Israel launches Gaza strikes and new raids in occupied West Bank

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A Sudanese military transport aircraft crashed on Tuesday while attempting to land at an air base in the country's east, killing all members of its crew, two military sources told AFP.

The Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane went down as it attempted to land at the Osman Digna Air Base in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan after experiencing a "technical malfunction", according to a military source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to brief the media.

"All members of the aircraft's crew were killed in the crash," another military source said, also anonymously.

The Sudanese army has not disclosed how many personnel were on board and no official casualty figures have been released.

(AFP)

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemns a referral by Yemen's Houthis of some of the dozens of UN staff they have detained to a special criminal court, his spokesperson said on Tuesday.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the Houthis have arbitrarily detained 59 Yemeni UN personnel, who have been held "incommunicado - some for years - without any due process, in violation of international law."

"United Nations personnel, including those who are nationals of Yemen, are immune from legal process in respect of all acts performed by them in their official capacity," Dujarric said.

(Reuters)

US ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz and his Israeli counterpart Danny Danon visited the Lebanon border and the occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday.

Waltz's visit to the country comes a day after a UN Security Council delegation urged Israel and Hezbollah to respect their ceasefire that came into force in November 2024.

Israel has violated the agreement hundreds of times over the past year, and launched airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Monday.

China, Iran and Saudi Arabia called for "an immediate halt to Israeli aggression against Palestine, Lebanon and Syria" at a trilateral meeting in Tehran on Tuesday, China's foreign ministry said in a statement.

The three countries "condemned violations of Iran's national sovereignty and territorial integrity" in the meeting attended by their foreign ministry officials, according to the statement.

(Reuters and TNA staff)

Hamas will only agree to disarm through negotiations to establish a Palestinian a state, a Hamas official told The Times of Israel.

"This cannot be done by force or ultimatums. Israel used all of its military might for two years [to defeat Hamas], and it didn’t work," the source said.

Israel has threatened to resume its war on Gaza if Hamas refuses to disarm and demilitarise the strip. The Palestinian group has said it wants to enter the second phase of US President Donald Trump's peace plan but has refused to do so without a credible track to a Palestinian state.

Israel's military killed more journalists than any other country in the world for the third year running in 2025, according to Reporters Without Borders.

In its annual report, the press freedoms watchdog said Israel was responsible for the deaths of 29 Palestinian media workers.

That's almost half of the 67 journalists that were killed around the world during the year.

Mexico was the second most dangerous place in the world for media workers, with nine killed during 2025.

Shells of unknown origin fell in the vicinity of Syria's Mezzah military airport in the capital Damascus on Tuesday, the state-run Al Ekhbariya TV reported.

Syria's state news agency earlier reported the sound of an explosion in the vicinity of Damascus and said the matter was under investigation.

Reuters reported in November that Washington was planning to establish a military presence at an airbase in Damascus to help enable a security pact that Washington is brokering between Syria and Israel.

The airbase sits at the gateway to parts of southern Syria that are expected to make up a demilitarised zone as part of a future non-aggression pact between Israel and Syria.

A Syrian foreign ministry source denied the Reuters report, saying it was "false" but without further clarification.

(Reuters)

At least three recently released Palestinian detainees were injured on Tuesday at a checkpoint in occupied East Jerusalem, the Palestinian Red Crescent reported.

According to Al Jazeera Arabic, Israeli soldiers wounded the three men at the al-Jib checkpoint.

Israel and Bolivia are set to restore diplomatic relations on Tuesday, the Israeli foreign ministry announced, two years after Bolivia severed ties with the country over the Gaza war.

Israel's top diplomat, Gideon Saar, "will sign in Washington, together with Bolivia's Foreign Minister Fernando Aramayo, the renewal of diplomatic relations between the two countries," the ministry said in a statement.

"Happy for the new chapter that we will write in the relations between Bolivia and Israel," his Bolivian counterpart wrote on X.

Malnutrition among pregnant and breastfeeding women in the Gaza Strip is having a "devastating domino effect" on thousands of newborns, the United Nations warned Tuesday.

UNICEF, the UN children's agency, flagged an alarming surge in the number of babies born weighing less than 2.5 kilogrammes (5.5 pounds) in the Palestinian territory.

"Malnourished mothers" give birth to underweight or premature babies, who either "die... or survive, only to face malnutrition themselves or potential lifelong medical complications", UNICEF spokeswoman Tess Ingram told a press briefing in Geneva, speaking from central Gaza.

She added that low birth weight infants were about 20 times more likely to die than infants of normal weight.

Israel's genocidal war on the Gaza Strip has now killed at least 70,366 Palestinians since October 2023, with a further 171,064 being wounded from Israeli attacks.

Gaza hospitals received one body and six injuries over the past 24 hours. 

The toll does not include the thousands missing and trapped under the rubble, presumed dead.

Israeli forces are continuing their ground advance on the eastern outskirts of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, firing machine guns as they push further into the area, according to The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister outlet, al-Araby al-Jadeed.

