Live: Israel kills at least 58 Palestinians in 24 hours

Khaled Nabhan, whose three-year-old granddaughter Reem was killed by Israel last year, was killed on Monday in an Israeli strike on the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.

A video from last year showing Nabhan bidding farewell to his granddaughter, calling her the "soul of my soul" as he hugged her lifeless body, had garnered international attention on social media. 

Sheikh Khaled Nabhan, who once mourned his granddaughter Reem, killed by Israel on the first month of the aggression on Gaza, calling her "the soul of the souls," was killed this morning in an artillery strike in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/yCXz2GbyPs

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) December 16, 2024

The Israeli military has warned residents of 73 villages in southern Lebanon against returning home, stating it would put their lives at risk.

Avichay Adraee, the military’s Arabic language spokesperson, posted a map on X, urging Lebanese citizens to stay north of the “line of villages” until further instructions are issued.

Israeli occupation bulldozers on Monday demolished six houses in the town of Anata, northeast of Jerusalem, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The report added that the six houses were located in a Bedouin community, which includes eight houses belonging to families who had lived there for over 10 years.

The Iranian foreign ministry has described repeated attacks on shelters and tents housing displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as "barbaric" and called for an end to "genocide" in a statement on Monday.

Spokesman Esmail Baghaei condemned the continued inaction from international organisations and the UN Security Council against the “persisting genocide” in Gaza due to the “shameless” US support of Israel.

Baghaei also called for Israeli leaders to be tried for punishment, according to the ministry.

Gaza is facing an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe with over 45,000 people killed and an additional 111,000 people injured, the UN said in its monthly report on Palestine.

Nearly 1.9 million were displaced multiple times, amid relentless bombardment, while over 70 per cent of Gaza’s infrastructure – from health services to water and sanitation – has been destroyed, the report said.

An unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe continues to unfold in Gaza as hostilities rage on.

Women & girls are facing severe challenges, including 50,000 pregnant women who have been left without the essentials to survive.

See how @UNFPA is responding: https://t.co/mMI1EFlW9a pic.twitter.com/TNg1x68IJj

— United Nations (@UN) December 16, 2024

Ireland's Prime Minister Simon Harris said he "utterly rejects" the assertion that Ireland is anti-Israel, as he reacted to Israel's decision to shut down the embassy in the Republic of Ireland on Sunday. 

"Ireland is pro-peace, pro-human rights and pro-international law,” Harris said on X.

"Ireland wants a two state solution and for Israel and Palestine to live in peace and security. Ireland will always speak up for human rights and international law. Nothing will distract from that." 

This is a deeply regrettable decision from the Netanyahu government. I utterly reject the assertion that Ireland is anti-Israel. Ireland is pro-peace, pro-human rights and pro-International law. https://t.co/rDga5GpT3u

— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) December 15, 2024

Good morning Middle East Eye,

Here are the latest updates from the Israeli war on Gaza, now in its 437th day:

• An Israeli Navy missile boat cruising in the Mediterranean Sea has intercepted a drone launched from Yemen toward Israel, a statement by the Israeli military said. According to the statement, the drone was taken down before entering Israeli territory.

• Unrwa announced suspending its services in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank for another day as violent clashes continued between Palestinian Authority forces and the Jenin Brigades.

• Israeli air strikes on Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz School in Khan Younis, a UN-run school in Gaza, killed at least 20 Palestinians, Al Jazeera reported.

• The death toll from Israel’s attack on Khalil Oweida School in Beit Hanoon on Sunday has reached 43.

Good evening Middle East Eye readers.

Gaza has suffered another bloody day, with three deadly Israeli attacks on shelters in Khan Younis and Beit Hanoun, and a civil defence centre in Nuseirat refugee camp killing around 40 people.

• An Israeli strike targeting a school-turned-shelter near the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis killed at least 20 people, Wafa news agency is reporting, citing local sources.

• Israeli forces raided the Khalil Awida school in Beit Hanoun firing live ammunition and killing at least 15 people, Wafa is reporting.

• An Israeli attack on a civil defence centre in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp killed three members of the civil defence search and rescue team and Al Jazeera cameraman Ahmad al-Louh. Al Jazeera issued a statement condemning the attack as "targeted".

• Gaza's death toll now approaches 45,000.

• The Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Sunday that Israeli forces have completely destroyed the Abu Shbak Health Centre in Jabalia, northern Gaza. The facility provided essential first aid services and mental healthcare.

• Israel is to close its embassy in Dublin in light of "the extreme anti-Israel policies of the Irish government", Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a statement on Sunday.

Gaza's civil defence agency has said at least 40 people have been killed by Israeli forces across Gaza on Sunday.

The toll includes several children, an Al Jazeera cameraman and three civil defence crew members.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said that Ahmed al-Louh was killed in a strike targeting the civil defence centre at Nuseirat refugee camp, also killing three members of the rescue agency.

The Israeli military confirmed in a statement that it killed Louh, saying without presenting evidence that he was an Islamic Jihad member.

We reported earlier that at least 15 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack on a school-turned-shelter in Khan Younis.

Wafa news agency is reporting, citing local sources, that at least 20 people, including children, were killed in the strike targeting the Unrwa-run school near the Nasser Medical Complex.

An Israeli strike targeting a school-turned shelter for displaced people in southern Gaza's Khan Younis has killed at least 15 Palestinians and injured others, medics are reporting.

Al Jazeera has issued a statement condemning the Israeli "targeted killing" of one of its journalists in an attack on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

"Al Jazeera Media Network condemns in the strongest terms the killing of its cameraman, Ahmad Baker Al-Louh, 39, by the Israeli occupation forces. He was brutally killed in an air strike that targeted a Civil Defence post in the market area of Al-Nuseirat Camp, central Gaza Strip," the network said in a statement.

Reporting by AFP

Israeli forces have killed at least 22 Palestinians, including three children, in attacks across Gaza on Sunday, the enclave's civil defence agency said.

The toll includes Al Jazeera cameraman Ahmad al-Louh and three civil defence workers who were killed in an attack on central Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp.

Civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal confirmed that Louh had been killed in the strike that "targeted the Civil Defence site" in the camp.

The Israeli army told AFP that it is "looking into the reports".

According to Bassal, the rescuers had been working through the night to recover the bodies of 18 people.

In a separate attack, four people were killed in an air strike targeting a house in central Gaza City. Meanwhile, another four were killed and eight injured in an Israeli missile attack on a tent sheltering displaced people in Deir al-Balah.

Reporting by AFP

An Israeli air strike east of Khan Younis on Sunday evening has killed at least four Palestinians, Wafa news agency is reporting.

According to the report, Israeli fighter jets raided the village of Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.