Live: At least 74 children killed in Gaza in first week of 2025

A group of far-right Israeli lawmakers has stirred outrage with a call for the military to escalate its already devastating campaign in Gaza. 

Eight members of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee have demanded that Defence Minister Israel Katz order the destruction of all water, food and power supplies in northern Gaza, a move which would result in the starvation of thousands of Palestinians. 

Their proposals include treating any man, woman and child remaining in the area without a white flag as a legitimate target to be killed.

The lawmakers, including figures from the ruling Likud party and its coalition allies Religious Zionism, Jewish Power and Shas, argued in a letter that the Israeli army had failed to achieve its objectives of dismantling Hamas’ governance and military operations. 

They accused the military of not carrying out the forced expulsion of Palestinians “properly” from the besieged northern Gaza, where an estimated 70,000 Palestinians remain hungry and without shelter while Israel continues its onslaught.

Read more: Israeli MPs call for the killing of every Palestinian without white flag in northern Gaza

An Israeli air strike on the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in western Gaza City has left three Palestinians dead, with several others injured, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

Dr Hussam Abu Safiyeh, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, is reportedly being detained by the Israeli army in Sde Teiman prison, according to Israeli Channel 24.

An Israeli army spokesperson alleged that Dr Abu Safiyeh is under Shin Bet investigation for purported connections to Hamas, though no concrete evidence has been presented.

Sde Teiman, a notorious military prison located in the Negev Desert, roughly 30 kilometres from Gaza near Beersheba, was established following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. The facility has since been used to hold abducted Palestinians, including children, elderly individuals, and others rounded up during the Israeli onslaught.

Human rights groups and media outlets have reported egregious violations at Sde Teiman, where detainees are subjected to brutal torture and degrading treatment including reports of rape.

Such practices have drawn widespread condemnation as evidence of Israel’s disregard for international human rights norms.

Israel’s deadly air campaign against Gaza claimed the lives of at least 26 Palestinians early this morning, medical sources reported to Al Jazeera.

Nineteen of those killed were targeted in the central areas of the besieged enclave, underscoring the indiscriminate nature of the attacks.

Over the past 24 hours, Israeli air strikes have left more than 70 Palestinians dead, with dozens more wounded, according to Gaza’s health authorities. The staggering death toll highlights the devastating impact of Israel’s military assault on the densely populated region, where civilians are bearing the brunt of the onslaught.

On Thursday alone, Gaza’s government media office reported 34 air strikes carried out by the Israeli army, many of which struck civilian areas already ravaged by war.

The scale and intensity of the bombardment further erode the already dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where hospitals are overwhelmed, and basic services have collapsed.

Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and her French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot are visiting Syria in a move aimed at resetting relations between the EU and the war-torn country, Reuters reported.

Their one-day trip to Damascus marks the first time top EU diplomats have visited since Syrian rebels forced President Bashar al-Assad to flee the capital on 8 December 2024.

Baerbock, speaking before her departure, described the visit as a “clear signal” to the Syrian people that a new political beginning is possible between Europe and Syria, stressing the potential for renewed ties between Germany and Syria.

Baerbock and Barrot have framed the visit as an opportunity for dialogue.

The Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza has been decimated, leaving it a "ghost town" with not a single building left unscathed, according to Israel’s Maariv newspaper.

The once-thriving camp is now deserted, with only stray dogs roaming where homes and livelihoods once stood. Any remaining structures are riddled with bullet holes or scarred by explosive shells, a grim testament to the relentless Israeli onslaught.

The situation has been exacerbated by heavy rains, which have turned the rubble into a mud-filled swamp, making the already dire conditions even more unbearable.

This latest devastation in Gaza highlights Israel’s ongoing disregard for civilian life as its military continues to target densely populated areas, leaving behind widespread destruction and suffering. The international community has failed to hold Israel accountable for its actions, while Palestinians endure unimaginable hardships as they face both the elements and a relentless military assault.

The destruction at Jabalia is just one of many devastated areas in Gaza, where the effects of Israel's onslaught continue to escalate, decimating entire communities and leaving a region in ruins.

The Israeli military says that it successfully intercepted a drone launched from Yemen, preventing it from entering Israeli airspace.

Earlier on Friday, Israel's Broadcasting Authority reported that 12 people were injured as they rushed to shelters, while an additional 9 individuals were hurt due to panic, after a Yemeni missile breached Israel’s airspace.

According to the Israeli Home Front Command, alarms were triggered in over 150 cities and towns across Israel, including in Greater Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and settlements in the West Bank, following the missile's detection.

