Israel kills five in drone strike, intensifies Gaza bombing

This live blog is now closed. Thanks for joining us. 

Live updates will resume on our website again at 8 AM GMT, following events unfolding in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Israeli forces on Wednesday evening stormed the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, carrying out a wave of arrests.

Reports from local media state that the forces also stormed the towns of Qabatiya and Anza, as well as Beit Ummar and Zaatara.

The Israeli army claimed that one of those killed in the drone strike on Wednesday evening was a Hamas commander. 

The drone strike targeted a displacement camp, with two children also among those killed. 

The Israeli army killed five Palestinians on Wednesday evening, despite a ceasefire.

The death toll includes two children, who were killed when the drone targeted tents for the displaced in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis in the south of the enclave. 

The Israeli military said on Wednesday that four soldiers were injured in a clash with Palestinian fighters from Hamas in south Gaza, despite a ceasefire. 

The Israeli military said that during an operation in the area of eastern Rafah on Wednesday, soldiers encountered several fighters "who emerged from an underground terrorist infrastructure."

"During the encounter, an (Israeli) combat soldier was severely injured, two additional combat soldiers and a non-commissioned officer were moderately injured," the military said in a statement.

However, a security source in Gaza told AFP that at around 4pm local time (1400 GMT), "very heavy artillery shelling took place from occupation vehicles east of Rafah city, along with heavy gunfire from warplanes".

The source added that an Israeli helicopter had also landed in the area.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the atmosphere was "positive" on Wednesday during the country's first direct talks with Lebanon in decades under the auspices of a year-old ceasefire monitoring mechanism.

"The meeting was held in a positive atmosphere, and it was agreed to develop ideas to promote potential economic cooperation between Israel and Lebanon," the office said in a statement.

Israel also made it clear that it was "essential" that Lebanese group Hezbollah disarm, regardless of any progress in economic cooperation, it added.

Since the latest Gaza ceasefire came into effect on 10 October, Israeli forces have killed 360 Palestinians, while 922 have been wounded, the Gaza Health Ministry revealed.

The ministry added that at least 617 bodies have also been recovered.

There was something "fundamentally wrong" with how Israel conducted its military operation in the Gaza Strip, and there are "strong reasons to believe" that war crimes have been committed, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Reuters on Wednesday.

"I think there was something fundamentally wrong in the way this operation was conducted with total neglect in relation to the deaths of civilians and to the destruction of Gaza," Guterres said in an interview at the Reuters Next conference in New York.

"The objective was to destroy Hamas. Gaza is destroyed, but Hamas is not yet destroyed. So there is something fundamentally wrong with the way this is conducted," he told Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni.

Israel announced Wednesday it had received captive remains found in Gaza from the Red Cross, which were being transported to the morgue for identification.

All but the bodies of two captives, Israeli Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak, have since been handed over.

"Israel has received, via the Red Cross, the coffin of a deceased hostage, which was delivered to (army) and Shin Bet (internal security service) forces in the Gaza Strip," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.

"The coffin of the deceased [captive]...crossed the border into the State of Israel a short while ago and is on its way to the National Institute for Forensic Medicine, where identification procedures will be carried out," the Israeli army said in a statement.

The military did not specify whether what was discovered were the remains of one of the last two Gaza captives, but the premier's office said authorities were in "continuous contact" with their families.

More than 200 celebrities, including actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Josh O'Connor, called on Israel on Wednesday to release imprisoned Palestinian politician Marwan Barghouti, who supporters see as a key unifying figure.

Barghouti, 66, has been in jail since 2002 but is regarded as a likely major player in the creation of any Palestinian state because of his ability to unite various political factions.

The open letter calling for his release featured film A-listers Josh O'Connor, Benedict Cumberbatch and Javier Bardem, as well as musicians Fontaines D.C. and Sting.

Top-selling writers Sally Rooney, Annie Ernaux and Margaret Atwood also lent their support, as did artist Nan Goldin and British footballer-turned-broadcaster Gary Lineker.

"We express our grave concern at the continuing imprisonment of Marwan Barghouti, his violent mistreatment and denial of legal rights whilst imprisoned," they wrote.

