US, Qatar, Turkey, Egypt to hold talks on Gaza in Miami on Friday: official

The live blog has ended and will be back tomorrow at 9am GMT. You can read more of The New Arab's coverage of Israel's war on Gaza here.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is set to travel to the US, according to German press agency DPA, adding that there could be a three-way meeting with Netanyahu, although neither the US or Egypt have cconfirmed the report.

Israeli forces shot a child during raids in the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa, which added that the child was transferred to hospital.

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would likely visit him in Florida during the Christmas holidays, as he pushes for progress on the next phase of Gaza peace talks.

"Yeah, he'll probably come to see me in Florida," Trump, who leaves for his Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday, told reporters. "He would like to see me. We haven't set it up formally, but he'd like to see me."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the US on Thursday for sanctioning two more International Criminal Court (ICC) judges after they rejected a challenge by Israel seeking to end a war crimes probe in Gaza.

"Israel appreciates the decisive leadership and strong action of Secretary of State (Marco Rubio) and the determination of the United States under the leadership of President (Donald Trump) to confront the scourge of lawfare, which poses a serious threat to both our nations," Netanyahu wrote on X.

Rubio explicitly linked the new sanctions to an ICC ruling on Monday in which the judges sided with the majority and upheld arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant.

A Palestinian child was killed in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Wednesday by Israeli unexploded ordinance in a house, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa, which added that several others were also wounded in the explosion.

The agency added that several other Palestinians were wounded in a similar incident in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City.

The Netherlands condemns U.S. sanctions against two judges at the International Criminal Court, Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel said on Thursday.

"International courts and tribunals must be able to carry out their mandates unhindered," Van Weel also said on social media platform X, adding The Netherlands, where the ICC is based, continues to support the court and its staff.

Relatives and supporters of pro-Palestinian activists weeks into Britain's biggest prison hunger strike in decades warned Thursday some are at "imminent risk" of dying, as they demanded a government meeting.

Some of the eight Palestine Action inmates - in various prisons for months awaiting trial - have gone without food for up to 47 days, protesting their treatment and over other demands.

James Smith, an emergency physician in the NHS, has been in contact with some of the detainees and their relatives.

Appearing at the press conference, he warned of "the imminent risk to the health and the risk of death for all of the hunger strikers at this stage".

"On this trajectory, put simply, the hunger strikers are dying."

Israeli settlers crossed into the Gaza border on Thursday in an attempt to enter the Strip and raise the Israeli flag, marking the second such incident this month.

The Israeli army said a number of Israeli settlers crossed into Gaza, but troops moved quickly to return them to Israeli territory.

Later, dozens more tried to breach the border fence at another location, with several entering the security buffer zone before being stopped by army and police forces.

The military warned that any entry into the combat zone is prohibited and puts civilians at risk, as well as complicating its operations in the area.

Israeli media reported that the groups involved were settlers who answered calls by nationalist movements to enter Gaza and raise the Israeli flag, opposing the ongoing ceasefire and settlement restrictions.

The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on 29 vessels and their management firms, the Treasury Department said, as Washington continues targeting Tehran's "shadow fleet" it says exports Iranian petroleum and petroleum products.

The targeted vessels and companies have transported hundreds of millions of dollars of the products through deceptive shipping practices, Treasury said.

Thursday's action also targets Egyptian businessman Hatem Elsaid Farid Ibrahim Sakr, whose companies are associated with seven of the vessels cited, as well as multiple shipping companies.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that the U.S. was sanctioning two judges of the International Criminal Court for targeting Israel.

"Today, I am designating two International Criminal Court (ICC) judges, Gocha Lordkipanidze of Georgia and Erdenebalsuren Damdin of Mongolia, pursuant to Executive Order 14203," Rubio said in a statement, referring to the order President Donald Trump signed in February sanctioning the ICC.

"These individuals have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel's consent," he said.

The United States and Israel are not members of the ICC.

Families, lawyers and supporters of the detained pro-Palestinian activists who are on hunger strike in Britain issued an urgent plea to the government on Thursday, warning that their loved ones face life-threatening danger.

Eight people have joined the hunger strike, some from its start in early November, and lawyers said the health of the remaining six, aged 20-31, was deteriorating and that death was likely unless the government intervenes. One of the six is on partial hunger strike due to diabetes-related health concerns.

Qesser Zuhrah was taken to hospital on Wednesday after 46 days without food, according to campaign group Defend Our Juries. "His heart is giving in, and his pulse is slowing down... so what are we waiting for?," said Shahmina Alam, whose brother, 28-year-old Kamran Ahmed, has been on hunger strike for 39 days. "We call on the government... to meet with us urgently because the lives of the hunger strikers are in their hands."

Four of the activists were jailed over alleged involvement in a break-in at an Israeli-linked defence firm last year, while another four were accused of breaching a military air base in central England and damaging two aircraft in protest against Britain's support for Israel. All have been charged with offences allegedly carried out on behalf of Palestine Action, before the group was banned and designated a terrorist organisation.

The political parties holding a meeting in Paris on Thursday all agreed to have a conference in February aimed at supporting the Lebanese armed forces, said a French foreign ministry spokesperson.

The spokesperson added that Thursday's talks in Paris were focused on how to show progress regarding the disarming of Hezbollah.

