Live: Palestinian death toll in Gaza nears 26,000

The Israeli army has admitted that its soldiers dug up graves in the Gaza Strip. The military claimed  this was done to confirm that the bodies of captives were not buried.

“When critical intelligence or operational information is received, [the military] conducts precise hostage rescue operations in the specific locations where information indicates that the bodies of hostages may be located,” an army spokesperson was quoted as telling US outlet CNN. 

Once the bodies are determined not be those of the captives they are “returned with dignity and respect,” the Israeli military told CNN .

This process has not been independently verified and its not known whether Israel actually returns the bodies or what it does with Palestinians . Palestinian graveyards have been bulldozed and heavy military vehicles have been used to brutally exhume bodies, with some left in the open. 

The number of people killed by an Israeli air strike on an apartment block near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City now stands at 12, according local media report dozens more have been wounded.

War Cabinet Minister Gadi Eisenkot said in an interview with the "Uvda" television program that a preemptive attack on Lebanon, which, according to him, would have been a strategic error was prevented. 

"We prevented a very wrong decision. If we had attacked in Lebanon, we would have realised Sinwar's strategic vision. Our presence there prevented the State of Israel from making a very serious strategic error," he added.

Eisenkot did not mention who in the Israeli war cabinet was pushing for a war with Lebanon. 

In the wide ranging interview Eisenkot added that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's should take full responsibility for the October 7 attack.

"The prime minister is first, he is informed by both the IDF and the Shin Bet, and he was involved, I know his involvement in the construction of the fence and other involvement. He bears a sharp and clear responsibility. You don't need to take the responsibility, it is there," he said.

Eisenkot also appeared to criticise Netanyahu’s management of the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza, suggesting that talk of complete victory over the terror group was unrealistic,

“Whoever speaks of absolute defeat is not speaking the truth,” Eisenkot said in the interview. “That is why we should not tell stories… Today, the situation already in the Gaza Strip is such that the goals of the war have not yet been achieved.”

Asked whether Israel’s current leadership is telling the public the truth, Eisenkot responded simply, “No,” and the new elections should be held to restore public trust in the government.

At least seven people were killed at apartment block near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City following an Israeli air strike that also left a number of people wounded, according to Palestinian media outlet Wafa. 

The hospital has been barely functional since mid-November, when it came under siege by Israeli forces.

Good morning readers of Middle East Eye,

We are on day 105 of the Israeli war on Gaza and the Palestinian death toll in Gaza has passed another grim milestone with at least 24,620 Palestinians deaths recorded by hospitals, 10,600 of them children and 7,200 women.

At least 61,830 people are also wounded in the Strip, many go without proper health care treatment.

More than 8,000 are missing, believed to be dead and buried under rubble. 

Here are the major developments from the last few hours: 

• More than 40 people have been killed after the latest round of Israeli attacks throughout the Gaza Strip
• Palestinian Foreign Ministry accuses Israel of committing 15 “massacres”, killing 172 people under the cover of a communications blackout in Gaza
• Israeli forces continue to hold parts of Tulkarm and surrounding areas in the occupied West Bank under a second day of siege
• “No security and stability in the region” without “an independent Palestinian state”: spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
• Israel reports another soldier killed, three seriously wounded in Gaza
• Families of Israeli captives promise to block Gaza humanitarian aid if Israeli government doesn’t do enough to bring their family members back home  

As Israel's campaign in southern Gaza has seen intense shelling in Khan Younis and Rafah, despite Israel shifting to a lower intensity phase of the war, the besieged enclave remains in an internet blackout that has not reached a week.

Outside of Gaza, the situation in the Red Sea is only getting worse. Houthi attacks on US ships are continuing, with the group saying they had a direct hit on an American vessel today.

US President Joe Biden was asked about whether Washington's strategy of conducting air strikes in Yemen was working. He responded: "Well when you say working, are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they going to continue? Yes."

