Live: At least 74 children killed in Gaza in first week of 2025
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Healthcare workers and social media users from around the globe are demanding the immediate release of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, who is currently being detained by Israel's military.
Doctors, medical professionals and regular civilians have taken to social media this week to share their support for Abu Safiya, using the hashtag "FreeDrHussamAbuSafiyeh", as well as amplifying demands for Israel to stop attacking Gaza's hospitals in its war on the besieged enclave which began in October 2023.
In addition to the trending hashtag, a petition was started on the Change.org platform.
The petition is addressed to US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and calls on “the international community, particularly the United States, to use its influence and authority to force Israel to immediately release Dr Abu Safiya and other medical personnel and patients detained at Kamal Adwan”.
Read more: Medical professionals and social media users are rallying for Gaza's Dr Hussam Abu Safiya and appealing to international community
The Quds Press Agency, citing its sources, reported on Tuesday that Israel has bombed the water desalination plant on Old Gaza Street in the north of the strip.
The northern third of Gaza has been under Israeli siege for three months now, with little to no aid reaching the remaining residents there. A recent US government-funded report said there are famine conditions in the area.
مصادر صحفية: طائرات الاحتلال تقصف محطة "نماء" لتحلية المياه في شارع غزة القديم بجباليا البلد شمال قطاع #غزة pic.twitter.com/9ZyhRWfpy1
— وكالة قدس برس (@qudspressagency) December 31, 2024
Nearly 1,000 impacted Israeli families have signed a public letter demanding that the government establish a state commission of inquiry into its own conduct ahead of the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas-led groups, the Times of Israel reported on Tuesday.
The letter will be published in major newspapers on Wednesday.
In his final report of 2024, Aljazeera's Gaza correspondent Anas al-Sharif on Tuesday shared exclusive footage capturing the way the winter weather has ravaged tent sites for the forcibly displaced in Gaza's south.
Families are shown trying to sweep away the mud and water that have destroyed what few belongings they had in their makeshift tents.
"What the displaced people are experiencing here is beyond imagination; people are dying under bombardment, burning, starving, and freezing to death," al-Sharif wrote on X.
هذا تقريري الأخير لهذا العام.
— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) December 31, 2024
كنت أتمنى أن أزفّ إليكم خبر انتهاء الحرب الإسرائيلية على غزة، بدلًا من الاستمرار في تغطية معاناة أهلنا المنكوبين.
ما يعيشه النازحون هنا يفوق كل خيال؛ الناس تموت تحت القصف، وتحترق، وتجوع، وتتجمد من البرد. pic.twitter.com/uXTbleKcgu
Hossam Madhoun worked for 30 years as a theatre-maker and writer in Gaza City before Israel began its devastating onslaught on the Palestinian enclave in October 2023.
"The theatre movement in Gaza is deprived of exchanging with the world, especially in the last 17 years with the Israeli blockade," he tells Middle East Eye from Cairo, where he now lives with his family.
Before the Israeli blockade in 2006, Theatre for Everybody - the company Madhoun co-founded with his friend and co-artistic director Jamal al-Rozzi - toured Europe, staging productions for adults and children in France, Belgium, Luxembourg and elsewhere.
Since then, it has been more challenging, but the show went on: in 2009, he began collaborating with Az Theatre, a company based in London and run by Jonathan Chadwick, launching workshops and productions together.
Even then, Madhoun could not sustain himself purely as a playwright and many of his theatre projects now lie neglected as the war rages on.
Read more: Palestinian playwright escaped via the Rafah crossing and now lives near Cairo with his wife and daughter
Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli players were announced to have been barred from the World Indoor Bowls Championships in England next month.
Now, in a letter shared by UK Lawyers for Israel on X, it appears the ban has been rescinded.
Victory: ban on Israeli bowlers cancelled pic.twitter.com/RZULA7N6z0
— UK Lawyers For Israel (@UKLFI) December 31, 2024
The World Bowls Tour originally said in a statement that the involvement of Israeli bowlers at the Scottish International Open in August had produced "a significant escalation in related political concerns".
Now, those concerns appear to have been addressed by an increase in security for the event, organisers said.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, urged Israel on Tuesday to allow aid into Gaza, with six Palestinian babies confirmed dead from the cold.
"Blankets, mattresses and warm clothes are sitting outside Gaza waiting for approval to get in. The siege must be lifted," Unrwa wrote on X.
"More babies will likely die due to the cold, lack of shelter and basic winter supplies."
Six in recent days.
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 31, 2024
More babies will likely die due to the cold, lack of shelter and basic #winter supplies.
Blankets, mattresses and warm clothes are sitting outside Gaza waiting for approval to get in.
