Gaza war: Israeli strikes kill 35 since dawn as stalled ceasefire talks set to resume

The New Arab's live blog on the war in Gaza and other regional developments has now ended, and will resume tomorrow at 0900am GMT.

Thank you for following!

The Biden administration has informally notified the US Congress of a proposed $8 billion arms deal with Israel that includes munitions for fighter jets and attack helicopters alongside artillery shells, Axios reported on Friday, citing two sources.

Israeli forces have reportedly killed at least five Palestinians after bombing a vehicle near Salah al-Din Street, north of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Al Jazeera Arabic said.

Israeli forces shave reportedly set fire to homes in the south Lebanon village of Hula, in violation of the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, according to a video shared online.

Among the ceasefire requirements is the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon, which Beirut has described as not speedy enough.

جيش الإحتلال يقطع طريق #برج_الملوك بالأسلاك المعدنية و يحرق المنازل في #حولا (فيديو)#06Newshttps://t.co/tXVz9yWDK0 pic.twitter.com/NQQPgK61SF

— 06 news (@06_news_) January 3, 2025

Israel on Friday defended its raid on a north Gaza hospital last week while the U.N. human rights chief called the justification unsubstantiated and the World Health Organization urged Israel to release the hospital's director from detention.

Israel's U.N. ambassador in Geneva, Daniel Meron, posted on social media a letter he sent on Friday to the WHO and Volker Turk, the U.N. human rights official. It said the raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital a week ago was "triggered by irrefutable evidence" that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants were using the hospital.

He said Israeli forces had taken "extraordinary measures to protect civilian life while acting on credible intelligence."

Turk told the UN Security Council on Friday that Israel did not "substantiate many of these claims, which are often vague and broad. In some cases, they appear to be contradicted by publicly available information."

"I am calling for independent, thorough and transparent investigations into all Israeli attacks on hospitals, healthcare infrastructure and medical personnel, as well as the alleged misuse of such facilities," he told the 15-member body.

Israel's Deputy UN Ambassador Jonathan Miller said more than "240 terrorists were apprehended, including 15 who participated in the Oct. 7 massacre" in southern Israel in 2023, which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip. The hospital's director, Hussam Abu Safiya, was also detained in the raid.

"We suspect him of being a Hamas operative as hundreds of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists were hiding inside the Kamal Adwan Hospital under his management. He is currently being investigated by Israeli security forces," Miller said.

The WHO is deeply concerned about Abu Safiya, said WHO representative Richard Peeperkorn, adding: "We have lost contact with him since and call for his immediate release."

Norway's foreign ministry has criticsed Israel's attacks on hospitals in northern Gaza, urging action to restore them, in a new post on X.

"Protecting healthcare saves lives. We share WHOs concern at #UNSC Health workers, patients, and hospitals are not lawful targets," the ministry said.

Israeli forces raided a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Friday, wounding seven people with gunfire in the latest violence to hit the territory, according to Palestinian officials.

Israeli forces raided the Balata camp near the main northern city of Nablus late on Friday triggering clashes, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

"Seven people have been injured by gunfire during clashes in Balata camp, including two in serious condition with chest wounds," it said in a statement.

When contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it was checking reports of the raid.

The official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, gave the same casualty toll.

"The occupation forces raided the area of Balata camp .. and deployed snipers on rooftops of nearby buildings," Wafa reported.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, in a phone call on Friday with Syria's de facto ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa, discussed relations between the two countries, according to a statement from Mikati's office posted on X, and said that he received an invitation from Sharaa to visit Syria to discuss common files.

Sharaa also affirmed that Syrian authorities took the necessary measures to restore calm on the border between the two countries, the post on X said.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani said in a statement posted on X on Friday that he will visit Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan this week to "support stability, security, economic recovery and build distinguished partnerships."

Several Palestinians on Friday were injured after being attacked by Israeli settlers south of Hebron, Palestinian media said.

The settlers, under army protection, stormed al-Bweib village, opened live ammunition and assaulted the farmers, causing them several injuries.

Two of the casualties, a father and his son, were detained along with two others by Israeli forces.

Hamas said a new round of indirect talks on a Gaza ceasefire resumed in Qatar's Doha on Friday, stressing the group's seriousness in seeking to reach a deal as soon as possible, senior Hamas official Basem Naim said.

