20 Dec 2024
- Israeli air attacks killed at least 25 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Friday, medics said, including at least eight in an apartment in the Nuseirat refugee camp and at least 10 in Jabalia.
- Earlier on Friday, the besieged territory’s Health Ministry reported that at least 77 Palestinians had been killed and 174 wounded in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the previous 24 hours.
- A new report titled “Gaza death trap” by Doctors Without Borders says there are “clear signs of ethnic cleansing” by Israeli forces in the Palestinian territory.
- A new report titled “Gaza death trap” by Doctors Without Borders (known by its French initials MSF) says there are “clear signs of ethnic cleansing” by Israeli forces in the Palestinian territory.Israeli attacks on two school shelters in Gaza City killed at least 15 Palestinians who were forcibly displaced by the war.
- Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Gaza says Israel is using water shortages as a “tool of war” after systematically destroying the enclave’s water infrastructure.
- After Israel’s latest bombing of Yemen, a Houthi spokesman said the group’s fighters are ready for a long war with Israel in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
- Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 45,129 Palestinians and wounded 107,338 since October 7, 2023. At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks that day, and more than 200 were taken captive.
Majority of Israelis believe war victory can only be achieved with return of captives: Report
An Israeli poll has found that at least 68 percent of people do not think a victory in Gaza will be achieved unless the captives held in Gaza are returned.
Israeli news outlet Channel 13 reported that 12 percent of respondents to the poll believe that victory will be achieved by annexing Gaza and imposing Israeli sovereignty.
About eight percent said that the best outcome of the war would be for a moderate Palestinian party other than Hamas to control Gaza.
Separately, the poll found that only 29 percent of respondents trust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while 47 percent trust the Chief of Staff, Major General Herzi Halevi.About 24 percent of people trust Defence Minister Israel Katz.
Palestinian children from Gaza evacuated to Ireland: Report
Ireland’s national broadcaster RTE has reported that the first Palestinian children from Gaza to be medically evacuated to Ireland for healthcare treatment have arrived in the country.
The media outlet said eight children, accompanied by eight carers and 11 siblings, travelled to Ireland from Egypt on Thursday on a plane provided by the Slovakian government.
The evacuations are a result of a World Health Organization (WHO) request for EU member states to help evacuate Palestinian patients to Europe.
Ten states have responded to the WHO’s request, including Spain, Italy and Norway.
Ireland’s Minister of State for International Development and Diaspora Sean Fleming said that the evacuated children suffer from illnesses like cancer, haemophilia and blood disorders, RTE reported.
‘Utter deprivation and unimaginable suffering’ for Gaza’s children: UNICEF
UNICEF says children in Gaza are “cold, sick and traumatised”, and 96 percent of women and children cannot meet their basic nutritional needs.
“Gaza must be one of the most heartbreaking places on earth for humanitarians. Every small effort to save a child’s life is undone by fierce devastation,” Rosalia Bollen, a UNICEF communication specialist, said in a statement.
“For over 14 months, children have been at the sharp edge of this nightmare, with more than 14,500 children reportedly killed, thousands more injured.”
Bollen added that amid the festive season, when families celebrate “togetherness”, the reality for children in Gaza is “fear, utter deprivation and unimaginable suffering”.
“Winter has now descended on Gaza. Children are cold, wet, and barefoot. Many still wear summer clothes. With cooking gas gone, many are searching through rubble for scraps of plastic to burn,” Bollen said, adding that in November, an average of 65 aid truckloads entered Gaza, compared with 500 truckloads daily before the war.
Amnesty accuses Hezbollah of violating international law
Rights organisation Amnesty International has accused Hezbollah of violating international humanitarian law in Israel because of indiscriminate rocket attacks in its war with Israel.
“Amnesty International documented three Hezbollah rocket attacks on civilian areas of Israel in October 2024 that killed eight civilians and injured at least 16 more that must be investigated as war crimes,” the organisation said on Friday.
Hezbollah did not distinguish between combatants and civilians, as required by international humanitarian law, Amnesty continued. In Israel, civilian homes have also been damaged and destroyed due to the “reckless use” of unguided missiles.
Amnesty recently accused Israel of four “unlawful air strikes” on residential buildings in Lebanon, resulting in many deaths, and called for investigations into whether these were war crimes as well.
Amnesty also criticised Israel’s evacuation orders in Lebanon as inadequate and, in some cases, misleading.
Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,800 people and wounded more than 15,800 in Lebanon since October 7, 2023. Hezbollah has killed at least 76 Israeli soldiers and 45 civilians in the same period.Amnesty has accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