Ronen Bar, the former head of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet, said that a full investigation into the failures of 7 October 2023 can only be achieved through the creation of a state commission of inquiry made up of experts, “that takes the whole picture, knows how to tell the whole story and decide what to do so it won't come again.”

Speaking at a conference at Tel Aviv University, Bar stressed that “leadership doesn't end with taking responsibility for the failure but in the responsibility to make things right.”

He warned that “once we did not make a decision and probed the whole system, we sentenced our children to the next October 7,” adding that this is what the families of those killed and the hostages expect, “and this is what our children expect from us.”

Israeli forces shot and injured three civilians in southern Syria on Tuesday, according to human rights monitors. The incident occurred after Israeli troops advanced into the al-Quneitra region, south of Damascus, and established a checkpoint near the entrance of a local town.

One report said Israeli soldiers opened fire with live ammunition at Syrian civilians who were demonstrating against Israel’s continued incursions and military presence in the area.

These violations have persisted since December 2024, when Israel seized the UN-designated buffer zone on the strategic Mount Hermon heights, which overlook Israel, Lebanon and Syria.

The monitor added that Israeli forces also blocked civilian roads and temporarily stopped traffic on Tuesday to allow their military convoy to pass.

Israel is set to reopen the Allenby Crossing with Jordan to the passage of goods and aid on Wednesday, an Israeli security official said on Tuesday.

The border crossing has been closed to aid and goods since September, when a driver bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza opened fire and killed two Israeli military personnel before being killed by security forces.

The security official said the crossing would have tightened screening for Jordanian drivers and truck cargo, and that a dedicated security force had been assigned to the crossing.

The Allenby Bridge is a key route for trade between Jordan and Israel and the only gateway for more than 3 million Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to reach Jordan and the wider world.

The crossing reopened to passenger traffic shortly after the attack, but had remained closed to aid trucks. The U.N. says the crossing is a major route for bringing food, tents and other goods into Gaza.

Two Palestinians- including a 13-year-old- were wounded after being shot by Israeli forces in the al-Am'ari refugee camp near Ramallah on Tuesday, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The emergency service said the condition of the injured individuals remains unclear.

Former Spain and Barcelona football star Andres Iniesta celebrated a "new chapter" for his NSN Cycling team, formerly Israel-Premier Tech (IPT), at its presentation on Tuesday.

Iniesta is a co-founder of sports and entertainment agency NSN, which partnered with Swiss global investment platform Stoneweg, took over the team in November.

IPT's presence at the Vuelta a Espana this year was heavily protested by pro-Palestinian supporters, with several stages of the race heavily disrupted.

The team will race under a Swiss licence this season with a "Spanish structure" and signed Eritrean star Biniam Girmay this month to lead their roster.

"Above all I want to enjoy this new chapter, getting inside cycling much more," Iniesta told reporters at the launch in Barcelona.

"I think if cycling shows us something, it's this great work in a team, that I think is the most important thing, and that will make us all feel proud."

The head of the Israeli left-wing Hadash party has submitted a complaint to the Knesset Ethics Committee over what he described as the display of racist symbols in parliament, Haaretz reported on Tuesday.

The move follows the appearance of noose-shaped pins worn by several Israeli lawmakers the previous day.

Ayman Odeh said the noose is "one of the most prominent and recognized symbols of racism and violence.

Its historical meaning cannot be separated from lynchings and murders committed under the banner of racism," he wrote. "There is no way to claim ignorance or good intentions."

He urged the committee to take swift action against those who wore the pins, insisting the Knesset must not become a stage for racism.

Odeh’s complaint came after far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir attended a Knesset National Security Committee session on a proposed death penalty bill for Palestinians while wearing a gold noose-shaped pin, alongside other Otzma Yehudit members.

The UK’s Minister of State for the Middle East, Hamish Faulkner, has condemned Israel for raiding the UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem, describing the incident as a “flagrant violation” of its responsibility to protect UN premises.

In a post on X late on Monday, Faulkner stressed that UNRWA must be allowed to continue its vital work supporting millions of Palestinians throughout the occupied territories.

Shocked by reports of Israeli authorities entering @UNRWA’s compound in East Jerusalem.

This appears to be a blatant disregard of Israel's obligations to protect and respect UN premises.

UNRWA must be able to continue their essential work supporting millions of Palestinians.

— Hamish Falconer MP (@HFalconerMP) December 8, 2025

A Hamas official said Tuesday that the Gaza ceasefire cannot proceed to its second phase as long as Israeli "violations" persist, calling on mediators to pressure Israel to respect the deal.

"The second phase cannot begin as long as the occupation (Israel) continues its violations of the agreement and evades its commitments," Hamas political bureau member Hossam Badran told AFP news agency, referring to the fragile ceasefire that came into effect on October 10.

"Hamas has asked the mediators to pressure the occupation to complete the implementation of the first phase," he added.

Thousands of children have been admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition in Gaza since an October ceasefire that was supposed to enable a major increase in humanitarian aid, the UN children's agency said on Tuesday.

