This blog is now closing. A new one will open later on Monday. But until then, see all of our Israel-Gaza war coverage here.
At least 100 people have been killed in Gaza in the past 24 hours, as the three-month-old conflict between Israel and Hamas rolls into the new year with no end in sight and only tentative Israeli government plans for discussing the day after the war is over.
The Hamas-run territory’s health authority said about 48 people were killed overnight on Sunday in heavy Israeli bombing of Gaza City, where pockets of fierce fighting are ongoing despite claims by the Israel Defense Forces that the north of the blockaded exclave is largely under Israeli operational control.
Another strike killed 20 people sheltering at al-Aqsa University in the west of Gaza City, witnesses said.
Read the rest of Bethan McKernan’s full report here:
Thomas White, the Director of UNRWA Affairs – Gaza, has posted video on X of a large crowd of people converging on an aid convoy this week.
He says “40% of the population at risk of famine … more regular supplies needed”.
People are hungry and just desperate for food @UNRWA convoy in #Gaza City this week.
— Thomas White (@TomWhiteGaza) December 30, 2023
40% of the population at risk of famine.
More regular supplies needed - require safe and sustainable #humanitarain access everywhere including to the North of Gaza pic.twitter.com/ylZ3ors6RN
Reged Ahmad here, taking over the blog from Maya Yang.
A former member of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet has offered a rare public apology, Associated Press reports.
The news agency says Galit Distel Atbaryan, a lawmaker from Netanyahu’s Likud Party, appeared to accept responsibility for the polarised atmosphere ahead of the 7 October attack.
“I’m here sitting and telling you, the democratic, secular public: I sinned against you, I caused pain for you, I caused you to fear for your lives here, and I am sorry for this,” she told Channel 13 TV.
Distel Atbaryan appeared to accept the argument that the internal divisions created perceptions of weakness that encouraged Hamas to attack, AP reports.
Distel Atbaryan added that she was taking responsibility for her role in the massive protests and civil discord that erupted after Netanyahu’s right-wing government attempted to implement a far-reaching overhaul of the judicial system.
Updated
While the world marks the new year, in Gaza the war dominates everything.
The Associated Press reports that displaced Palestinians found little to celebrate on New Year’s Eve in Muwasi, a makeshift camp in a mostly undeveloped area of southern Gaza’s Mediterranean coast designated by Israel as a safe zone.
“From the intensity of the pain we live, we do not feel that there is a new year,” said Kamal al-Zeinaty, huddled with his family around a fire inside a tent. “All the days are the same.”
Another relative, Zeyad al-Zeinaty, who fled with the family from the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, said his wife, brother and grandchildren are among many relatives he has lost in the war.
It is 1.25am on New Year’s Day in Israel and Gaza. Just after midnight, Hamas militants fired a barrage of rockets, setting off air raid sirens in southern and central Israel. No injuries were reported.
Summary
Here is where things stand:
The Israeli military will release some reservists who were called to join Israel’s war in Gaza, Reuters reports. “Some of the reservist soldiers will return to their families and their jobs already this week,” said military spokesperson rear admiral Daniel Hagari.
Several pro-Palestine groups around the world calling for a ceasefire in Gaza where Israeli forces have killed over 21,600 Palestinians have united in what they call a “#countdown2ceasefire” ahead of the new year. In several posts on X, the group posted pro-ceasefire rallies to be held globally as countries gear up for the new year’s eve countdown.
World Health Organization representatives visited Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis on Sunday to assess the needs of the overwhelmed health facility, WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said. In a tweet on Sunday, Tedros addred that the Nasser Medical Complex is one of only two key functioning hospitals in southern Gaza that is able to provide medical care for wounded and other patients.
Cori Bush, a US Democratic representative of Missouri, has joined a handful of Democrats in criticizing the Joe Biden’s administration for bypassing congressional review in its transfer of weapons to Israel. Over the weekend, Bush tweeted: “The White House cannot have it both ways: calling on the Israeli government to uphold international law while bypassing Congress to send weapons that are leading to violations of international law. How many innocent people must die before @POTUS will demand a ceasefire?”
Palestine’s ambassador to the UK said that the world wants to discuss the “day after Israel’s aggression on Gaza but it’s the day before we need to understand”. In an interview with Democracy Now, Husam Zomlot said: “Everybody now is wanting us to discuss the day after. No. The day before. The day before 7 October. The occupation, the colonisation, the racism, the supremacy, the murders all over the West Bank, the provocations in Jerusalem, the rounding and arresting of our children without trial, without charge, without access to their parents or lawyers, this is what needs to be discussed.”
