Live: Israel kills at least 58 Palestinians in 24 hours

Sweden will no longer fund the UN refugee agency for Palestinians (Unrwa) but instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Nordic country's aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, told Swedish broadcaster TV4 on Friday.

Sweden's decision to end funding for Unrwa was in response to Israel's ban on Unrwa's operations in the country, as it will make channelling aid to the Palestinians via the agency more difficult, Dousa said.

Sweden plans to increase its overall humanitarian assistance to Gaza next year, he added.

Israeli strikes on Gaza City have targeted two shelters housing displaced Palestinians, killing at least 15 people and injuring 30, Al Jazeera reported on Tuesday.

Lisa Grande, the Biden administration's Middle East aid envoy, reportedly demanded that Israel clarify its humanitarian policy in Gaza during a tense phone call with Ghassan Alian, head of the Israeli military body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs (Cogat), Israel's Channel 12 reported.

Grande insisted Israel publicly declare it is not following a policy of deliberately starving Palestinians in Gaza. She also called for the cancellation of evacuation orders for civilians, allowing them to return home, and for a detailed plan to protect civilian infrastructure.

Unnamed US officials said Alian was reportedly “stunned” by the demands in the heated conversation but the call remained constructive, Channel 12 reported.

Israeli settlers stormed the Bar Al-Walidain Mosque in the village of Marda, north of Salfit in the occupied West Bank, writing slogans on its walls and starting a fire, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Locals extinguished the fire before it could spread, Wafa said.

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

Yesterday, the Hind Rajab Foundation posted a picture of the soldier, Gal Ferenbook, and said that it had appealed to Sri Lankan authorities, the International Criminal Court, and Interpol, demanding his arrest over the killing of a civilian in Gaza.

The organization shared a video that it said was posted by Ferenbook on his Instagram account on 9 August, showing a deceased Palestinian civilian. Ferenbook is seen laughing in the video as another soldier calls him "the Terminator".

Channel 12 said Israeli authorities called the soldier and told him to leave Colombo before he was arrested.

Today, the #HindRajabFoundation has formally sent the ICC complaint against Gal Ferenbook to the governments of #SouthAfrica, #Ireland, and #Spain, urging them to issue arrest warrants and request Interpol Red Notices should he leave #SriLanka freely. Gal Ferenbook, a soldier… pic.twitter.com/j8WoArM4Mv

— The Hind Rajab Foundation (@HindRFoundation) December 18, 2024

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates from the Israeli war on Gaza, now in its 440th day:

• More than 50 people had been killed in Israeli raids since dawn on Thursday, Al Jazeera Arabic reported Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal saying. Basal condemned strikes on displaced civilians in schools being used as shelters.

• Ireland's Taoiseach, Simon Harris, urged the European Council during a meeting in Brussels to address what he described as double standards in the EU's stance on upholding international law in Ukraine compared to Gaza.

• Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, has said it is “an utter disgrace” that the UN’s 192 member states could not prevent Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

• EgyptAir resumed direct flights between Cairo and Beirut on Thursday "in light of the stability in Lebanon" after a three-month hiatus, it said in a statement.

• Nine Palestinian Americans sued the US government on Thursday, saying that it had failed to rescue them or members of their families who were trapped in Gaza where Israel's war has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis.

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 45,129 Palestinians have been killed and 107,338 injured in Israel’s war on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Thursday

• The deaths of 32 people were recorded in the last 24 hours

• Israeli forces have detained at least 14 Palestinians from various areas of the occupied West Bank since Wednesday evening, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported

• Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday accused Israel of committing "acts of genocide" in the Gaza Strip by damaging water infrastructure and cutting off supplies to civilians, calling on the international community to impose targeted sanctions

• Iran said the latest Israeli attacks in Yemen constitute “a gross violation of the principles and norms of international law and the UN charter”

• The Israeli Haaretz newspaper published a report quoting Israeli soldiers who described how they arbitrarily killed dozens of Palestinian civilians in the so-called Netzarim Corridor in Gaza, counting every Palestinian casualty as a terrorist, including children

• United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday that Israel's strikes on Syrian military infrastructure were "violations" of the country's sovereignty and called for them to cease

• Haaretz reports that Israel's army is considering supplying military equipment to Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces as part of efforts to bolster coordination

• The Israeli army has expressed satisfaction with a recent operation conducted by Palestinian Authority (PA) forces in the Jenin refugee camp, according to the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA). The operation, said to have been carried out under Israeli military oversight, involved approximately 300 armed PA personnel

• The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Thursday passed a resolution seeking an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Israel's legal obligations to guarantee the functioning of UN humanitarian agencies, particularly the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (Unrwa)

• Germany’s foreign ministry has expressed its opposition to any Israeli occupation of Gaza, stressing that Palestinian territories must not be diminished

• Several Spanish political parties, including coalition member Sumar and four others supporting the minority left-wing government, have urged Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to impose strict sanctions on Israel

Israel’s high court has issued an order compelling the far-right Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Commissioner of the Prison Service, and the Ministry of Justice to explain within one month why steps are not being taken to ensure that Palestinians held in Israeli prisons are not receiving adequate food to meet basic living standards.