"We call upon the United Nations and the governments of the world to actively seek the release of Marwan Barghouti from Israeli prison."

Most of the signatories were already active in efforts to bring an end to Israel's war in Gaza, but the new letter is part of an international "Free Marwan" campaign launched by Barghouti's family.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Wednesday that economic talks would be part of any normalisation process with Israel, which would have to follow a peace agreement.

If both countries adhere to a 2002 Arab peace plan, "normalisation will follow, but we are not there at all", he told journalists.

The US embassy in Beirut hailed the inclusion of civilian representatives from Lebanon and Israel in a year-old ceasefire monitoring mechanism as an "important step" on Wednesday.

"All parties welcomed the additional participation as an important step toward ensuring that the work... is anchored in lasting civilian, as well as, military dialogue," the embassy said, referring to the inclusion of former Lebanese ambassador to the US Simon Karam and Israeli National Security Council official Uri Resnick.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition skipped a parliamentary vote on Wednesday endorsing US President Donald Trump's plan to end the two-year war in Gaza.

The vote, proposed by opposition leader Yair Lapid, was largely symbolic as Netanyahu had already publicly backed the plan after Israel agreed to a ceasefire with Hamas in October.

Less than a third of the parliament's 120 lawmakers participated in it with 39 in favour and none against.

Lapid, a former prime minister, posted on X: "Israel now officially endorses and adopts President Trump's plan" alongside an image of himself with the president.

The Knesset overwhelmingly approved my proposal to endorse and adopt President Trump’s 20 point plan on Gaza with a vote of 39 in favor and 0 against.

Israel now officially endorses and adopts President Trump’s plan.

Thank you @realDonaldTrump 🇺🇸🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/9CZbWR3vcN

— יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) December 3, 2025

Israel confirmed that the first direct talks between Israeli and Lebanese civilian representatives in decades took place on Wednesday, part of a year-old ceasefire monitoring mechanism in the war with Hezbollah.

"Today's meeting in Lebanon is an initial attempt to establish a basis for a relationship and economic cooperation between Israel and Lebanon," Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian told journalists.

"Be in no doubt that this direct meeting between Israel and Lebanon took place as a result of Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu's efforts to change the face of the Middle East."

The death toll in Israel's genocidal war on Gaza has now surpassed 70,000, as Israel continues to attack Palestinians despite a ceasefire going into effect on 11 October.

At least 70,117 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, with over 170,999 being injured.

Gaza hospitals have received five bodies over the past 24 hours that were recovered from the rubble, along with 13 Palestinians.

The toll does not include the thousands of Palestinians missing or trapped under the rubble presumed dead.

Israel is preparing to receive the remains of a captive held in Gaza, according to the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad previously said that the handover would occur at 5pm local time.

A Doctors Without Borders official has pleaded for countries to open their doors to tens of thousands of Gazans in dire need of medical evacuation, warning that hundreds have already died waiting.

"The need is really huge," said Hani Isleem, who coordinates medical evacuations from Gaza for the charity, known by its French acronym MSF.

The numbers taken in by countries so far remains "just a drop in the ocean", Isleem told AFP in an interview on Tuesday.

The World Health Organization estimates more than 16,500 patients need treatment outside of the Palestinian territory.

Speaking at the MSF headquarters in Geneva after accompanying seriously ill and injured Gaza children to Switzerland for treatment, Isleem said that number was based only on patients registered for medical evacuation and the true figure was higher.

"Our estimate is that it is three to four times that number," he said.

Egypt denied on Wednesday that it had agreed with Israel to open the Rafah crossing to Gaza for residents of the Palestinian territory to exit, insisting it be opened in both directions.

"If an agreement is reached to open the crossing, it will be in both directions, to enter and exit the Gaza Strip, in accordance with the plan of US President Donald Trump," the state information service said in a statement, quoting an official Egyptian source.

Syrian authorities said on Wednesday they had killed a man and arrested four others who were attempting to smuggle hundreds of landmines to Lebanon's Hezbollah group.

