Israeli forces kill three in south Gaza, detain Palestinians in West Bank

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Egypt said on Monday it is aligned with Saudi Arabia on the conflicts in Yemen and Sudan, as well as the question of the breakaway region of Somaliland, at a time of heightened regional instability and growing rivalry with Abu Dhabi.

During talks in Cairo, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan stressed their countries' "identical" positions on "reaching peaceful solutions to the region's crises", an Egyptian presidency statement said.

They said solutions must "preserve the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of states," singling out Sudan, Yemen, Somalia and the Gaza Strip.

The meeting comes against a backdrop of widening differences between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, once close partners in regional politics.

Israeli warplanes targeted near the vicinity of Gaza's Indonesian Hospital, north of the enclave, causing panic among civilians and medical personnel.

An Israeli strike killed at least four Palestinians, targeting a tent sheltering displaced people in the al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military on Monday began striking, what it claimed to be, Hezbollah and Hamas "targets" in Lebanon after issuing evacuation orders for four villages in the country's east and south.

Earlier, an Israeli military spokesperson said the military was planning strikes on what he described as Hezbollah and Hamas "military infrastructure" in the villages of Hammara and Ain el-Tineh in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley and Kfar Hatta and Aanan in the south.

Israel killed at least two Palestinians, including a girl, and wounded four others, including other children, in an airstrike on Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday, officials at the city's main Nasser Hospital said.

The Israeli military claimed the strike had targeted a Hamas member who was planning to attack Israeli troops in southern Gaza - without providing any evidence.

Gaza's health ministry says 422 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire took effect. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel would not allow arch-foe Iran to restore its ballistic missile programme, just days after US President Donald Trump issued a similar threat.

"We will not allow Iran to restore its ballistic missile programme," Netanyahu told lawmakers, adding that the Islamic Republic would face "severe consequences" if it attacked Israel.

The embassy of Palestine was officially inaugurated in London in a short ceremony on Monday, hailed by its ambassador as a "profound milestone" in British-Palestinian relations.

"We gather today to mark a historic moment - the inauguration of the embassy of the State of Palestine to the United Kingdom, with full diplomatic status and privileges," said ambassador Husam Zomlot in a speech outside what was previously known as the Palestinian Mission to the UK in west London.

The official upgrading of the mission to embassy status came after the UK announced it would recognise the State of Palestine in September 2025, along with several other countries, including Australia and Canada, at a time of major international concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Sporting a traditional black and white keffiyeh scarf, Zomlot told the ceremony this is "not merely a change of name", but a "change of direction" towards Palestinian statehood.

Real Madrid on Monday announced it would play a EuroLeague basketball game against Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv behind closed doors due to security concerns, the latest disruption to Spanish sport linked to Israeli participation.

More than 250 organisations have demanded Thursday's match at Madrid's Movistar Arena be suspended over Israel's war in Gaza, organising a rally outside the venue on the day.

"Following a meeting of the State Commission against Violence, Racism, Xenophobia, and Intolerance in Sport, which declared the game high-risk, Real Madrid is complying with the recommendation made by the National Police," the club said in a statement.

In the past year, protests against Israeli competitors over Gaza have rocked sporting events in Spain, where pro-Palestinian sentiment is strong.

The most notable example was the Vuelta cycling grand tour, which cancelled the finale in Madrid and shortened other stages as demonstrators burst onto the course.

Other EuroLeague games have also been moved behind closed doors, including Tuesday's fixture between Barcelona and Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv.

An Israeli military spokesperson issued on Monday an evacuation order for two villages in southern Lebanon ahead of a strike. 

An Israeli strike targeting the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip killed a Palestinian man and injured a child.

Naji Suleiman Ibrahim Qudaih succumbed to his injuries, while a 14-year-old boy was injured after a drone was targeted near the Bani Suheila roundabout east of Khan Younis.

Hundreds of tourists are stuck on the Yemeni island of Socotra after flights were grounded over clashes on the mainland, two officials and a travel agency told AFP on Monday.

Over the past few days, flights in and out of Yemen have been largely restricted following a flare-up of violence between rival armed factions loosely grouped under the government but separately backed by Abu Dhabi and Riyadh.

Socotra's deputy governor for culture and tourism, Yahya bin Afrar, told AFP: "We have more than 400 foreign tourists... their flights have been suspended."

Another local official said all foreign and domestic flights had been grounded on the island since a state of emergency was declared late last month.

"We now have 416 foreigners stranded of different nationalities, including more than 60 Russians," he said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

The island usually has three weekly flights from the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi carrying foreign tourists, he said.