Here is what else you need to know today:

• A more than two-day long Israeli raid on Tulkarm is continuing to go on, with the latest death toll now standing at eight since the raid began.

• A group of House Democrats have drafted a letter calling for the resignation of Brett McGurk, a senior Middle East Adviser at the White House, according to the Huffington Post.

• Stuart Seldowitz, the former Obama official who was arrested last year for aggravated harassment and stalking a halal food cart vendor in New York, has walked away with a deal that would drop the charges against him if he takes an anti-bias counselling programme.

• Mexico and Chile are referring Israel’s war in Gaza to the International Criminal Court and calling on the court to probe war crimes in the enclave.

• 800,000 Palestinians are food insecure and do not have clean water, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

Several Palestinian news outlets are reporting that several Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli bombing that targeted a home in Khan Younis.

Some reports say four have been killed, while one news outlet is reporting five deaths.

Palestinian news agency Wafa has reported that the body of 22-year-old Muhammad Mahmoud was discovered at around midnight local time in Tulkarm, raising the death toll from Israel's raid on the West Bank city to eight.

The military raid has been going on for more than two days now, and while some reports have said Israel is withdrawing, Wafa is reporting that there is still an active Israeli military presence in different parts of Tulkarm.

In a statement, the Houthis said they fired naval missiles at the ship, the Chem Ranger, resulting in direct hits on the vessel.

“The Yemeni Armed Forces confirm that a retaliation to the American and British attacks is inevitable, and that any new aggression will not go unpunished,” the group said in a statement.

A group of House Democrats have drafted a letter calling for the resignation of Brett McGurk, a senior Middle East Adviser at the White House, according to a report by the Huffington Post.

The supporters of the letter say they expect to secure around a dozen signatures, a lawmaker told HuffPost.

The lawmaker told the news outlet that Democrats see McGurk as responsible for harmful policies in the Middle East that are undermining Biden's support.

Iraqi Kurdistan's counter-terrorism service said that its defence systems shot down an armed drone over Erbil airport in northern Iraq, where American and other international forces are stationed.

Earlier, two security sources told Reuters that an armed drone was intercepted and shot down at around 7:10 pm local time and a blast was heard near the airport. But that earlier attack was denied by the counter-terrorism service.

The incident comes just a few days after Iran launched missiles at Iraq's Kurdistan region, saying it targeted the Mossad headquarters of the region.

Stuart Seldowitz, the former Obama official who was arrested last year for aggravated harassment and stalking a halal food cart vendor in New York, has walked away with a deal that would drop the charges against him if he takes an anti-bias counselling programme.

The deal was condemned by Muslim rights groups, who said the announcement was a “slap in the face” to the victims.

Last year, Seldowitz, the former deputy director in the US State Department’s Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs, launched racist and anti-Islamic tirades against Mohamed Hussein, a 24-year-old New York City food truck vendor.

He also threatened to use his political connections to deport Hussein back to Egypt, where Seldowitz said the food truck vendor would be tortured.

“Seldowitz’s vile verbal abuse and harassment targeting an innocent street vendor were caught on video for all to see,” said Afaf Nasher, the director of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“The sweetheart deal he received from the Manhattan DA’s office is a shameful affront of our justice system and wholly unfitting of his actions.”

While Israel is already facing accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, Mexico and Chile are now referring Israel’s war in Gaza to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The countries asked the court to investigate possible war crimes committed since 7 October.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a televised address that Israel needs to have control over all areas of occupied Palestine, which is in direct opposition to the Biden administration's calls for a Palestinian state.

The prime minister said that every area in which Israel has previously withdrawn from, including Gaza and the now occupied West Bank, has led to "terrible terror" for Israel.

"In the future, the state of Israel has to control the entire area from the river to the sea," Netanyahu said.

US President Joe Biden was asked by a reporter whether the air strikes in Yemen "are working".

This was his response:

"Well, when you say working, are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they going to continue? Yes."