UN urges Israel against expelling charities from Gaza

The live blog is now closed and will be back next year. You can read more of The New Arab's coverage on Gaza and the wider Middle East here.

Pakistan's Prime Minister spoke by telephone with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday to express his "complete solidarity" with the Kingdom following this week's Saudi bombing of Yemen's port city of Mukalla, the prime minister's office said.

According to the statement, Shehbaz Sharif also stressed the need to maintain regional peace and stability through dialogue and diplomacy. Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening long-standing fraternal ties, which the statement said had "attained new heights in recent months."

The statement quoted Crown Prince Mohammed as thanking Sharif for the call and reiterating Saudi Arabia's desire to expand cooperation with Pakistan in areas of mutual interest. It said the crown prince also expressed his intention to pay an official visit to Pakistan next year.

Israeli forces shot a 15-year-old Palestinian during a raid on the town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Yemen's separatists are determined to establish a new state after seizing swathes of territory this month, their spokesman told AFP on Wednesday, but added that secession would only happen when conditions are right.

The group's staggering advance has sparked fresh upheaval in Yemen after more than a decade of war between the Saudi-led coalition and Iran-backed Houthi rebels who forced the government from the capital Sanaa in 2014.

Despite a wave of air strikes targeting their positions and calls from Saudi Arabia to fall back, the STC says it will hold its ground and reinforce its territory.

"What happened recently has made southerners more determined - psychologically and emotionally - to restore the state," STC spokesman Anwar Al-Tamimi told AFP during an interview in Abu Dhabi.

"When the appropriate historical, international and regional moment arrives will we be ready to restore our state. Whether it will be in the long term, medium term or immediately, that will depend on the circumstances," Tamimi added.

International medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) urged Israel on Wednesday to allow it to continue operating in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in 2026.

"We call on the Israeli authorities to ensure that MSF and other INGOs (international non-governmental organisations) are registered in Israel to continue working in the West Bank and Gaza in 2026," MSF told AFP in a statement.

MSF said Israel considers the charity's registration application to be incomplete.

"We continue to seek reassurances and clarity over a concerning request to share a staff list, which may be in violation of Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law and of our humanitarian principles," the charity said.

"We will be exploring all possible avenues to alter the outcomes of this decision."

For 2026, MSF has committed an estimated 100 to 120 million euros for its humanitarian response in Gaza, it said, adding that many of the services provided by MSF are largely unavailable elsewhere in Gaza due to the destruction of the health system in the territory.

Award-winning Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi said Wednesday that protests which had gripped his country in recent days aimed "to move history forward".

"When there is nothing left to lose, fear falls away. Voices unite, the silence is broken, and there is no way back," he said on Instagram. "This uprising is willpower that has decided to stay, to move forward, and to move history forward.

Hamas on Wednesday condemned Israel's decision to ban several aid groups from operating in Gaza, urging the international community to prevent what it described as a move targeting Palestinians.

"The occupation government's decision to revoke the operating licences of dozens of international relief organisations constitutes a dangerous escalation and a blatant disregard for the humanitarian system," Hamas said in a statement.

"We call on the international community, and the United Nations in particular ... to take urgent and effective action to condemn this criminal behaviour," it added.

Several people attacked and damaged a provincial governor's office in southern Iran on Wednesday, according to authorities quoted by the justice ministry's Mizan agency, after days of protests over the economy.

"A portion of the provincial governors' office door and its glass were destroyed in an attack by a number of people," said Hamed Ostovar, the head of Fasa city's judiciary, as quoted by Mizan, without specifying how the attack was carried out.

Fasa is located 780 kilometers south of the capital Tehran, where a spontaneous movement against the high cost of living broke out on Sunday among shopkeepers before spreading to some universities.

Oman's foreign minister met his Saudi counterpart in Riyadh on Wednesday to discuss finding a political solution to the crisis in Yemen, Oman's Foreign Ministry said.

The meeting came a day after a Saudi-led strike on Yemen's southern port of Mukalla, which raised tensions between Riyadh and the United Arab Emirates.

In recent weeks, a Saudi-led coalition has clashed with UAE-backed southern separatists in Yemen. The UAE has said it is ending its remaining military mission there, highlighting a widening rift between the Gulf allies.

Israeli bulldozers began demolishing 25 buildings housing Palestinians in a refugee camp on Wednesday.

The buildings, home to some 100 families, are in the Nur Shams camp, a frequent site Israeli forces raid. 

Israeli military bulldozers and cranes tore through the structures early Wednesday, sending thick plumes of dust into the air, an AFP journalist reported. Many residents watched from a distance.

The military claimed the demolitions were part of an operation against alleged militants.

Nur Shams, along with other refugee camps in the West Bank, was established after the Nakba of 1948, where over 700,000 Palestinians were killed and displaced from their homes by Zionist militia to pave the way for the creation of Israel. 

