24 Dec 2024
- Israeli forces continue their attacks on the barely functioning Kamal Adwan Hospital in besieged northern Gaza, detonating remote-controlled vehicles and wounding at least 20 patients and medical staff.
- In central Deir el-Balah, an Israeli drone attack on a convoy carrying aid to starving Palestinians kills four security guards, raising the death toll from Israel’s attacks in the past day to 26.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells parliament that progress has been made on a deal to reach a ceasefire and free captives in Gaza, but offers no timeline.
- Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 45,317 Palestinians and wounded 107,713 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.
Israeli army claims to have confiscated over 84,000 weapons in Lebanon
The weapons of various types have been seized from Hezbollah hideouts in southern Lebanon, according to a statement by the military’s Arabic-speaking spokesperson.
The army “operated in about 20 villages in southern Lebanon that Hezbollah had turned into terrorist strongholds, using civilian areas to store weapons and launch attacks on the State of Israel”, Avichay Adraee said on X.
“We are determined to prevent Hezbollah from rearming and rebuilding its capabilities, and from threatening the security of Israel,” he said.
If you’re just joining us
Here are the latest developments:
- direct Israeli attack on a Palestinian Civil Defence centre in the Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza City has killed one rescuer and injured another, according to the rescue service.
- Defence Minister Israel Katz says Israel will start targeting the leaders of Yemen’s Houthi rebels, according to the Times of Israel newspaper.
- The Gaza Government Media Office accuses Israel of providing full support for the theft of aid and killing hundreds of security personnel to starve civilians in the enclave.
- At least two Palestinians, including a woman, have been killed in the Israeli assault on the occupied West Bank’s Tulkarem refugee camp, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Al-Quds Brigades claims to have ambushed Israeli troops in Gaza’s Beit Hanoon
The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group says its fighters ambushed a group of 12 Israeli soldiers by blowing up a house in the west of northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoon city.
“As soon as the rescue forces arrived at the ambush site, our mujahideen detonated a piercing explosive device in a Merkava military vehicle,” the statement said, referring to the fighters.
Dozens of patients await evacuation from northern Gaza’s besieged Kamal Adwan Hospital
In the north of the Gaza Strip, there are three barely functioning hospitals.
One is the Indonesian Hospital, which has been completely evacuated yesterday. Patients alongside the medical teams were forced to leave the besieged area through military checkpoints to Gaza City.
The other two include al-Awda Hospital and the Kamal Adwan Hospital.
Medical teams in al-Awda Hospital have confirmed to us the Israeli attack on the third floor of the facility that caused significant destruction. The medical teams are still there and operating within their capacity to provide medical treatment.
In the Kamal Adwan Hospital, 65 patients are waiting for evacuation. They are completely besieged, and Israeli bombardment continues there.
Rescue worker killed in Israeli attack on Civil Defence centre in Gaza City
A Civil Defence statement on Telegram says another rescue worker has been injured in a direct attack on the centre of the rescue service in the Daraj area of Gaza City.
“The Israeli occupation targeted the same centre on September 25, injuring four Civil Defence members, and recently targeted the Nuseirat Civil Defence Centre and martyred four,” it said.
“This brutal Israeli attack confirms to the world that the Israeli occupation continues to kill humanitarian service providers and that it will not hesitate to target others,” the statement added.
Palestinian PM calls for coordinated action to protect aid in Gaza from theft: Report
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa has stressed the need for coordination between relief institutions to distribute aid in Gaza and protect it from theft, according to the Wafa news agency.
Mustafa made the comments at a weekly session of the Council of Ministers, in which they discussed the need to intensify international pressure to open more crossings and bring in larger quantities of aid.
Israeli and US media have reported aid robberies taking place within sight of Israeli military positions. One such incident occurred last month when 97 trucks of a UN aid convoy in sight of Israeli military installations at the Karem Abu Salem crossing, known as Kerem Shalom in Hebrew, were looted.
We reported earlier that Israeli forces are accused of providing support for the theft of aid and killing of security personnel to starve civilians.
Death toll in Israel’s Tulkarem raid rises to two
We are receiving updates on the Israeli assault in the occupied West Bank governorate.
Two Palestinians have been killed in the refugee camp in Tulkarem, according to Palestinian and Israeli officials.
Khawla Abdo, a 53-year-old woman, was killed by shelling from Israeli forces while Fathi Saeed Odeh Salem, an 18-year-old man, was shot in the abdomen and chest, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
The Israeli military said earlier that it had killed one Palestinian in the operation in Tulkarem and its forces had arrested 18 wanted individuals and confiscated dozens of weapons.