Israel’s military has launched fresh air strikes across southern Lebanon, defying a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah that has held since late November.

Reports from Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) confirm that Israeli forces carried out bombings near the town of Bani Haiyyan at midnight, followed by further attacks in Kfar Kila, the sounds of which reverberated across the region.

In addition to these bombings, Israeli forces were reportedly “combing” the city of Bint Jbeil, using heavy machine guns from their positions on the outskirts of Maroun al-Ras. These latest military actions come as part of a wider pattern of Israeli violations against Lebanon's sovereignty. 

The renewed violence marks a significant breach of the ceasefire, which had been hailed as a fragile yet crucial agreement between Israel and Hezbollah. Despite international calls for restraint, Israel’s relentless operations in southern Lebanon suggest a disregard for peace efforts and a dangerous escalation in tensions.

Another Palestinian journalist has been killed in Gaza, bringing the death toll of media workers in the besieged enclave to two within 24 hours, according to reports.

Omar al-Diraoui, a journalist, lost his life when Israeli forces targeted his home in the az-Zawayda area of central Gaza, as confirmed by the Palestinian Media Centre.

His death comes just a day after the killing of photographer Hassan al-Qishaoui, whose death Al Jazeera verified on Thursday.

At least 217 media professionals have been killed by Israel since 7 October, 2023, making Gaza one of the deadliest places in the world for those documenting war crimes and human rights abuses.

The only thing still forbidden to the soldiers here is to go wading in the surf at Gaza,” explained Ynet reporter Yoav Zitun, in an article on the leisure village Israel has set up for soldiers in Gaza. 

Apart from the prohibited wading, it offers all the amenities: a physiotherapist to massage their legs and backs; popcorn and candy floss machines “like at the cinema and fairs”; a lounge room with a fixed menu that includes Belgian waffles and fresh pretzels; a spiritual corner with religious books and prayer accessories provided “in a positive spirit, without coercion”; indulgent breakfasts “like in a hotel”, and lunches and dinners of barbecued meats with “non-stop service”.

Annihilation, it turns out, is a tiring business.

After almost 15 months of a war of annihilation, with no end in sight, feelings of hatred and revenge apparently no longer provide sufficient adrenaline to counter the exhaustion and hardship of the long separation from home - the high financial cost, the distance from family.

So, the army devised the ingenious idea of ​​remodelling wartime service in Gaza as a kind of luxurious vacation at an elite hotel.

Read more: Gaza's 'luxury spa': How Israel creates a fantasy retreat in the kill zone

A senior Houthi official has mocked the United States' advanced Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system after another missile from Yemen breached Israeli airspace, calling it a glaring failure of American military technology.

Nasruddin Amer, a leading figure in the Houthi media authority, declared that each day of Israel's aggression against Gaza sees the evolution of Yemeni weaponry and exposes "more failures for the Zionists and Americans."

Writing on X, Amer highlighted that hypersonic missiles remain beyond the reach of Israel’s defence systems, urging the country to cease its war on Gaza.

The missile, reportedly intercepted only partially after bypassing Israel’s primary defence mechanisms, underscores the shortcomings of the much-touted THAAD system. This comes after the Israeli military deployed the American-made defence system for the first time last week, following repeated failures by its domestic systems to neutralise Yemeni missiles.

A senior Houthi official has issued a scathing rebuke of Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza, warning that its advanced defence systems are incapable of shielding it from the consequences of its actions.

The Deputy Chairman of the Media Authority of the Ansar Allah group, commonly referred to as the Houthis, condemned Israel’s military campaign, calling for an immediate end to the violence.

“The Zionist enemy must realise that all its defence systems cannot protect it,” the official declared, emphasising that Israel’s current strategy would fail to ensure its security. He urged Israel to “move towards what is more useful, which is stopping the aggression on Gaza.”

Earlier on Friday the Israeli military has shot down a missile fired from Yemen as it entered Israeli airspace. The missile was in retaliation to Israeli strikes in Yemen and it's ogoing war in Gaza.

An Israeli air strike targeting a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in a supposed “humanitarian zone” has left five children dead and several others wounded, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) confirmed.

The strike hit al-Mawasi, a coastal area near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing three boys and two girls aged between seven and 13, according to the UN agency.

The children had sought refuge in an area designated as safe amidst the ongoing bombardment.

“Children have nowhere to be protected from bombs, cold, disease and hunger,” Unicef said in a statement condemning the attack. “This must stop, now.”