The new talks will focus on agreeing on a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, he added.

Syria's new rulers have not yet decided when to hold a landmark national dialogue conference that is meant to bring together Syrians from across society to chart a new path for the nation after the fall of the Assad dynasty, according to five sources.

Holding the conference has been a key pledge of the rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

Several members of political opposition groups who sought to counter Assad during Syria's 13-year civil war have expressed reservations about what they said was a lack of transparency in how the conference was being prepared.

The sources who spoke to Reuters included two Syrian information ministry officials, another member of Syria's new ruling administration and two diplomats briefed on ongoing efforts to plan the conference.

They said that official invites for the conference had also not yet been sent out, although some people have been contacted by authorities informally.

Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas for a truce in Gaza are to resume in Qatar later on Friday, the Palestinian group said in a statement.

"Indirect negotiations will resume today, Friday, in the Qatari capital Doha," Hamas said in a statement, adding the talks would "focus on ensuring the agreement leads to a complete cessation of hostilities (and) the withdrawal of occupation forces from the Gaza Strip".

The Biden administration is urging Hamas to sign on to a new ceasefire deal that would ensure the release of hostages, White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Friday.

Kirby said the White House welcomed Israel's decision to send another team to Doha to continue negotiations.

The Biden administration is making a final push to help broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in its final weeks, to end the fighting in Gaza and secure the release of Hamas-held hostages there. 

Seven people were injured in an attack by Israeli settlers on the outskirts of Silwad, east of Ramallah, according to Silwad's mayor, Raed Hamed.

Hamed told Palestine's Wafa news agency that settlers, under the protection of Israeli forces, assaulted residents with batons in the Nasibiya area, injuring seven individuals.

The settlers also burned six vehicles and destroyed some olive trees in the area.

He added that the attack targeted residents inspecting their lands, further escalating tensions in the region.

Israeli Settlers set fire to 5 Palestinian vehicles in the town of Silwad, near Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.#Israel pic.twitter.com/JbsGb98FJT

— Al-Jarmaq News (@Aljarmaqnetnews) January 3, 2025

A Palestinian man and his son were killed in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, local medical officials said on Friday, as a month-long standoff between Palestinian security forces and armed groups in the town continued.

Separately, a security forces officer died in what Palestinian Authority (PA) officials said was an accident, bringing to six the total number of the security forces to have died in the operation in Jenin which began on December 5. There were no further details.

The PA denied that its forces killed the 44-year-old man and his son, who were shot as they stood on the roof of their house in the Jenin refugee camp, a crowded quarter that houses descendants of Palestinians who fled or were driven out in the 1948 Middle East war.

The man's daughter was also wounded in the incident.

At least eight Palestinians have been killed in Jenin over the past month, one of them a member of the armed Jenin Brigades, which includes members of the armed wings of the Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah factions.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned Syria's new leaders Friday not to establish an Islamist government after the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad last month.

"Europe will support" Syria in its transition "but Europe will not finance new Islamist structures," Baerbock told reporters at the end of a visit to Syria.

"This is not only in our own security interests but also what I have heard time and again from very many Syrians in Germany... and here in the region," she added.

Baerbock was visiting the Syrian capital Damascus together with her French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot in the highest-level visit by major Western powers since Islamist-led rebels seized power last month.

After talks with Sharaa and other officials, Baerbock said she had made clear to them that "women's rights are a yardstick" for progress towards improvements in human rights.

She also called for all Syria's neighbours to "respect its territorial integrity and sovereignty" and said "the security of the Kurds is also essential for a peaceful Syria".

"This requires an end to the fighting in the north and the integration of the Kurdish forces... in the Syrian security architecture."

France's foreign minister, on a visit to Syria, said Friday that Syria's new rulers must reach a settlement with the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration that controls swathes of Syria's northeast.

"A political solution must be reached with France's allies, the Kurds, so that they are fully integrated into this political process that is beginning today," Jean-Noel Barrot said during a meeting with members of Syria's civil society in Damascus.

The Gaza Health Ministry reports that Israel's nearly 15-month-long offensive on the Gaza Strip has resulted in the deaths of at least 45,658 Palestinians, with 108,583 others wounded.

In the last 24 hours alone, 77 people were killed in Israeli strikes, with the death toll expected to be much higher due to an estimated 10,000 bodies buried under the extensive rubble in the devastated territory.

