Israel gunfire kills three Palestinians as freezing weather grips Gaza

We're closing this live page now.

Join us back here from 0900 tomorrow for more live coverage of developments in the Middle East.

Thanks for following.

At least four people were killed in western Iran on Saturday in clashes between protesters and security forces, two rights groups said, accusing Revolutionary Guards of opening fire on demonstrators.

Protests carried on in several cities nationwide throughout Saturday, the seventh day of a movement sparked by anger over the rising cost of living in the Islamic republic.

The Norway-based Hengaw rights group said that Revolutionary Guards used live fire against protesters in the Malekshahi district of the western Ilam province, killing four members of Iran's Kurdish minority.

The group said it was checking reports that two other people had been killed, while it said dozens more were wounded.

The Iran Human Rights NGO, also based in Norway, said at least four people were killed and 30 wounded after "security forces attacked the protests" in Malekshahi.

It posted footage of what appeared to be bloodied corpses on the ground. It was not possible to immediately verify the footage or the toll.

(AFP)

Britain and France's air forces conducted a joint operation late on Saturday to bomb a suspected underground arms dump previously used by Islamic State in Syria, Britain's defence ministry said on Saturday.

"Our aircraft used Paveway IV guided bombs to target a number of access tunnels down to the facility; whilst detailed assessment is now underway, initial indications are that the target was engaged successfully," Britain's defence ministry said in a statement.

(Reuters)

Three rockets hit the Mezzeh area of the Syrian capital Damascus on Saturday, local authorities said, adding that one damaged a mosque and another landed near a military airport.

Syria's official SANA news agency had earlier reported that an unidentified missile had struck the area without causing any casualties.

"Random rockets fell in the Mezzeh area... One struck the dome of the Al-Muhammadi Mosque, another hit a telecommunications building, and the third landed near Mezzeh Military Airport," local authorities said in a statement.

State television quoted a security source as saying the "three rockets struck simultaneously" and that one of them caused "material damage" to the mosque.

"Investigations are underway to find the perpetrators," the source added.

(AFP)

The European Union is "concerned" by reports of deaths and violence during days-long demonstrations in Iran, calling in a statement Saturday for Tehran to exercise "maximum restraint" against the protesters.

Iranian authorities must "uphold the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly" and "immediately" release anyone arrested for peaceful protests, a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in the statement.

(AFP)

An unidentified missile hit an area of Syrian capital Damascus home to a military airport on Saturday, state media reported.

Syrian media outlets and residents reported hearing the blast in the Mazzeh area, while Syria's official SANA news agency said that the explosion's "nature is being verified".

"An unidentified missile landed near Mazzeh Military Airport in Damascus, without causing any casualties or material damage," a security source said, according to SANA.

On Monday another explosion was heard in the vicinity of Mazzeh, which official media said was the result of "military exercises", without providing further details.

The Mazzeh area has recently witnessed a series of explosions from falling projectiles, with authorities not identifying those responsible.

(AFP)

The leader of Yemen's presidential council said on Saturday that pro-Saudi forces had retaken control of the resource-rich province of Hadramawt, recently seized by the UAE-backed secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC).

Rashad al-Alimi, head of the Presidential Leadership Council, said in a statement that Saudi-backed National Shield forces had achieved "record success" in "retaking all military and security positions in the province" bordering Saudi Arabia after the operation was launched on Friday.

Southern separatists in Yemen said Saudi warplanes carried out new airstrikes Saturday on a military camp in the port city of Mukalla and other areas where their forces are stationed, as Saudi-backed forces moved to retake the city.

There was no immediate Saudi comment.

It was the latest direct intervention by Saudi Arabia, which in recent weeks has bombed the separatist Southern Transitional Council, or STC, and struck what is said was a shipment of Emirati weapons destined for it.

The Saudi strikes hit Barshid Brigade camp west of Mukalla in Hadramout, one of two governorates seized last month by the STC, according to the group’s AIC satellite news channel.

Yemen has been engulfed in civil war for more than a decade, with Iran-backed Houthi rebels controlling much of the north and a Saudi-led coalition supporting the internationally recognized government in the south. But coalition member the United Arab Emirates also supports the separatists, who call for South Yemen to secede again from Yemen.

The latest Saudi strikes came a day after the separatist movement announced a constitution for an independent nation in the south.

(Associated Press)

A member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was killed in a protest in the country's west after clashes broke out, the Mehr news agency reported on Saturday, the seventh day of economic rallies that have expanded to include political demands.

"During clashes in Malekshahi, Latif Karimi, a member of the IRGC, was killed while defending the country's security," Mehr said, after earlier reporting a member of the Basij paramilitary force was also killed in western Iran.

Malekshahi is a county of about 20,000 residents with a large Kurdish population, where "rioters attempted to enter a police station", according to separate news agency Fars.

Flights at Yemen's Aden international airport, which were halted two days ago due to political turmoil, will resume on Sunday, officials at Yemen's national airline said.

Air traffic was suspended amid a dispute over curbs on flights to the United Arab Emirates. The separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC), which is backed by the UAE, traded blame with the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government over the closure. 

Two Palestinian men have been injured by Israeli gunfire after forces stormed the town of Al-Ram, near occupied Jerusalem on Saturday.

The two men were shot near the separation wall of Al-Ram, and transferred to hospital for treatment, medical sources told the Wafa agency.