The Palestinian foreign minister has released a statement before the new year in which he condemned what he called the “Israeli war machine’s persistence in the war of genocide”. In a statement on X, Riad Malki wrote: “We welcome the new year and the 59th anniversary of the start of the Palestinian revolution, yet the wounds of our people are bleeding due to Israeli war machine’s persistence in the war of genocide, destruction, and displacement.”
Approximately 1.4 million Palestinians who have been displaced by Israeli strikes are living in UNRWA facilities across the Gaza Strip, the UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma said. She told the BBC: “The facilities in the north are becoming crowded by the hour, people continue to come in. They are absolutely full and so people have started taking refuge in areas outside these facilities including in parks, in the open. Many are sleeping in their cars.”
This post was amended on 1 January 2024 because an earlier version incorrectly described Cori Bush as a US senator.
Updated
“While the world is crowded with New Year’s celebrations, the streets of southern#GazaStrip are crowded with displacement,” UNRWA said on Sunday.
In a video posted on to X, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees showed Palestinians internally displaced due to Israel’s strikes seeking refuge in the southern part of the strip.
While the world is crowded with New Year's celebrations, the streets of southern📍#GazaStrip are crowded with displacement. pic.twitter.com/YubraXxZmP
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 31, 2023
Approximately 1.9 million Palestinians have been displaced from their homes as a result of Israel’s attacks on Gaza, with around 1.4 million sheltering in UNRWA facilities as they grapple with overcrowding and shortages in basic necessities including food, water and medical supplies.
Volunteers from the Palestine Red Crescent Society are operating at the PRCS medical point in Jabalia under flashlights amid Israeli bombardment in attempts to provide healthcare services.
👇This is how the Palestine Red Crescent volunteers work at the PRCS medical point in #Jabalia.
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 31, 2023
📱🔦Using phone lights, they continue to provide healthcare services to the citizens in the northern #Gaza Strip.👏
📷Photography by the volunteer: Yusuf Khader#HumantarianHeroes pic.twitter.com/TYRLfImhvZ
Palestinians across Gaza are facing severe shortages in basic necessities including food, water, medical supplies and fuel as a result of Israel’s deadly strikes across the strip, as well as a lack of continuous aid flow into the besieged territory.
Here are some images coming through the newswires of pro-Palestine rallies held around the world this weekend, in which thousands of protestors called for a ceasefire in Gaza, where more than 21,600 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes:
Updated
The Israeli military will release some reservists who were called to join Israel’s war in Gaza, Reuters reports.
“Some of the reservist soldiers will return to their families and their jobs already this week,” said military spokesperson rear admiral Daniel Hagari.
“This will allow a significant relief for the economy, and will allow them to gather strength ahead of the coming activities in the next year, and the fighting will continue and we will need them,” he added.
Palestinian solidarity groups gear up for global NYE's '#Countdown2Ceasefire'
Several pro-Palestine groups around the world calling for a ceasefire in Gaza where Israeli forces have killed over 21,600 Palestinians have united in what they call a “#countdown2ceasefire” ahead of the new year.
In several posts on X, the group posted pro-ceasefire rallies to be held globally as countries gear up for the new year’s eve countdown:
🔥🇭🇺 HUNGARY IS ON BOARD 🇭🇺🔥
— #countdown2ceasefire (@c2ceasefire) December 31, 2023
Join the telegram group to connect with the people there:https://t.co/FZ8Qs93qXp
NOTES:
- If you can't make it to the event in your country, DO NOT WORRY!
You can record your countdown moment from wherever you are and share it with us on social… pic.twitter.com/ncx9JFQWRI
🔥🇨🇦 CANADA IS ON BOARD 🇨🇦🔥
— #countdown2ceasefire (@c2ceasefire) December 31, 2023
NOTES:
- If you can't make it to the event in your country, DO NOT WORRY!
You can record your countdown moment from wherever you are and share it with us on social media #countdown2ceasefire.
- We are sharing the locations of the main events… pic.twitter.com/iBb3VT5VCc
🔥🇫🇮 FINLAND IS ON BOARD 🇫🇮🔥
— #countdown2ceasefire (@c2ceasefire) December 31, 2023
NOTES:
- If you can't make it to the event in your country, DO NOT WORRY!
