Israeli attack on Jabalia kills 90 as relentless assault on Gaza continues

TNA’s live coverage of the latest from the war on Gaza concludes for today. Join us again at 0800 GMT for updates from the besieged Palestinian enclave.

A group of injured Palestinians who were inflicted by the Gaza war, have arrived in Qatar for medical treatment, according to Qatar’s assistant foreign minister Lolwah Alkhater.

In a statement on Sunday, Alkhater said that the group were accompanied by vice-chairman of Qatar’s Gaza Reconstruction Committee, ambassador Khalid al-Hardan, and a medical crew.

Alkhater added those injured did not all arrive from Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital, where Israeli forces committed its deadly raid on Saturday.

She went on to say that rescue teams were prevented from reaching the hospital.

Two other groups of injured Palestinians arrived in Qatar from Gaza to receive treatment, as Qatar's emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, had ushered in the medical treatment of 1,500 wounded Palestinians, as a result of Israel's ongoing military offensive.

#اوقفوا_العدوان_على_غزة 🇵🇸

حفظ الله الجميع.

بفضل الله ومنته وصول مجموعة جديدة من الأشقاء المصابين من غزة إلى دولة قطر على متن طائرة تابعة للقوات الجوية الأميرية وبرفقة طاقم طبي ونائب رئيس لجنة إعمار غزة السفير خالد الحردان. في سياق آخر أنوّه أنه حتى هذه اللحظة لم يتم العثور على… https://t.co/NgqyTppN8v pic.twitter.com/EBY0yCxnip

— لولوة الخاطر Lolwah Alkhater (@Lolwah_Alkhater) December 17, 2023

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin is set to announce an upcoming expanded maritime force during his visit across the Middle East, according to The Guardian.

Reportedly titled Operation Prosperity Guardian provisionally, it is meant to reaffirm the safety of commercial shipping companies amid ongoing Yemeni Houthi-led attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.

The UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Egypt and Bahrain are also expected to be included in the new maritime force.

An Israeli council leader has made an open threat to Gazans under relentless Israeli military offensive, by proposing they should be sent to refugee camps in Lebanon and flatten the entire Strip to replicate the atrocities of Auschwitz.

"After October 7, instead of urging people to go south, we should direct them to the beaches. The Navy can transport them to the shores of Lebanon, where there are already sufficient refugee camps," David Azoulai, head of the Metula settlement council in Galilee, told Israel's 103FM radio station.

"Then, a security strip should be established from the sea to the Gaza border fence, completely empty, as a reminder of what was once there. It should resemble the Auschwitz concentration camp."

"The entire Gaza Strip should be emptied and levelled flat, just like in Auschwitz. Let it become a museum, showcasing the capabilities of the State of Israel and dissuading anyone from living in the Gaza Strip," Azoulai continued.

"This is what must be done. To give them a visual representation."

Israeli forces have said that they bombed a Hezbollah anti-tank group at a site in southern Lebanon.

The military said in a post on X that the Lebanese group were attempting to attack near the Israeli town of Yir’on.

Hezbollah also said that it has caused “casualties” on Israeli forces during intensifying border clashes, but there were not any further details.

This coincides with two Syrian soldiers who were wounded after Israeli forces struck a military site near Damascus.

Signs reading "S.O.S." and "help, three hostages" in Hebrew were found on the walls of a Gaza building where three Israeli hostages had been hiding before they were mistakenly killed, according to Israeli forces. 

The military distributed photographs of the white cloth signs written in red, likely with leftover food. They were hung on a building about 200 meters from where the hostages were shot, military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.

Israeli forces on Friday identified the three hostages killed in Shejaiya, an eastern suburb of Gaza City, as Yotam Haim and Alon Shamriz, abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, and Samer Al-Talalka, abducted from nearby Kibbutz Nir Am.

It said they had raised a white flag and were shirtless when shot, against Israel's rules of engagement. Israel's military chief told its forces inside Gaza not to repeat that mistake.

The Israeli military is investigating the deaths.

Israeli missiles launched from the occupied Golan Heights at sites near Damascus injured two Syrian soldiers on Sunday, the Syrian military said.

Syria's air defences shot down some of the missiles that targeted the countryside around the capital, the army said in a statement.

