Israeli airstrikes and artillery attacks intensify across southern, central Gaza

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Israeli forces, while raiding Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, detained a Palestinian man, Wafa reports.

While the man's identity is unknown, no injuries were reported.

Despite the 10 October ceasefire being in effect, Israel has killed 342 civilians since, with at least 875 wounded.

"This confirms the occupation’s determination to undermine the agreement and create a bloody reality on the ground that threatens security and stability in the Gaza Strip," the office said in a statement.

Six Palestinians faced injuries after Israeli settlers attacked residents in the town of Beit Ur at-Tahta in the central West Bank.

Israeli forces and settlers carried out 2,350 attacks across the occupied West Bank last month.

Israeli forces carried out 10 air strikes on Khan Younis inside the so-called "yellow line", which marks areas that Israel controls. 

Israel also bombed and shelled the eastern part of Rafah.

Israel has admitted abducting Dr Marwan al Hams, the director of Abu Youssef al Najjar Hospital and the official overseeing Gaza's field hospitals, in a covert raid carried out five months ago.

Israeli forces also detained his daughter to pressure him during interrogations, according to Israeli media reports.

The army claimed al Hams, who also served as spokesperson for Gaza's health ministry, was seized as a supposed "Hamas operative", accusing him of helping identify Israeli soldier Hadar Goldin​'s body and knowing the location of his burial in the so-called "White Crown" tunnel network in Rafah.

The operation was described by the army as one of many secret missions it has run in recent months in its long running effort to recover Goldin's remains.

Al Hams, a respected physician from Rafah, spent decades working across Gaza's hospitals and rose to senior leadership positions during the war.

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Israel seized a total of 1,042 dunums (257 acres) of Palestinian land in the northern Jordan Valley in three towns in Tubas. 

The authorities issued nine seizure orders to construct a 22km road extending from the village of Ein Shibli in the south to the village of Al-Aqaba in the north, the Wall and Settlement Resistance Authority revealed.

Moayyad Shaaban, head of the authority, said the move aims to strengthen Israeli control over Palestinian agricultural land to undermine any geographical continuity for Palestinian communities.

While the order says the seizures are temporary, Shaaban said from experience, 90 percent of these roads are later converted for either settler use or separation routes between Palestinian communities. 

G20 leaders called for a "just, comprehensive, and lasting peace" in Ukraine, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the "Occupied Palestinian Territory" in a joint declaration Saturday.

"Guided by the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter in its entirety, we will work for a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Ukraine," said the G20 South Africa Summit Leaders' Declaration adopted at a summit in Johannesburg.

The Israeli army announced it had killed or captured 17 Palestinian gunmen who were trapped in a tunnel in Rafah. 

"A short while ago, troops operating in eastern Rafah located and apprehended an additional terrorist who attempted to flee from the underground terror infrastructure in the Rafah area," the Israeli army said in a statement.

The forces added that they had "eliminated or apprehended" all 17 fighters who tried to flee the tunnel that was in an area that Israel occupies.

Six Palestinians were captured, while 11 were killed.

A Palestinian man was injured after Israeli forces opened fire in the Wadi al-Hummus area, south of occupied Jerusalem.

The man was shot in his lower limbs and taken to the hospital.

Israel's war on Gaza has now killed over 69,733 Palestinians since October 2023, Gaza's Health Ministry revealed.

Over 170,863 have been wounded as Israel continues its onslaught despite a ceasefire agreement that went into effect on 11 October.

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

Israeli airstrikes killed 21 Palestinians and wounded dozens more in multiple Israeli air strikes on Saturday, Gaza's civil defence agency announced.

Saturday was one of the deadliest days since the US-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas came into effect on 10 October after two years of war.

The Israeli military claimed an "armed terrorist" had crossed the so-called Yellow Line within the Gaza Strip, behind which Israeli forces have withdrawn, and fired at Israeli soldiers, without providing any evidence.

In response to the incident in southern Gaza, which it said was on a route used for humanitarian aid deliveries in the territory, the Israeli military claimed it "began striking terror targets in the Gaza Strip".

Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defence agency, told AFP there were "21 martyrs this evening in five separate Israeli air strikes, in a clear violation of the ceasefire in Gaza".

They included seven killed and more than 16 injured in a strike on a house in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, and four killed and several injured in an air strike on a residential apartment in the Al-Nasr district, west of Gaza City, he said.

Two Palestinians were shot after the Israeli army raided the city of Qalqilia in the occupied West Bank. 

The Palestinians were hit in their lower legs as the forces raided the city from the eastern entrance and fired live bullets and tear gas canisters.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, and said that in response, Israeli forces had killed five "senior Hamas terrorists", without providing any evidence.

"Today, Hamas violated the ceasefire again, sending a terrorist into Israel held territory to attack IDF soldiers. In response, Israel eliminated five senior Hamas terrorists," Netanyahu's office said on X, referring to areas behind the so-called Yellow Line within Gaza, to which Israeli forces have withdrawn.

"Israel has fully honoured the ceasefire, Hamas has not... We again call on the mediators to insist that Hamas fulfill its side of the ceasefire."

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement on Saturday alleging that Hamas had once again breached the ceasefire by sending an attacker into Israeli-held territory targeting Israeli soldiers.

In a post on X, the Prime Minister’s Office reiterated the claim, saying: "Today, Hamas violated the ceasefire again, sending a terrorist into Israel held territory to attack [Israeli] soldiers. In response, Israel eliminated five senior Hamas terrorists."

Video footage published by The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister outlet, al-Araby al-Jadeed, shows long queues of displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis waiting for a hot meal amid a deepening food crisis.

Surrounded by empty food containers and lengthy lines, families in the southern Gaza Strip are struggling to secure even the most basic necessities.

Hamas has warned that the current ceasefire is at risk of collapsing following a series of deadly Israeli strikes on Gaza, Al Jazeera reported- citing an unnamed Hamas official.

A senior Hamas figure, who is said to request anonymity, told Al Jazeera had notified mediators of its increasing frustration over continued Israeli attacks despite Hamas’s compliance with the US-brokered truce.

“We asked the mediators to intervene immediately to prevent the collapse of the agreement as the occupation intends,” the official said.

In an accompanying statement, Hamas added: “The systematic Zionist violations of the agreement have resulted in the martyrdom of hundreds due to ongoing raids and killings under fabricated pretexts. These violations have also led to changes in the occupation army’s withdrawal lines, contravening the agreed-upon maps.”

A court operating under Yemen's Houthi rebels on Saturday sentenced 17 people to death for spying on behalf of Israel, the United States and Saudi Arabia, rebel media said.

The Houthis' Saba news agency said the 17 had been sentenced in cases relating to "espionage cells within a spy network affiliated with the American, Israeli and Saudi intelligence".

At least 18 Palestinians have been killed in a series of Israeli drone and missile strikes across northern and central Gaza, Al Jazeera reports, citing hospital sources.

The attacks included a strike on a vehicle travelling along a busy street in Gaza City, while at least four residential homes were also hit.

Israel’s military says a Palestinian fighter crossed the "yellow line" ceasefire boundary in Gaza and opened fire on Israeli soldiers, calling the incident a “blatant violation” of the truce.

No Israeli troops were injured, and soldiers shot back, killing the gunman, according to the army.

The military added that it launched retaliatory strikes on what it described as "Hamas targets" across Gaza.

At least 10 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip since dawn, according to Al Jazeera English- citing local sources.

Five individuals died when their vehicle was hit in Gaza City, while four others — including children — were killed after their home was struck in Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza.

Israel's military said it had hit Hezbollah launchers and weapons storage facilities in Lebanon on Saturday.

"The [Israeli military] struck launchers and military sites belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organisation in the Bekaa area and in southern Lebanon," Israel's military said in a statement.

"The presence of the launchers and the military activity at these sites constitutes a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon."

Israel has conducted another aerial assault in southern Lebanon, according to the National News Agency (NNA).

