Israeli strikes kill 66 a day after ceasefire talks resume

TNA’s live coverage of the latest from the war on Gaza concludes for today. Join us again at 0800 GMT for updates from the besieged Palestinian enclave.
 

The Israeli army stated that a rocket fired from northern Gaza landed near the Beit Hanoon (Erez) crossing, causing damage to the area around the humanitarian truck compound.

The Beit Hanoon crossing has been a key entry point for aid trucks delivering supplies to Gaza, where humanitarian needs are critical.

Aid agencies have consistently warned that the quantity of aid entering the enclave remains vastly insufficient compared to the scale of the crisis.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Saturday to address ongoing efforts for a Gaza ceasefire, according to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

The discussion focused on securing the release of hostages, increasing the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and ending the war.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate reported that 10 journalists were killed in December, including five who died in a "brutal attack" while inside a live broadcast vehicle.

The syndicate added that eight family members of journalists were killed, three journalists’ homes were destroyed, and five journalists were severely injured.

The statement also noted that approximately 20 reporters were detained and barred from covering events, while seven remain imprisoned. The association reaffirmed its commitment to defending press freedoms and “exposing the crimes” of Israeli forces.

Between 7 October 2023 and 25 December 2024, at least 217 journalists and media workers were killed in Gaza.

An additional five were killed on 26 December when an Israeli airstrike targeted a news van near al-Awda Hospital.

At least 66 people have been killed in Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip since dawn, according to medical sources cited by Al Jazeera.

Among the casualties, at least 41 were reported in the northern region of the Strip.

Republican leaders in the US House have announced a vote on a bill imposing broad sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), scheduled for Tuesday, highlighting the party's prioritisation of the measure.

The vote will allow only one hour of debate and prohibit amendments, underscoring the GOP's determination to expedite the bill’s passage.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported on X that an Israeli strike caused “significant” damage to several facilities at Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis and left one person, a patient’s companion, seriously injured.

Al-Amal Hospital, which serves as the PRCS headquarters, has faced repeated attacks by the Israeli military during its assault on the Gaza Strip.

The PRCS stated that the damage occurred after Israel bombed a residential home located next to the hospital.

Israeli police arrested demonstrators urging the government to agree to a ceasefire deal to secure the release of captives held in Gaza.

Footage shared by journalist Israel Frey on X showed officers using horses to disperse the crowd and carrying protesters away.

According to Frey, two members of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, were among the demonstrators when police charged the crowd.

Earlier, Defence Minister Israel Katz informed the family of a captive that negotiations were ongoing, with a delegation sent to Qatar for indirect talks with Hamas regarding a captives' deal.

התיעוד: https://t.co/hJqr3xrqD6 pic.twitter.com/vWEcUpnOvJ

— ישראל פריי (@freyisrael1) January 4, 2025

A Palestinian teenager was reportedly injured by Israeli gunfire in Beit Ummar, a town north of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The incident occurred during an Israeli raid in the al-Dhahr area of Beit Ummar, Wafa reported.

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon accused Israel Saturday of a "flagrant violation" of the 2006 Security Council resolution that forms the basis of its November ceasefire with Hezbollah.

The statement from the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) came as Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem warned the group's patience with Israeli violations could run out before the end of the ceasefire's 60-day implementation timeframe.

The fragile truce, which took effect on November 27, has been marked by mutual accusations of violations from both sides.

"This morning, peacekeepers observed an (Israeli military) bulldozer destroying a blue barrel marking the line of withdrawal between Lebanon and Israel in Labbouneh, as well as an observation tower belonging to the Lebanese Armed Forces immediately beside a UNIFIL position there," the peacekeeping force said.

"The (military's) deliberate and direct destruction of both clearly identifiable UNIFIL property and infrastructure belonging to the Lebanese Armed Forces is a flagrant violation of Resolution 1701 and international law."

The force, which is represented on the panel overseeing the ceasefire's implemenation, called on "all actors to avoid any actions, including the destruction of civilian property and infrastructure, that could jeopardise the cessation of hostilities".

On the slopes of Mount Qasyun which overlooks Damascus, a network of tunnels links a military complex, tasked with defending the Syrian capital, to the presidential palace facing it.

The tunnels, seen by a correspondent reporting for news agency AFP, are among secrets of president Bashar al-Assad's rule exposed since rebels toppled him on December 8.