The Israeli military have declined to comment, according to news agency Reuters.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has denounced the attacks on Nasser Hospital's maternity ward and children's nursery, that resulted in the killing of a Palestinian child and wounded others.

"PRCS views with great concern the targeting by the occupation artillery of the maternity ward in Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, leading to several casualties," the statement read on social media platform X.

🚨PRCS views with great concern the targeting by the occupation artillery of the maternity ward in Nasser Medical Complex in #KhanYounis, leading to several casualties.

⚠️This violation is a serious indication of targeting hospitals and medical centers that enjoy protection and… pic.twitter.com/JCxlWVRPto

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 17, 2023

The maternity ward of southern Gaza's Nasser Hospital was struck by Israeli shelling- that caused the killing of a Palestinian girl and injured others.

Videos have surfaced since the attack, showing countless men, women and children in distress- as they flee to find shelter.

 Ashraf al-Qudra, the spokesman for Gaza's health ministry, said that the artillery shelling had penetrated the wall, but did not explode. He added that had the shell exploded, it "would have caused a large and horrific massacre."

The Palestinian girl who was killed has been identified as Donia Abu Mohsen.

Abu Mohsen previously survived another attack in her home, resulting to her leg being amputated. Her family members were killed in the first attack- including her father, mother, and two of her brothers.

She was receiving treatment in Nasser Hospital.

اللحظات الأولى لاستهداف جيش الاحتلال لقسم الولادة والأطفال في مجمع ناصر الطبي في خانيونس. #Gaza_Genocide pic.twitter.com/2zwqcyOIYF

— باسل ابو حسان (@BasilPal90) December 17, 2023

A shell fell on the upper floor, where the maternity ward and children's nursery are located, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Several children are injured. We were in the same building. This is the second time today that the occupation targets the hospital. No updates on… pic.twitter.com/OPTt8mcY8K

— Ahmed El-Madhoun from #Gaza (@madhoun95) December 17, 2023

Note: This update was posted on Friday, 22 December 2023 after a statement was received from the Israeli army.

The Israeli army confirmed on Thursday, 21 December that its forces had arrested the director of al-Awda Hospital.

The al-Awda Health and Community Association announced the arrest of Dr Ahmed Muhanna on Sunday, 17 December, describing him as a humanitarian worker in the health sector.

The military said in a statement that it was operating in the area of the hospital but, contrary to reports, did not enter it.

"About a hundred men who evacuated the hospital at the request of the IDF [Israeli army] underwent a field interrogation," the military added.

It alleged that, of these men, 13 suspected of "being involved with terrorist activity" were "detained and transferred for further interrogation in Israel".

The Israeli army did not name Muhanna but said that the hospital director "is among those arrested", adding that he was "detained for information" about the alleged activities.

The al-Awda Health and Community Association said on Sunday that 21 medical staff were arrested before being released three hours later, adding that the association "denounces the continued detention" of Muhanna.

It said the incident came after al-Awda Hospital had been besieged for almost two weeks.

The Israeli military said that in coordination with the facility's director its forces called the names of the suspects and then called for all men between the ages of 20 and 50 to "come out for security checks".

 Ashraf al-Qudra, Gaza's Palestinian health ministry spokesman, has released further details on the arrest of Al-Awda hospital director Ahmad Muhanna.

In a statement, al-Qudra said that Muhanna and other staff members who were arrested by Israeli forces had been forcibly stripped down.

He added that after four hours of interrogation, other medical staff members were released in "inhumane conditions".

Al-Qudra said that Dr. Muhanna continues to remain detained and was transferred to an unknown location.

He said that there are concerns that Israeli forces will target Al-Awda, similar to the killings of Palestinians in Kamal Adwan Hospital- where Israeli forces bulldozed and buried alive dozens of patients and those displaced who were injured on Saturday.

Palestinian NGO Al Awda Health and Community Association has issued a statement on the arrest of the head of northern Gaza based Al Awda Hospital.

The statement said that Israeli forces rounded up 21 medical staffs within the vicinity of the hospital and were under arrest.

The organisation added that the hospital's director Dr. Ahmed Muhanna remains detained, while others have been released as Israeli forces continue to besiege the hospital.

"The Al-Awda Association denounces the arrest, intimidation and intimidation of its employees, and also denounces the continued detentions," the statement read.

