Israel kills at least 19 in Gaza strikes as famine looms

This live blog has now wrapped up for the evening. The New Arab will return tomorrow at 9am with live updates from Gaza and Lebanon.

Four pro-Iran fighters were among five people killed in overnight Israeli strikes in north and northwest Syria, a war monitor said on Saturday.

"Four Syrian pro-Iran fighters were killed in Israeli air strikes on the scientific research centre and warehouses near Safira east of Aleppo," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Britain-based monitor said two other raids further west targeting Saraqeb in Idlib province killed a fifth person.

It said these strikes targeted two headquarters of Syrian regime forces frequented by members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

Since Syria's civil war broke out in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria, mainly targeting army positions and fighters including from Hezbollah.

Iran signalled an openness towards Donald Trump Saturday, calling on the president-elect to adopt new policies towards it after Washington accused Tehran of involvement in a plot to kill him.

Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif urged Trump to reassess the policy of "maximum pressure" he employed against the Islamic republic during his first term.

"Trump must show that he is not following the wrong policies of the past," Zarif told reporters.

His remarks came after the United States accused Iran of conspiring to assassinate Trump.

The foreign ministry on Saturday described the American accusations as "totally unfounded".

Qatar will stop trying to mediate a Gaza ceasefire deal until Hamas and Israel "demonstrate a sincere willingness to return to the negotiating table", an official briefed on the matter told Reuters on Saturday.

The Gulf country has also concluded that Hamas' political office in Doha "no longer serves its purpose", the official added.

The move marks the biggest setback in efforts to reach a ceasefire since Hamas triggered the Gaza war by attacking Israel on 7 October, 2023.

"The Qataris have said since the start of the conflict that they can only mediate when both parties demonstrate a genuine interest in finding a resolution," the official said, adding that Qatar had notified Hamas, Israel and the U.S. administration of its decision. 

Hamas have strenuously denied that Qatar has asked them to leave. 

One senior leader in the movement denied the reports in a statement to The New Arab's Arabic sister outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, dismissing the claims as attempts to sow discord. The official added that Qatar continues to provide significant support to the Palestinian cause and for Gaza aid efforts.

The death toll from an Israeli strike on tents housing displaced people in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Hospital has now risen to three, Al Jazeera reports.

The attack by an Israeli helicopter in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah also wounded 26 other people. 

Lebanon's health ministry said Saturday seven people including two children were killed in Israeli strikes on the southern city of Tyre a day earlier, with rescuers still searching for missing people under the rubble.

"Israeli enemy strikes on the city of Tyre killed seven people including two girls, and injured 46 others," the ministry said, adding that body parts had been found and will be "identified with DNA testing".

It added that rubble was being cleared following the strikes as part of ongoing efforts to locate missing persons.

The ministry had on Friday reported a toll of three killed and 30 injured in the strikes.

With virtually no food allowed into the northernmost part of Gaza for the past month, tens of thousands of Palestinians under Israeli siege are rationing their last lentils and flour to survive. As bombardment pounds around them, some say they risk their lives by venturing out in search of cans of food in the rubble of destroyed homes.

Thousands have staggered out of the area, hungry and thin, into Gaza City, where they find the situation little better. One hospital reports seeing thousands of children suffering from malnutrition. A nutritionist said she treated a pregnant woman wasting away at just 40 kilograms (88 pounds).

“We are being starved to force us to leave our homes,” said Mohammed Arqouq, whose family of eight is determined to stay in the north, weathering Israel’s siege. “We will die here in our homes.”

According to the Wafa news agency, Israeli authorities have released 20 Gaza residents from detention centers via the Karem Abu Salem crossing. Local sources reported that most of those released had been detained by Israeli forces in northern Gaza on 5 October. The agency added that Israel has not disclosed the total number of detainees from Gaza.

At least seven have been killed and 46 others injured in an initial toll following Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon's coastal city of Tyre, Lebanon's health ministry said on Saturday.

At least 43,552 Palestinians have been killed, with 102,765 others injured, since Israel's military offensive on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, Gaza's health ministry said on Saturday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Saturday warned that the wars on Gaza and Lebanon,, could spill over beyond the Middle East.

"The world should know that in case of the expansion of war, its harmful effects will not be limited only to the West Asia region; insecurity and instability can spread to other regions, even far away," Araghchi said in speech aired on state TV.

Palestinian media outlets report that an Israeli airstrike killed five people in Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood. In a separate incident, four others lost their lives in a bombing targeting a warehouse where aid was being distributed, also in Gaza City.

There is a "strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas" of the northern Gaza Strip, a committee of global food security experts warned on Friday, as Israel enacts a brutal siege and assault on the area.

"Immediate action, within days not weeks, is required from all actors who are directly taking part in the conflict, or have influence on its conduct, to avert and alleviate this catastrophic situation," the independent Famine Review Committee (FRC) said in a rare alert. The warning comes just days ahead of a U.S. deadline for Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face potential restrictions on U.S. military aid.

Hezbollah says its fighters have launched missiles at the Zvulon military industries base north of Haifa city.

The Israeli military confirmed five rockets were launched from Lebanon towards the upper Galilee and Haifa Bay area, causing no damage or injuries.

The Palestinian health ministry said that at least one person was killed by the Israeli troops in the town of Aqqaba in the occupied West Bank and the body was still being held by them.

According to local sources cited by the Wafa news agency, a 50-year-old man sustained a gunshot wound to the chest after Israeli forces raided Aqqaba and surrounded a house.

Kamal Bani Odeh, the director of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society in Tubas, reported that Israeli forces also arrested two other men during the raid, as reported by Wafa.

Palestinian journalists have shared videos on Instagram showing patients arriving at a hospital after an Israeli bombing struck tents housing displaced people west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

 

 

 

 

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