Live Blog Update| Israel's genocide in Gaza
This is an entry from: Gaza Live: Israeli air strike takes out 25 members of same family

Evening recap

5 December 2024 23:53 GMT

Good evening Middle East Eye readers. On Thursday, the international community reacted to the landmark report by human rights group Amnesty International, which labelled Israel's actions in Gaza as genocide.

The report, the first of its kind from a major western rights group, was rebuked by the US, with the State Department calling it unfounded. Israel dismissed the report as “entirely false”.

But the label has already been used by numerous countries, particularly in the developing world.

Recently, at the Gulf Cooperation Council summit, the leaders of the summit referred to Israel's war in Gaza as a genocide.

Meanwhile, the ongoing rebel advances in Syria against President Bashar al-Assad's forces are having major consequences for the geopolitics of the Middle East, including for the Israeli war on Gaza.

Hezbollah's chief Naim Qassem said in an address on Thursday that the movement stands with Syria's Assad. He said the opposition's recent military operations that took Aleppo and now Hama are the workings of Israel and the US.

Israel said it was monitoring the situation. Hamas, which previously supported the Syrian revolution against Assad before restoring ties with the Syrian leader in 2022, has yet to make a statement.

Here's what else you need to know about Thursday's events in the Israeli war on Gaza:

  • At least five people were wounded in an Israeli strike on the town of Aitaroun, located in southern Lebanon, despite Israel agreeing to the ceasefire with Hezbollah last month.

  • Hamas' armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said they were able to target a group of 50 Israeli soldiers using a "television" bomb in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood in north Gaza.

  • Two Palestinian sisters, Lian Nasser and Lian Kayed, were released after spending eight months in Israeli administrative detention.

  • Palestinian prisoner Alaa Marwan Hamza al-Mahlawi died in Israeli detention, after being in Israeli prison since 21 December 2023.

  • Hamas said it has agreed to the proposal submitted by Egypt regarding the formation of the Community Support Committee to manage Gaza through inclusive national mechanisms.

  • Gaza’s civil defence has declared that 13 out of 22 firefighting and rescue vehicles stopped working south of the enclave due to fuel shortage.

  • The health ministry in Gaza said that the death toll there has now reached at least 44,580 Palestinians.