Gaza Fight
Live Reporting
Israeli air force chief rejects accusations of ‘indiscriminate bombing’
Omer Tischler, the Israeli air force’s chief of staff, rebuts allegations of indiscriminate air attacks on the Gaza Strip, saying thorough procedures are followed before targeting each site, Al Jazeera reports.
“Since the October 7 massacre, the Israeli Air Force has been conducting a precise, focused and process-based campaign,” he said in a statement.
“In many cases, we use small PGMs [precision-guided munitions] to strike targets near sensitive areas,” it said.
He also said claims that “dumb bombs” are being used indiscriminately to cause massive damage are “misleading”.
“Even though these munitions are not GPS-guided, they are still used accurately,” he said.
Israel returns 80 bodies to Gaza after confirming they're not hostages
Israel has returned the bodies of 80 Palestinians killed in the Israeli-Hamas conflict in Gaza, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Wednesday.
Israel said it was returning the bodies after confirming that they were not Israeli hostages taken by Hamas on Oct.7.
No words adequately capture depth of human suffering in Gaza: IFRC chief
International Federation of Red Cross Secretary General Jagan Chapagain has said no words adequately capture the depth of human suffering in Gaza.
In a post on his X account, he said that in this bombardment, civilians and humanitarian workers are paying the highest price, with some losing their lives.
“Rules exist to help preserve humanity in the darkest moments, and they desperately need to be followed today,” he said.
— Jagan Chapagain (@jagan_chapagain) December 27, 2023
Israeli PM Netanyahu no different from Hitler: Turkiye’s Erdogan
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is no different from Adolf Hitler and likened Israel’s attacks on Gaza to the treatment of Jewish people by the Nazis.
Sharpening his rhetoric, Erdogan said Turkey would welcome academics and scientists facing persecution for their views on the conflict in Gaza, adding Western countries supporting Israel were complicit in what he called war crimes.
“They used to speak ill of Hitler. What difference do you have from Hitler? They are going to make us miss Hitler. Is what this Netanyahu is doing any less than what Hitler did? It is not,” Erdogan said.
US state secretary, Turkish FM discuss humanitarian assistance in Gaza
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan about the need to increase the speed and scale of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, US State Dept Spokesperson Mathew Miller says in a post on his X account.
— Matthew Miller (@StateDeptSpox) December 27, 2023
Jordan, Egypt says any move to expel Palestinians unacceptable
Jordan’s King Abdullah and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al- Sisi have said after a summit in Cairo that they reject any Israeli move to expel Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, according to state media.
Reuters reports that both leaders said in a statement the international community should pressure Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire and allow enough aid into conflict-ridden Gaza to ease the “tragic plight” of over two million people under siege there.
US Sec of State Blinken to visit Middle East next week
Axios has reported that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to travel to the Middle East late next week to discuss the fighting in Gaza, citing five US, Israeli and Arab officials.
According to Reuters, Axios reported that Blinken is planning to visit Israel, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Aid organization says meeting Gaza population's needs impossible
Ahmed Bayram, Middle East adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council, spoke to Al Jazeera about the difficulties the organisation is facing in delivering aid inside Gaza.
He warned that food insecurity, coupled with displacement, made it near impossible to operate and meet the immense needs of the population there.
He added that all of this was happening under almost complete siege.
eSIM cards help Gaza stay online
Power cuts have become a fact of life in Gaza. But thanks to embedded SIM cards, Palestinians can still access the internet and maintain a channel of communication with loved ones abroad.
“Without them, we’d be cut off from the world,” said Hani al-Shaer, a local journalist who depends on eSIM cards to do his live streams.
“And no one would know what was happening in Gaza,” he added, just as the besieged territory experienced the latest in a series of telecoms breakdowns.
Human Rights Watch has warned that phone and internet disruptions in Gaza could “provide cover for atrocities and breed impunity while further undermining humanitarian efforts and putting lives at risk”.
Emirate of Sharjah bans New Year’s fireworks to show solidarity with Gaza
Sharjah, the UAE’s third-largest emirate by size and population, has banned New Year’s Eve fireworks this year as an expression of solidarity with the people of Gaza.
The decision was announced in a Facebook post by Sharjah police, who said the ban was “a sincere expression of solidarity and humanitarian cooperation with our siblings in the Gaza Strip”.
They also warned that legal measures would be taken against those violating the ban.
Israeli army demolishes home in occupied West Bank
A Palestinian family’s home has destroyed by Israeli forces in the village of Masafer Yatta, in Hebron.
Video footage shared online, and verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking team Sanad, bulldozers demolishing the house of the Alaa Al-Nawaja’s family, which housed seven people.
Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank have been reported across the territory today, including in Bethlehem and Ramallah.
Jordan’s King Abdullah to visit Egypt
Jordanian King Abdullah II is on his way to Egypt to meet President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Royal Hashemite Court announced on X.