The directive follows a petition highlighting the dire conditions faced by Palestinians, who reportedly suffer from severe malnutrition due to insufficient food supplies. During hearings, it was revealed that the prisoners lack access to even minimal sustenance, resulting in significant weight loss among the detainees.

While the court did not mandate that the food provided to security prisoners must match the quality or quantity given to criminal prisoners, it emphasised the obligation to provide basic living conditions in line with legal standards.

A group of Palestinian Americans, either trapped in Gaza or have relatives trapped there, has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration, accusing it of abandoning Americans of Palestinian origin in Gaza during the ongoing Israeli war on the enclave.

The lawsuit, filed by nine Palestinian Americans with support from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) and the law office of Maria Kari, states that the US government failed to implement standard efforts to evacuate Americans and their families from Gaza.

The plaintiffs had tried for months to use all non-legal means to either escape Gaza themselves or help their immediate family members escape.

According to Cair, each of the plaintiffs is eligible to be evacuated by the US, but they have been "summarily ignored by the State Department and other Biden administration officials".

Read more: Palestinian Americans trapped in Gaza sue the Biden administration

Several Spanish political parties, including coalition member Sumar and four others supporting the minority left-wing government, have urged Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to impose strict sanctions on Israel.

In a formal statement submitted to parliament, Sumar, Podemos, the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), the Basque EH Bildu, and the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG) called for immediate action against Israel’s actions in Palestine.

The parties demanded a “comprehensive military embargo” alongside political and economic sanctions targeting Israel. They also called on Sanchez to downgrade diplomatic ties with Israel and suspend all trade agreements until the occupation of Palestinian territories is brought to an end.

On the heels of a visit to Syria by UK officials and the European Union’s announcement of a return to a “fully operational” embassy in Damascus, Washington may now be sending its own delegation to meet the leadership of the Syrian opposition. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Bloomberg Surveillance programme on Thursday that the Biden administration is “looking at getting people on the ground in Syria” after receiving positive signs from Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the group that led the overthrow of the Assad government earlier this month. 

Blinken had previously confirmed that the US made “direct contact” with the rebels. 

The comments came on the same day the Pentagon disclosed it had secretly doubled the number of US troops in northeast Syria, increasing the force from approximately 900 to 2,000 soldiers. The deployment occurred well before the rebels began their swift takeover, although no specific date was provided.

Read more: US doubles troops in Syria, may soon send delegation to meet HTS

Amnesty International has urged European Union leaders to take decisive action against the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Ahead of an EU summit, Amnesty projected the message “End Gaza genocide” in 24 EU languages onto the European Commission’s headquarters in Brussels.

The organisation released a report earlier this month asserting that Israel’s military actions in Gaza meet the legal criteria for genocide under international law. The report criticised the scale of destruction and loss of civilian life in Gaza, accusing Israel of committing atrocities with impunity.

Amnesty has demanded that EU leaders impose an arms embargo on Israel, ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements, and prioritise accountability for Israel's alleged war crimes. Activists argue that the EU's continued inaction enables Israel’s military campaign and perpetuates a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

Hundreds of Palestinians, including children, have been indiscriminately shot dead by Israeli soldiers in a "kill zone" established in central Gaza, according to a new investigation.

Soldiers told Haaretz that arbitrarily defined boundaries around the Netzarim Corridor - a military occupation zone established by Israel in the middle of Gaza - were being used to kill Palestinians seemingly at random and without authorisation needed.

Those killed are posthumously branded "terrorists" even if they are children. A senior officer in Division 252 said it was more than a simple exclusion zone.

"The division commander designated this area as a 'kill zone'," he explained. "Anyone who enters is shot."

Another member of the division told Haaretz that the boundaries of the zone were largely arbitrary and extended "as far as a sniper can see".

Read more: Hundreds of Palestinians indiscriminately shot dead by Israeli soldiers in Gaza 'kill zone'

An Israeli air strike on the Sabra neighbourhood, south of Gaza City, has killed four Palestinians and injured several others, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

The strike targeted a residential home, further exacerbating the devastation amid an already dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Every year from October to December  Oscar contenders try to crack the US film market, hoping to secure a coveted Academy Award nomination. 

Millions of dollars are spent on PR campaigns as publicists scurry about, attempting to generate positive press coverage and court influential Oscar voters. Meanwhile across Los Angeles and New York, films big and small flood cinemas before the end of the year to secure the minimum number of screenings to qualify for awards eligibility.

But of the buzzed-about pics this year, one has been largely absent: The Bibi Files, the hair-raising documentary exposee about the corruption charges brought against Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister and recipient of an ICC arrest warrant. (He and his family have denied the allegations against them.)

Produced by Oscar- and Emmy-winning documentary director Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief) and directed by three-time Emmy-nominated film-maker Alexis Bloom (We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks), The Bibi Files enjoyed a thunderous bow at the Toronto Film Festival in September.

Read more: The Bibi Files: The truth Netanyahu doesn’t want you to see