Live: Arab and Muslim countries urge Israel to allow 'permanent' shelter into Gaza as weather worsens

Our live blog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are the day's key developments:

• Israel has carried at least 969 ceasefire violations since October 2025 and killed at least 418 Palestinians.

• Only 19,764 aid trucks entered Gaza out of 48,000 required, the result has been ongoing shortages of food, medicine, water and fuel - worsening an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis.

• Israeli occupation forces carried out separate raids in the occupied West Bank on Sunday evening, pushing into communities near Ramallah and Jenin, residents and security sources said.

• Jewish settlers attacked the Bedouin community of Khilat al-Sidra, near the town of Mikhmas northeast of occupied Jerusalem, on Sunday evening, vandalising residents’ property, Palestinian officials said.

• A Palestinian man was wounded on Sunday evening after an Israeli military vehicle rammed his car in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm, local sources told Wafa.

• Israeli settlers cut down around 40 olive trees overnight in occupied East Jerusalem, according to Wafa news agency.

• Israeli occupation forces detained five Syrian youths from Daraa governorate on Sunday as they searched for wild mushrooms on farmland near the town of Kodna in the southern countryside of Quneitra, Syrian state media reported.

• Requests to relocate abroad by Israelis working at multinational companies operating in Israel rose in the past year in reaction to the war on Gaza, a report showed on Sunday.

A Palestinian man was wounded on Sunday evening after an Israeli military vehicle rammed his car in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm, local sources told Wafa.

The sources said an Israeli army vehicle struck the car of Fadi Marouh as he drove near Al-Quds Open University, leaving him injured and causing heavy damage to his vehicle.

An ambulance from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society transferred Marouh to Martyr Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital for treatment, witnesses said.

After the collision, Israeli forces arrived at the scene and carried out search operations in the area, according to local accounts.

Residents say Israeli military vehicles move through Tulkarm around the clock, frequently speeding through main roads, including routes leading to the Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps. Locals say the vehicles often drive against traffic, putting civilians at serious risk.

The incident comes as Israeli forces continue their assault on Tulkarm and its two refugee camps for the 336th consecutive day, amid intensified raids, restrictions and military presence across the city.

Israeli occupation forces detained five Syrian youths from Daraa governorate on Sunday as they searched for wild mushrooms on farmland near the town of Kodna in the southern countryside of Quneitra, Syrian state media reported.

According to the Syrian Arab News Agency (Sana), Israeli forces seized the youths and transferred them to the Tel al-Ahmar military base west of the area. The agency said no information was available about their condition or legal status.

The arrests came amid a renewed Israeli military presence in the occupied Golan region. A day earlier, Israeli forces pushed into the village of Taranga and advanced towards the outskirts of Jabatha al-Khashab in northern Quneitra, residents said.

The latest incident adds to growing reports of Israeli incursions and detentions in southern Syria, as Israeli forces continue to operate beyond the ceasefire lines in the area.

Jewish settlers attacked the Bedouin community of Khilat al-Sidra, near the town of Mikhmas northeast of occupied Jerusalem, on Sunday evening, vandalising residents’ property, Palestinian officials said.

The Jerusalem Governorate said around 15 settlers raided the community and stole solar-powered lighting equipment. It said the same community had come under a similar attack the previous night, when settlers threw stones at homes.

The governorate said Khilat al-Sidra is encircled by six illegal settlement outposts, from which groups of settlers repeatedly launch attacks in an effort to intimidate residents and force them off their land.

“These attacks are part of a systematic policy aimed at emptying Bedouin communities around Jerusalem of their inhabitants,” the governorate said, calling for urgent protection for the residents.

The assault comes amid a surge in settler violence across the occupied West Bank. According to the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, Israeli forces and settlers carried out 2,144 attacks in November alone.

The commission said the Israeli army was responsible for 1,523 of those attacks, while settlers carried out 621. The highest number of incidents was recorded in Ramallah and al-Bireh, with 360 attacks, followed by Hebron with 348, Bethlehem with 342 and Nablus with 334.