You can record your countdown moment from wherever you are and share it with us on social media #countdown2ceasefire.
- We are sharing the locations of the main events… pic.twitter.com/mNjR6tGPvP
🔥🇹🇳TUNISIA IS ON BOARD 🇹🇳🔥
— #countdown2ceasefire (@c2ceasefire) December 31, 2023
NOTES:
- If you can't make it to the event in your country, DO NOT WORRY!
You can record your countdown moment from wherever you are and share it with us on social media #countdown2ceasefire.
- We are sharing the locations of the main events… pic.twitter.com/gLqDxdvix1
🔥🇮🇩INDONESIA IS ON BOARD 🇮🇩🔥
— #countdown2ceasefire (@c2ceasefire) December 31, 2023
NOTES:
- If you can't make it to the event in your country, DO NOT WORRY!
You can record your countdown moment from wherever you are and share it with us on social media #countdown2ceasefire.
- We are sharing the locations of the main events… pic.twitter.com/oYCBCJFw9W
Updated
World Health Organization representatives visited Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis on Sunday to assess the needs of the overwhelmed health facility, WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said.
In a tweet on Sunday, Tedros addred that the Nasser Medical Complex is one of only two key functioning hospitals in southern Gaza that is able to provide medical care for wounded and other patients.
Today in #Gaza, @WHOoPT colleagues Dr Husam Abuolwan and Dr Ayadil Saparbekov were working to support the health conditions of people affected by the conflict.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) December 31, 2023
They visited the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis to assess the needs of the overwhelmed health facility, one of… pic.twitter.com/PVpJQYnSpY
Since October 7, human rights organizations including Human Rights Watch reported that “the Israeli military’s repeated, apparently unlawful attacks on medical facilities, personnel, and transport are further destroying the Gaza Strip’s healthcare system and should be investigated as war crimes.”
Cori Bush, a US Democratic representative of Missouri, has joined a handful of Democrats in criticizing the Joe Biden’s administration for bypassing congressional review in its transfer of weapons to Israel.
Over the weekend, Bush tweeted:
“The White House cannot have it both ways: calling on the Israeli government to uphold international law while bypassing Congress to send weapons that are leading to violations of international law. How many innocent people must die before @POTUS will demand a ceasefire?”
The White House cannot have it both ways: calling on the Israeli government to uphold international law while bypassing Congress to send weapons that are leading to violations of international law.
— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) December 30, 2023
How many innocent people must die before @POTUS will demand a ceasefire? https://t.co/1D3iVAkD9P
Bush’s comments come as Israel strikes have killed more than 21,600 Palestinians across Gaza since October 7.
On Saturday, Tim Kaine, a Democratic senator representing Virginia, also condemned the Biden administration for bypassing Congress in its transfer of American munitions to Israel, saying, “Unnecessarily bypassing Congress means keeping the American people in the dark.”
This article was amended on 1 January 2024 because an earlier version incorrectly described Cori Bush as a US senator.
Updated
Palestine’s ambassador to the UK said that the world wants to discuss the “day after Israel’s aggression on Gaza but it’s the day before we need to understand”.
In an interview with Democracy Now, Husam Zomlot said:
Everybody now is wanting us to discuss the day after. No. The day before. The day before 7 October. The occupation, the colonisation, the racism, the supremacy, the murders all over the West Bank, the provocations in Jerusalem, the rounding and arresting of our children without trial, without charge, without access to their parents or lawyers, this is what needs to be discussed.
The decades-long oppression and suppresion of an entire nation, the denial, the bare, basic denial of basic rights needs to be discussed.
The world wants to discuss the “day after” Israel’s aggression on #Gaza. But it’s the day before we need to understand, and the #genocide we need to end, I told @democracynow pic.twitter.com/eAcFOQ0B22
— Husam Zomlot (@hzomlot) December 31, 2023
Updated
Palestinian foreign minister condemns 'Israeli war machine's persistence in the war of genocide'
The Palestinian foreign minister has released a statement before the new year in which he condemned what he called the “Israeli war machine’s persistence in the war of genocide”.
In a statement on X, Riad Malki wrote:
We welcome the new year and the 59th anniversary of the start of the Palestinian revolution, yet the wounds of our people are bleeding due to Israeli war machine’s persistence in the war of genocide, destruction, and displacement … starvation, the spread of epidemics, invasions, arrests, and torture, all of which are crimes of ethnic cleansing dominating the daily lives of Palestinian citizens.