The association also called on global humanitarian organisations such as WHO and the Red Cross to press on Israel to release Dr. Muhanna.

They added that the relevant institutions must help in instilling the necessary provisions for the protection of medical staff members and patients who are still trapped in Al Awda- adding they are inside the hospital with no food, drink or electricity.

In a TV interview with Al Jazeera,  UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini says that the Gaza humanitarian crisis has been "unprecedented and staggering" and added that he has not seen anything of this scale of disaster.

"Everything is absolutely unprecedented and staggering. The number of people who have been killed … in forty days, more women and children killed than the number of civilians in the Ukraine war," Lazzarini said to the news channel.

The UN agency head described the alarming figures of the destruction of Gaza's infrastructure and its increasing displaced group, which is 60 and 80 per cent respectively.

"The number of UN staff which have been killed is absolutely unprecedented … Conditions are absolutely appalling. The sanitary conditions are terrible … There is hardly clean water … Sewage water [is] appearing in the shelter."

"Everything is absolutely unprecedented & staggering"

🆘Number of civilians killed
🆘Number of @UN staff killed
🆘Level of destruction; +60% of infrastructure destroyed
🆘+90% of population displaced

By any account, #Gaza situation is unprecedented@UNLazzarini @TalktoAlJazeera pic.twitter.com/zNGO4ZBTrT

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 17, 2023

Israeli strikes on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza killed 90 Palestinians on Sunday, Gaza's health ministry spokesman told news agency Reuters.

60 Palestinians massacred and hundreds injured in three Israeli airstrikes targeting the homes of Shehab in Jabalia camp, northern Gaza, this morning. #GazaGenocide pic.twitter.com/N4q6y6OYzR

— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) December 17, 2023

Syrian air defences responded to an act of Israeli aggression and intercepted "enemy targets" in the vicinity of Damascus, state media reported.

The reports did not go into more detail on the incident, according to a report by Reuters.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has issued a statement to share its content over the "partial" restoration of phone and internet services in Gaza.

The organisation also posted a video that illustrated how they had lost communication with its operations room in Gaza for four days, following continued heavy Israeli bombardments across the besieged strip.

🙏We are pleased with the partial restoration of communications to the #Gaza Strip, allowing us to connect with our colleagues there.

👇In this video filmed today in the central operations room in Ramallah we illustrate the difficulty of communication with the #Gaza operations… pic.twitter.com/WV7Dj4ncxO

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 17, 2023

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), has condemned the recent Israeli attacks on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.

In a post on X, the WHO director-general stated that he has deplored the actions by Israeli forces, following a raid at the Gaza based hospital for several days.

"WHO is appalled by the effective destruction of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza over the last several days, rendering it non-functional and resulting in the death of at least 8 patients," Ghebreyesus tweeted.

"Many health workers were reportedly detained, and WHO and partners are urgently seeking information on their status."

Calling for an immediate ceasefire, Dr. Ghebreyesus shared his concerns over the alarming reports, from ambulances being prevented to reach the facility to the patients who died due to the "lack of adequate healthcare" including a 9 year old girl.

"We are extremely concerned for the well-being of the internally displaced people who are reportedly sheltering in the hospital building," he added.

"Gaza’s health system was already on its knees, and the loss of another even minimally functioning hospital is a severe blow."

The brother of an Israeli hostage who Israeli forces say was mistakenly killed by their soldiers in the Gaza Strip this week, says the army had "abandoned and murdered" him, AFP reported.

"Those who abandoned you also murdered you after all that you did right," Ido Shamriz, brother of Alon Shamriz said at his funeral in the north of Tel Aviv, which was attended by family members.

Alon Shamriz, 26, was one of the three Israeli hostages shot dead by soldiers in a military operation in the Gaza City suburb of Shejaiya- despite having carried a white flag and cried for help in Hebrew.

Shamriz, alongside Yotam Haim and Samer El-Talalqa were killed after Israeli forces said they mistook them for Hamas fighters. 

"You survived 70 days in hell," Shamriz's mother, Dikla, said in her eulogy for Alon. "Another moment and you would have been in my arms."

Israeli forces claim that have taken more than 1,000 people captive in Israel's war on Gaza, Israel's military chief said.