Rights groups say settler violence, often carried out under the protection of Israeli forces, has intensified alongside Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza, further entrenching the displacement of Palestinian communities across the West Bank.

Israeli occupation forces carried out separate raids in the occupied West Bank on Sunday evening, pushing into communities near Ramallah and Jenin, residents and security sources said.

In the Ramallah district, Israeli troops stormed the village of Aboud, northwest of the city, and deployed across several neighbourhoods, according to security sources cited by Wafa news agency.

Around the same time, Israeli forces raided the town of Ya’amun, west of Jenin, local sources said. Multiple military vehicles entered the town, where soldiers restricted the movement of residents and disrupted daily life.

No arrests were reported during the raid in Ya’amun, witnesses said.

The incursions form part of Israel’s routine military operations across the occupied West Bank, where raids, roadblocks and night-time incursions have intensified amid the ongoing assault on Gaza.

Hundreds of people gathered in central Stockholm over the weekend to condemn Israel’s continued violations of the ceasefire in Gaza, as anger over the assault on the enclave spilled onto the streets of the Swedish capital.

Demonstrators assembled at Odenplan Square after several civil society groups called for a public protest against Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza and the deepening humanitarian catastrophe.

Protesters waved Palestinian flags and held placards condemning the killing of children and the bombardment of schools and hospitals. Many also highlighted the growing famine in Gaza, calling for immediate humanitarian access and full compliance with the ceasefire.

Chants and banners accused Israel of carrying out genocide in Gaza, with demonstrators urging governments to stop arms sales to Israel and take concrete action to end the assault.

The rally added to a growing wave of protests across Europe, as public pressure mounts over Israel’s brutal war on Gaza and the failure of international actors to enforce ceasefire commitments.

Requests to relocate abroad by Israelis working at multinational companies operating in Israel rose in the past year in reaction to the war on Gaza, a report showed on Sunday.

The Israel Advanced Technology Industries Association (IATI) found that 53 percent of companies reported an increase in relocation requests from Israeli employees, noting this was "a trend that may, over time, harm the local innovation engine and Israel's technological leadership."

The tech sector accounts for about 20 percent of Israel's GDP, 15 percent of its jobs and more than half of its exports. The hundreds of multinationals in Israel include Microsoft, Intel, Nvidia, Amazon, Meta and Apple.

In its annual report, IATI also said some multinational companies are examining the transfer of investments and activities to other countries.

"In some cases, companies that faced disruptions in supply chains found alternatives outside Israel during the war, and when these proved efficient, there is a risk that activity will not fully return," said the report.

At the same time, it added, there has been an increase in demand for relocation among senior executives and families, with more employees applying for positions outside Israel.

Still, the report noted that multinationals view the Israeli tech ecosystem through a long-term lens and many firms have thrived during the war.

Reporting by Reuters 

Israeli minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s party is advancing new legislation to restrict the Islamic call to prayer in mosques.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the Jewish Power party said it was working on a bill that would ban the call to prayer unless it is licensed by the state.

Approval would depend on criteria set by the authorities, including volume levels, noise-reduction measures, a mosque’s location, its proximity to residential areas and the impact on nearby residents.

The draft law was submitted by National Security Committee chair Zvika Fogel and seeks to curb what he described as the “unreasonable noise” of the muezzin, the person who calls Muslims to prayer.

Palestinian citizens of Israel have condemned the proposed bill, rejecting claims that mosque calls to prayer constitute a noise problem.

They say the legislation is another manifestation of the Israeli government’s push to erase Palestinian religious and cultural identity.

“This is not about noise. The call to prayer is not noise,” Khaled Zabarqa, a Lod-based human rights lawyer and activist, told Middle East Eye.

Read more: Israel’s Ben Gvir pushes bill to ban Islamic call to prayer

Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, a 52-year-old Palestinian doctor, has spent a year in Israeli detention without charge or trial after Israeli forces seized him during a raid on a Gaza hospital.

Israeli troops kidnapped Abu Safiya on 27 December 2024 after storming Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza and forcing its evacuation.