Katz says Israel to begin targeting Houthi leaders in Yemen: Report
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has been quoted by the Times of Israel newspaper as promising that “the heads of the Houthis” would roll just like the ones of “[Yahya] Sinwar in Gaza, [Ismail] Haniyeh in Tehran and [Hassan] Nasrallah in Beirut”, referring to the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah.
Israel has hit civilian and military infrastructure in Yemen, without targeting specific individuals.
“Just as we took care of Sinwar in Gaza, Haniyeh in Tehran and Nasrallah in Beirut, we will deal with the heads of the Houthis in Sanaa or anywhere in Yemen,” Katz said while visiting an Arrow air defence system battery used to shoot down the Houthi missile over Israel overnight, according to the Times of Israel.
“We will act both against their infrastructure and against them to remove the threat,” he said, adding that “whoever sponsors the Houthi terror in Hodeidah or Sanaa will pay the full price” as well.
Israeli captives should be freed even if it involves heavy prices: Minister
Israeli Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter has made the remarks after the death of 77-year-old Hanna Katzir, a captive released by Hamas as part of the prisoner-captive deal of last year.
“There are another hundred kidnapped in Gaza – we must do everything to free them, even if it involves heavy prices.” he said on X.
“We will continue to work to make this happen, as quickly as possible,” the minister added.
Israeli bombing kills one, critically injures another in Tulkarem refugee camp
Israeli bombing has killed one Palestinian and critically injured another in the Tulkarem refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The two victims arrived at the Martyr Dr Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital, following an Israeli attack on a group of people, it said.
Israeli forces are besieging hospitals in the city of Tulkarem, amid intermittent confrontations between Palestinian resistance fighters and Israeli forces.
Earlier today, we reported that an Israeli sniper killed another Palestinian man in the al-Hadaida neighbourhood in Tulkarem.
As we reported earlier, at least 18 Palestinians were arrested by Israeli forces during a series of raids across the West Bank between Monday evening and Tuesday morning.
Five convicted over Amsterdam violence before football match
A Dutch court has convicted five men for their part in last month’s violence in Amsterdam in relation to a football match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The Amsterdam district court found them guilty of a range of crimes, from kicking fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv in the street to inciting violence in chat groups.
The heaviest sentence imposed was six months in prison for a man identified as Sefa O for reported public violence against several people on November 8.
The prosecutor said the beatings had “little to do with football”, but added that “in this case, there was no evidence of … a terrorist intent and the violence was not motivated by anti-Semitic sentiment”, according to AFP.
Israel has been blocking creation of alternative to Hamas
Dan Perry, former chairman of the Foreign Press Association of Israel, has told Al Jazeera that he does not believe Netanyahu wants the deal that Hamas has been offering for the last 14 months.
The deal would entail Israel retrieving the captives in exchange for an end to the war and to pull out from Gaza.
“Netanyahu says he cannot leave Hamas in power and that would be the result of that deal, which is why Netanyahu prefers partial deals where there’s a pause in a war and they get back some of the hostages,” Perry said.
“The plot thickens when you start to consider that the reason why Hamas would be in power if Israel were to pull out, is because Israel itself has been blocking the creation of an alternative and has been refusing the obvious of restoring the Palestinian Authority in one form or another to power in Gaza.
“It’s a very messy situation and the Israeli people are confused about this gaslighting because, at the end of the day, the vast majority of Israelis want this to be done.”
Israel provides full support for theft of aid in Gaza: Media Office
The Gaza Government Media Office says in a statement on Telegram that Israel provides full support for the theft of aid and kills security personnel to starve civilians.
Israel has killed 723 policemen and aid security personnel since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza on October 7 last year, according to the latest statistics published by the office.
The army often targets policemen guarding aid shipments, followed by attacks by protected armed gangs, and steals humanitarian aid as part of the starvation war imposed by Israel as collective punishment on the residents of Gaza.
“We condemn in the strongest terms the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation,” it said.
The statement added: “We call on the international community, the United Nations, and human rights and humanitarian organisations to intervene urgently and pressure the Israeli occupation to ensure the flow of aid without any obstacles.”
Israeli army confirms killing Palestinian in occupied West Bank’s Tulkarem
The military says it has started a large operation in the occupied West Bank governorate overnight, confirming that it killed one person.
The army statement said that its forces are still operating in the West Bank city.