Israel said three rockets were fired toward its territory on Friday from the Gaza Strip, where rescuers reported at least 12 people killed in Israeli strikes.

The rockets were the latest in a spate of recent launches from the devastated Palestinian territory, with Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warning of even more intense retaliatory strikes if they continued.

The military said one of Friday's rockets "fell adjacent to the community of Nir Am and the second projectile fell in an open area".

Earlier in the day, it said another rocket fired from Gaza had triggered sirens near Beeri.

No injuries were reported from the launches.

In Gaza, meanwhile, first responders recovered the bodies of 12 Palestinians, "including several children", who were killed in air strikes on Gaza City, the central Maghazi refugee camp and the southern city of Rafah, said Mahmoud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza's civil defence.

"Friday was a harsh day for the residents of Gaza, particularly in Gaza City, due to the continuous Israeli bombardment," told news agency AFP.

Bassal noted that 10 of the fatalities occurred in strikes on northern and central Gaza, and two were in the south, adding that dozens were injured across the territory.

The Israeli army’s forced evacuation order for the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza City has heightened fears for the safety of Palestinians seeking urgent medical care there.

Sources told Al Jazeera English that at least 25 patients—primarily women, children, and elderly individuals—remain trapped inside the hospital alongside medical staff. Many are unable to move due to injuries and are in desperate need of ambulances for transport.

Eyewitnesses report that Israeli soldiers have surrounded the hospital and continue to fire at the facility, further endangering those inside.

"We demand guarantees that we won’t be attacked by Israeli forces during this forced evacuation," Palestinians told AJE, expressing their grave concerns over the lack of safe passage.

Israeli soldiers, supported by armoured vehicles, have intensified raids across the occupied West Bank, while settlers, under military protection, launched attacks on Palestinians.

Here’s a summary of the latest incidents, as reported by the official Wafa news agency:

• Jabal al-Tawil, el-Bireh: A young Palestinian man was shot in the leg and detained by Israeli forces. Other areas were also reportedly targeted.
• Beita, South of Nablus: Several Palestinians suffered from tear gas inhalation after Israeli forces used live rounds and tear gas to disperse anti-settlement protests.
• Bethlehem: A military checkpoint was established at the al-Manshiyya entrance, where Israeli forces stopped and searched vehicles.
• Al-Mughayyir Village, Northeast of Ramallah: Settlers attacked the outskirts of the village under the protection of Israeli soldiers.
• Salem, East of Nablus: Settlers, guarded by Israeli troops, attacked residents. Soldiers fired sound bombs and tear gas at the villagers and their homes.

قوات الاحتلال تقتحم منطقة كشدا قرب مدينة طوباس. pic.twitter.com/fWxYF8kKC2

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) January 3, 2025

The Israeli army has ordered the forced evacuation of Palestinians in the Bureij area following reports of a rocket being fired from central Gaza.

In a statement on X, the army’s Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee claimed that “terror organisations are once again firing rockets from this area.”

“For your safety, move immediately to the humanitarian zone,” Adraee added, warning that the army would target the area.

The Israeli military identified two projectiles fired from the northern Gaza Strip that crossed into Israel on Friday, the latest in a series of launches from the Palestinian territory.

"One projectile fell adjacent to the community of Nir Am and the second projectile fell in an open area. No injuries were reported," the military said in a statement.

Syria imposed new restrictions on the entry of Lebanese citizens following skirmishes between Lebanon's army and Syrian fighters, a military official and two security sources from Lebanon told news agency AFP on Friday.

A General Security official told AFP they were "surprised to see the border had been closed" to Lebanese citizens "from the Syrian side", with another security source saying "it seems they (Syria) have new procedures" allowing in only Lebanese with residency permits or official permission.

The military official said the move followed "skirmishes between the Lebanese army and Syrian fighters at the border".

Syria's newly appointed foreign minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani said in a post on X on Friday that he conveyed on a visit to Saudi Arabia the vision of establishing a government based on partnership and efficiency that includes all Syrian components. 

Al Jazeera Arabic has reported that five Palestinians were killed and several others injured in an Israeli airstrike near the entrance of Gaza's al-Shifa Hospital.