We reaffirm our demand at the beginning of this year for an immediate ceasefire, and we hope and work for the new year to be the year when the Palestinian people obtain their fair and legitimate national rights to return, self-determination, and the embodiment of the Palestinian state on the ground with East Jerusalem as its capital, and for security and peace to prevail in the region and the world.
Minister Dr. Riad Malki : We welcome the New Year and the 59th anniversary of the start of the #Palestinian_revolution, yet the wounds of our people are bleeding due to #Israeli war machine's persistence in the war of #genocide, destruction, and #displacement, where killings,… pic.twitter.com/Cm7YNDnREA
— State of Palestine - MFA 🇵🇸🇵🇸 (@pmofa) December 31, 2023
Updated
Here are some images coming through the newswires from Gaza, where more than 21,600 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes since 7 October and displaced survivors grapple with shortages of food, water, medical supplies and fuel:
1.4 million Palestinians displaced by Israeli strikes living in UNRWA facilities
Approximately 1.4 million Palestinians who have been displaced by Israeli strikes are living in UNRWA facilities across the Gaza Strip, the UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma said.
She told the BBC:
The facilities in the north are becoming crowded by the hour, people continue to come in. They are absolutely full and so people have started taking refuge in areas outside these facilities including in parks, in the open. Many are sleeping in their cars.
Our facilities, yes they have been hit. We have recorded 180 hits on our facilities. Some were directly hit and as a result of these hits, at least 300 people who were sheltering in these facilities got killed and around a thousand were injured.
"We have recorded 180 hits on @UNRWA facilities, some direct hits, & as a result at least 300 people sheltering in these facilities were killed"@JulietteTouma @BBCNews: 1.4 million people in📍#Gaza sheltering in @UNRWA facilities & many more in the vicinity, sleeping outside. pic.twitter.com/Hct4kc6nLp
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 31, 2023
Updated
Summary of the day so far ...
Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, reportedly called for the return of Jewish settlers to the Gaza Strip after the war and said Gaza’s Palestinian population should be encouraged to emigrate. “To have security, we must control the territory,” Smotrich told Israel’s Army Radio in response to a question about the prospect of re-establishing settlements in Gaza. “In order to control the territory militarily for a long time, we need a civilian presence.”
A former Palestinian Authority minister was killed on Sunday in an Israeli strike on his home in the Gaza Strip, the official Palestinian news agency and the Hamas-run health ministry said. Youssef Salama, 68, a former minister of religious affairs in the Palestinian Authority, was killed in a strike on al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Wafa news agency and the ministry reported.
In an interview on Israeli radio on Sunday, Eli Cohen, Israel’s outgoing foreign minister, acknowledged that “the government bears responsibility” for having failed to anticipate the 7 October Hamas attack, AFP reported.
Israel is prepared to let ships deliver aid to the Gaza Strip immediately as part of a proposed sea corridor from Cyprus, Cohen said. Under the arrangement, cargo would undergo security inspection in the Cypriot port of Larnaca before being ferried to the Gaza coast, 230 miles away, rather than through neighbouring Egypt or Israel, Reuters reported.
The Israeli government has approved the appointment of a new foreign minister to replace Cohen, who will become energy minister as part of a pre-arranged ministerial rotation, a government statement said. Cohen is due to continue to serve as a member of the security cabinet, while Israel Katz will be the new foreign minister.
A total of 21,822 Palestinian people have been killed and 56,451 injured in Israeli strikes in Gaza since 7 October, the health ministry in Gaza said on Sunday. The figures include 150 Palestinians killed and 286 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry said.
US Navy helicopters sank three of four small boats used by Iranian-backed Houthi militants to attack a merchant vessel in the southern Red Sea on Sunday, US central command said.
Updated
Israeli minister calls for return of Jewish settlers to the Gaza Strip after the war
Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has called for the return of Jewish settlers to the Gaza Strip after the war and said Gaza’s Palestinian population should be encouraged to emigrate, according to AFP.
“To have security, we must control the territory,” Smotrich told Israel’s Army Radio in response to a question about the prospect of re-establishing settlements in Gaza.
“In order to control the territory militarily for a long time, we need a civilian presence.”
The Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu has not officially suggested plans to evict Gazans or to send Jewish settlers back to the territory since the war broke out on 7 October.
Israel unilaterally withdrew the last of its troops and settlers in 2005, ending a presence inside Gaza that began in 1967, but maintained near complete control over the territory’s borders.