The siege must be lifted.#CeasefireNow pic.twitter.com/x3srv0i2FL
A Palestinian woman stood in a flooded displacement camp in Gaza, explaining how she was forced to stand all night during the heavy rainfall as her tent became submerged, with her family’s mattresses floating in the water. pic.twitter.com/DAYAJQKMMY
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) December 31, 2024
Avi Steinberg, an Israeli-born author, announced on Thursday that he had formally renounced his Israeli citizenship.
Justifying his decision in an article for the left-leaning news publication Truthout, Steinberg said that Israeli citizenship had "always been a tool of genocide" that legitimised settlers colonialism.
"Israeli citizenship is predicated on the worst kinds of violent crimes we know of, and on a deepening litany of lies intended to whitewash those crimes," he claimed in the op-ed.
The author was born in Jerusalem to American parents and raised in an ultra-Orthodox setting. In 1993, his family moved back to the US, first to Cleveland and then to Boston, where his father got a job as a director at Harvard University.
Steinberg cited a number of laws passed following Israel's founding that legitimised colonialism and discrimination, including the 1948 Declaration of Independence, the Law of Return in 1950, and the 1952 Citizenship Law.
Read more: Israeli-born author renounces citizenship, calling it 'a tool of genocide'
Israeli players have been barred from the World Indoor Bowls Championships in England next month.
The World Bowls Tour said in a statement the involvement of Israeli bowlers at the Scottish International Open in August had produced "a significant escalation in related political concerns".
"As a result of the intensity of the situation, the WBT Board, in consultation with our event partners and other relevant stakeholders, has made the difficult decision to withdraw the invitation for Israel to participate in the forthcoming World Indoor Championships," it added.
"Bowls is, and always has been, a sport that unites people and this choice reflects our commitment to protecting the championships and ensuring they run smoothly for everyone involved."
The decision removes Daniel Alomin from the singles draw and pairs players Amnon Amar and Itai Rigbi.
The Norfolk Palestine Solidarity Campaign said the move was the result of joint action with Scottish Sports for Palestine and Show Israeli Genocide the Red Card.
Rupert Lowe, member of parliament for the right-wing Reform party in the Great Yarmouth constituency that hosts the championships in Hopton-on-Sea, said on X he was "genuinely disgusted" and would fight the decision.
Reporting by Reuters
Heavy rain in Gaza has caused extensive damage and flooded over 100 tents in Khan Younis, south of the enclave, according to the UN refugee agency for Palestinians (Unrwa).
"Displaced people, already living through the unlivable due to the war, are now battling heavy rainstorms," Unrwa said on X on Tuesday.
#Gaza: heavy rain continues, tripling the misery.
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 31, 2024
• Khan Younis: extensive damage with over 100 tents flooded.
• Around 500 families still live along the Gaza shoreline.
Displaced people, already living through the unlivable due to the war, are now battling heavy… pic.twitter.com/f2nnMrQZsZ
The US military has confirmed that it carried out strikes in Sanaa and coastal locations in Yemen on Monday and Tuesday.
"On Dec. 30 and 31, U.S. Navy ships and aircraft targeted a Houthi command and control facility and advanced conventional weapon (ACW) production and storage facilities that included missiles and uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV)," the US military's Central Command said in a post on X.
"These facilities were used in Houthi operations, such as attacks against U.S. Navy warships and merchant vessels in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. In addition, U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force aircraft destroyed a Houthi coastal radar site and seven cruise missiles and one-way attack UAVs over the Red Sea."
It added that the strikes were part of an effort "to degrade Iran-backed Houthi efforts to threaten regional partners and military and merchant vessels in the region".
CENTCOM Forces Strike Multiple Houthi Targets in Yemen
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 31, 2024
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted multiple precision strikes against Iran-backed Houthi targets in Sana’a and coastal locations within Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen, Dec. 30 and 31.
On Dec. 30 and 31,… pic.twitter.com/XUKtsZM1U7
“The year 2024 was filled with death and destruction.”
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) December 31, 2024
Displaced Palestinians living in tents in Deir al-Balah are hoping for an end to Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza and to return home in 2025 pic.twitter.com/n4BxdlYJNe
A Houthi spokesperson in Yemen has said the country will continue to defend itself after several US strikes targeted facilities in Sanaa.
Air strikes rocked the capital on Tuesday, with media outlets linked to the Houthis reporting that six raids targeted the al-Ardi complex and the 22 May complex in central Sanaa.
Houthi sources said "six aggression raids" struck key locations in the heart of the city.
New air strikes have rocked the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, with media outlets linked to the Houthis reporting that six raids targeted the al-Ardi complex and the 22 May complex in central Sanaa.
Houthi sources said "six aggression raids" struck key locations in the heart of the city.
Israeli Army Radio, however, has denied any involvement, quoting a senior security source as stating that the current attacks in Yemen "are not Israeli".