French, Saudi Arabian and American officials were holding talks with the head of the Lebanese army on Thursday in Paris aimed at finalising a roadmap to enable a mechanism for the disarmament of the Hezbollah group.

One Palestinian was killed in gunfire by Israeli forces east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, reported Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

The head of the U.N. refugee agency in Lebanon said Thursday that the move by the United States to lift sweeping sanctions on Syria could encourage more refugees to return to their country.

An estimated 400,000 Syrian refugees have returned from Lebanon since the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December 2024 following a nearly 14-year civil war, UNHCR Lebanon Representative Karolina Lindholm Billing said, with around 1 million remaining in the country. Of those, about 636,000 are officially registered with the refugee agency.

The aid provided so far by international organizations to help Syrians begin to rebuild has been on a "relatively small scale compared to the immense needs," Billing said, but the lifting of U.S. sanctions could "make a big difference."

U.S. and partner forces in Syria have conducted nearly 80 operations since July to eliminate terrorist operatives, including ISIS remnants, that posed a direct threat to the United States and interests abroad, CENTCOM said Wednesday, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

"ISIS has inspired at least 11 plots or attacks against targets in the United States over the past year. In response, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) operations have resulted in 119 terrorists detained and 14 killed over the last six months, disrupting efforts for ISIS to reconstitute and inspire terror attacks globally," it said.

https://t.co/C8zuLm07d4

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 17, 2025

The continued children deaths in Gaza due to the severe cold constitute a clear crime being committed by the Israeli occupation through its ongoing siege of the Strip and its prevention of reconstruction efforts, Hamas said Thursday.

Another baby died in Khan Younis in the enclave's south due to low temperatures.

In a statement, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem called for serious and genuine action by the international community to assist Gaza before the catastrophe worsens and mass deaths occur due to cold, and a lack of shelter and heating materials.

He also urged the US administration and President Donald Trump to pressure Israel to adhere to the ceasefire obligations, allow the entry of real aid and shelter, and open border crossings.

Gaza's health ministry announced Thursday morning that one fatality and 13 injured people had arrived at hospitals in the Strip over the past 24 hours.

It said that since the ceasefire on 11 October, the total number of people killed in Israeli violations has reached 395, with 1,088 injuries, while 634 bodies from the war have been recovered.

This brings the overall death toll from the war which began in October 2023 to 70,669, with another 171,165 injured, the ministry added.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Thursday that Turkey did not want to resort to military action again against Syria's Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), but warned that the patience of the actors involved was running out over what he described as delays in implementing an integration deal.

"We just hope that things go through dialogue, negotiations and peacefully. We don't want to see any need to resorting to military means again. But SDF should understand the patience of the relevant actors are running out," Fidan told an interview with TRT World.

"They should come to a place where their commitment to the agreement of 10th of March should be honoured. Everybody is expecting from them to honour that agreement without any delay and without any twisting because we don't want to see a deviation from this agreement," he added.

Israeli forces carried out new ground incursions into southwest Syria’s Quneitra province on Thursday, using tanks and military bulldozers.

The operation included raids in the villages of al-Hiran and Talat al-Dariyah, where land was bulldozed.

Israeli troops reportedly searched homes and detained a young man during the incursions. Local residents said Israeli forces fired shots into the air.

The developments come amid repeated Israeli military activity and shelling in the Quneitra area.

The Israeli military launched a series of airstrikes and artillery shelling on the Gaza Strip Thursday morning, targeting areas it continues to occupy.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that Israeli artillery shelled several areas in the Shujaiyya neighborhood in eastern Gaza City.

Warplanes also carried out airstrikes on Khan Younis and Rafah in the southern part of the Strip, as plumes of smoke were seen rising from the targeted areas.

Israeli military vehicles also opened machine gun fire toward eastern areas of Gaza City and Rafah.

The US Congress on Wednesday permanently ended sanctions imposed on Syria under ousted leader Bashar al-Assad, paving the way for the return of investment to the war-ravaged nation.

President Donald Trump had already twice suspended the implementation of sanctions in response to pleas from Saudi Arabia and Turkey, allies of the new government headed by former jihadist Ahmed al-Sharaa.

But Sharaa had sought a permanent end to the sanctions, fearing that so long as the measures remained on the books they would deter businesses wary of legal risks in the world's largest economy.

The Senate passed the repeal of the 2019 Caesar Act as part of a sweeping annual defense package. The Senate voted 77 to 20 in favor of the legislation, which was already approved by the House of Representatives and is expected to be signed by Trump.

The repeal, broadly backed by lawmakers of both parties, "is a decisive step toward giving the Syrian people a real chance to rebuild after decades of unimaginable suffering," said Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Israel launched several strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon on Thursday, Lebanese state media reported, as the Israeli military claimed it targeted Hezbollah infrastructure including a military compound.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported several strikes on mountainous areas in the south and east.

The Israeli military said it targeted "terror infrastructure sites in multiple areas across Lebanon" including "a military compound used by Hezbollah to conduct training and courses" for the Iran-backed group's members.

6 غارات على جبل #الجبور وخراج بلدة #القطراني جنوب #لبنان.
تصوير: لطف الله ضاهر pic.twitter.com/1hHCeswiEq

— Al Modon - المدن (@almodononline) December 18, 2025