All settlements on occupied Palestinian land are regarded as illegal under international law, regardless of whether they were approved by Israel.
Updated
At least 10 Houthi rebels were killed on Sunday when US forces struck their boats in the Red Sea, two sources at Yemen’s Hodeida port said.
AFP reports:
The US military earlier said it had destroyed several small boats operated by the Iran-backed Houthis after the rebels had attacked and tried to board a container ship.
One source at the rebel-controlled port said the wounded were rescued after the strike. The other source, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said there were four other survivors.
“Ten Houthis were killed and two were wounded in the US strike on Huthi boats that tried to stop a vessel in the sea off Hodeida,” the first source said.
The second source said: “Four survivors have arrived in Hodeida with two wounded who were taken to hospital.”
Updated
Gemma Connell, an official with the UN humanitarian agency OCHA who has been working in Gaza, said tens of thousands of people fleeing to Rafah had survived bombardment and had arrived often with no possessions or anywhere to sleep.
“I just am so fearful that the amount of deaths that we’ve been seeing is going to increase exponentially both because of this renewed offensive but also because of these conditions, which are literally unbelievable,” she was quoted as saying by Reuters.
The UN’s humanitarian office said on Friday that over the past few days an estimated 100,000 people had arrived in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost town on the border with Egypt, after an intense new ground and aerial offensive around the central town of Deir al-Balah and airstrikes on the southern town of Khan Younis.
Updated
The UK Maritime Trade Operations organisation said it received a report of an incident in the Red Sea about 55 nautical miles south-west of the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.
The master of the ship reported “a loud bang accompanied by a flash on the port bow of the vessel” and several explosions in the area.
UKMTO WARNING 024/DEC/2023https://t.co/Z0vTdolDwv#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/GMqjQ5t6t9
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) December 31, 2023
It came after the US Central Command (Centcom) said it dispatched two destroyers, the USS Gravely and the USS Laboon, after the container ship Maersk Hangzhou reported being struck by a missile at 8.30pm local time on Saturday (see more details in the post at 09.37).
“While responding, the USS Gravely shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen toward the ships,” Centcom said.
Updated
Former Palestinian Authority minister killed by Israeli strike on Gaza Strip, says Hamas-run health ministry
A former Palestinian Authority minister was killed on Sunday in an Israeli strike on his home in the Gaza Strip, the official Palestinian news agency and Hamas-run health ministry said.
Youssef Salama, the 68-year-old former minister of religious affairs in the Palestinian Authority, was killed in a strike on the al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Wafa news agency and the ministry reported.
Considered close to Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, Salama served as minister between February 2005 and March 2006.
He also served as a preacher at al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem.
There was no immediate comment on his killing from the Israeli army.
Updated
Israeli strikes in central Gaza killed at least 35 people on Sunday, hospital officials said, as the military targeted areas in several parts of the territory a day after Benjamin Netanyahu said the war would continue for “many more months”, resisting international calls for a ceasefire.
The military said Israeli forces were operating in Gaza’s second-largest city, Khan Younis, and residents reported strikes in the central part of the tiny enclave after Israel this week made that region the new focus of its war.
Updated
Israeli minister says government 'bears responsibility' for failing to anticipate 7 October attack
In an interview on Israeli radio on Sunday, Eli Cohen, Israel’s outgoing foreign minister, acknowledged “the government bears responsibility” for having failed to anticipate the 7 October Hamas attack, AFP reports.
7 October is when the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked southern Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing 1,140 people and taking up to 250 hostage.
Cohen, who has played an instrumental role in the normalisation of relations between Israel and some Arab countries after decades of hostility, also said an independent commission of inquiry should be established at the end of the war.
Updated
Summary of the day so far...
Israel is prepared to let ships deliver aid to the Gaza Strip “immediately” as part of a proposed sea corridor from Cyprus, the Israeli foreign minister said. Under the arrangement, cargo would undergo security inspection in the Cypriot port of Larnaca before being ferried to the Gaza coast, 230 miles away, rather than through neighbouring Egypt or Israel, Reuters reported.
The Israeli government has approved the appointment of a new foreign minister to replace Eli Cohen, who will become energy minister as part of a pre-arranged ministerial rotation, a government statement said. Cohen is due to continue to serve as a member of the security cabinet while Yisrael Katz will serve as foreign affairs minister.