The assault rendered the medical facility inoperable. Israel has held him ever since under its so-called “illegal combatant” law, which permits indefinite detention without charges and denies detainees access to evidence against them.

An Israeli court in Beersheba extended Abu Safiya’s detention for six months in March 2025 and again in October 2025, keeping him imprisoned despite no charges ever being brought against him.

Family members and rights advocates say Israeli authorities have subjected Abu Safiya to torture and degrading treatment.

Read more: Seized from Gaza hospital, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya still held by Israel a year on

The Arab League convened for an emergency meeting of permanent representatives on Sunday at the request of Somalia to discuss Israeli recognition of the Somaliland region. 

The meeting was held at the League's headquarters in Cairo and chaired by the UAE. 

Israel's decision to become the first country to recognise the breakaway region has been condemned by a string of countries. 

A statement condemning the recognition was signed jointly by Jordan, Egypt, Algeria, Comoros, Djibouti, Gambia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, the Maldives, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Turkey, Yemen, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). 

Somaliland has been part of the unified Somali Republic since 1960, but declared its independence in 1991 and established a de facto state.

Although it has had unofficial diplomatic relations with several countries, its sovereignty had not been recognised by any permanent UN member state until this week.

On Monday, the UN Security Council is set to convene an emergency session to discuss Israel's recognition.

Displaced Palestinians near Khan Younis were woken up on Sunday by sea water gushing into their tents as heavy rainfall and a storm batters the region.

Gaza’s civil defence said two persons, including a seven-year-old boy, were killed in the past two days due to bad weather. pic.twitter.com/o5rHM92gcY

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) December 28, 2025

Israeli settlers cut down around 40 olive trees overnight in occupied East Jerusalem, according to Wafa news agency.

Witnesses told Wafa that a group of Israeli settlers stormed the town of Mukhmas before deliberately destroying the trees.

Olive trees are a key source of income for Palestinian families. Israeli attacks on agriculture, including olive trees, have increased in recent years. 

Elsewhere, Wafa reported that Israeli settlers set fire to a vehicle belonging to a Palestinian in the town of Huwara in the occupied West Bank and sprayed racist graffiti on the owner's home.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates from Gaza, where Israel continues to violate the ceasefire more than two months after it came into effect:

• Strong winds tore apart and uprooted worn tents on Sunday, displacing entire families and leaving them exposed amid dire humanitarian conditions. 

• A Palestinian woman was killed when a wall of a war-damaged house collapsed on to a tent near Gaza City’s port, according to the civil defence. 

• Meanwhile, Israeli artillery shelled eastern Gaza City, while air strikes hit areas east of Khan Younis and al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. 

Our live blog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are the day's key developments:

• The death toll from Israel's genocidal war on Gaza has risen to 71,266, the Palestinian health ministry reported on Saturday.

• In the past 48 hours, four people were killed by Israeli fire, while the bodies of 25 others were recovered and taken to hospitals.

• Since the ceasefire in October, at least 414 people have been killed by Israeli fire, the ministry added.

• The director of the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza reported that there was a 40-percent drop in births in the strip and a sharp rise in miscarriages compared with last year, blaming malnutrition and restricted medical supplies.

• The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said on Saturday that Israeli attacks on Palestinian journalists have expanded beyond killings, injuries, arrests and restrictions on coverage to include the systematic targeting of their families.

• The findings, based on documentation by the syndicate’s Freedoms Committee, show that attacks on journalists’ families have become a repeated and organised pattern across 2023, 2024 and 2025.

• The committee recorded the deaths of about 706 relatives of journalists in the Gaza Strip during that period, stressing that the scale and consistency of the attacks indicate they are not the result of random wartime conditions.

• Municipalities in northern Gaza say Israeli forces have turned the area into a disaster zone by continuing to block the entry of water, fuel, spare parts and reconstruction materials, deepening the collapse of basic services and the humanitarian crisis.

• France has condemned Israeli gunfire in southern Lebanon that slightly injured a United Nations peacekeeper, describing it as part of a pattern of recent incidents targeting UN forces.