaza.
He also insisted on the importance of measures to end violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank and prevent new planned settlements.
Netanyahu’s office said during the call the prime minister thanked Macron for “France’s involvement in defending freedom of navigation and its willingness to help restore security along Israel’s border with Lebanon”.
Macron has steadily sharpened his criticism of Israel over its Gaza offensive.
Last week he said that Israel’s goal of fighting terrorism did not mean it had to “flatten Gaza”, calling on the government “to stop this response because it is not appropriate, because all lives are worth the same and we defend them”.
Updated
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war with me, Helen Livingstone.
French president Emmanuel Macron has demanded a “lasting ceasefire” in Gaza during a call with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, his office has said, as an escalating humanitarian crisis grips the Palestinian territory.
“France will work in the coming days in cooperation with Jordan to carry out humanitarian operations in Gaza,” the French presidency added in a statement.
Macron, an ally of Netanyahu since the start of the war triggered by the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October, told the Israeli premier of his “deepest concern” about civilian deaths and the humanitarian emergency in Gaza.
The call took place as Israeli warplanes continued to strike central and southern Gaza, including in Khan Younis where 20 Palestinians were killed in a strike near al-Amal hospital according to the Gaza health ministry.
The UN humanitarian office (OCHA) has warned that the scale and intensity of ground operations and fighting in Gaza is hindering the delivery of aid to those in need. In a statement on Wednesday, the OCHA said humanitarian operations are “facing increasing operational challenges due to intensified hostilities, insecurity, blocked roads, scarcity of fuel, and extremely limited communications.”
Israel launched heavy strikes across central and southern Gaza overnight and into Wednesday after broadening its offensive against Hamas to more areas where the military had told Palestinians to seek shelter earlier in the war. Residents reported heavy bombing in the built-up Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, in the southern city of Khan Younis and in the southern town of Rafah, areas where tens of thousands have sought refuge as much of northern Gaza was pounded to rubble. An Israeli strike killed 20 Palestinians near al-Amal hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, according to a Gaza health ministry spokesperson.
At least 21,110 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli military action in Gaza since 7 October, according to figures released on Wednesday by the health ministry in the territory. The ministry reported that 55,243 people had been wounded. It said 195 people were killed and 325 injured in the last 24 hours.
Six Palestinians were killed and several others wounded on Wednesday after an Israeli operation in a Palestinian refugee camp in the north of the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian ministry of health. According to the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, the six people were killed by Israeli airstrikes on the Nur Shams refugee camp near the town of Tulkarem, where Israeli soldiers were also deployed.
Israel’s military chief, Herzi Halevi, has said his forces are “at a very high level of readiness” amid escalating Hezbollah attacks from Lebanon. Israeli war cabinet minister, Benny Gantz, separately said that the situation on the country’s northern border “demands change”, adding that the time for diplomacy “is running out”. Hezbollah claimed on Wednesday morning to have fired 18 rockets into Israel from Lebanon. The IDF said it intercepted some of the rockets. A Hezbollah fighter was killed late Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike in south Lebanon along with his brother, a Lebanese-Australian national, and his wife, according to reports.
Telecommunications and internet services are being gradually restored in central and southern Gaza, the Palestinian phone service provider, Paltel, has said on Wednesday. Phone and Internet services experienced a “complete breakdown” on Tuesday that was “due to the ongoing offensive”, it said.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned the people of Gaza face “grave peril”. In a statement on Wednesday, the WHO said its teams had undertaken “high-risk” missions to deliver supplies to hospitals in northern and southern Gaza, where they witnessed “intense hostilities in their vicinity, high patient loads and overcrowding.”
Israel has responded furiously to comments by Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, comparing Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler. Speaking at an awards ceremony in Ankara, Erdoğan said the Israeli prime minister was no different from Hitler and likened Israel’s attacks on Gaza to the treatment of Jewish people by the Nazis. Netanyahu responded by saying the Turkish president should be the last person to lecture Israel. Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, said Erdoğan’s remarks were “deeply offensive” to Jewish people around the world.
Benjamin Netanyahu has allegedly refused requests from security officials to begin making plans for control and governance of the Gaza Strip after the war ends, according to a report. Multiple requests were conveyed on behalf of the directors of the Mossad, the Shin Bet security agency, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) chief of staff and the defence ministry to arrange a meeting with the prime minister’s office, Israeli media reported. Meanwhile, a White House official has said national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and Israel’s strategic affairs minister, Ron Dermer, have discussed planning for the day after the Israel-Gaza war, including governance and security in Gaza.
Updated
