Gaza unrest
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UN appeals for $4bn in Gaza, West Bank aid in 2025
The UN has appealed for $4.07 billion to provide desperately needed aid in conflict-battered Gaza and the West Bank next year, saying that the actual amount needed is far higher, AFP reports.
The aim will be to assist “the entire population of Gaza, estimated at 2.1 million people, and 900,000 people in the West Bank”, the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA said in its appeal.
It said that the actual needs amounted to “at least $6.6bn”, but suggested that Israeli constraints placed on aid delivery meant it would be difficult to scale up operations to that level.
Over 350 Israeli air strikes hit 13 Syrian provinces in four days: War monitor
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has said “Israeli fighter jets continue to destroy the remaining military assets in Syria for the fourth consecutive day”, * Al Jazeera* reports.
According to the War Monitor, some of the main targets of today’s Israeli air strikes were radar systems in the villages of Billah and Al-Balatah, north of Tartous, as well as one in the countryside of Latakia.
2 years jail sought for Amsterdam attacks against Israeli fans
Prosecutors called for two years in jail for a man suspected of punching and kicking Israeli football fans in Amsterdam during a night of violence that sparked worldwide shock and accusations of anti-Semitism, AFP reports.
The 22-year-old identified as Sefa O was one of five suspects before an Amsterdam court on charges relating to the chaos in the city following a match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv on November 7.
Maccabi supporters suffered “hit-and-run” attacks in the city centre following calls on social media to target them, prompting allegations from Dutch and Israeli politicians of anti-Semitic motives.
The court saw images of a man alleged to be O kicking a person on the ground, chasing targets, and punching people in the head and the body.
Palestinians disappeared after encounters with Israeli troops in Gaza
Reem Ajour says she last saw her husband and then 4-year-old daughter in March, when Israeli soldiers raided a family home in northern Gaza. She is haunted by those chaotic last moments, when the soldiers ordered her to go – to leave behind Talal and Masaa, both wounded.
Eight months later, the 23-year-old mother still has no answers about their fate. The military says it does not have them. Troops leveled the house where they were staying soon after the raid.
“I am living and dead at the same time,” she said, breaking down in sobs.
Ajour is one of dozens of Palestinians that an Israeli legal group, Hamoked, is helping in their search for family members who went missing after being separated by Israeli soldiers during raids and arrests in the Gaza Strip.
Their cases — a fraction of the estimated thousands who have gone missing during the 14-month-long war — highlight a lack of accountability in how the Israeli military deals with Palestinians during ground operations in Gaza, Hamoked says.
Death toll from fresh Israeli strikes in Gaza rises to 33
Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 33 Palestinians, most of them in an airstrike on a house in Beit Lahiya town in the north of the enclave.
The Beit Lahiya strike killed at least 22 people, including women and children, health officials said. Relatives listed the names of the dead on social media.
More than 30 people were living in the multi-storey building before it was struck, and several family members remained missing as rescue operations continued through the morning, the Palestinian WAFA news agency said.
In nearby Beit Hanoun, where the Israeli forces have operated since October, medics said an Israeli airstrike killed and wounded several people, without giving an exact toll. Rescue workers said several people were trapped under rubble.
Israeli warplanes pound Syria as troops reportedly advance deeper into the country
Israel carried out a wave of heavy airstrikes across Syria as its troops advanced deeper into the country, a Syrian opposition war monitor said on Tuesday, and the Israeli defense minister announced that his forces had destroyed Syria’s navy.
Israel acknowledged pushing into a buffer zone inside Syria following the overthrow of President Bashar Assad. But it remained unclear if its soldiers had gone beyond that area, which was established more than 50 years ago. Israel denied it is advancing on the Syrian capital of Damascus.
Israeli officials have said they are striking military targets, including heavy weapons, suspected chemical weapons sites and air-defense systems, to prevent them from falling into the hands of extremists. Photographs circulating online showed destroyed missile launchers, helicopters and warplanes. Associated Press reporters in the capital heard heavy airstrikes overnight and into Tuesday morning.
Israeli airstrike kills at least seven Palestinians in central Gaza, medics say
At least seven Palestinians were killed and several others wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Nuseirat camp in the central part of the Gaza Strip, medics told Reuters early on Wednesday.
In Beit Hanoun town in northern Gaza Strip, where the Israeli forces have operated since October, medics said an Israeli airstrike killed and wounded several people. Rescue workers said several people were trapped under the rubble of a house.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the two attacks reported by Palestinian medics.