UNICEF, the biggest provider of malnutrition treatment in Gaza, said that 9,300 children were treated for severe acute malnutrition in October, when the first phase of an agreement to end the two-year genocidal war came into effect.

While this is down from a peak of over 14,000 in August, the number is still significantly higher than during a brief February-March ceasefire and indicates that aid flows remain insufficient, UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram told a Geneva press briefing by video link from Gaza.

"It's still a shockingly high number," she said.

"The number of children admitted is five times higher than in February, so we need to see the numbers come down further." Ingram described meeting underweight babies weighing less than 1 kilogram born in hospitals "their tiny chests heaving with the effort of staying alive."

UNICEF is able to import considerably more aid into the enclave than it was before the October 10 agreement but obstacles remain, she said, citing delays and denials of cargoes at crossings, route closures and ongoing security challenges.

"We have seen some improvement, but we continue to call for all of the available crossings into the Gaza Strip to be open," she added. There are not enough commercial supplies entering Gaza, she added, saying that meat was still prohibitively expensive at around $20 a kilogram.

"Most families can't access this, and that's why we're still seeing high rates of malnutrition," she said.

In August, a U.N. backed hunger monitor determined that famine conditions were affecting about half a million people - or a quarter of Gaza's population.

Children were severly affected by hunger as the war progressed, with experts warning that the effects could cause lasting damage.

Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank whom they accused of throwing stones, an Israeli security source said, with the Palestinian health ministry confirming on Monday one of the deaths.

Late on Sunday, the Israeli military said that during an operation earlier in the day, three individuals threw stones towards cars on a road near the town of Azzun.

On Monday, an Israeli security source told AFP news agency that the suspect who the military had said was neutralised later "died of his wounds," while the third individual was still being detained.

The Palestinian health ministry on Monday announced the death of 21-year-old Bara Qablan, "who succumbed to the wounds he sustained yesterday after being shot" by the army in Qalqilya governorate, where Azzun is located.

The Ramallah-based ministry did not confirm the death of the other individual.

Israeli settlers set fire to a Palestinian farmer’s tractor and vehicle in the Wadi al-Rakhim area of Masafer Yatta, deep in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

Settlers also sprayed anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian graffiti at the scene, marking yet another attack on communities that have endured months of rising settler violence carried out under the protection of Israeli forces.

A ceremony was held on Tuesday at Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport for Sudthisak Rinthalak, a Thai national killed on 7 October, whose body was taken to the Gaza Strip and returned to Israel last Thursday.

After the ceremony, Rinthalak’s remains were flown back to Thailand for burial.

Rinthalak was 42 at the time he was killed. The body of Israeli citizen Ran Gvili, the final captive- living or dead- yet to be returned, remains in Gaza.

Reporters Without Borders said on Tuesday that Israel was responsible for nearly half of all journalists killed this year worldwide, with 29 Palestinian reporters slain by its forces in Gaza.

In its annual report, the Paris-based media freedom group said the total number of journalists killed reached 67 globally this year, slightly up from the 66 killed in 2024.

Israeli forces accounted for 43 percent of the total, making them "the worst enemy of journalists", RSF said in its report, which documented deaths over 12 months from December 2024.

The most deadly single attack was a so-called "double-tap" strike on a hospital in south Gaza on August 25, which killed five journalists, including two contributors to international news agencies Reuters and the Associated Press.

In total, since the start of hostilities in Gaza in October 2023, nearly 220 journalists have died, making Israel the biggest killer of journalists worldwide for three years running, RSF data shows.

Israel's military said it carried out strikes on southern Lebanon on Tuesday, targeting a training compound and other sites operated by Hezbollah.

"A short while ago, the (Israeli military) struck infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization in several areas in southern Lebanon," it said in a statement.

According to the Israeli military, the operation hit "a training and qualification compound used by Hezbollah's Radwan Force" as well as "military structures and a launch site belonging to Hezbollah".

"The targets that were struck, and the military training conducted in preparation for attacks against the State of Israel, constitute a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and a threat to the State of Israel," it added.

Despite a November 2024 ceasefire that was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed group, Israel has kept up strikes on Lebanon and has also maintained troops in five south Lebanon areas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet US President Donald Trump on December 29 to discuss the next steps of the Gaza ceasefire, an Israeli government spokesperson said on Monday.

On Sunday, Netanyahu said that he will be discussing with Trump the second phase of a U.S. plan to end the war in Gaza later this month. A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect in October.

Both sides have repeatedly accused each other of violating the truce and wide gaps remain on key issues yet to be discussed under Trump's plan to end the war, including Hamas disarmament, the governance of post-war Gaza and the composition and mandate of an international security force in the enclave.

"The Prime Minister will meet with President Trump on Monday, December 29 they will discuss the future steps and phases and the international stabilization force of the ceasefire plan," government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said in an online briefing to reporters.

The prime minister's office said on December 1 that Trump had invited Netanyahu to the White House. Israeli media have since reported that the two leaders may meet in Florida.