Addressing soldiers inside the bombarded enclave, Chief of the General Staff Major-General Herzi Halevi said that when combatants "lay down their arms and raise their hands, we arrest them, we don't shoot them"

"We get a lot of intelligence from the captives we have, we already have over a thousand," Halevi said in a video distributed by the military.

Halevi's comments came after soldiers accidentally shot dead three Israeli hostages who Israeli forces say were waving a white flag and trying to be rescued.

The Agam Labs at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem's The Gaza War Omnibus revealed that 33 percent showed their support for reoccupying Gaza- while 11 percent remain uncertain.

23 percent advocated for moderate Arab countries to oversee on who controls post-war Gaza, , while 22 percent support Israeli military rule.

Additionally, 18 percent favoured an international force assuming control, with a similar figure agree towards Israel annexing Gaza.

Meanwhile, 7 percent believe in holding elections in Gaza, as 11 percent showed support for the Palestinian Authority (PA) to rule the Palestinian enclave.

 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem poll also found that 57 percent of Israelis support reaching an agreement to release Hamas-held hostages.

41 percent agree for the release of Palestinian prisoners and 16 percent advocate for the reduction of Israeli military action.

23 percent disagree for any negotiations to take while 20 percent remain undecided.

Meanwhile, 40 percent have opposed humanitarian assistance into Gaza and 37 percent approve of aid initiatives.

 Israel's defence minister Yoav Gallant has threatened Hezbollah of “a heavy price” following a series of attacks on Israeli forces in recent days.

Visiting troops along the Israel-Lebanon border, he shared plans for Israel to step up its attacks.

“We don’t want war, but we won’t hold it for too long,” Yoav Gallant said to his soldiers, according to a report by Israeli publication The Times of Israel.

“If Hezbollah wants to go up one level, we will go up five.”

Gallant also warned that Israel can “copy and paste” what it is currently doing in Gaza to Lebanon.

“What we are doing in Gaza, we can do in Beirut. If we will be dragged into a violent conflict, a war, [Hezbollah] will pay a heavy price.”

Two Egyptian security sources said on Sunday that Israel and Hamas are both open to a renewed ceasefire and hostage release, although disagreements remain on how it would be implemented.

Hamas is insisting on setting the list of hostages to be released unilaterally, and demanding that Israeli forces withdraw behind pre-determined lines, the sources told Reuters.

While Israel agreed on Hamas setting the list, the sources said it had asked for a timeline and to see the list in order to set the time and duration of the ceasefire.

Israel refuses to withdraw, the sources added.

France's foreign minister Catherine Colonna has condemned the “dangerous acts” of Israeli settlers that “undermine the possibilities of reaching a political solution” to the war on Gaza.

During a visit to the Mazraa al-Gharbiyya village near Ramallah in Israeli-occupied West Bank on Sunday, Catherine Colonna responded to the ongoing settler colonial violence that has taken place, amid Israel's war on Gaza.

“[Settlers] could push towards new developments and destabilise the West Bank, and this matter is not in the interest of Israel,” the Palestinian news agency Wafa quoted Colanna as saying.

The UK, France, Australia, Canada, the EU and other European countries have also pleaded to Israel to “take concrete steps to halt unprecedented violence by Israeli settlers”.

 Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan asked his US counterpart Antony Blinken in a call on Sunday for Washington to use its influence over Israel to halt Israeli attacks on Gaza and the West Bank, a Turkish diplomatic source told news agency Reuters.

Fidan told Blinken that the situation in Gaza and the West Bank was worsening due to the Israeli attacks, the source said. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told US President Joe Biden on Thursday that the United States had a historic responsibility to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.

"Fidan emphasised the need for Israel to be made to sit at the (negotiating) table after a full ceasefire is achieved, in order to start a process aimed at realising a fair and lasting peace based on a two-state solution," the source said.

The Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford and Abingdon, Layla Moran, said that her relatives, including her grandmother, her cousin, his wife, and their 11-year-old twins, are trapped among hundreds of people sheltering in a Catholic church in Gaza since the start of the war.

Moran told the BBC that her Palestinian Christian extended family was sheltering in the Holy Family Church complex since their home was bombed in the first week of the war.