The United Nations rights chief described on Wednesday Israel's threat to suspend dozens of aid groups from operating in Gaza from January as "outrageous", calling on states to urgently insist Israel shift course.

"Israel's suspension of numerous aid agencies from Gaza is outrageous," Volker Turk said in a statement, warning that "such arbitrary suspensions make an already intolerable situation even worse for the people of Gaza".

Israel has said that 37 aid organisations will be banned from operating in Gaza starting on Thursday, unless they comply with its new guidelines requiring detailed information on Palestinian staff.

"They refuse to provide lists of their Palestinian employees... They will have to fully and transparently meet all established criteria. No shortcuts, no tricks," Gilad Zwick, spokesman for the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, told AFP, giving names of 37 NGOs who had so far failed to meet the new requirements.

The Government Media Office in the Gaza Strip announced on Wednesday that more than 29,000 martyrs and missing persons have been registered during 2025 as a result of Israel's war on Gaza, which ended following a ceasefire which began on 10 October.

Over 500 Israeli settlers have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

524 settlers stormed the compound under police protection, performing prayers and "provocative" tours.

The Norwegian Refugee Council has said that Israel did not meet in good faith with aid organisations following its announcement that it will bar 37 organisations from carrying out humanitarian work in Gaza.

Shaina Low, the group's communications advisor, told NPR that the NRC worked with diplomats and donors "to try and engage the Israeli authorities to productively find an alternative solution" to Israel's demands, which include vetting staffers, a key demand that was denied by agencies over concerns for staffer safety and complying with EU data protection laws.

"But we were not met with good faith from the Israeli authorities. We were not given any alternatives, and so this is where we are now," Low said.

"It falls in line with what we've seen over the last two-plus years of Israeli authorities continually obstructing the operations of humanitarian aid organisations - impartial, independent, neutral, principled humanitarian agencies," Low added.

Iran's prosecutor general said on Wednesday that economic protests that had gripped the country were legitimate, but any attempt to create insecurity would be met with a "decisive response".

"Peaceful livelihood protests are part of social and understandable realities," Mohammad Movahedi-Azad told state media.

"Any attempt to turn economic protests into a tool of insecurity, destruction of public property, or implementation of externally designed scenarios will inevitably be met with a legal, proportionate and decisive response."

The EU warned Wednesday that Israel's threat to suspend several aid groups in Gaza under new registration rules would block "life-saving" assistance from reaching the population.

"The EU has been clear: the NGO registration law can not be implemented in its current form," EU humanitarian chief Hadja Lahbib posted on X, after Israel said several groups would be barred from 1 January for failing to comply with rules concerning the listing of their Palestinian employees.

"IHL (international humanitarian law) leaves no room for doubt: aid must reach those in need," Lahbib wrote.

The foreign ministers of 10 nations on Tuesday expressed "serious concerns" about a "renewed deterioration of the humanitarian situation" in Gaza, saying the situation was "catastrophic".

"As winter draws in, civilians in Gaza are facing appalling conditions with heavy rainfall and temperatures dropping," the ministers of Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland said in a joint statement released by the UK's Foreign Office.

"1.3 million people still require urgent shelter support. More than half of health facilities are only partially functional and face shortages of essential medical equipment and supplies. The total collapse of sanitation infrastructure has left 740,000 people vulnerable to toxic flooding," the statement added.

The foreign ministers in their statement said they welcomed the progress that had been made to end the bloodshed in Gaza and secure the release of Israeli hostages.

"However we will not lose focus on the plight of civilians in Gaza," they said, calling on the government of Israel to take a string of "urgent and essential" steps.

The UN's agency for Palestine Refugees has accused Israel of continuing to "block UNRWA from directly bringing aid into the Gaza Strip," despite the harsh winter conditions of the enclave, adding "tents and tarpaulins are desperately needed." 

Severe storms, strong winds, and rain in #Gaza have damaged and destroyed make-shift tents.

The Israeli Authorities continue to block UNRWA from directly bringing aid into the Gaza Strip – including enough shelter supplies for hundreds of thousands of people.

Tents and… pic.twitter.com/zkMrGoZJ9s

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 31, 2025

Israel's Mossad spy agency issued a direct call urging Iranians to press on with protests, saying it was supporting them "on the ground" as demonstrations spread in capital Tehran and other Iranian cities.

"Go out into the streets together. The time has come. We are with you," Mossad wrote in a post on its Farsi-language X account, Israel's army radio reported on Wednesday.

"Not just from a distance or through words. We are also with you on the ground."

Protests that began on Sunday with Tehran shopkeepers rallying against Iran's worsening economy have spread to other cities, drawing in students as well.

The Iranian rial has dropped against the US dollar and other world currencies, forcing up import prices and hurting retail traders.