"We have appealed and called for the resumption of flights," he told AFP, adding that the airport should be "kept away from political conflict".

A travel agent in Socotra, speaking on condition of anonymity, gave a similar figure, adding that many Russians but also at least two Chinese were among those stranded.

Israeli forces struck a moving vehicle in the south Lebanese town of Braikeh, Nabatieh district, in its latest ceasefire violation in the country, Lebanese media said on Monday.

The vehicle in question was a pickup truck.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen will visit Syria later this week on a first trip to the country since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, a spokeswoman said Monday.

Von der Leyen will head to Syria as part of a tour of the Middle East that will also see her visit Jordan and Lebanon, spokeswoman Paula Pinho said.

Von der Leyen's visit to the devastated country comes as the international community seeks to bolster fragile efforts to rebuild a year after Assad's downfall.

A Syrian delegation, including Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, was taking part in a new round of negotiations with Israel on Monday, state news agency SANA reported, the first in several months.

Quoting a government source, SANA said the talks were coordinated and mediated by Washington, adding that the discussions were focused on reaching "a balanced security agreement" that ensures the withdrawal of Israeli forces to their positions before the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

News site Axios reported on Sunday that the talks would be held in Paris.

Syrian and Israeli officials are set to resume US-mediated talks in Paris in hopes of reaching a security agreement to defuse tensions between the two countries, a Syrian official said Monday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly, told The Associated Press that the delegation on the Syrian side will be headed by Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani and the head of the General Intelligence Directorate, Hussein Salameh.

The official said Syria's main aim in the talks is to reactivate a 1974 disengagement agreement that established a UN-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria and to secure the withdrawal of Israeli forces, who seized control of that buffer zone more than a year ago.

Several Palestinian students suffered from tear gas inhalation after Israeli forces fired tear gas during their raid of al-Khader, south of Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli forces attacked students with tear gas and stun grenades as they were leaving school, and soldiers also chased students and residents through the alleys in the town.

Israeli settlers stormed and vandalised an Islamic cemetery in occupied Jerusalem, destroying many headstones.

The settlers raided the cemetery near Jerusalem’s Old City.

Israeli authorities have told the Supreme Court that a ban on international media access to Gaza should remain in place, arguing it is necessary for security reasons, according to a government submission filed by the public prosecutor.

The Foreign Press Association (FPA), which represents hundreds of foreign journalists working in Israel and the Palestinian territories, filed a petition with the Supreme Court in 2024 seeking immediate and unrestricted access for international media to the Gaza Strip.

Since then, the court has granted several extensions to the Israeli authorities to develop a plan, but at a hearing last month, it set 4 January as the final deadline.

Late on Sunday, the Israeli authorities filed their response with the court, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

In the submission, the government said the ban on media access to Gaza should continue, citing security risks in the territory.

"Even at this time, entry of journalists into the Gaza Strip without escort, as requested in the petition, should not be permitted," said the government submission.

"This is for security reasons, based on the position of the defence establishment, which maintains that a security risk associated with such entry still exists."

Over 12,000 Palestinian children remain forcibly displaced in the occupied West Bank as Israeli forces and settlers continue with their attacks in the territory, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) reports.

The agency notes Israel's "Iron Wall" operation in the northern West Bank, aimed at attacking the occupied region and displacing Palestinians. 

Israeli forces detained a Palestinian journalist, Inas Ikhlawi, during their raid in Idhna, west of Hebron.

Israeli forces raided Ikhlawi's home and detained the journalist without any reason. The journalist is a Wafa correspondent and an activist who reports on settler violence.

At least five Palestinians were injured after a four-storey residential building collapsed in the Maghazi refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Monday after heavy Israeli bombardment, Wafa reports.

Dozens of residents are missing. 

The building collapsed after Israeli forces carried out daily attacks in the Maghazi area and other eastern parts of the Gaza Strip, damaging the building with their airstrikes.

Iran accused Israel on Monday of trying to undermine its national unity after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed support for protests in the country.

"The Zionist regime (Israel) is determined to exploit the slightest opportunity to sow division and undermine our national unity, and we must remain vigilant," foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei said at a weekly press conference, before accusing Israeli and US leaders of "incitement to violence".

Israeli forces shot and killed at least three Palestinians in separate attacks in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis on Sunday, local health authorities said.

Medics reported that the dead included a 15-year-old boy, a fisherman killed outside areas still occupied by Israel in the enclave, and a third man who was shot and killed east of the city in areas under Israeli control.