Moran reported that a tank was outside the church complex, while people inside have died, with snipers at every window of the opposite building pointing to the church. She said the snipers are shooting anyone going out of buildings to use toilets.

Read the full article here. 

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has said on Meet The Press that Israel will have to accept a two-state solution if it wants to normalise ties with Saudi Arabia on the day after.

“We have two choices: continue the death spiral, or use Oct. 7th as a catalyst for change.”

On Saturday, Netanyahu boasted that he was proud to have prevented the establishment of a Palestinian state and described the Oslo Accords as a fateful mistake.

Sen. Lindsey Graham on MTP says Israel will have to accept a two-state solution if it wants to normalize ties with Saudi Arabia on the day after.

"We have two choices: continue the death spiral, or use Oct. 7th as a catalyst for change." pic.twitter.com/2RrRyZEtFa

— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) December 17, 2023

News reports suggest the US government is seeking a revamp of the Palestinian Authority (PA), particularly its American-trained security forces, as one possible solution to the post-war governance of Gaza.

US news site Axios reports the Biden administration is “proposing the Palestinian Authority re-activate members of its security forces in Gaza to prepare a local security and police force for the enclave after the conflict, US officials say”.

Axios – citing a source “with direct knowledge of the issue” – reported the PA recently contacted former security officers still at an eligible age for service to see if they were potentially interested in returning.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday in Ramallah.

A senior administration official said in a call with reporters from Tel Aviv the PA’s security forces will be one topic of discussion, along with “the capacity of the Palestinian Authority, which we recognise needs to be revamped, revitalised”.

The Palestinian National Security Forces currently operates in the occupied West Bank. But many perceive it as a tool of the Israeli security apparatus – its US-trained forces not only targeting those suspected of planning attacks on Israelis but also arresting union figures, journalists and critics on social media.

From October 21 until December 16, some 4,637 trucks entered the besieged Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing, 60 percent of which were for the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The trucks contain: 49 percent food items, 11.7 percent medical supplies, 20.3 percent relief items, and 19 percent water.

The Red Crescent called for “unconditional continued aid entry” into Gaza where more than 1.9 million Palestinians have been displaced as a result Israel’s onslaught on the coastal enclave.

How many aid trucks entered the #Gaza Strip since the beginning of the escalation❓

How aid is distributed❓
👇
🚨The aid that has been received doesn’t meet 10% of the needs.

📢 PRCS calls for unconditional continued aid entry into #Gaza .#Humantarianaid pic.twitter.com/4uFPZHnQxH

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 17, 2023

The head of Israel's spy agency and the Qatari prime minister had a "positive" meeting about resuming "indirect" negotiations on the release of hostages, according to a report.

The Israeli government is under increasing pressure to do more to secure the safe return of the remaining captives.

Sources with knowledge of the matter told CNN that the meeting between David Barnea and Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani on Friday was "positive".

One source told the network the meeting was planned before the mistaken killings of three Israeli hostages by IDF forces that same day - but the incident "added urgency to the conversations".

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said the military has foiled an operation to launch antitank missiles from southern Lebanon towards Israeli territory.

“An [Israeli army] aircraft and a tank recently attacked a terrorist squad that tried to launch antitank missiles towards Israeli territory in the Livna area,” Hagari wrote.

כלי טיס וטנק של צה"ל תקפו לפני זמן קצר חוליית מחבלים שניסתה לשגר טילי נ"ט לעבר שטח ישראל במרחב לבנה.

כמו כן, זוהו לפני זמן קצר שיגורים לעבר מספר מרחבים בגבול לבנון, צה"ל תקף את מקורות הירי. pic.twitter.com/9ceAiP7mcd

— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי - Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) December 17, 2023

Gaza's main telecoms company said Sunday that mobile and internet services had gradually been restored in the centre and south of the beseiged Palestinian territory, after the latest service disruption.

"We would like to announce the gradual restoration of telecom services... our field teams were able to reach and repair the main damaged site after numerous attempts in the past days", PalTel said after announcing communications were cut on Thursday.

The UN Office for Human Rights in the occupied Palestinian territories says it is alarmed by an unprecedented rate of journalists and media workers who have been killed in Gaza since October 7, as reported by Al Jazeera.

OHCHR has verified the killing of 50 journalists and media workers, and has received information that 30 more may have died, amounting to approximately 6 percent of all those registered with the Journalists’ Syndicate in Gaza.