The pair are also expected to discuss the situation in Gaza and the path towards a ceasefire.
On Monday, Egypt announced what is described as a plan to end the war in Gaza, which would see Israel entirely withdraw from the enclave, all captives held by Hamas released, many Palestinian prisoners freed, and a united technocratic Palestinian government installed.
His Majesty King Abdullah II departs for Cairo, where His Majesty will meet Egypt President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to discuss the dangerous developments in Gaza and means to impose a ceasefire in the Strip #Jordan
— RHC (@RHCJO) December 27, 2023
Hezbollah fighter, two relatives killed in Israeli strike on Bint Jbeil
A Hezbollah fighter was among the three people killed in an Israeli strike on the town of Bint Jbeil late last night, Hezbollah has announced.
The other two victims were the fighter’s brother and sister-in-law, according to Lebanese state media.
The fighter’s brother, named as Ibrahim Bazzi, had arrived in Lebanon just days ago from Australia, where he had lived for years. He had returned to reunite with his wife and travel back with her to Australia.
The strike that killed the family members also wounded another one of their relatives, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.
Eight hospitals in south Gaza ‘partially’ functioning: Minister
Speaking to Dubai-based news outlet Al-Arabiya late Tuesday, Palestinian Minister of Health Mai al-Kaila has said only 8 hospitals are partially operating in the southern Gaza Strip.
Last week, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) decried the “decimation” of Gaza’s health system calling it a “tragedy”.
Dozens of vessels stranded in Djibouti as Houthis ‘set new rules’ in Red Sea
The US Central Command says the US military has shut down 12 one-way attack drones, three anti-ship ballistic missiles, and two land attack cruise missiles fired by the Houthis over a 10-hour period.
As a result, business is severely disrupted. Local authorities say the number of ships passing through the Bab al-Mandab strait has dropped by almost 35 percent. Dozens of shipping vessels have been stranded here for six days. Many of them do not know when they are going to get clearance to leave.
The Houthis are setting new rules. They are saying that every new ship that passes through Bab al-Mandab needs to assure them that they have nothing to do with Israel – that they are not going to Israeli ports, that they are not leaving from Israeli ports, and that they are not owned by Israelis.
Two hundreds sites targeted in Gaza: Israel
The Israeli army has hit 200 targets in Gaza from air, land and sea within the past 24 hours, the military posted on its website.
Earlier, we reported Israeli attacks on several cities in southern Gaza, including Khan Younis and Rafah.
Three dead from Israeli strike in Bint Jbeil, Lebanon: Report
Lebanese state media report that an Israeli strike has killed three people and injured one in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, 4km (2.5 miles) from the Israeli border.
The Israel-Lebanon frontier has seen frequent deadly exchanges of fire amid the Gaza war.
More than 150 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also more than a dozen civilians, three of them journalists. On the Israeli side, at least four civilians and nine soldiers have been killed.
Netanyahu in ‘extreme jeapordy’: Analyst
The ongoing Israel-Gaza war has destroyed Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s image as “Mr. Security”, with many Israelis holding him responsible for the attacks, analyst Ahmed Helal has said.
“The Israeli public is furious and they’re frustrated that their security approaches apparatus let them down and then they are unable to kill the upper echelons of Hamas leadership like Yahya Sinwar (Hamas leader in Gaza),” Helal, Director of MENA region at Global Counsel, told Al Jazeera.
“There are no clear wins in this war.”
Helal said the lack of preparation for the Hamas offensive on October 7 has put Netanyahu in “extreme jeopardy”, potentially ruining his political career, and leaving him susceptible to future investigations.
Deaths of more Israeli soldiers pile more pressure on Netanyahu
The Israeli military’s mounting death toll is putting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under more scrutiny at home, reports Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher.
The majority of soldiers’ deaths have occurred since the end of the ceasefire on December 1.
“The number of dead will certainly put pressure on Netanyahu,” said Fisher from occupied East Jerusalem. “People are asking questions. They’re wondering if the [Israeli military’s] objective is to free the captives held in Gaza, how many soldiers will die as they move that operation forward.”
Several wounded in Israeli raid in Bethlehem
Three people have been injured by Israeli forces in the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, in the southern occupied West Bank, Wafa news agency is reporting.
Earlier, we reported several Israeli raids in the occupied territory, including in Tulkarem where six people were killed in an Israeli drone strike.
Israeli attacks in southern Gaza continue overnight
There were renewed attacks in Khan Younis overnight, this time around the vicinity of the Nasser Hospital and the Jordanian field hospital.
There has been heavy and relentless artillery shelling in that area, creating lots of concern among local residents.
The Israeli military is repeating the same scenario that took place at al-Shifa Hospital bringing it under heavy firepower. There is a growing fear that the hospitals will be stormed in the coming days amid increased intensity of the air raids in the vicinity of the Nasser hospital and the Jordanian field hospital.