Israel welcomed the removal of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro, its foreign minister said on Saturday, after he was captured and deposed by the United States.

"Israel welcomes the removal of the dictator who led a network of drugs and terror and hopes for the return of democracy to the country and for friendly relations between the states," Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on X.

Turkey on Saturday called on all parties to act with "restraint" after US forces captured Venezuela's leader Nicolas Maduro and bombed its capital Caracas.

"In order to prevent the current situation from leading to negative consequences for regional and international security, we call on all parties to act with restraint," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Syria started the process of circulating new currency bills on Saturday as the crisis-hit nation seeks to stabilize the economy as it recovers from the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime.

A decree issued earlier this week by President Ahmed al-Sharaa said that "old Syrian currency" will be gradually withdrawn from circulation according to a timetable set by the central bank and through designated exchange centers.

Central Bank Governor Mokhles Nazer posted on X that after months of preparations, the exchange of old Syrian pounds with new banknotes officially began Saturday morning.

Israeli forces reportedly opened fire on tents housing displaced Palestinians in the Al-Mawasi area of Rafah, injuring at least 17 people, Palestinian media outlets said on Saturday.

A Palestinian woman has been killed by Israeli gunfire on Saturday morning in northern Gaza's Beit Lahia, medical sources told Palestinian media.

The woman was identified as Sunyora al-Shish, and was 45 years-old.

This comes as a Palestinian girl, 11-year-old Fatima Marouf, was also killed in Beit Lahia earlier this morning.

The Israeli military targeted the southern Lebanese town of Al-Khiyam on Saturday, claiming they targeted a Hezbollah operative.

The strike had targeted a moving vehicle in the area, as confirmed by Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesperson. 

Several injuries have been reported.

#عاجل 🔸هاجم جيش الدفاع قبل قليل عنصرًا إرهابيًا من حزب الله في منطقة الخيام بجنوب لبنان

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) January 3, 2026

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday acknowledged the economic demands of Iranian protesters, while warning against what he described as rioting.

"The president and high-ranking officials are working to resolve" the economic difficulties in the sanctions-battered country, Khamenei said in a speech marking a Shiite holiday.

"The shopkeepers have protested against this situation and that is completely fair," he added, while warning that "rioters... must be put in their place".

Banned from the Gaza Strip with 36 aid bodies, medical charity Doctors Without Borders said Saturday it will have to end its operations there in March if Israel does not reverse its decision.

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres called on Friday for Israel to end a ban on humanitarian agencies that provided aid in Gaza, saying he was "deeply concerned" at the development.

Israel confirmed on Thursday it is barring 37 major international humanitarian organisations from entering the Gaza Strip, accusing them of failing to provide the list of their employees' names, which is now officially required for "security" reasons.

MSF called this demand a "scandalous intrusion".

"To work in Palestine, in the occupied Palestinian territories, we have to be registered ... That registration expired on December 31, 2025," said Isabelle Defourny, a physician and president of MSF France, on France Inter.

"Since July 2025, we have been involved in a re-registration process and to date, we have not received a response. We still have 60 days during which we could work without being re-registered, and so we would have to end our activities in March" if Israel maintains its decision, she said.

MSF has around 40 international staff in the Gaza Strip and works with 800 Palestinian staff across eight hospitals.

Iran on Saturday condemned what it described as an American attack on Venezuela, after Caracas accused the United States of being behind explosions that rocked the capital.

The Iranian foreign ministry in a statement said it "strongly condemns the American military attack on Venezuela and the flagrant violation of the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country".

Israeli forces carried out a series of raids and detentions across the occupied West Bank overnight on Friday and at dawn on Saturday.

The military detained three young Palestinian men after raiding and searching their homes in the town of Iktaba, east of Tulkarem, the Palestinian news agency Wafa said.

Israeli soldiers also detained a youth from the village of Ras Atiya, south of Qalqilya, after stopping him at a military checkpoint set up at the eastern entrance of the city.

A 33-year-old Palestinian was also detained in the village of al-Badhan, north of Nablus, after raiding and searching his home.

Another incursion was reported in the town of Azzun, east of Qalqilya, where Israeli forces raided a car wash business before withdrawing.

A member of an Iranian paramilitary force was killed during a demonstration in the country's west, the Mehr news agency reported on Saturday, the seventh day of economic protests that have expanded to include political demands.

"Ali Azizi, a member of the Basij, was martyred after being stabbed and shot in the city of Harsin during a gathering of armed rioters," Mehr said, citing a statement from the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of the military that oversees the Basij.

Israeli forces detained on Saturday four foreign activists in the village of Al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, local media said.

Israeli soldiers reportedly stormed agricultural land in the al-Khalayel area, south of al-Mughayyir, and detained the activists of various nationalities who were showing support to the Abu Naeems, a Palestinian family subjected to frequent attacks by settlers.

Al-Mughayyir, along with villages and towns northeast and east of Ramallah, has faced repeated incursions by Israeli forces, in addition to settler attacks and provocations.

Gunfire rocked the Yemeni city of Mukalla, the capital of Hadramawt province, on Saturday morning, according to an AFP journalist, amid fighting between forces aligned with Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

In December, the Abu Dhabi-backed separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) seized large swathes of territory in the resource-rich province, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to respond with air strikes, which on Friday left 20 dead, according to the separatist group.