Live: Lawyers present genocide risk case against Israel at ICJ

The health ministry in Gaza announced Sunday that the death toll from Israel's war on Gaza had risen to more than 52,000 people, after hundreds previously listed as missing were confirmed dead.

"An additional 697 martyrs have been added to the cumulative statistics after their data was completed and verified by the committee monitoring missing persons," the health ministry said in a statement, giving the overall toll of 52,243.

Several United Nations agencies that operate in Gaza have said the ministry's data is credible and they are frequently cited by international organisations.

One hospital in the Palestinian territory confirmed the data and elaborated on the process.

"The families of those initially reported missing had informed authorities of their disappearance, but their bodies were subsequently recovered -— either from beneath the rubble or from areas previously inaccessible to medical teams due to the presence of the Israeli army," said Khalil al-Daqran, spokesman for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

He said the ministry’s release of the 697 figure came after a "judicial committee" that collects and checks data completed its documentation, "confirming their martyrdom and transferring their status from missing persons to martyrs."

When asked why such a large number was announced simultaneously, the Hamas government's Media Office in Gaza explained that statistics are released periodically.

It is not the first time the health ministry has made such a revision.

"Because the judicial committee issues its report periodically rather than daily. They follow their own procedural protocols, and once their report was finalised, it was officially adopted," Ismail al-Thawabta, director general of the Media Office, told AFP.

Reporting by AFP

The number of Palestinians killed across Gaza in Israeli attacks since dawn has risen to at least 38, according to Al Jazeera.

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas named a deputy and likely successor on Saturday.

Hussein al-Sheikh was appointed vice president of the state of Palestine and the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) - two newly created positions. 

His appointment was approved during a session of the PLO’s executive committee on Saturday. 

“Mr President, the trusted guardian. A sincere and obligatory thank you for your trust,” Sheikh wrote in a Facebook post after the appointment. 

Read more: Palestine: Abbas appoints Hussein al-Sheikh as vice president and likely successor

Gaza mediator Qatar said on Sunday that some progress had been made in talks held in Doha this week aimed at securing a new truce in Israel’s war on Gaza.

Speaking at a news conference, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani reported "a bit of progress" when asked about a reported meeting on Thursday in Doha with David Barnea, Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence agency chief.

"We need to find an answer for the ultimate question: how to end this war. That's basically, I think, the key point of the entire negotiations," Sheikh Mohammed added. 

The Qatari PM said efforts were focused on the "best comprehensive deal possible that ends the war", releases the captives and does not divide the agreement into separate phases.

An Israeli air strike hit southern Beirut on Sunday after the Israeli military issued a forced evacuation order for the densely populated district, AFP reported.

A plume of smoke rose over a building in Hadath neighbourhood following the strike, a journalist reported. It marked the third time the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital have been hit since a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect on 27 November.

At least 21 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip since dawn on Sunday, Al Jazeera reported.

Air strikes were reported in several areas, including Khan Younis, Deir al-Balah and Gaza City.

Israel claimed responsibility for the air strike in southern Lebanon that killed one person earlier on Saturday.

The military said on its Telegram channel that it “eliminated” a Hezbollah member who “advanced” the group’s attempts to “re-establish itself in the Halta area”.

Israeli settlers have looted a school in the village of Zanouta, east of the city of ad-Dhahiriya, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

Settlers reportedly stole classroom dividers, iron doors and wooden panels, and vandalised the school. 

Fayez al-Tal, head of the Zanouta Village Council, told Wafa that settlers have repeatedly attacked the village and destroyed houses. 

In southern Gaza's Khan Younis, civil defence crews have recovered the bodies of at least seven Palestinians after an Israeli attack on a makeshift tent, according to Al Jazeera.

Israeli attacks have killed at least 16 people in Gaza since dawn.

The mayor of Kober, a town near Ramallah, has shared details with Middle East Eye about a violent settler attack on Saturday.

Two Palestinian men, Adnan Amiriya and Muhammad Amiriya, were seized during a settler raid on Kober. They were taken to an unknown location and remained missing for hours.

They were eventually released late at night, far from the town, after being severely beaten, the mayor, Shawkat Barghouti said.

During the attack, settlers also stormed homes and assaulted women, Barghouti added.

Read more: Israeli settlers abduct and assault two Palestinians

An Israeli strike on a house in Gaza's Tuffah neighbourhood has killed at least three Palestinians.

The bodies of three people killed in the attack have been pulled from the rubble, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

A Palestinian worker collapsed while being chased by Israeli forces in the town of al-Ram, near occupied East Jerusalem.

The man, identified as Arafat Qadous, has been pronounced dead, according to Wafa news agency.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest developments from the ongoing 18-month Israeli war on Gaza, which resumed 41 days ago:

• Ongoing Israeli air strikes killed at least six people on Sunday, including four children and a fisherman, according to local media reports.

• A senior Israeli official told Israel Hayom that the army may "expand the scope of fighting" if negotiations fail to make progress within two weeks, warning of a potential large-scale mobilisation of reserve forces.

• Hamas announced on Saturday that its delegation had departed Cairo after presenting Egyptian mediators with a proposal for a comprehensive agreement that encompasses a ceasefire, prisoner exchange, humanitarian relief and reconstruction.

• In Lebanon, an Israeli drone strike killed one man in the south, marking the latest breach of the November ceasefire.

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:

• Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 51,495 Palestinians since 7 October 2023, the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

• Hamas said it wants a ceasefire deal in which all remaining Israeli captives will be released at once, in exchange for a "five-year ceasefire".

• The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that its food stocks in Gaza are completely "depleted", saying it has delivered its "last remaining food stocks" to local kitchens.

• Prominent Palestinian prisoner Abdullah Barghouti has endured ongoing severe physical abuse at the hands of Israeli prison guards, according to his family.

• Israeli settlers opened fire in the occupied West Bank village of Kaubar in northern Hebron, attacked homes and "kidnapped" two young residents, according to media reports.

• Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas appointed a close aide as the first ever vice president of the Palestine Liberation Organization on Saturday, according to a member of the organisation's executive committee.

• The Israeli military said a 19-year-old border police officer and a 21-year-old army captain were killed on Friday in the Shujaiyeh neighbourhood in northern Gaza.

• Hundreds of Israelis holding photos of children killed in Gaza marched in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening, demanding Israel halt its war on the enclave.

• Yemen's Houthi rebels said that a series of US strikes on territory under their control had wounded at least eight people.

Yemen's Houthi rebels said Saturday that a series of US strikes on territory under their control, including the Yemeni capital Sanaa, had wounded at least eight people.

"Eight citizens, including two children, were wounded when the American enemy targeted a residential district" west of Al-Rawda in Sanaa, said the Houthi-run Saba news agency.

It cited the Houthi administration's health ministry as the source for what it said was a provisional toll.