Here in Rafah, a major attack took place overnight at the residential buildings in al-Jenina district, in southeast Rafah.
Large numbers of residential homes have been destroyed there and completely turned into rubble.
Residents of West Bank’s Nur Shams fear ‘what might come this evening’
Al Jazeera reported from occupied East Jerusalem, clashes were ongoing in Nur Shams “until just an hour or so ago”.
“We were told that there were snipers on the roof, and that Iraeli forces had moved into Nur Shams to try to arrest people they say are ‘wanted’,” said Fisher. “They’ve destroyed at least one house that we know of.
“The fact that [raids] have happened for a second night in a row leaves people in Nur Shams equally concerned about what might come this evening.”
Latest casualty figures
Gaza
Killed: 20,915
Wounded: 54,918
Occupied West Bank
Killed: 311
Wounded: More than 3,450
Israel
Killed on October 7: 1,139 (revised down from 1,405)
Soldiers killed since ground invasion: 165
Wounded: 8,730
Figures reported by the Palestinian Health Ministry, the Israeli army and the Israeli social security agency.
Israel denies visas to UN staff as it hits back against criticism
Israel is “abusing its powers” as an occupying force in Gaza to deny visas to certain UN staff, Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur to the occupied Palestinian territories, told Al Jazeera.
Her comments come as Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen wrote on X on Monday that he had instructed his ministry to deny a visa extension for a UN employee in Israel and to reject the visa request of another. Cohen accused the UN of cooperating with the “propaganda of the terrorist organisation Hamas”.
Who is Sigrid Kaag? What we know about new Gaza aid coordinator
Earlier today, UN chief Guterres announced that Sigrid Kaag will assume the role of humanitarian coordinator for Gaza on January 8.
A UNSC resolution on Friday said the Dutch diplomat and politician would “facilitate, coordinate and monitor a scaling up of aid into Gaza”.
That same resolution failed to call for a ceasefire and it is unclear how Kaag will scale up humanitarian aid to a population under relentless bombing by the Israeli military.
Facing a seemingly impossible task, this is what we know about Sigrid Kaag and her background:
Kaag holds several degrees, including a Master of Art in Middle East Studies from the University of Exeter, and speaks Dutch, German, French, English, Spanish and Arabic.
Kaag filled various roles with the UN between 1994 and 2017, with much of her work focused on the Middle East.
She was a senior programme manager with the External Relations Office of UNRWA in Jerusalem, the regional director for the Middle East and North Africa for UNICEF and the UN’s special coordinator for Lebanon.
Kaag joined the Dutch government in 2017, first serving as the minister for foreign trade and development cooperation.
She has also been the Netherlands’s finance minister and deputy prime minister since January 2022 – roles she will now be leaving to re-join the UN.
In May, Kaag said the environment for politicians in the Netherlands had become “toxic”.
Israel reports three more soldiers killed in northern Gaza
The latest casualties reported by Israeli forces include a 23-year-old deputy company commander in the Givati Brigade and two sergeants, aged 20 and 21, in the same brigade.
All were killed in fighting in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, Israel’s military said. There were no reports of injuries in the casualty update.
According to a UN report on the situation in Gaza, 24 Israeli soldiers were reported killed in the Palestinian territory between December 22 and 26.
A total of 164 Israeli soldiers have now been killed and 874 injured since the start of Israel’s invasion of Gaza two months ago, the UN said.
It was not known if the latest three deaths were part of the death toll reported by the UN.
Reports Israeli forces blocked ambulances after deadly West Bank drone strike
Undoubtedly the biggest event of the night was in Tulkarem, where an Israeli drone strike killed six Palestinians and injured a number more.
We are told by locals, and there is video on social media that tends to support this, that Israeli military vehicles stopped the Palestinian Red Cross/Red Crescent from getting anywhere near the injured.
And, of course, in situations like that, it becomes a matter of life and death.
Eventually, the ambulances were allowed through and a number of people were taken to the nearby hospital, at least two of them in critical condition.
Also in Tulkarem, there were raids on a number of houses… and snipers were placed on the roof to make sure they had complete cover.
But there were still sustained clashes and gunfire traded between the Palestinians who were protesting at the raids and the Israelis who were carrying them out.
US welcomes new UN humanitarian coordinator appointment
As we reported earlier the UN has appointed Sigrid Kaag as Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, a new role created by a UN Security Council resolution adopted on Friday.
Kaag – a former deputy prime minister of the Netherlands – is expected to begin on January 8 2024, the UN said.
It’s worth noting that the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory Lynn Hastings left the country last week, after Israel revoked her residence visa.
Hastings had criticised Israeli restrictions on much-needed aid deliveries.
“The conditions required to deliver aid to the people of Gaza do not exist,” she said on December 4.
