Live: Israel kills at least 58 Palestinians in 24 hours

The Israeli military is using "booby-trapped robots" around Kamal Adwan Hospital in the besieged northern Gaza as it demands a complete evacuation of the facility, its director has said in a social media post.

#عاجل
منذ دقائق كتب الدكتور حسام أبو صفية عبر حسابه على الإنستقرام: “الآن، جيش الاحتلال يقوم بتفجير روبوتات مفخخة في محيط المستشفى، ويطالب بإخلاء فوري للمستشفى بشكل كامل.” pic.twitter.com/zK3NIFxfT5

— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) December 21, 2024

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya has been pleading for international help as the hospital comes under direct shelling from Israeli forces, sharing the following update with reporters:

"A short while ago, Kamal Adwan Hospital was targeted without any prior warning using various types of weapons. We are now facing direct bombing of the intensive care unit again. The nursery, maternity, and all departments of the hospital are being targeted by the occupation forces with all types of weapons, including sniper fire, tank shells, and quadcopters.

This is a fierce attack without any warning, and we do not understand why the bombing is occurring at this particular time, especially since we have been informed of the evacuation of the hospital within the coming hours, which would be a disaster. We are currently the only hospital providing remaining humanitarian services in northern Gaza.

Evacuating the hospital within hours means relocating 66 patients, along with all hospital equipment and medical personnel, which could have severe negative consequences for the hospitalized patients.

We have urgently called on the world to intervene and protect the healthcare system, and we continue to plead for immediate action to safeguard it from this ongoing attack.

For more than an hour now, shells are raining down on us from every corner, mile, and direction.

We do not know why the bombing is happening or why we are being targeted in this manner. We hold the world responsible for what is occurring and for our repeated appeals. We have been urging the world to protect this healthcare system for over 70 days, but unfortunately, there seems to be no response.

At this moment, we do not know where we can transfer our patients, but it is likely that the Indonesian Hospital could serve as an alternative. However, transporting patients and providing the necessary resources is not easy. The Indonesian Hospital has non-operational generators, and there is also an oxygen station that is not functioning. It will take a long amount of time to restore services at the Indonesian Hospital.

It is clear that the occupation forces are using the pretext that this is a combat zone to justify attacks on the hospital.

Since the invasion of the Jabalia camp, we have been providing services quietly and offering humanitarian care. This ongoing aggression will negatively impact the healthcare services for those remaining in northern Gaza, as well as the patients currently hospitalized in our facility."

The Kamal Adwan Hospital in the besieged northern Gaza has come under heavy Israeli shelling on Saturday. The Israeli army had previously threatened to blow up the hospital. 

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the hospital's director, shared with reporters the following statement: 

"There is currently intense and heavy bombing of the hospital, occurring in an unprecedented manner and without any prior warning to the care and nursery department. The bombing is being conducted with explosives and tank fire, directly targeting us while we are present inside the hospital departments. We hold the world accountable for what is happening to us and demand that they take responsibility for our suffering. It is unacceptable for the world to remain silent and unable to protect the healthcare system. We are being attacked in plain sight, with the entire world watching, yet no one intervenes in the face of this barbarity."

The Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing, released a video montage Saturday showing all three of its now deceased senior leaders together, in the first known footage of its kind, given the men resided in three different countries. 

The nearly 4-minute clip shows Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza who was killed by Israel in a firefight; Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas chief negotiator who resided in Qatar but was assassinated while visiting Iran; and Saleh Al-Arouri, the Beirut-based deputy to Haniyeh who was assassinated in his Lebanon office.

All three were killed by Israel this year.

The Al-Qassam Brigades broadcast images for the first time showing Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, and Saleh Al-Arouri together.

Source:
Aljazeera pic.twitter.com/sUEfjNwiZH

— Ahmad Algohbary (@AhmadAlgohbary) December 21, 2024

The al-Jadeed broadcaster in Lebanon is reporting that an Israeli bulldozer in Deir Mimas, south of Beirut, ploughed through cars and buildings on Saturday. 

الوكالة الوطنية: جرافة إسرائيلية صدمت 3 سيارات في بلدة ديرميماس وتوغل عناصرها بين بعض المنازل في الحي الشرقي

— Al Jadeed News (@ALJADEEDNEWS) December 21, 2024

This follows an earlier report that Israelis fired tank shells after the bombing of homes in Hanine, in Lebanon's southeast.

الوكالة الوطنية: استهداف إسرائيلي لأطراف بلدة حانين بـ 5 قذائف مدفعية تزامنا مع عمليات تفجير لبعض المنازل في المنطقة

— Al Jadeed News (@ALJADEEDNEWS) December 21, 2024

Israel had agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon almost one month ago.

New video shared by the Wafa news agency shows three Israeli soldiers in the town of Beita, north of the occupied West Bank, grabbing what appears to be a young man by the back of the neck as they apprehend him. 