The army said the person was killed during “face-to-face battles” with troops.
The Wafa news agency identified the slain Palestinian as Fathi Saeed Awda Salem and said he was killed by an Israeli sniper in the al-Hadaida neighbourhood.
Troops also confiscated weapons, including rifles and pistols, and arrested two wanted individuals, according to the military statement.
It added that soldiers operating across the occupied West Bank arrested 18 people.
Bethlehem pastor says Israel targets Muslim and Christian presence in Palestine
Munther Isaac, the pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, says “the situation of Christians is no different than other Palestinians”.
“They all face the threat of displacement under genocide,” he told Turkiye’s Anadolu Agency.
“We never dreamed of celebrating Christmas while the genocide is going on in Gaza for more than 14 months,” the pastor stressed.
“It is not possible for us to celebrate normally while Gaza is in this situation,” he added.Isaac concluded: “Israel targets both Muslim and Christian presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem”.
Netanyahu’s claim of progress made on deal with Hamas
Netanyahu has told parliament that his government has made some headway in negotiations with Hamas.
He also announced his plans for the future of the region.
Netanyahu arrives at Tel Aviv court for corruption trial
The testimony of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his corruption trial will continue today at the Tel Aviv District Court.
The country’s first sitting prime minister to face a criminal trial has arrived at the court in relation to the long-running trial.
The 75-year-old has been indicted in three cases involving presents from millionaire friends and for allegedly seeking regulatory favours for media tycoons in return for favourable news coverage of him.
Netanyahu, who denies any wrongdoing, has pleaded not guilty.
If you’re just joining us
Here are the latest developments:
- Gaza’s Health Ministry appeals “to all international and UN institutions and concerned parties to urgently intervene to protect the health system in the Gaza Strip”.
- The Palestinian Education Ministry says 12,820 students have been killed and 21,351 injured since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
- Gaza’s Civil Defence says its crews recovered four bodies and rescued injured individuals from a house bombed by Israeli forces targeting the Siam family in the centre of Gaza City.
- At least one Palestinian has been killed and an unidentified number of others injured in Israeli artillery shelling east of Deir el-Balah city in the central Gaza Strip.
- At least one more Palestinian has been killed in a drone attack north of southern Gaza’s Rafah city.
- At least 15 Palestinians have been arrested by Israeli forces across the occupied West Bank since yesterday evening, according to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.
Israel asks its diplomats to seek listing of Yemen’s Houthis as ‘terrorists’ in UK, EU
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has ordered the country’s diplomatic missions in the European Union and in the United Kingdom to work for Yemen’s Houthi armed group to be designated as a “terrorist organisation”, according to a statement by his office.
“The Houthis pose a threat not only to Israel but to the region and the entire world,” Saar said in a statement.
“The first and most basic thing to do is to designate them as a terrorist organisation,” he added.
The Houthis have repeatedly fired drones and missiles towards Israel in what the group describes as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.Saar’s statement came hours after a ballistic missile from Yemen was intercepted before it could enter Israeli airspace.
At least 16 people were injured in another ballistic missile attack on central Israel last Saturday after the country’s air defences failed to intercept it.
Thousands queue for ‘very scarce’ food for hours on end in Khan Younis: UNRWA
The UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) says “thousands of displaced people queue for food for hours on end” in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
“With supplies very scarce, many of them leave empty-handed,” UNRWA said on X.
“Time is running out, while the needs continue to increase quickly and massively,” it added, calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Israel deliberately attacks security guarding humanitarian, commercial trucks across Gaza
There are deliberate attacks across Gaza when it comes to the delivery of humanitarian trucks, commercial trucks to a designated point.
The Israeli military targets every mission to deliver aid in a way consistent with our reports over the past few months, where looting started to take place and the looters are heavily protected by the Israeli military.
Drones are hovering at a very low level in these areas of Salah al-Din Street, where trucks are taking the route to deliver aid.
Looters gather around these trucks, try to hijack them, take them elsewhere and as soon as the guards intervene to prevent this from happening, the drone fires its missiles, killing the security guards who are protecting and securing trucks.
Close to 30 of these security guards have been killed in the past months and it’s causing disruption in the delivery of aid mechanism that has already been broken since the beginning of this genocidal war.
Israel killed over 12,800 Palestinian students since October 2023: Ministry
The Palestinian Education Ministry says 12,820 students have been killed and 21,351 injured since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on Gaza and the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.
It said the number of students killed in Gaza reached 12,700 with 20,702 injured.The ministry added that 119 students were killed and 649 others injured in the West Bank.