The agency reported that Israeli aircraft struck a rural area near the village of Kafr Rumman, firing two air-to-ground missiles. No casualties were mentioned.

Earlier today, as previously reported, an Israeli strike on Zawtar al-Sharqiyah in southern Lebanon killed one person.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan met on November 20 in Abu Dhabi to advance bilateral ties, Canada's government said on Saturday.

On Gaza, the leaders reaffirmed a shared commitment to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on the two-state solution, leading to a sovereign, independent and viable Palestinian State living side by side with Israel.

Both sides welcomed the leadership of U.S. President Donald Trump and his Comprehensive Peace Plan to end the war in Gaza, and the adoption of resolution 2803 by the UN Security Council, which is a key instrument for implementing the plan.

An Israeli airstrike on a car in Gaza City killed at least four people and wounded several others, local health authorities said on Saturday, in a further test of a fragile ceasefire between Palestinian group Hamas and Israel.

The Israeli military said it was checking the report.

Witnesses and medics said the attack in the densely populated Rimal neighbourhood set the vehicle ablaze. It was not immediately clear whether the four dead were passengers of the car or included passersby.

Dozens of people rushed to extinguish the fire and rescue the victims.

Organisers of the Eurovision Song Contest announced on Friday changes to voting rules to avoid state interference after controversy over Israel's entry this year.

The new rules by the European Broadcasting Union discourage governments and third parties from "disproportionately promoting" songs to sway voters - and say they could otherwise face sanctions.

At this year's edition, Israel's Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the October 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian group Hamas, came second overall.

However, some on social media raised concern about the transparency of the voting system - which was echoed by the winner, Austrian entry JJ.

Critics said state promotion unfairly boosted Israel's entry and that individuals' multiple voting for the same contestant went against the spirit of the competition, which has been running since 1956.

Eurovision director Martin Green said the organisation was taking steps to ensure the competition remains a celebration of music and unity. "The Contest should remain a neutral space and must not be instrumentalized," he said in a statement.

Under the new rules, an expanded professional jury will be reintroduced at the semi-final stage and will have about 50% of the vote. The other half will remain a public vote.

Seven Italian civil society organisations have filed a lawsuit against the Italian government and arms manufacturer Leonardo on Friday over the supply of weapons to Israel.

The legal action targets state-controlled defence company Leonardo and the Italian government, seeking to annul all contracts involving the sale or transfer of arms to Israel.

The groups argue that these agreements violate both Italian law and the country’s constitution.

In their statement, the NGOs said: "Israel carries out in the West Bank and Gaza a military occupation and systematic apartheid that are fed with weapons supplied by foreign partners."

Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, has stated that more than 16,500 Palestinian patients are still in need of medical evacuation from the Gaza Strip.

Speaking via video link at the UN’s weekly press briefing in Geneva on Friday, Peeperkorn said, “The needs in Gaza remain significant despite the ceasefire.”

He noted that only half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially operational, adding that 26 health facilities have reopened and eight new ones have been set up since the ceasefire took effect. He also highlighted that no hospitals are functioning in northern Gaza, where the population is estimated to be at least 20,000 people.

Peeperkorn stressed the urgent need for increased humanitarian assistance, renewing calls to open all crossings and access routes to expand the flow of aid into Gaza.

Israeli forces have detained at least 30 people in the city of Hebron and in the nearby town of Beit Ummar, according to the Wafa news agency.

In Beit Ummar, troops reportedly assaulted and interrogated dozens of residents in the courtyard of a local brick factory. Similar mass interrogations were also carried out in Hebron city, the agency said.

Palestine’s Foreign Ministry has denounced a wave of settler attacks across several cities in the occupied West Bank and urged the international community to act immediately.

On Friday, armed settler groups assaulted residents in Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Hebron, setting homes on fire, vandalising property, and storming residential areas.

In a statement on X, the ministry condemned the assaults as “systematic terrorism” and part of a “dangerous and ongoing escalation” intended to advance ethnic cleansing.

Settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank has sharply increased this year, with 29 incidents recorded in the week beginning 11 November.