A total of 21,822 Palestinian people have been killed and 56,451 injured in Israeli strikes in Gaza since 7 October, the health ministry in Gaza said on Sunday. The figures include 150 Palestinians killed and 286 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry said.
US Navy helicopters sank three of four small boats used by Iranian-backed Houthi militants to attack a merchant vessel in the southern Red Sea on Sunday, US central command said.
Updated
At least 40 Palestinians were killed in overnight bombing in Gaza City, the health ministry in the Gaza Strip said, with 18 bodies recovered so far and many buried under the rubble.
“After the explosion we arrived at the scene of the strike and saw martyrs everywhere,” one local man told AFP after a building was hit. “Children are still missing, we can’t find them,” he said.
The Israeli army reported killing about a dozen enemy fighters in several ground battles, air and tank strikes, AFP reports.
Updated
Israel ready to let ships bring aid to Gaza's shores, says foreign minister
Israel is prepared to let ships deliver aid to the Gaza Strip “immediately” as part of a proposed sea corridor from Cyprus, the Israeli foreign minister has said.
Under the arrangement, cargo would undergo security inspection in the Cypriot port of Larnaca before being ferried to the Gaza coast, 230 miles away, rather than through neighbouring Egypt or Israel, Reuters reports.
If the plan goes ahead, it would mark the first easing of an Israeli naval blockade imposed on Gaza in 2007.
“It can start immediately,” Israel’s outgoing foreign minister, Eli Cohen, told Tel Aviv radio station 103 FM when asked about the Mediterranean corridor.
He said Britain, France, Greece and the Netherlands were among countries with vessels able to land directly on the shores of Gaza, which lacks a deep-water port.
“They requested of us that the equipment come via [the Israeli port of] Ashdod. The answer is no. It won’t come via Ashdod. It won’t come via Israel. We want disengagement, with security control. That’s the goal of this process,” Cohen added.
Gaza residents have almost all fled their homes, clustering in tents and overcrowded parts of the south and central strip that Israeli military officials say are safer, though they are still regularly bombed.
There are reports of shortages of food, clean water and medical supplies, after weeks of tight Israeli blockade.
When supplies are allowed in, active fighting and logistics challenges in an area devastated by war mean they often do not reach many desperate inhabitants.
Updated
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel has displayed morality in the Gaza war, AFP reports.
“We will continue our defensive war, the justice and morality of which is without peer,” Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv.
His comment came after South Africa launched a case on Friday at the international court of justice against Israel for what it claimed were “genocidal” acts in Gaza.
“No, South Africa, it is not we who have come to perpetrate genocide, it is Hamas,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying.
“It would murder all of us if it could. In contrast, the IDF [Israeli army] is acting as morally as possible.”
Updated
The Israeli government has also given the green light for postponed municipal elections to take place in February, subject to parliamentary approval.
A statement from the prime minister’s office read:
We usually do not hold elections in wartime but these elections have been determined in advance.
They have already been postponed once.
Israeli government approves appointment of new foreign minister
The Israeli government has approved the appointment of a new foreign minister to replace Eli Cohen, who will become energy minister as part of a pre-arranged ministerial rotation, a government statement said.
Cohen will continue to serve as a member of the security cabinet while Yisrael Katz will serve as foreign affairs minister, the statement said.
The appointments are subject to Israeli parliamentary approval.
The UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, said on Sunday he had made clear in a call with Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, that Iran shared responsibility for preventing Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
“I made clear that Iran shares responsibility for preventing these attacks, given their longstanding support to the Houthis,” he wrote on X, adding that the attacks “threaten innocent lives and the global economy”.
I spoke to @Amirabdolahian today about Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, which threaten innocent lives and the global economy. I made clear that Iran shares responsibility for preventing these attacks given their long-standing support to the Houthis.
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) December 31, 2023
His comments come after the US Navy shot down two anti-ship missiles and sunk three small boats after responding to distress calls from a container ship that was attacked twice by Houthi rebels as it crossed the Red Sea over the weekend.
Updated
Death toll in Gaza reaches 21,822, says health ministry
A total of 21,822 Palestinian people have been killed and 56,451 injured in Israeli strikes in Gaza since 7 October, the health ministry in Gaza said on Sunday.
The figures include 150 Palestinians killed and 286 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry said.
Updated
The Danish shipping company Maersk has confirmed the crew onboard Maersk Hangzhou had reported a flash on deck on 30 December at about 1830 CET, when the vessel was 55 nautical miles south-west of Al Hodeidah, Reuters reports.
