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

Israeli security agencies and ministries are preparing to assist soldiers and reservists facing potential arrest when they travel abroad for participating in alleged war crimes in Gaza, Haaretz reported on Sunday. 

The government has already warned some Israelis they could be detained if they travel abroad. 

The government of Israel is coordinating with local law firms to provide immediate legal aid if soldiers are detained. 

Complaints have been filed against Israeli soldiers in South Africa, Sri Lanka, Belgium, France, and Brazil. 

Hamas has approved a list of 34 hostages presented by Israel to be exchanged in a possible ceasefire deal, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing a Hamas official. 

The official told Reuters that any deal is still dependent on Israel agreeing to withdraw from Gaza and reaching a permanent ceasefire. 

At least two Palestinans were injured by Israeli fire during a raid on the Khalat al-Amoud area of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa. 

Wafa news reported that the two were wounded in the “lower limbs”, citing the Palestinian Ministry of Health.  

The victims are in stable condition at Rafidia Governmental Hospital, Wafa added.

Israel also launched raids to the north and south of Nablus. 

The Palestinian Authority has informed news and radio companies not to broadcast or transmit any websites or satellite channels of Al Jazeera, according to a letter sent to Palestinian media companies and viewed by Middle East Eye. 

The letter, sent by the Ministry of Telecommunications and Digital Economy on 5 January, imposed a blanket ban on all Al Jazeera content. 

At least 23 people were killed by Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip on Sunday,  rescuers told the AFP. 

An air strike on a house in northern Gaza's Sheikh Radwan area killed at least 11 people early Sunday, according to Civil Defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal. He said the victims included women and children.

"Rescuers are still searching for five people trapped under the rubble of the house," he said, adding his crew members were using "bare hands" in the effort.

The Israeli military said Sunday it had struck more than 100 targets in Gaza over the past two days, in an escalation of its offensive. 

In one strike, five people died when the house of the Abu Jarbou family was struck in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, rescuers said.

At least two people have been killed by an Israeli drone attack on the southern Gaza Strip town of Abasan, Al Jazeera has reported.  

Abasan lies east of the city of Khan Younis. Several people were injured in the attack. 

Israel is talking about potentially remaining in Lebanon following the 60-day ceasefire as a means of pressuring the Lebanese army, the Times of Israel reported, quoting an unnamed Israeli official. 

According to the official, Israel would prefer to have the Lebanese army deployed in the south while ensuring Hezbollah's withdrawal.

"We don’t think that we’ll have the full backing of the US to break the ceasefire," the official said. "The feeling is that there’s no point in reopening that front."

The main obstacle in the Doha negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire and captive exchange deal remains the names and number of captives to be released in the first round, an Israeli official told the Times of Israel.

According to the official, Israel does not believe it will reach the second round of the ceasefire and is, therefore, trying to get as many captives out as possible in the first stage.

"We hope that it will bring momentum to another deal," they said, adding that Hamas "is not going to release everyone. They don’t have an interest in doing that - unless Israel says it’s the end of the war, and Israel will not say that".

An eighth baby has died of hypothermia in the Gaza Strip as temperatures continue to plummet, the infant's mother told Al Jazeera.

"I am the mother of Yousef. I lost him. They didn’t give me a single moment to feel happy with my baby," she told the network.

"He died because of the very cold weather. He slept next to me, and in the morning, I found him frozen and dead. I don’t know what to say.

"No one can feel my misery. No one in the world can understand our catastrophic situation. Yousef was fine. He was born healthy… I lost Yousef forever."

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz accused Lebanon's Hezbollah on Sunday of failing to meet the terms of a ceasefire, warning that continued violations would compel Israel to “act”.

Katz said Hezbollah had still not withdrawn "beyond the Litani River" in southern Lebanon, adding: "If this condition is not met, there will be no agreement and Israel will be forced to act on its own to ensure the safe return of residents of the north to their homes." 

Lebanon accuses Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement hundreds of times.

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, Unifil, said on Saturday that an Israeli army bulldozer destroyed "a blue barrel marking the line of withdrawal between Lebanon and Israel in Labbouneh, as well as an observation tower belonging to the Lebanese Armed Forces immediately beside a Unifil position there".

Unifil called this a "flagrant violation" of the 2006 Security Council Resolution that forms the basis of its November ceasefire with Hezbollah.

Reporting by MEE and AFP

Late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was in the Lebanese group's operations room when he was killed by an Israeli bunker buster bombing in Beirut's southern suburbs in September, top Hezbollah security official Wafiq Safa said on Sunday.

Safa was speaking at a news conference near the site of the bombing that killed Nasrallah, marking 100 days since his death.

#Lebanon: Top Hezbollah security official Wafic Safa says long-time leader Hassan Nasrallah was in the group's operations room when a series of Israeli airstrikes in September assassinated him.

— Kareem Chehayeb | كريم شهيب (@chehayebk) January 5, 2025

A Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli forces during a raid in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, more commonly known as Fatah, said in a statement.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Palestinian media said Israeli forces opened fire on the home of a 37-year-old man in a town south of Jenin. The body was being held by Israel, the report said.

Reporting by Reuters

Good morning, Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates:

• At least 88 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 45,805 since 7 October 2023, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
• Israel killed journalist Mohammad Hijazi in northern Gaza along with another person, according to the Wafa news agency.
• Yemen's Houthis claimed responsibility for an overnight missile launch targeting Israel, saying they aimed at the Orot Rabin power plant near Hadera in the Haifa district.
• The Israeli army said it intercepted the missile launched from Yemen.
• A court in Brazil has reportedly ordered a probe after the Hind Rajab Foundation filed a petition against an Israeli soldier taking a vacation in the country.

Good evening Middle East Eye readers.

On Saturday evening Israel continued attacking the Gaza Strip, killing at least 66 people according to medical sources there who spoke with Al Jazeera.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian teenager was injured by Israeli gunfire in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

In Lebanon, the UN peacekeeping force, known as Unifil, accused the Israeli military of destroying a blue barrel marking the border between Israel and Lebanon, as well as a Lebanese army observation tower. 

Unifil called this “a flagrant violation of Resolution 1701 and international law." 

Here's what else you need to know about Saturday's developments in Israel's war on Gaza:

• Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said Hezbollah could respond to Israeli ceasefire violations
• Israeli settlers attacked the outskirts of the village of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah
• The Israeli army said a rocket launched from northern Gaza struck the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing
• Gaza’s civil defence agency said an Israeli strike killed five security officers tasked with accompanying aid convoys as they drove through the southern city of Khan Younis

The Israeli military said on Sunday that it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, shortly after sirens sounded.

"Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in Talmei Elazar, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted prior to crossing into Israeli territory," the military said in a statement posted to Telegram.

On Friday, Israel's military said it shot down a drone launched from Yemen after it crossed into Israeli territory.