"We entered this enormous barracks of the Republican Guard after the liberation" of Damascus sent Assad fleeing to Moscow, said Mohammad Abu Salim, a military official from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the dominant Islamist group in the alliance that overthrew Assad.

"We found a vast network of tunnels which lead to the presidential palace" on a neighbouring hill, Salim said.

During Assad's rule, Qasyun was off limits to the people of Damascus because it was an ideal location for snipers -- the great view includes the presidential palaces and other government buildings.

It was also from this mountain that artillery units for years pounded rebel-held areas at the gates of the capital.

The rescue organisation reported recovering four bodies and rescuing several injured individuals from the debris of a home belonging to the Zahd family in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood.

Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for Gaza’s Civil Defence, stated that Israel has carried out more than 30 strikes targeting civilian gatherings across the enclave since this morning.

Citing medical sources, the Wafa news agency reported that Israeli airstrikes on multiple areas in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 41 people, including 27 in the northern region.

Israeli police have arrested four people protesting outside of Prime Minister Netanyahu's house in occupied Jerusalem, calling for the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza.

A larger protest took place in Rehovot south of Tel Aviv.

פארק המדע - רחובות.
אוטוטו מתחילים. pic.twitter.com/AgMnW1AkhA

— שקמה ברסלר Shikma Bressler (@ShikmaBressler) January 4, 2025

Gaza's Indonesian Hospital “no longer provides any services to patients or the wounded” after Israel's relentless attacks on the facility - The Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement on Telegram.

The Israeli army said a rocket crossing from northern Gaza into Israel was identified, adding that the rocket fell into the area of the Beit Hanoun crossing.

No damage or casualties were mentioned.

The armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, released a video on Saturday of an Israeli captive held in Gaza since the October 2023 attack.

In the undated, three-and-half-minute video recording that AFP has not been able to verify, 19-year-old soldier Liri Albag called in Hebrew for the Israeli government to secure her release.

Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad have released a number of videos of Israeli captives in their custody during nearly 15 months of war on Gaza.

An Egyptian aid plane touched down at Damascus airport on Saturday carrying Cairo's first humanitarian delivery since the ouster of Bashar al-Assad last month, the Egyptian foreign ministry said.

The civilian cargo plane loaded with 15 tonnes of supplies was part of "Egypt's commitment to supporting the brotherly Syrian people", according to a statement from the foreign ministry.

The shipment, provided by the Egyptian Red Crescent, was handed over to its Syrian counterpart and included tents, blankets, food and medical supplies, state-linked Al-Qahera News said.

The State Department has informed Congress of a planned $8 billion weapons sale to Israel, US officials say, as the American ally presses forward with its war against Gaza.

Some of the arms in the package could be sent through current US stocks, but the majority would take a year or several years to deliver, according to two US officials Saturday who spoke on condition of anonymity because the notification to Congress hasn't been formally sent.

The sale includes medium-range air-to-air missiles to help Israel defend against airborne threats, 155 mm projectile artillery shells for long-range targeting, Hellfire AGM-114 missiles, 500-pound bombs and more.

The weapons package would add to a record of at least $17.9 billion in military aid that the US has provided Israel since 7 October 2023.

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 15 people, including a child, early Saturday in southern Gaza, hospital staff said.

The three airstrikes hit a car, a house and people on the street in the city of Khan Younis, according to staff at Nasser Hospital.

The Civil Defense, first responders affiliated with the Hamas-run government, said an airstrike destroyed a residential area behind the Saraya complex in Gaza City, killing at least five people.

There was no immediate comment from Israel's military.

Armed clashes reportedly broke out on Saturday in the Syrian border town of Serghaya between gunmen from the town and members of the de-facto Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rulers.

The clashes could be heard across the border into Lebanon.

It comes a day after Lebanese soldiers clashed with gunmen near the Lebanese border village of Maaraboun, close to Serghaya, allegedly over a border crossing dispute. At least four soldiers were injured in the exchange of fire.

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Syrian de-facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa spoke on the phone following the incident, as Al-Sharaa assured Mikati that Syrian authorities took the necessary measures to restore calm at the border and prevent a recurrence of what happened.

Al-Sharaa also invited Mikati to visit Damascus.