The crew was safe and there was no indication of fire onboard the vessel, which continued its journey north to Port Suez, Maersk said.
Updated
US Navy helicopters repel Houthi attack on merchant vessel in Red Sea - US central command
US Navy helicopters sank three of four small boats used by Iranian-backed Houthi militants to attack a merchant vessel in the southern Red Sea on Sunday, US central command wrote on X.
Responding to distress calls from the Maersk Hangzhou, helicopters from the USS Eisenhower and USS Gravely were said to have returned fire on the Houthi boats in self-defence and sank three of the vessels with no survivors.
The fourth boat fled the area, US central command said.
Iranian-backed Houthi small boats attack merchant vessel and U.S. Navy helicopters in Southern Red Sea
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 31, 2023
On Dec. 31 at 6:30am (Sanaa time) the container ship MAERSK HANGZHOU issued a second distress call in less than 24 hours reporting being under attack by four Iranian-backed… pic.twitter.com/pj8NAzjbVF
The Houthis have targeted vessels in the vital Red Sea shipping lane with strikes they say are in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
Several shipping lines have suspended operations through the Red Sea in response to the attacks, instead taking the longer journey around Africa.
The Yemeni rebels have said they are targeting Israel and Israeli-linked vessels.
Updated
The Guardian’s world affairs editor, Julian Borger, has written an analysis piece on how the war in Gaza has been showing signs of a dangerous escalation of regional conflict.
You can read it in full here:
The Israeli war cabinet is expected to meet later on Sunday to discuss a potential prisoner-captive exchange, Al Jazeera reports.
Qatar and Egypt were mediators between Israel and Hamas in the late November truce during which Hamas released 110 women, children and foreigners it was holding in exchange for 240 Palestinian women and teenagers freed from Israeli jails.
Here are some of the latest images coming out of Israel and Palestine:
Updated
International mediators are continuing their efforts to secure a new pause in the fighting in Gaza, after brokering a one-week truce last month during which more than 100 hostages were released and some aid entered the war-torn region, Agence France Presse reports.
US news outlet Axios and Israeli website Ynet, both citing unnamed Israeli officials, reported that Qatari mediators had told Israel that Hamas was prepared to resume talks on new hostage releases in exchange for a ceasefire.
A Hamas delegation was in Cairo on Friday to discuss an Egyptian plan proposing renewable ceasefires, a staggered release of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, and ultimately an end to the war, sources close to Hamas said.
Islamic Jihad, another armed group fighting alongside Hamas, said on Saturday that Palestinian factions were “in the process” of evaluating the Egyptian proposal.
A response will come “within days”, the group’s chief negotiator, Muhammad al-Hindi, said.
Asked about the negotiations on Saturday, Netanyahu said Hamas had been “giving all kinds of ultimatums that we didn’t accept”.
“We are seeing a certain shift [but] I don’t want to create an expectation.”
Updated
As Gaza death toll mounts, Israelis look in vain for any sign of victory
Israeli planes bombed refugee camps in Gaza on Saturday as its troops expanded ground operations and tens of thousands of Palestinians fled their homes, setting the stage for a new year as bloody and destructive as the last three months of 2023.
The threat of wider escalation also looms large over the region, as skirmishes on the northern boundary with Lebanon intensify, and Israeli officials have hinted that the “diplomatic hourglass” is running out to reach a negotiated solution.
For now there seems little hope of even a temporary break in attacks, even after Egypt hosted leaders for talks last week and pushed plans for a staged break in the war.
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Israelis and Palestinians end dark year, with no end in sight to war
Israelis and Palestinians end a dark year on Sunday, with no end in sight to the deadliest military offensive on Gaza, triggered by Hamas’ bloodiest attack on Israel, Agence France Presse reports.
There has been no respite from Israel’s air raids, artillery fire or ground fighting with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, to the despair of Palestinians surviving the onslaught.
“We were hoping that 2024 would arrive under better auspices and that we would be able to celebrate the New Year at home with our families,” said Mahmoud Abou Shahma in a camp for displaced people in Rafah, on the Egyptian border.
“We hope that the war will end and that we will be able to return to our homes and live in peace”, said the 33-year-old from southern Khan Yunis.
Gaza’s health ministry says the Israeli military campaign has killed at least 21,672 people, mostly women and children.
The fighting began with Hamas’s bloody 7 October attacks, which left about 1,140 people dead in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Militants also took about 250 people hostage, and Israel says 129 of them remain in captivity.