Gaza’s main telecoms provider hit by outage: UN
Gaza’s primary telecommunications provider announced that communication and internet services were brought down today as a result of damaged infrastructure, the UN reports.
Humanitarian agencies and emergency responders have warned that communication blackouts further limit their already constrained life-saving assistance efforts in the war-torn territory.
The latest situation update from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) also reports:
The Israeli military reiterated calls for Palestinians to evacuate an area covering about 9sq km (3.4 sq miles) in the Deir el-Balah governorate in central Gaza. The area was home to 90,000 people before October 7.
The bodies of 80 Palestinians killed in northern Gaza were returned through the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing and buried in a mass grave in Rafah.
More than 4,037 students and 209 educational staff have been killed in Gaza since October 7, and more than 7,259 students and 619 teachers have been injured.
There were eight Israeli settler attacks resulting in damage to Palestinian-owned property between December 23 and 26, and a vandalism attack on a total of 1,588 trees and crops.
Hamas proves resilient despite Israeli invasion of Gaza: War monitors
Hamas remains resilient and capable of reconstituting its military capabilities despite the military losses it has suffered so far in the war against Israel, two military monitors said.
As a result, Israeli officials say they need to fight a “prolonged” war to achieve their objective of destroying the Palestinian armed group, US-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) said in their latest report.
Hamas continues to do battle in the north of the Gaza Strip, using an improvised explosive device (IED) west of Beit Hanoon on December 26, and challenging Israel’s attempt to “clear and hold” Jabalia city.
“Hamas and PIJ [Palestinian Islamic Jihad] also conducted a combined complex ambush using standard and thermobaric rockets against Israeli forces sheltering in a home in Jabalia city,” the monitors said.
Palestinian fighters are also engaged in “heavy fighting” against Israeli forces in the south of the Gaza Strip, and continued to fire mortars and rockets towards southern Israel on December 25 and 26.
Across the occupied West Bank, Palestinian fighters clashed with Israeli forces at nine locations on December 25 and four locations on December 26, according to the monitors.
Lebanese Hezbollah fighters also conducted 19 attacks over the same two days on Israel’s northern border with southern Lebanon.
US policy on Israel ‘has failed’: US Democratic Congressman
Lloyd Doggett, a Democratic representative in the US House of Representatives has questioned US support for Israel in a post on social media.
“US policy of begging Netanyahu to safeguard civilians while sending him weapons and abstaining on even the most modest UN resolution has failed,” said Doggett.
Doggett made the comments in response to reports that Israel has been using “non-precision 2,000 [pound] bombs dropped in densely populated areas.”
Yemen's Houthis claim responsibility for Red Sea container ship attack
DUBAI (Reuters) - Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militia claimed responsibility for a missile attack on Tuesday on a container ship in the Red Sea and for an attempt to attack Israel with drones.
MSC Mediterranean Shipping said there were no injuries to its crew from the attack on its ship, the United VIII, en route from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan. It said the ship had informed a nearby coalition naval warship that it had come under attack and had taken evasive manoeuvres.
Israel said separately that its aircraft had intercepted a hostile aerial target in the Red Sea area.
UN names Gaza humanitarian relief coordinator after aid vote
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United Nations on Tuesday named a coordinator to oversee humanitarian relief shipments into Gaza as part of a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted on Friday to boost humanitarian aid.
Sigrid Kaag, the Netherlands' outgoing finance minister, will be the senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza starting on Jan. 8, the U.N. said in a statement.
"In this role she will facilitate, coordinate, monitor and verify humanitarian relief consignments for Gaza," the U.N. said. She will also establish a "mechanism" to accelerate aid into Gaza through countries not involved with the conflict.
Gaza war to last months, Israel says, as fears of conflict spread rise
CAIRO/GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's war on Hamas will last months, Israel's military chief said, as a string of incidents outside the Gaza Strip highlighted the risk of the conflict spreading.
Israel's Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi told reporters in a televised statement on Tuesday from the Gaza border that the war would go on "for many months".
"There are no magic solutions, there are no shortcuts in dismantling a terrorist organization, only determined and persistent fighting," Halevi said. "We will reach Hamas' leadership too, whether it takes a week or if it takes months."
Israel strikes Gaza as UN voices grave concern
GAZA STRIP (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Israel on Tuesday kept up its strikes against Gaza targets despite grave concern expressed by the United Nations, and international calls for a halt to the Israel-Hamas war.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again vowed there would be no peace until the destruction of Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules Gaza, and the military said the war would last months.
Israel's army said it struck military sites and tunnel shafts in Jabalia, northern Gaza, as well as in Khan Yunis in the south, as heavy ground combat continued.
Black smoke clouded the sky over central Gaza on Tuesday afternoon and, in the south, horse-drawn carts carried some victims to hospital in Khan Yunis, AFP images showed.
