Live: Israel kills at least 58 Palestinians in 24 hours

Israeli forces have shot and injured a 16-year-old Palestinian boy during a military raid of the Balata refugee camp east of Nablus, Wafa news agency is reporting, citing local and security sources.

According to the sources, Israeli forces accompanied by a bulldozer stormed Nablus through the Beit Furik military checkpoint before raiding the camp.

The 16-year-old was reportedly struck in the head with bullet shrapnel and was rushed to hospital for treatment.

An Israeli air strike killed three members of the Palestinian civil defence search-and-rescue team in central Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp on Sunday, according to Al Jazeera. 

Israeli forces killed Al Jazeera cameraman Ahmad al-Louh in central Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp on Sunday, the Qatar-based media network said. 

🔴 #عاجل | استشهاد الصحفي أحمد اللوح جراء قصف للاحتلال استهدف مخيم #النصيرات وسط قطاع #غزة pic.twitter.com/sDxdoAxLlf

— عربي بوست (@arabic_post) December 15, 2024

Displaced Palestinians from Beit Hanoun shared harrowing accounts of the brutal Israeli air strikes that led to deaths, destruction and widespread suffering in northern Gaza on Sunday, according to the Palestinian civil defence.

Speaking to the search-and-rescue team as they arrived in Gaza City, the families recounted the horrific scenes they witnessed as they fled their homes.

According to the survivors, who had sought refuge in the Khalil Awida school in Beit Hanoun, Israeli forces carried out intense bombardments on the school, leaving behind up to 15 charred bodies of civilians who had been caught in the flames.

The school had been sheltering approximately 1,500 displaced people, many of whom had been living in makeshift conditions.

The families also reported seeing decomposed bodies in nearby streets and alleys and confirmed that several homes near the school were heavily targeted by air strikes.

Among these homes was the residence of the Abd al-Daem family, where witnesses heard cries for help coming from the rubble, fearing that more people were trapped beneath the destroyed buildings.

"We left behind martyrs' bodies, burned beyond recognition. Some are still under the rubble, crying out for help," one displaced family member told the civil defence.

Israel will 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.

"It should be noted that in the past, Israel’s ambassador to Dublin was recalled following Ireland’s unilateral decision to recognise a 'Palestinian state.' Last week, Ireland announced its support for South Africa's legal action against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing Israel of 'genocide,'" the statement said.

Reporting by Reuters

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Sunday that Israeli forces have arrested 350 medical staff from the Gaza health sector since 7 October 2023, according to Arab48 news website. 

Three of the detained workers have died while in Israeli custody.

Israeli forces completely have destroyed the Abu Shbak Health Centre in Jabalia, northern Gaza, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Sunday.

The facility provided essential first aid services and mental healthcare.

Good morning Middle East Eye,

Here are the latest updates from the Israeli war on Gaza, now in its 436th day:

• Israeli forces raided a school-turned-shelter for displaced families in northern Gaza's Beit Hanoun on Sunday, killing at least 15 Palestinians as they fired at people in the school's vicinity, according to the official Palestinian Wafa news agency. The troops forced women and children to evacuate the school. 

• Elsewhere, an Israeli bombing in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia killed two people, Wafa reported. 

• According to Haaretz, on Saturday evening, US President-elect Donald Trump spoke on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The call comes amid a reported new US-led push to secure a ceasefire in Gaza. 

Good evening Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest developments from the Israeli war on Gaza:

• The death toll of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza has surged to 44,930, with another 106,624 injured, the enclave's health ministry said today. This figure includes 55 people killed and 170 injured in "four massacres" in the last 24 hours.

• Israeli strikes on Gaza killed at least 18 Palestinians on Saturday, including 10 people killed in an Israeli attack near the municipality building in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, where people had gathered to receive aid. 

• An Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people in western Gaza City killed seven Palestinians and injured around 20 others.

• An Israeli drone strike on a car in southern Lebanon marked a fresh violation of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon.

• Islamic Jihad has condemned the killing of a resistance fighter by security forces from the Palestinian Authority in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli authorities have issued demolition orders for a mosque in the Silwan neighbourhood of occupied Jerusalem, Wafa news agency is reporting, citing local sources.

According to the sources, the authorities issued the order for the demolition of al-Isra Mosque within 21 days, and imposed a fine of 40,000 shekels.

Additionally, Wafa reported that Israeli authorities forced a Palestinian resident, Youssef al-Tawil, to demolish his storage facility, which had been standing for 43 years.

Two Palestinians have been killed and others injured in an Israeli air strike targeting a group of civilians in Gaza City, Wafa news agency is reporting, citing medical sources.

According to the report, the attack struck the al-Nasr neighbourhood, west of Gaza City.

Wafa also reported that following a separate attack in the al-Mawasi "safe zone" near Rafah, rescue teams recovered the body of a woman who had been killed by Israeli fire.

An Israeli air strike targeting a tent in central Gaza's Deir el-Balah has killed four Palestinians, including a child, Wafa news agency is reporting.

In a separate attack, Israeli forces demolished several residential buildings in northern Gaza's Beit Lahia.

The death toll of Palestinians killed in Gaza has risen to 44,930 with another 106,624 injured, the enclave's health ministry said today.

It added in a statement that Israeli forces killed 55 people and injured 170 hours in "four massacres" in the last 24 hours.

Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli drone strike in the south had killed one person on Saturday.

"An Israeli enemy drone strike… killed one person," in Marjayoun district, the health ministry said in a statement.

The official National News Agency reported that a car had been targeted.