In a statement, the interior ministry said it launched a raid in Al-Jebbe, near the capital Damascus, during which "four people were arrested and a fifth neutralised after a clash".

Khaled Abbas Taktouk Internal security director for the Yabrud region, which is close to the Lebanese border, was quoted as saying that "1,250 mines armed with detonators" were seized.

According to the statement, they were "intended to be smuggled to Hezbollah" in Lebanon.

Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives held their first direct talks Wednesday in decades, part of a year-old ceasefire monitoring mechanism in the war with Hezbollah, a source close to the talks told AFP.

The meeting was taking place at the UN peacekeeping force's headquarters in Lebanon Naqura near the border with Israel, the source said, as part of a mechanism to oversee the ceasefire that took hold in November 2024.

Morgan Ortagus, the US special envoy for Lebanon, also attended Wednesday's meeting, the source added. The United States has been piling pressure on Lebanon to rapidly disarm Hezbollah.

Officials from Hamas and Islamic Jihad told AFP the two Palestinian groups would on Wednesday send to Israel a sample from a body recovered in the Gaza Strip.

A Hamas official said a team from the two groups' armed wings "found remains that are possibly those of an Israeli hostage" under the rubble in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, and that the Red Cross would transfer a sample to the Israeli side for examination. An Islamic Jihad official confirmed the same information.

Iranian athlete Rozhan Goudarzi withdrew from a taekwondo tournament in Kenya after refusing to compete against an Israeli opponent, local media reported Wednesday.

Iran does not recognise Israel and prohibits any contact between Iranian and Israeli athletes.

As a result, Iranian athletes have long avoided competing against Israelis, often by withdrawing, seeking disqualification or presenting medical certificates.

"Rozhan Goudarzi withdrew from the competition at the U-21 World Taekwondo Championships because she was in the same group as an athlete from the Zionist regime," ISNA news agency reported.

It added that Goudarzi was due to face the Israeli competitor in the first round.

Lebanon announced on Wednesday that it would appoint a civilian to lead its delegation to the body overseeing the ceasefire with Israel, after a request from the United States.

"President Joseph Aoun has decided to appoint former ambassador Simon Karam to lead the Lebanese delegation," presidency spokeswoman Najat Charafeddine said.

The decision followed a US request and "after being informed that Israel agreed to include a non-military member in its delegation", she added.

The appointment of a civilian comes after Lebanon declared itself ready for negotiations with Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will send a representative to meet with government and economic officials in Lebanon, his office said Wednesday.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed the Acting Director of the National Security Council to send a representative on his behalf to a meeting with government and economic officials in Lebanon", the premier's office said in a statement.

"This is an initial attempt to establish a basis for a relationship and economic cooperation between Israel and Lebanon," the statement said.

Beirut does not officially recognise its southern neighbour and relations between the two countries are extremely sensitive.

The Rafah crossing will open in the next few days to let Gaza residents cross into Egypt, COGAT, the Israeli military's arm that oversees aid flows, said on Wednesday.

The arrangement, which has Israel's security clearance, will be coordinated with Egypt under the supervision of the European Union mission, similar to the mechanism that operated in January 2025, COGAT said.

A group allied with Hamas said on Wednesday it was searching for the body of a captive in northern Gaza with a team from the Red Cross.

The announcement from the armed wing of the Palestinian movement, the Al Quds Brigades, came a day after Hamas handed over remains described by the Red Cross as belonging to one of the last two deceased captives in Gaza.

However, Israeli forensic services concluded that those remains were not one of the captives, according to the office of Israel's prime minister. 

Israel said on Wednesday that forensic tests showed that the remains retrieved from Gaza the day before were "not linked" to the last two dead captives held in the Palestinian territory.

In a statement, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "Following the completion of the identification process at the National Centre of Forensic Medicine, it was determined that the findings brought yesterday for examination from the Gaza Strip are not linked to any of the fallen hostages."

On Tuesday, Israeli police said they had received the presumed remains of one of the remaining hostages and escorted what they called "the coffin of the fallen [captive]" to the forensic centre.

Netanyahu's office had said earlier that Israel received "findings" through the Red Cross inside the Gaza Strip.