Witnesses posted videos online showing the aftermath of the attack, with rubble scattered outside the hospital and victims being carried on stretchers.

Israel bombed Syrian army positions south of Aleppo on Thursday, the latest such strikes since the overthrow of longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad, a war monitor and local residents said.

Residents reported hearing huge explosions in the area, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes targeted defence and research facilities.

The observatory said that "at least seven massive explosions were heard, resulting from an Israeli airstrike on defence factories... south of Aleppo."

There was no immediate information on whether the strikes caused any casualties.

A resident of the al-Safira area told news agency AFP on condition of anonymity: "They hit defence factories, five strikes... The strikes were very strong. It made the ground shake, doors and windows opened -- the strongest strikes I ever heard... It turned the night into day."

Since rebels overthrew Assad in early December, Israel has conducted hundreds of strikes on Syrian military assets, saying they are aimed at preventing military weapons from falling into hostile hands.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved a delegation to resume ceasefire negotiations in Doha, Qatar, his office said on Thursday in a statement. 

According to Al Jazeera, that at least 20 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip this morning, with 19 deaths occurring in central areas.

Over the past 24 hours, more than 70 Palestinians have lost their lives in a series of heavy Israeli airstrikes across the besieged region.

On Thursday, Gaza’s Government Media Office stated that the Israeli military carried out 34 airstrikes targeting civilians across the already devastated territory, leaving dozens wounded.

Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and top French diplomat Jean-Noel Barrot visited Syria's Saydnaya prison on Friday, an emblem of abuses under deposed leader Bashar al-Assad, news agency AFP reported.

The foreign ministers were in Syria to meet with the country's new authorities, including leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, in the highest-level visit by major Western powers since Assad was ousted on December 8.

The UN Security Council’s 15 member states are scheduled to convene today for an emergency meeting to discuss Israeli attacks on Gaza hospitals, with particular focus on the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.

The meeting was called by Algeria, the council's current chair and its Arab representative.

However, the session is unlikely to result in significant changes on the ground in the besieged territory, as the United States is expected to block any potential joint statement condemning Israel’s actions against Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure.

The council is also set to deliberate on the activities of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which Israel has banned, alleging without evidence that the agency collaborates with Hamas.

The Israeli military has reportedly launched further strikes across southern Lebanon overnight.

According to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA), Israeli forces conducted a bombing operation near the town of Bani Haiyyan at midnight.

Another strike was reported in Kfar Kila, with explosions audible across the southern region, the agency added.

Earlier reports from NNA indicated that Israeli forces were using heavy machine guns to "comb the city of Bint Jbeil" from their positions near the town of Maroun al-Ras.

These attacks mark the latest breaches of a ceasefire with Hezbollah, which has been in effect since late November.

Israel's military reported that it shot down a missile and a drone launched from Yemen on Friday, the latest in a series of attacks from the country targeting Israel in recent weeks.

"A missile that was launched from Yemen and crossed into Israeli territory was intercepted," the military said in a statement posted to its Telegram channel.

"A report was received regarding shrapnel from the interception that fell in the area of Modi'in in central Israel. The details are under review."

Israel's emergency service provider, Magen David Adom, reported that it had treated several people who were injured or experienced panic attacks on their way to shelters after air raid sirens sounded in the centre and south of the country.

Hours later the military announced that it had also shot down a drone launched from Yemen.

The drone was intercepted before it entered Israel, the military added.

On Tuesday, Israel also said it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen.

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa is due to meet the French and German foreign ministers on Friday, in the highest-level visit by major Western powers under the new authorities in Damascus.

Top French diplomat Jean-Noel Barrot arrived in the Syrian capital on Friday, according to news agency AFP.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock joined him later, a ministry source told AFP, for talks on behalf of the European Union.

Barrot, in a post in X, said: "Together, France and Germany stand alongside the Syrian people, in all their diversity."

He added that the two European powers wanted to promote a "peaceful transition".

In Damascus, he expressed hope for a "sovereign, stable and peaceful" Syria.

It was also a "hope that the aspirations of all Syrians can be realised", he added, "but it is a fragile hope".

In a statement, Baerbock said Germany wanted to help Syria become a "safe home" for all its people, and a "functioning state, with full control over its territory".

She said the visit was a "clear signal" to Damascus of the possibility for a new relationship between Syria and Germany, and Europe more broadly.