According to the International Federation of Journalists, 73 percent of the total number of journalists and media workers killed globally so far in 2023 have been in Gaza.

“Journalists and media workers, utilising a variety of tools, including social media, have kept the world informed in real-time of the horrors that civilians in Gaza are enduring. Their dedication deserves tribute. But one by one, these eyes on the ground are going dark,” the UN office said in a statement.

“Thanks to their work, the world is watching. They must be protected. There must be accountability."

The French Foreign Ministry has condemned the killing of one of its staff in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip.

The ministry employee succumbed to injuries from an Israeli attack on Rafah in southern Gaza, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement late Saturday.

The victim took shelter in the house of a coworker from the French consulate, and the residential building came under Israeli bombing on Wednesday evening, the ministry said, adding that more than 10 others were also killed.

"Our colleague has been working for France since 2002," the ministry said, offering condolences to the victim's family.

"France condemns the bombardment of a residency building that also caused several other civilian casualties," the statement read.

The ministry called on the Israeli authorities to shed "all light" on the circumstances of the airstrike as quickly as possible.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid says Benjamin Netanyahu “cannot continue to be prime minister”.

“We have a prime minister who lost the trust of the people, lost the trust of the world and lost the trust of the security establishment,” he said in a post on X, calling for elections.

The UN’s human rights office says it received reports from the north of Gaza of mass detentions, ill-treatment and forced disappearances of possibly thousands of Palestinians at the hands of Israeli soldiers.

They include more than 100 women and girls, most rounded up as they attempted to move south or were taken during operations conducted on their homes, hospitals, schools and other places of refuge.

OHCHR in the occupied Palestinian territory also said:

• Reports claim children as young as 12 and people as old as 70 are among those detained.
• Reports suggest many of the detained were subjected to serious ill-treatment, which in some instances may amount to torture.
• Credible information was also received about 140 women and girls arbitrarily detained and being held in undisclosed locations.
• Civilians have been killed, including in apparent extrajudicial executions, in places of refuge, particularly schools.

Funerals are taking place of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in an attack on the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem, occupied West Bank, earlier today.

A Palestinian journalist has shared footage of the funeral procession of the five people shot and killed in the raid where Israeli forces said they used aircraft to target Palestinians.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Hisham Abu Shaqrah (@hishamshaqrah)

Another exchange of fire has taken place along the Israel-Lebanon border after Hezbollah fighters mounted several attacks against Israeli forces.

The group said it targeted Israeli forces on the edges of Hanita, a kibbutz in northern Israel near the border, causing casualties. It also claimed a second attack at an outpost manned by Israeli soldiers which it said also resulted in casualties.

The Israeli army said it is responding and hitting Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon.

Egypt's Suez canal authority chief said on Sunday the authority is closely monitoring the current tensions in the Red Sea .

The authority is "closely following the consequences of current tensions in the Red Sea on the traffic in the canal," Chairman Osama Rabea said in a statement, adding that maritime traffic in the canal is normal.

Footage shown by Al Jazeera shows Palestinian health officials holding a news conference in northern Gaza running for cover as the sound of what is believed to be Israeli gunfire is heard nearby.

Munir al-Bursh, director-general of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, was delivering a statement surrounded by nine other medical officials and personnel outside the Kamal Adwan Hospital when the incident happened.

Israeli forces raided the hospital on Tuesday after besieging and shelling it for several days. Israeli vehicles remain close to the facility despite the soldiers’ subsequent withdrawal.

On Saturday, doctors and other witnesses said Israeli forces bulldozed tents housing displaced Palestinians near the hospital and crushed them to death.

Hamas says it will not enter any negotiations on further exchanges of prisoners without an end to Israeli attacks, according to Al-Jazeera.

“Hamas reaffirms its stance not to conduct any negotiations to exchange prisoners unless the Zionist aggression against our people stops once and for all,” the group said, adding that the message had been passed on to all mediators involved.

These comments come as Qatari and Israeli officials met over the weekend to explore possibilities over the resumption of talks for the release of those still held in Gaza.

Chances for a deal seem slim as the Israeli war cabinet made it clear that it has no intention to stop the fighting in the strip.

The Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza opened for the first time for aid trucks since the outbreak of the war on Saturday, a spokesperson from the prime minister's office said, according to Reuters.

The crossing had been closed to aid trucks since the war on Gaza began. Israel agreed to reopen the crossing to aid trucks last week.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna on Sunday urged all parties including Israel to 'deescalate' on the volatile Israel-Lebanon border where tensions have risen amid the Gaza war.

"The risk of escalation remains... and if things were to spiral out of control, I don't think anyone would benefit, and I say this to Israel too," she said on a visit to the Shura military base in central Israel. "This call for caution and deescalation applies to everyone."

Pope Francis on Sunday deplored the death of two women in a Catholic parish in Gaza, where he said "defenceless civilians" were targeted by shootings and bombings.

"I continue to receive very serious and painful news from Gaza," he said at the end of the Angelus prayer. "A mother and her daughter... were killed and other people injured by sniper fire."

Palestinian journalist Yousef al-Helou has documented the aftermath of an Israeli attack on Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Numerous shops appear visibly damaged, with the sounds of Israeli drones in the background. Residents were forced to flee further south to Rafah, according to al-Helou.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Yousef Alhelou (@alhelou.y)

Live footage from the Rafah crossing in Gaza shows a large group of people jumping onto an aid truck to secure supplies.

Individuals can be seen tossing aid boxes out of the truck and into the waiting crowds below.

The Rafah crossing is located in the southern part of Gaza bordering Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

The UN has been warning that people in Gaza have become so “desperate for food” that they are stopping aid trucks and immediately eating what they find.

The deputy head of the UN World Food Programme on Thursday also confirmed that about half of all people in Gaza “are starving”, with no idea where their next meal is coming from.

Five Palestinians were killed Sunday morning in an Israeli army operation at the Tulkarem refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The death toll from the raid climbed to five after the announcement of the deaths of two men aged 19 and 21 in hospital, the ministry said.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna arrived in Israel Sunday where she was due to press for an "immediate and durable" truce in the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Colonna will meet her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen in Tel Aviv, as Israel presses on with its military offensive after the October 7 attacks that has left much of Gaza in ruins and sent tensions spiralling across the region.

Paris on Saturday condemned an Israeli strike in Gaza that killed a French foreign ministry employee, demanding that "light be shed" on the circumstances.

Colonna is also due to meet the families of French hostages still held in Gaza and to call for an "immediate and durable new humanitarian truce", according to a foreign ministry statement.

The truce should lead to a lasting ceasefire with the aim of releasing all hostages and delivering aid to Gaza, it said.

The emergency department at the Al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza, devastated by Israeli bombardments, is "a blood bath" and is "in need of resuscitation", the WHO said Sunday.

A team from the World Health Organisation and other United Nations agencies was able to deliver medical supplies Saturday to the hospital, the largest in the Palestinian territory.

In a statement the WHO said that "tens of thousands of displaced people are using the hospital building and grounds for shelter", and that there is "a severe shortage" of drinking water and food.

"The team described the emergency department as a 'bloodbath', with hundreds of injured patients inside, and new patients arriving every minute," the organisation said, adding that "patients with trauma injuries were being sutured on the floor... (and) no pain management is available".

The hospital is functioning at a minimal scale with very few staff and the WHo said "critical patients are being transferred to Al-Ahli Arab Hospital for surgeries".

Operating theatres are not working due to a lack of oxygen and supplies, and according to the WHO team, it is a "hospital in need of resuscitation".

Only 30 patients can receive dialysis daily.

Israel has relentlessly targeted Gaza's health infrastructure, leaving just one operational hospital in the north of the strip.

WHO delivers health supplies to Al-Shifa Hospital, appeals for continued access to address urgent needs in north #Gaza

WHO staff participated in a joint UN mission to Al-Shifa Hospital in north Gaza on 16 December to deliver health supplies and assess the situation in the… pic.twitter.com/gIa3tG97mC

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) December 16, 2023

At least 20 people have been killed and some 100 others injured following an Israeli air raid on a residential block in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

The attack targeted the home of the Shehab family, causing extensive damage to neighbouring houses.

Footage on social media shows the arrival of those killed and injured, including children, in the attack at a medical facility in Jabalia.

Many of those wounded are seen lying on the floor waiting to be treated