An international tribunal examining alleged Israeli war crimes in Palestine has opened in Barcelona, Spain.

The event, known as the International People’s Tribunal on Palestine, is a two-day forum designed to investigate crimes attributed to Israel and its supporters, drawing on testimony from experts and witnesses.

Organised by the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, the International People’s Front, and the People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty, the tribunal says it will "present evidence from key witnesses and experts to expose the extent of the Zionist occupation’s genocidal use of ecocide and forced starvation against the people of Palestine".

It also aims to highlight "the complicit role of the US and other backers of the occupation’s crimes such as the UK, France, Germany and others, and so-called private entities like the US and Zionist-led Gaza Humanitarian Foundation".

Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, reports that during a meeting on Friday involving Israel’s political leadership and senior security officials, the situation in Gaza was a key point of discussion.

According to the report, an unnamed Israeli official claimed that Hamas has been gaining strength in Gaza.

He warned that if the United States does not ensure the group is disarmed, Israel may consider launching another military operation.

Although the fragile six-week ceasefire has significantly reduced Israeli attacks, they have not ceased entirely. Israel has also partially withdrawn its forces, though it still maintains control over roughly half of the territory.

Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel is required to fully withdraw from Gaza and Hamas must be disarmed- a condition reiterated yesterday by US President Donald Trump.

The agreement was endorsed in a UN Security Council resolution last week. Hamas, however, rejected the resolution, saying it “does not meet the level of our Palestinian people’s political and humanitarian demands and rights.”

The Israeli army claimed Saturday it killed a Hezbollah member in a strike the day before on southern Lebanon, where Israel has carried out repeated attacks despite an ongoing ceasefire with the Iran-backed group.

"In a targeted strike the (Israeli army) eliminated a Hezbollah terrorist in the Froun area in southern Lebanon" on Friday, the military said in a statement.

It added the Hezbollah member had "advanced terror attacks against the State of Israel" and its forces.

Lebanon has accused Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement reached in November 2024 -- which sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah -- by continuing its strikes and maintaining forces inside its territory.

An Israeli strike Tuesday night on the Ain al-Hilweh camp for Palestinian refugees in southern Lebanon killed 13 people.

On Friday, Israel said it had targeted "terrorists" from the Palestinian militant group Hamas, allied with Hezbollah, in the strike on the camp, located on the outskirts of the coastal city of Sidon.

Israel's military "is operating against Hamas's establishment in Lebanon, and will continue to operate against Hamas terrorists wherever they operate", it said in Friday's statement.

Singapore has imposed financial and travel sanctions on four Israeli settlers, the country’s foreign minister announced on Friday.

The individuals sanctioned are Meir Mordechai Ettinger, Elisha Yered, Ben-Zion Gopstein and Baruch Marzel.

In a statement, the foreign minister said Singapore, as a strong supporter of international law and the two-state solution, opposes unilateral actions that seek to change facts on the ground through measures considered illegal under international law.

However, Singapore stopped short of sanctioning senior Israeli government officials or formally recognising a Palestinian state.

All four individuals have previously been sanctioned by the European Union.

An Israeli drone strike on a car in southern Lebanon has killed one person, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.

The agency reported that the vehicle was targeted near the town of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, where the drone fired two guided missiles as the car was travelling on the road. Ambulances were dispatched to the scene shortly after the attack.

Photographs shared by the agency show the vehicle badly charred and engulfed in flames, with several people gathered nearby.

The United Nations has reported 29 attacks by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank during a single week, according to its humanitarian office.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters, citing the Associated Press, that the incidents took place between November 11 and 17.

The surge in attacks highlights growing violence in the territory. In October, the UN recorded the highest monthly number of settler attacks since it began tracking them in the mid-2000s.

The assaults resulted in 11 injuries and caused damage to 10 homes, two mosques, and nearly two dozen vehicles. In addition, crops, livestock, and approximately 1,000 trees were destroyed.

Dujarric also said that Israeli forces have killed more than 200 Palestinians in the West Bank this year, including 50 children.