Israel kills one person east of central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah
At least one Palestinian has been killed and an unidentified number of others injured in Israeli artillery shelling east of Deir el-Balah city in the central Gaza Strip.
That’s according to Al Jazeera, as well as the Wafa news agency and the Palestinian Information Center.We will keep you updated.
No rest until all abductees return home: Israel’s Yair Lapid
The Israeli opposition leader has released a statement after the death of Hanna Katzir, a 77-year-old woman who was abducted by Hamas during the October 7, 2023 attack and was part of the prisoner-captive deal of last year.
“Rest in peace, Hanna, we will not rest and will not stop until all the kidnapped return home,” he said.
Palestinian Authority forces clash with fighters in West Bank’s Tubas: Sources
Confrontations have broken out in the south of the occupied West Bank governorate.
The fighting erupted after the security forces confiscated equipment from a house in the town of Tammun.
Various parts of the occupied West Bank have recently seen clashes between members of the Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces and local fighters.
Gaza’s Health Ministry calls on world to protect its hospitals
Israeli army has intensified its attacks on the health facilities in northern Gaza, as it besieges and “directly targets” the Indonesian Hospital, Kamal Adwan Hospital, and al-Awda Hospital in the past hours, according to a statement from the enclave’s Health Ministry.
The Israeli army is “forcing the wounded and patients to evacuate the Indonesian Hospital”, it said.
It stressed that the Israeli “bombing is targeting all the departments of the Kamal Adwan Hospital and its surroundings around the clock without stopping”.
“Shrapnel is scattered inside the hospital yard, causing terrifying sounds and serious damage,” the statement added.
“We appeal to all international and UN institutions and concerned parties to urgently intervene to protect the health system in the Gaza Strip,” the ministry said.
Civil Defence crews recover 4 bodies in Gaza City
Gaza’s Civil Defence says its crews have recovered four bodies as well as injured individuals from a house bombed by Israeli forces targeting the Siam family in the centre of Gaza City.
Earlier, we reported that the four victims included two women and a child, according to the Wafa news agency. The home is located near the El Samra Historical Bathhouse in Gaza City.
Israeli forces demolish Palestinian homes northeast of Jerusalem
Israeli forces demolished two houses under construction under the pretext of not having a licence in the town of Hizma, northeast of Jerusalem.
Wafa reported, citing sources, that Israeli forces also bulldozed olive trees in Hizma.
Israeli forces wound three, arrest another in raids on Nablus
The soldiers raided the city of Nablus and the nearby Balata refugee camp in the occupied West Bank at dawn, according to the Wafa news agency, wounding at least three Palestinians and arresting a fourth.
The wounded included two people who were shot and a 49-year-old woman who was beaten, Wafa reported, citing medics.
The agency identified the man who was arrested as Kamal Abu Muslim. He was taken from a house in the Tirawi neighbourhood. Video published by Palestinian media outlets showed the man being loaded into an Israeli ambulance.
Video shows robots planting explosives near Kamal Adwan Hospital
Many people inside Kamal Adwan Hospital or in its vicinity have been using their phones to document the concerning events.
One video presented to us shows robots in the vicinity of the hospital leaving behind an explosive device. We were told by the person who filmed that video that there were at least four other robots in the vicinity of the hospital.
When we look at the sheer level of destruction, it’s consistent with the footage presented to us, with the fact that the Israeli military has been using these devices to blow up many of the buildings in the vicinity of the hospital.
The witness told us that much of the area around the hospital has been cleared from buildings, the infrastructure destroyed and severely damaged, impeding movement in and out of the hospital.
Many of the essential departments inside the hospital have been rendered unoperational, because everyone is trying to stay alive and protected from all the shrapnel and bullets shot by the quadcopters or fired by the military that are piercing through the walls, injuring many of the medical staff members and patients inside.
Another video shows everyone in one corridor of the hospital, in the middle of the building, away from the windows and balconies and the rooms that are looking over the streets where these explosive devices are planted.
Israel’s Gantz calls for direct attacks on Iran
Bennh GantzBennh Gantz, a former member of Israel’s war cabinet, is calling on the country to “target Iran directly” to end attacks by the Houthis and other Tehran-aligned groups, according to The Times of Israel.
The National Unity Party leader told reporters on Monday that “the solution to putting an end to the attacks lies in Tehran”.
