Here’s how things stand on Friday, December 29, 2023:
Latest updates and human impact
- Gaza’s Ministry of Health has announced on Telegram that 20 patients will be allowed to travel outside of the besieged enclave for emergency treatment in Egypt, leaving via the Rafah crossing on Friday morning.
- An Israeli strike hit a residential building near the Kuwaiti hospital in Gaza’s southern Rafah city. At least 20 Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed, a nearby Al Jazeera crew witnessed.
- Marwan al-Hams, the director of Rafah’s Abu Youssef Al Najjar Hospital, said that those injured in this attack needed to urgently be taken out of the country for treatment. He urged for more aid and fuel to be allowed inside Gaza.
- Meanwhile, in north Gaza, an Israeli military air strike hit a group of civilians in the town of Beit Hanoon on Thursday, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
- So far, 30 people have been reported killed in Israeli attacks in the Nuseirat and Maghazi refugee camps in central Gaza, Al Jazeera correspondent Hani Mahmoud reported.
- The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has warned that not enough aid is entering the besieged Gaza Strip, leaving 40 percent of its population “at risk of famine” while Israel hinders the flow of much-needed aid into the beleaguered enclave.
- Iranian judiciary-affiliated news agency Mizan said on Friday that Iran executed four “saboteurs” linked to Israel’s Mossad intelligence service.
- The Israeli military has concluded an investigation into the killing of three Israeli captives, saying the incident was preventable but disciplinary action would not be taken against its soldiers as it was not malicious.
Diplomacy
- A delegation from Hamas will visit Cairo on Friday to discuss Egypt’s ceasefire plan. However, an expected Israeli war cabinet meeting to discuss scenarios for the “day after” the war ends was cancelled, amid objections from far-right ministers.
- The United States military announced on X on Friday that it shot down a drone and an anti-ship ballistic missile in the Southern Red Sea that was fired by the Houthis on Thursday. It added that this was the 22nd attempted attack by the Houthis since October 19.
- Ireland’s deputy prime minister Micheal Martin told reporters on Friday that tougher measures should be taken against settlers in the West Bank.
Raids in the West Bank
- Palestinian man Mohammad Sayel al-Jundi, 38, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers on Thursday night at the Nafaq military checkpoint west of Bethlehem, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.
- One person was injured after Israeli forces fired live ammunition during a raid in the town of Kafr Aqab, north of occupied East Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
- Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur for human rights, highlighted that Israel has killed 500 Palestinians in 2023 in the West Bank, where Hamas is not present.
On the pretext of "eradicating Hamas", ISR has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza since Oct7. Yet, in 2023 ISR has also killed 500 Palestinians in the West Bank,where Hamas has no military presence (incl 79 children after Oct7).
Why Palestinian lives do not matter? https://t.co/wyeSRPHbkQ— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) December 28, 2023
