Israel's indiscriminate war on the Gaza Strip continued on the last day of 2023, with around 64 people killed and 186 injured in Israeli attacks on homes over the past 24 hours, according to Al Jazeera.
The total death toll in the besieged and bombed Palestinian territory since war broke out on October 7 has increased to 21,822, with 56,541 injured. More than 300 Palestinians have also been killed in attacks by both the Israeli army and settlers across the West Bank.
Qatari intermediaries have communicated Hamas's willingness to engage in discussions regarding further hostage releases in return for a ceasefire agreement.
Hamas representatives were in Cairo last Friday to negotiate an Egyptian proposal. This plan includes provisions for renewable truces, and a phased exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, ultimately aiming to end the war.
Israeli forces arrested two children in the West Bank town of Deir Istiya, northwest of the city of Salfit.
Nasr Jihad Mansour, 17, and Muhammad Rizq Mansour, 16, were detained while they were in Wadi Qana, north of the town, local sources have reported
The number of Palestinians killed in 2023 has not been seen since the 1948 Nakba, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.
The death toll has hit 22,404 by the end of the year, with 22,141 of these deaths occurring since 7 October. The Gaza Strip accounted for approximately 98 per cent of these casualties, with the majority being women and children.
In the West Bank, the fatalities since October 7 amounted to 319.
The Health Ministry reports that over 100 journalists also have been killed.
Around 1.4 million displaced Palestinians are currently living in UNRWA facilities across the Gaza Strip, the UN agency's spokesperson Juliette Touma said.
"The facilities in the north are becoming crowded by the hour, people continue to come in. They are absolutely full and so people have started taking refuge in areas outside these facilities including in parks, in the open. Many are sleeping in their cars," Touma told the BBC.
"We have recorded 180 hits on @UNRWA facilities, some direct hits, & as a result at least 300 people sheltering in these facilities were killed"@JulietteTouma @BBCNews: 1.4 million people in📍#Gaza sheltering in @UNRWA facilities & many more in the vicinity, sleeping outside. pic.twitter.com/Hct4kc6nLp
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 31, 2023
Former Israeli public diplomacy minister Galit Distal Atbaryan said that societal divisions within Israel over the previous year, which she said she was a part of, were among the causes that led to the 7 October attacks.
"I was among those people who caused the country to weaken. I created rifts, division and tension, and that tension resulted in weakness. This weakness in many ways led to the massacre," Distal Atbaryan said in a Channel 13 News interview in Israel.
Atbaryan stepped down from her ministerial role on 13 October.
A senior Hezbollah member said that attacks along Israel's northern border will persist as long as Israel continues its military offensive in Gaza.
Naim Qassem said in a speech that Israel is "trying to show it has options" to both resettle displaced Israeli citizens and remove Hezbollah forces from the border area.
"Israel is not in a position to impose its options," he added, stressing that Israel "first must stop the Gaza war in order for the war in Lebanon to stop".
"The persistent bombing of civilians in Lebanon means the response will be stronger and proportionate to the Israeli aggression," Qassem said.
UNOCHA's representative Gemma Connell, who is deployed to Gaza, says that the tens of thousands of people who have been forced to flee to Rafah often arrive with nothing, lacking even basic necessities or a place to sleep.
"I just am so fearful that the amount of deaths that we’ve been seeing is going to increase exponentially both because of this renewed offensive but also because of these conditions, which are literally unbelievable," Reuters reported her saying.
As of Friday, the UN’s humanitarian branch reported that around 100,000 individuals had recently reached Rafah, at Gaza's southern edge bordering Egypt.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on Sunday he had made clear in a call with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian that Iran shared responsibility for preventing Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
"I made clear that Iran shares responsibility for preventing these attacks, given their long-standing support to the Houthis," he said in a post on social media site X, adding that the attacks "threaten innocent lives and the global economy".
I spoke to @Amirabdolahian today about Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, which threaten innocent lives and the global economy. I made clear that Iran shares responsibility for preventing these attacks given their long-standing support to the Houthis.
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) December 31, 2023
A former Palestinian Authority minister was killed on Sunday in an Israeli strike on his home in the Gaza Strip, the official Palestinian news agency and Gaza's health ministry said.
