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

Good morning, Middle East Eye readers, 

Here are the latest updates from Israel's war on Gaza:  

• Israeli forces have reportedly attacked tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in al-Mawasi, resulting in at least 11 fatalities and multiple injuries, according to local media sources.

• Gaza’s population has declined by 6 percent since the onset of the war with Israel nearly 15 months ago. Approximately 100,000 Palestinians have left the enclave, while over 55,000 are believed to have been killed, as per data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).

• Israeli settlers, who entered the town of Kifl Haris to conduct religious rituals at Islamic shrines, have also been accused of attacking homes and vehicles in the area, the Wafa news agency has reported.

• In a separate incident, the Israeli military stated that a suspect had been “neutralised” following a car attack targeting Israeli forces in the West Bank town of Deir Qaddis, near Ramallah. A female soldier sustained minor injuries in what the military has described as a “car bomb attack”.

• Israeli forces have also raided the West Bank town of Bal’a, east of Tulkarm, and demolished the home of a Palestinian man accused of attacking Israeli soldiers, according to the Palestinian Information Center.

• Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for Palestinians, has urged the Palestinian Authority to reverse its decision to ban Al Jazeera’s broadcasts in the West Bank, asserting that “journalism is not a crime”.

• Meanwhile, the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reports that Israeli soldiers have set fire to several houses in the town of Aitaroun, located in the Bint Jbeil district, in what has been described as an ongoing violation of a truce established at the end of November.

Our live blog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are the day's key developments:

- Israeli air strikes killed nearly 20 people in northern Gaza on Wednesday, marking the new year, and left dozens of others wounded. In December alone, Israel had launched over 1,400 airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, its air force said. 

- Israeli forces have killed at least 17,400 children in Gaza, including 1,091 infants, 238 of whom were born and died during the ongoing war, according to Palestinian officials and Gaza’s government media office, as reported by Al Jazeera. This equates to one child killed every 30 minutes, with thousands more likely buried under the rubble.

- The Palestinian Authority (PA) has "temporarily suspended" Al Jazeera from broadcasting from the West Bank, accusing it of airing material the PA considers "incitement", the news outlet said on Wednesday. The PA last month banned Al Jazeera from reporting in Jenin, where the PA has been targeting armed resistance movements to the Israeli occupation. 

- Former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Gaza, resigned from the Knesset on Wednesday. "There are moments when you need to stop," Gallant said, adding that he plans to remain a part of the Likud Party in Israel despite leaving political life. 

- South African physician and UN special rapporteur on the right to health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, joined the global social media campaign on Wednesday to call for the release of the medical director of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiyeh, who has been in Israeli custody for three days. 

- Israeli broadcaster Channel 13, citing sources close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, says Gaza ceasefire negotiations are ongoing and "making progress". And while US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration date is just three weeks away, it does not factor into the timing of a ceasefire announcement, the sources said. 

The Quds News Network, in the early hours of Thursday morning local time, said Israel has begun bombing areas of Khan Younis in southern Gaza which contain hundreds of tents for forcibly displaced Palestinians. 

There are reports of injuries, Quds News said. 

عاجل | إصابات في قصف طائرات الاحتلال المروحية خيمة نازحين بالقرب من بئر زنون والشاعر في مدينة خانيونس pic.twitter.com/IbD6aKT9XQ

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) January 1, 2025

Aljazeera, citing the Israeli public broadcaster, reports that Israel destroyed an anti-aircraft missile system in southern Lebanon on Wednesday.

The broadcaster, citing an informed source, said the attack is part of Tel Aviv's policy within the scope of the November ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. 

The Wafa news agency reported on Wednesday that Israeli settlers stormed the town of as-Samu, south of Hebron in the West Bank, with the supervision of Israeli soldiers. The settlers entered an archaeological site to perform religious rituals, while the soldiers prevented Palestinian residents from accessing the area. 

The Wafa news agency further reported that Israeli forces have stormed a home in Hebron in the West Bank and arrested a 16-year-old boy already wounded by a previous Israeli attack. 