The Israeli airstrike that killed 11 people in northern Gaza City included seven children - the civil defence agency revealed.

“The home, which housed several displaced people, was completely destroyed,” said civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal.

“It was a two-storey building and several people are still under the rubble,” he added, saying Israeli drones “also fired on ambulance staff” who tried to treat the wounded.

Syrian security forces seized an ammo supply warehouse in the central city of Homs on Saturday after launching a campaign there earlier this week to root out remnants of the former Assad regime.

"The Ministry of Interior, in cooperation with the Military Operations Command, is continuing the combing operation in the city of Homs and its countryside in search of the remnants of Assad's militias and seized an ammunition depot in the Al-Zahraa neighbourhood," the state-run Syrian News Agency reported.

On Friday evening, security forces said they arrested two people in Homs who worked at the notorious Sednaya prison, including a field commander.

An Israeli strike killed 12 people on Saturday in Gaza City, bringing the death toll from strikes across Gaza to 62 over the last day.

Residents and medics said at least 14 people had been in the house of the Al-Ghoula family when the strike took place in the early hours, destroying the building.

Israeli airstrikes killed five Palestinians in the northern and central Gaza Strip.

One was killed after a strike targeted a group of citizens at the Halabi roundabout in Jabalia al-Balad, one was killed after a strike targeted a group in the vicinity of Halima al-Sadia School in Jabalia al-Nazla, north of the Strip, and three were killed in a bombing of a vehicle east of Deir al-Balah.

Rescuers in Gaza said on Saturday that at least 19 people, including eight children, were killed in Israeli strikes across the Palestinian territory.

According to the civil defence agency, an air strike at dawn on the house of the al-Ghoul family in Gaza City killed 11 people, seven of them children.

Elsewhere, the civil defence agency said five security officers tasked with accompanying aid convoys were killed by an Israeli strike as they were driving in a car in the southern city of Khan Younis.

Bassal accused Israel of having "deliberately targeted" them to "affect the humanitarian supply chain and increase the suffering" of the population.

The army has not yet responded to the accusations.

Local rescuers also said three members of the same family, including a child, were killed when their house was bombed in Khan Younis.

Syria's Damascus airport will start operating international flights from 7 January, Syrian Civil Aviation Authority chief Ashad Al Saliby told Syrian state news agency Sana on Saturday.

(Reuters)

The Israeli army on Friday denied reports it had ordered the evacuation of Gaza's Indonesian Hospital.

“Contrary to claims, the [Israeli military] did not attack the Indonesian Hospital in Jabalia in the past 24 hours and did not damage its vital systems,” the army said in a statement.

“Also, following reports that emerged regarding the evacuation of the hospital, messages were conveyed to Gazan health system officials that there was no need to evacuate the hospital. We emphasize that the [army] is not taking action to evacuate the hospital.”

The health ministry in Gaza said on Friday that 59 people were killed in the Palestinian territory in the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll of the war to 45,717.

Israel's war on the Gaza Strip has killed at least 45,717 Palestinians and wounded 108,856 since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said on Saturday. 

(Reuters)

The health ministry in the occupied West Bank said one person was killed and nine injured in an Israeli raid on a refugee camp, with the Israeli military claiming it had opened fire at "terrorists".

Eighteen-year-old, Muhammad Medhat Amin Amer, "was killed by bullets from the (Israeli) occupation in the Balata camp" in the territory's north, the Palestinian health ministry said in a late-night statement, adding that nine people were injured, "four of whom are in critical condition".

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, the raid began on Friday night and triggered violent clashes.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israeli troops entered the camp from the Awarta checkpoint and "deployed snipers on the rooftops of surrounding buildings".

An Israeli airstrike targeting a house in Shujaiya killed at least eleven civilians.

Medical sources told Wafa ​​​​​​the forces bombed a house for the Samara family in the east of Gaza.

The top diplomat in Syria's new leadership said Friday he will make official visits to Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan this week, having just been to Saudi Arabia on his first trip in office.

Syrian Interim Authorities are eager for investment from wealthy Gulf states to help rebuild the country's infrastructure and boost the economy, shattered by more than a decade of war.

"This week, I will represent my country, Syria, on an official visit to our brothers in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan," its foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani said in a statement on X.

"We look forward to these visits contributing to support stability, security, economic recovery, and building distinguished partnerships," he added.