Youssef Salama, the 68-year-old former minister of religious affairs in the Palestinian Authority, was killed in a strike on the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Wafa news agency and the ministry reported.
Considered close to Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas, Salama served as minister between February 2005 and March 2006.
He also served as a preacher at Al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem.
There was no immediate comment on his killing from Israeli forces.
Far-right Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich has advocated for the Israeli resettlement of the Gaza Strip postwar.
In an interview with Israel’s Army Radio, the finance minister said that that there will be an exodus of Palestinians “and we will live in the Gaza Strip”.
“We will not allow a situation in which two million people live there. If there are 100,000 to 200,000 Arabs living in Gaza, the discussion about the day after will be completely different,” Smotrich was quoted in a post on social media platform X.
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Club have issued a statement on the recent detention of Palestinians across occupied West Bank.
The prisoner rights group said that at least 16 people had been arrested by Israeli forces during overnight raids in areas such as Nablus and Hebron.
The total number of arrests made by Israeli forces since October 7 has been a total of 4,876, the statement added.
Israel is prepared to let ships deliver aid to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip "immediately" as part of a proposed sea corridor from Cyprus, the Israeli foreign minister said on Sunday, naming four European countries as potential participants.
Under the arrangement first suggested by Nicosia in November, cargo would undergo security inspection in the Cypriot port of Larnaca before being ferried to the Gaza coast, 370 km (230 miles) away, rather than through neighbouring Egypt or Israel.
"It can start immediately," Foreign Minister Eli Cohen told Tel Aviv radio station 103 FM when asked about the Mediterranean corridor.
He said Britain, France, Greece and the Netherlands were among countries with vessels able to land directly on the shores of Gaza, which lacks a deep-water port. He appeared to suggest he expected them to do that rather than offload aid in Israel.
"They requested of us that the equipment come via (the Israeli port of) Ashdod. The answer is no. It won't come via Ashdod. It won't come via Israel. We want disengagement, with security control. That's the goal of this process," Cohen said.
On Thursday, Pakistan stated that it will be banning New Year's Eve celebrations to show support to Palestinians in Gaza, the government announced, urging people to instead "observe simplicity".
In a televised address to the nation, Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said because of the situation in the Gaza Strip, the government had "completely banned all kinds of events regarding the New Year celebrations".
To read more on TNA's latest piece, follow this link.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said it evacuated one of the injuries caused by Israeli shelling near the European Hospital in Khan Younis on Sunday, which "endangered" the lives of their teams.
Video footage by local media shows residential areas being bombed by the Israeli artillery shelling.
🚨The Palestine Red Crescent teams evacuated one of the injuries 🚑today due to Israeli shelling near the European Hospital in #KhanYounis. The area was targeted again during the teams' response, endangering the lives of our teams.
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 31, 2023
📷 Filmed by: PRCS volunteer, Atallah Gaith pic.twitter.com/3EORKubqHS
About 70 percent of the homes in Gaza have been destroyed as Israel's continuous bombardment of the besieged strip enters its 86th day, the Government Media Office has reported.
An earlier Euro-Med Monitor report had disclosed more than 200 heritage and archaeological sites were destroyed in the Israeli bombardment considered the most destructive in modern history.
About 300,000 out of 439,000 homes have been destroyed in Israeli attacks, a Wall Street Journal report said.
The report added that satellite imagery show that the 29,000 bombs dropped on the strip have damaged residential areas, churches, hospitals and shopping malls beyond repair.
British Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu Sittah, renowned for his humanitarian work in Gaza, has launched a new fund aimed at providing medical care to the children of Gaza.
The Gaza Children Fund is designed to address the urgent medical needs of injured children from Palestine to receive necessary medical treatment in Lebanon accompanied by their caretakers.
The fund plans to establish a sponsorship program to offer long-term support and care for the more than 20,000 children orphaned in Gaza.
At least 15 people have been injured in Israeli raids in Tulkarem city and the Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank, the Palestinian Red Crescent has reported.
Israeli raids have also been reported in Silwan, East Jerusalem.