“Today, we have the opportunity to catalyze a ‘strategic flip’ against Iran and its proxies. We must capitalize on the opportunity,” he was quoted as saying. “It would be a strategic mistake of historic proportion not to.”
Israeli forces kill Palestinian man, inflict ‘massive destruction’ in Tulkarem
More on the ongoing Israeli raid on the refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
The Wafa news agency identified the slain Palestinian as Fathi Saeed Awda Salem and said he was killed by an Israeli sniper in the al-Hadaida neighbourhood. It reported that Israeli forces there also prevented ambulance crews from reaching Salem by opening fire on them.
The Israeli raid prompted violent clashes with fighters in the camp, with witnesses reporting huge explosions, Wafa added.
It said Israeli bulldozers also destroyed infrastructure across the camp, including schools, shops, homes, a mosque and the water network. The Israeli attacks caused a power outage and disrupted internet access, too.
Houthi official pledges to continue attacks on Israel
Hezam al-Asad made the comment after Netanyahu told Israeli legislators that he had ordered the country’s military to destroy Houthi infrastructure in Yemen.
Al-Asad, a member of the Houthis’ Supreme Political Council, wrote on X:
“We will not stop, until the aggression against our people in Gaza stops. Netanyahu will know that the dreams of the new Middle East are nothing but a punishment for him and his imported entity.”
The Houthis have been launching missile and drone attacks on Israel as well as merchant vessels in the Red Sea in a campaign aimed at pressuring Israeli authorities to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza.
Israeli legislators approve $9bn budget expansion to cover war costs
The Times of Israel is reporting that the Israeli Knesset added $9bn to the 2024 budget, with the vast majority of the funds going to defence spending.
The outlet said the budget proposal passed with the support of 62 coalition members, while 52 voted against it.
Four killed in Israeli attack on Gaza City
The Wafa news agency is reporting that the four victims included two women and a child.
They were killed when Israeli forces bombed the home of the Siam family near the El Samra Historical Bathhouse in Gaza City.
Earlier, we reported that four Palestinian guards were killed when Israeli forces bombed an aid convoy in central Gaza.
Israel extends state of emergency for another year
The Israeli parliament, known as the Knesset, has voted to extend the country’s state of emergency until December 16 next year.
The Times of Israel reported that 29 legislators voted for the resolution, while seven voted against it.
The resolution was introduced on the recommendation of the country’s security cabinet.
The state of emergency was last extended in May, but only for six months.
Israeli forces detonate explosive-laden ‘robots’ near Kamal Adwan
As we’ve been reporting, at least 20 patients and medical staff have been wounded by explosions around the Kamal Adwan Hospital.
Witnesses say remote-controlled vehicles delivered boxes with the word “danger” written on them. The boxes are believed to have contained explosives, which later detonated.
The attacks follow an order from the Israeli military to shut down the facility.
Dr Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, just sent us this update from inside the building:
“A short while ago, two military robots detonated near the hospital, causing serious damage and injuring about 20 people, both staff and inpatients. This explosion was very close and it’s the first time they have used these kinds of robots near the Kamal Adwan Hospital.”
Sirens sound in Tel Aviv after rocket fired from Yemen
The Israeli military has said it intercepted the rocket fired from Yemen “before it penetrated Israeli airspace”.
It said sirens are sounding in Tel Aviv due to fears around “falling shrapnel from the interception operation”. No injuries have been reported so far.
The Yemen-based Houthis struck the Jaffa area south of Tel Aviv with a missile on Saturday, injuring more than a dozen people.
We will bring you more information on this latest attack when we have it.
A recap of recent developments
- Israel’s military continues its attacks on the Kamal Adwan Hospital, wounding at least 20 patients and staff, as the director of the facility pleads for global intervention in the “serious and extremely horrifying” situation.
- Israeli forces also bombed an aid convoy in central Gaza, killing at least four security guards and wounding three others.
- Israel’s defence minister admitted for the first time publicly that Israel assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran’s capital, Tehran, in July.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells parliament that progress has been made on a deal to reach a ceasefire and free captives in Gaza, but offers no timeline.
- Confrontations have again broken out in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, as Palestinian Authority’s (PA) security forces continue their weeks-long campaign to take control of the area from local fighters.
- In Lebanon, at least two people were killed after Israel’s military bombed the village of Taybeh, in its latest violation of a ceasefire that went into effect in late November.
Welcome to our live coverage
Hello, and thank you for joining our live coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Stay with Mazzaltov World News’ Live team as we bring you all the latest developments, analyses and reactions.You can find all of our updates from December 23, here.