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

Bedouin rights organisation al-Baidar on Wednesday said that Israeli settlers ploughed Palestinian lands in the Shallal al-Auja area north of Jericho, as part of plans to expand the new outpost, Wafa news reported. 

The report said that settlers also destroyed agricultural crops in the community of al-Farisiya in the northern Jordan Valley, northeast of the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli military on Wednesday bombed a building in Houla and carried out a drone strike in Aita al-Shaab, in southern Lebanon, local media reported.

The Israeli army has not yet commented on the strikes. 

مسيرة للاحتلال تستهدف جرافة بقنبلة في بلدة عيتا الشعب جنوب لبنان. pic.twitter.com/1Giuwe98VW

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) December 31, 2025

The General Authority for Civil Affairs on Tuesday evening said that Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man by opening fire on a vehicle between the towns of Awarta and Einabus, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank. 

It said that its teams are following up on receiving the body of the 20-year-old Qais Sami Jasser Allan after he was shot. 

Palestinian news media reported that Israeli forces also set a house on fire by firing bombs in the town of Aboud, northwest of Ramallah, in the central West Bank.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said that four Palestinians were wounded by Israeli army gunfire on their vehicle in the same area. 

The Israeli army spokesperson on Wednesday said that as part of ongoing military operations on several fronts, its forces carried out attacks on approximately 20,900 targets in 2025. 

The announcement comes as the military carried out a combing operation on the border with Lebanon near the town of Arab al-Aramshe. 

Israeli forces on Wednesday launched an artillery bombardment accompanied by heavy gunfire from military vehicles east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian media reported. 

Military vehicles also opened fire on the southeastern areas of the Bureij and Maghazi refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip, as Israeli escalation of violence continued on several fronts.

Injuries were also reported from the Halawa camp, west of Jabalia city, in the northern Gaza Strip. 

Israeli forces on Wednesday killed a Palestinian child, Dana Hussein Ahmed Muqat, by firing live bullets in the Zarqa area, northeast of Gaza City, local media reported. 

Arab48 reported that the Israeli forces also demolished several residential buildings east of Gaza City, where the military also opened fire. 

Israeli artillery shelling was also reported from northeast of the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. 

A Palestinian child was killed while three others were wounded when a wall collapsed onto a tent for displaced people in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, local media reported. 

The report said that the Israeli army carried out seven simultaneous demolition operations in areas under its control north of Rafah.

Israeli helicopters also opened fire towards the city of Rafah, as part of the ongoing military escalation in the southern areas of Gaza. 

Countries including Britain, Canada, Japan and several European nations on Tuesday issued a joint statement saying that civilians in Gaza are facing appalling conditions, and called on Israel to let international NGOs function in the region.

The statement said that more than 1.3 million people in Gaza urgently need shelter, where "the complete collapse of the sewage infrastructure has left 740,000 people at risk of toxic flooding".

"We express our deep concern about the renewed deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which remains catastrophic," the statement said. 

"We call on the Government of Israel to ensure that international NGOs are able to operate in Gaza in a sustainable manner," it added. 

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:

• In Gaza, Israeli helicopters opened fire towards the southern city of Rafah as part of the ongoing military escalation, where Israeli forces are using explosives to demolish residential buildings, and their helicopters are firing heavily. 

• In Khan Younis, Israeli forces launched a heavy artillery bombardment accompanied by heavy gunfire from military vehicles.

• In central Gaza, Israeli military vehicles opened fire on the southeastern areas of Bureij and Maghazi refugee camps, marking a continued escalation on several fronts.

• Many people have been wounded from Israeli gunfire in Halawa camp, west of Jabalia city, in the northern Gaza Strip.

• A joint statement was issued by Britain, Canada, Japan and several European countries, saying that civilians in Gaza are facing appalling conditions and 1.3 million people are still in urgent need of shelter. They called on Israel to ensure that international NGOs can operate in Gaza, where the complete collapse of the sewage infrastructure has left 740,000 people at risk of toxic flooding.

• The Israeli army said that it has carried out attacks on approximately 20,900 targets on various fronts during 2025, as part of ongoing military operations on several fronts. 

• The Israeli army also announced that it had carried out a combing operation on the border with Lebanon near the town of Arab al-Aramshe. 

The Israeli military sentenced soldiers from two regiments who vandalised cars belonging to Palestinians from the village of Deir Dibwan near Ramallah to prison, Haaretz reported on Wednesday. 

Squad commanders from the Paratrooper Brigade and a soldoer from the Binyamin Brigade entered the village on Saturday and vandalized vehicles there.

Squad commanders from the Paratrooper Brigade were sentenced to 30 days in prison, while the soldier from the Binyamin Brigade was sentenced to 20 days in prison.

Commanders involved in the incident will not be allowed to return to combat positions in the military according to the report. 

The US Department of War on Monday revealed that Boeing had been awarded a nearly $8.6bn contract to make F-15 fighter jets for Israel. 

The deal was announced shortly after US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concluded a joint press conference in Palm Beach, Florida. 

The contract involves the "design, integration, instrumentation, test, production and delivery of 25 new F-15IA aircraft for the Israeli Air Force, with an option for an additional 25 F-15IA aircraft," according to a routine statement that lists the Pentagon's new contracts. 

A similar deal was signed in November 2024 at a cost of $5.2bn for 25 such aircraft for Israel. 

You can read more here.

Israel’s navy are continuing to target and arrest Palestinian fishermen in the sea off the coast of the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reported on Tuesday.

Fisherman told the broadcast network that they were struggling to feed their families given that fishing is their only source of livelihood.

Israeli settlers raided and attacked the Palestinian community of Ras Ein al-Auja, north of Jericho in the Jordan Valley, on Tuesday, Haaretz reported.

One Palestinian was injured in the attacks and was evacuated for medical treatment, while another five Palestinians were detained, according to Israeli peace activists who were there.

The activists told Haaretz that police arrested Palestinians who the settlers pointed out, rather than independently verifying who was at fault.

Video footage of the raid shows a masked settler with an army weapon riding on horseback into the village. Israeli settlers claim that an Israeli boy was wounded during the raid, and subsequent clashes, prompting them to call security forces.

Israeli forces killed an 11-year-old Palestinian girl in the al-Tuffah neighbourhood in Gaza City on Tuesday, Wafa news agency reported. 

Witnesses told Wafa that Israeli military vehicles stationed themselves in al-Tuffah and fired indiscrimately. They struck the girl in a round of fire, killing her. 

Israeli forces shot at displaced civilians in the Halawa camp, west of Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, wounding a child and a woman.

Since the ceasefire came into effect on 10 October, Israeli forces have killed 414 Palestinians and injured 1,147 others.