🚨The Palestine Red Crescent teams dealt with 15 injuries 🚑up to the moment during the ongoing incursion of the occupation forces into the city of Tulkarem and Nour Shams camp.#Tulkarem #WestBank
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 31, 2023
The Israeli government on Sunday approved the appointment of a new foreign minister to replace Eli Cohen, who will become energy minister as part of a pre-arranged ministerial rotation, a government statement said.
Cohen will continue to serve as a member of the security cabinet while Yisrael Katz will serve as foreign affairs minister, the statement said as Israel enters its 86th day of war on Gaza.
(Reuters)
Maersk reported an attack on its Hangzhou commercial ship in the southern Red Sea on Sunday morning.
The incident occurred after the ship left Singapore, traveling through the Bab al-Mandab Strait towards Port Suez, Egypt.
The company noted that the attack happened at around 6:30am local time (03:30 GMT), with the ship positioned southwest of al-Hudaydah, Yemen. During this time, the crew witnessed a sudden flash on the ship's deck.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on X that its Navy helicopters said three out of four small boats, allegedly used by Houthi rebels, in the assault on the ship.
Following this incident, Maersk announced a temporary halt of all its Red Sea operations for a 48-hour period.
Iranian-backed Houthi small boats attack merchant vessel and U.S. Navy helicopters in Southern Red Sea
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 31, 2023
On Dec. 31 at 6:30am (Sanaa time) the container ship MAERSK HANGZHOU issued a second distress call in less than 24 hours reporting being under attack by four Iranian-backed… pic.twitter.com/pj8NAzjbVF
The Israeli army has announced that two of its soldiers have been killed in central and northern Gaza battles on Sunday.
At least 21,822 people have been killed in Gaza and 56,451 injured since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry has said.
The ministry added that 150 people were killed and 286 injured in the last 24 hours.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retake control of the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt, in a war he says he expects to last for months.
"The war is at its height," Netanyahu told reporters on Saturday.
He said the Philadelphi Corridor buffer zone that runs along Gaza's border with Egypt must be under Israeli control.
Netanyahu’s comments about the buffer zone came as Israeli military forces continued their brutal military attacks that the prime minister reiterated will last “for many months”.
“The war will continue for many months until Hamas is eliminated and the hostages are returned,” Netanyahu told a news conference. “We will guarantee that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel.”
(Reuters)
The Palestinian Authority's foreign ministry has issued a statement accusing Israel of attempting to alter Gaza Strip's demographic composition.
They said this is being achieved by targeting UNRWA staff and buildings, and thus extending displacement and forced expulsions.
According to the ministry, Israel's ultimate objective in its attacks is to forcibly remove Palestinians from the blockaded region.
"This is taking place by destroying homes, killing people en masse, and ensuring that poverty and lack of medicine leads to diseases," the statement said.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates // #Israel targets @UNRWA to expel it from Gaza Strip, deepen the #displacement, and change the demographic character of the Strip#Gaza_under_attack#CeasefireNow#Palestine#Israeliwarcrimes pic.twitter.com/gN9xNcTDvx
— State of Palestine - MFA 🇵🇸🇵🇸 (@pmofa) December 30, 2023
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said that the Israeli government should be held accountable for Hamas' 7 October attacks, and called for an investigation of those at fault for any negligence.
Cohen made his remarks in a statement quoted by the Israeli newspaper Maariv, adding that talks about settlements in Gaza are "premature", stressing that the priority should be restoring security.
"There will be no Hamas, and we will return the kidnapped ones. We will take security control of Gaza," the Israeli foreign minister said.
Cohen added that any policy involving the Palestinian Authority or other nations will be refuted unless it includes proper oversight.
A number Israeli army solidiers are believed to have contracted the Leishmania parasite near the Gaza Strip, as reported by Maariv, an Israeli news outlet.
According to medical experts cited in the report, several dermatology departments in hospitals across Israel are currently performing lab tests on dozens of soldiers.
Leishmania, a parasitic organism, is spread to humans through the bites of small sand flies. These bites result in persistent, painful skin sores that cause inflammation and can take several weeks to heal. Without proper treatment, these sores frequently result in lasting scars.
| Maariv about:
— yalnız kurt (@MApodogan) December 31, 2023
Dozens of Israeli soldiers are suspected of being infected with the parasitic Leishmania in Gaza pic.twitter.com/lZY3S4W68N