Another 16-year-old was shot in the foot by Israeli forces who surrounded a cafe in the Old City in Nablus. The soldiers arrested the cafe owner, and shot another individual in the thigh. 

Israeli broadcaster Channel 13, citing sources close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, says Gaza ceasefire negotiations are ongoing and "making progress".

And while US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration date is just three weeks away, it does not factor into the timing of a ceasefire announcement, the sources said. 

Trump's incoming aides have boasted that his looming influence is already pushing all parties to come to an agreement. 

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has "temporarily suspended" Al Jazeera from broadcasting from the West Bank, accusing it of airing material the PA considers "incitement", the news outlet said on Wednesday.

The PA last month banned Al Jazeera from reporting in Jenin, where the PA has been targeting armed resistance movements to the Israeli occupation. 

Earlier this year, Israel also banned Al Jazeera from reporting around the country, after which much of its staff relocated to Jordan. 

Former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Gaza, resigned from the Knesset on Wednesday. 

"There are moments when you need to stop," Gallant said, adding that he plans to remain a part of the Likud Party in Israel despite leaving political life. 

Of his time within Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet, Gallant said he "insisted on continuing the alliance with the US, there is no substitute for it".

He was often at odds with Netanyahu, who fired him from his defence post in November. 

"Recruiting Haredim is a necessary need. I was removed from my position because I insisted on it," Gallant said on Wednesday, referring to ultra-Orthodox Israelis who do not enlist in the Israeli forces due to strict religious study. 

Like Gallant, Netanyahu also faces an ICC arrest warrant for war crimes in Gaza. 

Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 is reporting that an Israeli soldier has sustained wounds after a vehicle ramming attack near the Nili Israeli settlement in the West Bank. That same soldier shot at the driver of the vehicle, but the driver's condition remains unclear. 

South African physician and UN special rapporteur on the right to health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, joined the global social media campaign on Wednesday to call for the release of the medical director of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, who has been in Israeli custody for three days. 

"I’m Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, a medical doctor & the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, I DEMAND the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya from a brutal detention imposed by Israel," she wrote.

"End the genocide."

I’m Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, a medical doctor & the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, I DEMAND the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya from a brutal detention imposed by Israel.

End the genocide. pic.twitter.com/8i3kVsjngN

— Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng (@drtlaleng) January 1, 2025

An Israeli air strike has targeted "a gathering of civilians" near the al-Halabi intersection in the town of Jabalia, in northern Gaza, the al-Quds News Network reported on Wednesday. 

At least two people are dead, the report said. 

An Israeli air strike killed at least 15 people northern Gaza on Wednesday, in what the civil defence agency called the first deadly attack of the New Year.

"The world welcomed the New Year with celebrations and festivities, while we witnessed 2025 begin with the first Israeli massacre in the town of Jabalia just after midnight," agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

He said "fifteen people were martyred and more than 20 were injured" in the strike on a house where displaced people were living.

Israel launched over 1,400 airstrikes in the Gaza Strip in December alone, according to the country's air force.

Fighter jets, attack helicopters, and drones were all used in the attacks following information provided by ground troops in Gaza.

The military claimed they were targeting cells of "terror operatives" as well as tunnel shafts and systems, observation posts and weapon depots.

World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he has hearing loss following an Israeli air strike in the Yemeni capital Sanaa which he narrowly avoided.

"I am grateful to be in Geneva, spending time with my family and celebrating the New Year after the UN mission to negotiate the release of our colleagues and the bombardment at Sana’a Airport by Israel as we attempted to leave Yemen," he wrote on X.

"I am okay, but I have developed tinnitus (ringing in my ears) from the loud explosion. I hope it will be temporary."

Israeli police escorted 632 settlers into the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, where they reportedly conducted rituals and toured the grounds, the Wafa news agency said.

Witnesses described these actions as provocative and a violation of an agreement that reserves prayer rights at the site exclusively for Muslims.

Meanwhile, Israeli police reportedly barred Palestinians from entering the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem, cutting off access to Al-Aqsa Mosque.