Israeli occupation soldiers abuse and detain a Palestinian young man in the town of Beita, north of the occupied West Bank. pic.twitter.com/y7THNfYNyi

— WAFA News Agency - English (@WAFANewsEnglish) December 21, 2024

A US judge has ruled in favour of WhatsApp in a lawsuit accusing Israel's NSO Group of exploiting a bug in the messaging app to install spy software allowing unauthorised surveillance.

US District Judge Phyllis Hamilton in Oakland, California, found NSO liable for hacking and breach of contract.

The case will now proceed to a trial only on the issue of damages, Hamilton said. 

Will Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp, said: "We spent five years presenting our case because we firmly believe that spyware companies could not hide behind immunity or avoid accountability for their unlawful actions.

"Surveillance companies should be on notice that illegal spying will not be tolerated."

WhatsApp in 2019 sued NSO, accusing it of accessing WhatsApp servers without permission to install the Pegasus software on victims' mobile devices.

The lawsuit alleged the intrusion allowed the surveillance of 1,400 people, including journalists, human rights activists and dissidents.

NSO had argued that Pegasus helps law enforcement and intelligence agencies fight crime and protect national security and that its technology is intended to help catch terrorists, paedophiles and hardened criminals.

Reporting by Reuters 

Pope Francis has condemned an Israeli air strike in Gaza which killed seven children from the same family in the Jabalia refugee camp.

In his annual Christmas message, Pope Francis said: "Yesterday, children were bombed. This is barbarity, it is not a war. I wanted to say this because it touches the heart."

Last month, the pope raised the question of whether Israel's war on Gaza could be considered a genocide. He called for a "careful study" to assess if it meets the technical definition of genocide.

Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, claimed that Houthi forces were responsible for a missile attack in central Israel, after the Israeli military acknowledged failing to intercept a projectile that hit Tel Aviv. pic.twitter.com/FdbUyQx6ss

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) December 21, 2024

Israeli forces detained at least 25 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank overnight, according to the Palestinian Prisoner's Society.

Several of the detentions were in the village of Burqa in Nablus, while others were in Jenin, Bethlehem, Tulkarm and Jerusalem.

Since October last year, over 12,100 Palestinians have been detained from the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.

Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 45,227 Palestinians since 7 October last year.

At least 107,573 others have been wounded during that time, the Palestinian health ministry said on Saturday.

A Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli forces forces in a village east of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, on Saturday.

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, the man was shot in the thigh by Israeli soldiers and later succumbed to his wounds in hospital. 

A Palestinian child was killed by an exploding landmine left behind by Israel's army in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem. 

The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported the death of seven-year-old Muhammad al-Rashaydeh on Saturday, after a landmine left behind by Israel detonated in the al-Rashaydeh area east of Bethlehem. 

An Israeli strike west of Gaza City killed three civilians on Saturday morning, according to the Wafa news agency.

It reported that Israeli fighter jets targeted Palestinians on al-Bahr Street in the al-Shati refugee camp in central Gaza, killing three people and wounding several others.

Israel's war on Gaza has killed 45,206 Palestinians, the majority women and children, and wounded 107,512 others.

Israel's military said it failed to intercept a missile from Yemen on Saturday that fell in the Tel Aviv area.

At least 14 people received minor injuries, according to Israeli ambulance services. 

A spokesperson for the Houthis said they had hit a "military target" with a ballistic missile.

Paramedics treated 14 people with minor shrapnel injuries and some were taken to hospital, the ambulance service said.

The Israeli police said it received reports of a missile strike in the Tel Aviv area.

The Houthis have fired drones and missiles towards Israel for over a year, in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Earlier this week, Israel launched strikes against ports and energy infrastructure in Yemen and threatened more attacks.

Good evening Middle East Eye readers,

Our live coverage from Gaza will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are some of the day's key developments:

• At least 45,206 Palestinians have been killed and 107,512 injured in Israel’s war on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement

• It added that 77 people were killed and 174 injured in the past 24 hours of Israeli attacks

• The Civil Defence in Gaza has reported that 12 Palestinians, the majority of them children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a home in Jabalia al-Nazla, in the northern Gaza Strip

• The Palestinian Football Association has reported that at least 644 athletes, including nearly 400 football players have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since October 2023

• Israeli air strikes on Friday claimed the lives of at least 25 Palestinians in various areas of Gaza, according to medical sources cited by Reuters

• An Israeli soldier visiting Sri Lanka had to flee the country after a pro-Palestinian organisation identified him, Channel 12 reported

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly planning to skip next month’s events in Poland marking the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation, fearing potential arrest, Polish news outlet Rzeczpospolita reported

• Saudi Arabia expressed its support for the United Nations' decision to adopt a resolution calling for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Israel’s responsibility to ensure humanitarian aid reaches the occupied Palestinian territories through UN agencies

• Germany has described a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on Israel committing "acts of genocide" in Gaza as "shocking" and has urged Israel to address the grave allegations

• Unicef has condemned the dire conditions faced by children in Gaza, describing them as "cold, sick and traumatised", with 96 percent of women and children unable to meet basic nutritional needs