The Israeli army says 170 soldiers have been killed in combat inside Gaza.
An Israeli siege imposed after 7 October, after years of crippling blockade, has led to dire shortages of food, safe water, fuel and medicine in Gaza, with aid convoys able to offer only sporadic relief.
The UN says more than 85% of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have fled their homes.
An American destroyer shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired from Yemen Saturday as it responded to a call for help from a container ship that was hit separately, the US Central Command (Centcom) said.
Centcom said the US destroyers Gravely and Laboon responded to a request for assistance from the Maersk Hangzhou, a Singapore-flagged, Denmark-owned and operated container ship that reported being struck by a missile while transiting the Red Sea.
While responding, missiles were launched toward the ships from territory controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, Centcom said.
The Houthis have targeted vessels in the vital Red Sea shipping lane with strikes they say are in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is waging war to root out the militant group Hamas.
The Yemeni rebels have said they are targeting Israel and Israeli-linked vessels.
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Benjamin Netanyahu says war with Hamas will last ‘many months’
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retake control of the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt, expanding Israel’s mission to neutralise Hamas in a conflict it says it expects to last for months, Reuters reports.
Netanyahu said “the war is at its height” and the Philadelphi corridor buffer zone that runs along Gaza’s border with Egypt must be in Israeli hands. “It must be shut,” Netanyahu said. “It is clear that any other arrangement would not ensure the demilitarisation that we seek.”
Netanyahu’s comments about the buffer zone came as Israeli military forces pressed ahead with an offensive that the prime minister reiterated will last “for many months”.
“The war will continue for many months until Hamas is eliminated and the hostages are returned,” Netanyahu told a news conference. “We will guarantee that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel.”
Opening summary
Welcome back to our continuing live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war, I’m Yang Tian bringing you the latest news. It’s just past 9am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv on New Year’s Eve, here’s a rundown of recent developments.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war against Hamas will last “many months” and pledged to retake control of the border zone between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
“The war will continue for many months until Hamas is eliminated and the hostages are returned,” Netanyahu told a news conference. “We will guarantee that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel.”
More details coming shortly. In other news:
The Organization for Islamic Cooperation has “welcomed” South Africa’s decision to launch a case at the International Court of Justice in which it accuses Israel of carrying out “genocidal” acts across Gaza. According to Qatari news agency QNA, the 57-member OIC, which Qatar is a part of, stressed that Israel is “committing a genocide by its indiscriminate targeting of civilian population … forcibly displacing them, preventing them from obtaining basic needs and humanitarian aid, and destroying buildings and health, educational and religious facilities”.
Tim Kaine, a US Democratic senator representing Virginia, has condemned the Biden administration’s arms transfer to Israel, joining a handful of other Democrats who are criticizing Biden for bypassing congressional review in the foreign transfer of weapons. Kaine’s criticism comes as Israeli strikes have killed more than 21,600 Palestinians across Gaza since 7 October, while internally displacing more than 1.9 million survivors from their homes.
In a tweet ahead, the World Food Programme warned that “there is a different kind of countdown in Gaza”, pointing to an impending famine across the strip as a result of Israel’s attacks. “We are racing against time to avert a complete collapse of even the most basic services and starvation for millions,” the WFP said.
Israeli forces shot and killed a 22-year-old Palestinian man in the West Bank on Saturday, the Palestinian health ministry announced. The man, identified by Palestinian news agency WAFA as Mohammad Hussein Masalma, was killed by Israeli forces who fired live ammunition at the entrance of the al-Fawwar refugee camp in the south of Hebron, WAFA reports.
Palestine’s ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, has hailed South Africa’s decision to launch a case against Israel in the International Court of Justice in which it accused Israel of carrying out “genocidal” acts in Gaza. In a tweet on Saturday, Zomlot wrote: “Justice must be served and the #genocide must stop.”
The Palestinian Liberation Front’s armed wing announced on Saturday that an Israeli soldier it was holding captive had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, which also injured some of his captors, Reuters reports. According to an audio speech broadcast by Al Araby television, an Abu Ali Mustafa brigades spokesperson said that the Israeli airstrike occurred after a failed attempt by Israeli forces to rescue the soldier.
Forty percent of Gaza’s population is at risk of famine, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency said on Saturday. “Every day is a struggle for survival, finding food and water,” the UN agency for Palestinian refugees added.
