Live: Israeli soldiers kill unarmed Palestinians as they surrender in Jenin

Israeli forces killed two children, sixteen-year-old Muhammad Abdullah Taym, and sixteen-year-old Muhammad Rashad Fadl Qasim during heavy firing in Al-Judeira near Jerusalem last night, Wafa news agency reported.

Their bodies have been withheld from their families.

Israeli forces also injured at least fifteen Palestinians following Friday prayers in Beit Lid, near Tulkarem, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. 

Friday’s assault came after communities in Kafr Quddum and Beit Lid organized a demonstration against the development of a new illegal settlement in the area, Wafa reported.

The United Arab Emirates has announced plans to increase humanitarian shipments to Gaza, highlighting the role of a sea corridor from Cyprus in facilitating deliveries.

Speaking to reporters, UAE Minister of State Lana Nusseibeh described the maritime route - which carries pre-screened aid from the eastern Mediterranean island - as a "vital lifeline" for Palestinians in the besieged enclave.

"Maintaining multiple entry points into Gaza remains incredibly important," Nusseibeh said. "As this plan moves forward, access by land, air and sea will continue to be critical."

The announcement comes amid growing concerns over shortages of food, medicine and fuel in Gaza, where Israel's ongoing blockade and attacks have left the population heavily reliant on international aid.

The United Nations has called on Israel to immediately suspend demolition orders targeting homes and community buildings in the Palestinian village of Umm al-Khair in the southern occupied West Bank.

In a statement released this week, the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory said Israel had issued demolition orders for 11 homes and vital community structures in the Hebron governorate.

The office said the move is part of a broader pattern of Israeli actions aimed at consolidating control and deepening the annexation of the West Bank, warning that the demolitions would displace entire families and dismantle essential infrastructure in an already vulnerable community.

Umm al-Khair, a small Bedouin village near the illegal Israeli settlement of Carmel, has faced decades of demolitions and harassment. Palestinian residents say they are routinely denied building permits, forcing them to live under constant threat of eviction, while nearby settlements continue to expand with full state support.

According to the UN, Israeli authorities have long enforced discriminatory land regulations that restrict Palestinian development, while settlers have been granted space to expand settlements and carry out an escalating number of violent attacks on residents and their property.

“The situation is urgent,” the UN office said. “The international community must act now to protect the people of Umm al-Khair from the imminent threat of forced displacement.”

Rights groups have echoed the UN’s concerns, warning that continued demolitions and settlement growth risk erasing Palestinian communities from parts of the West Bank, tightening Israel’s hold on occupied territory in violation of international law.

The World Central Kitchen (WCK) has resumed food operations in the besieged northern part of the Gaza Strip, preparing more than 3,000 meals for hospitals and displaced families on the first day of its newest facility.

In a statement on Thursday, the charity said the new kitchen would significantly increase its capacity to deliver aid across the enclave.

"The new kitchen expands WCK's capacity in the region with plans to scale up to 40,000 meals per day in the coming weeks," the organisation said.

Northern Gaza has faced extreme food shortages since Israel's ground invasion cut off supply routes earlier this year. Many families there have survived on foraged plants or animal feed, with international aid agencies warning of worsening famine conditions.

The chairty organisation had suspended operations in Gaza last year after seven of its staff were killed in what it described as a "targeted attack" by Israeli forces in central Gaza. The killings prompted widespread international condemnation and raised alarm over the safety of humanitarian workers in the enclave.

Around 20 percent of children in Gaza are missing “essential vaccines,” the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) has warned, announcing a new immunisation campaign aimed at reaching 44,000 children.

The campaign will also include malnutrition screenings, as Gaza’s children continue to face severe health challenges amid ongoing blockade and conflict-related disruptions to medical services.

“From its side, UNRWA will contribute through 24 health centres and medical points across the Gaza Strip — supporting this vital effort to restore essential care for Gaza’s children,” the agency said.

Health experts have repeatedly warned that prolonged shortages of vaccines and medical supplies in Gaza risk outbreaks of preventable diseases, putting thousands of children at heightened risk.

A child was injured on Friday after Israeli forces fired a bomb from a drone in the Shujaya neighbourhood of Gaza City, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency. The child was hospitalised at al-Ahli Arab Hospital, one of the territory’s main medical facilities.

The strike comes weeks after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was agreed on 10 October.

Despite the truce, Israel has continued air and drone strikes in parts of the Gaza Strip, while maintaining tight restrictions on the entry of food, medicine, and other essential supplies, deepening an already severe humanitarian crisis.

A German court has ruled on Friday in favour of Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah, a prominent Palestinian-British surgeon and academic, declaring that a ban on his political activity in Germany was unlawful.

The Berlin Administrative Court found that the Berlin Immigration Office had wrongly prevented Abu Sittah from entering the country to speak at the Palestine Congress in 2024. The court highlighted that Abu Sittah’s testimony regarding Israeli air strikes in Gaza in October and November 2023, which he had provided to the International Criminal Court (ICC), should have been taken into account.

The Palestine Congress, organised by pro-Palestinian activists, was shut down by German police shortly after it began. The three-day event was expected to address Germany’s alleged complicity in Israeli military operations, as well as other issues affecting Palestinians.

Abu Sittah, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon and rector of the University of Glasgow, spent 43 days in Gaza during Israel’s initial attack in October 2023, providing medical care. He had been invited to the Berlin conference to share his experiences, but his entry to Germany had been blocked by authorities.

The ruling has been welcomed by activists and human rights groups, who described it as a victory for freedom of speech and a rebuke to what they see as restrictive measures targeting Palestinian voices in Europe.

Israeli news out let Haaretz said on Friday that former Israeli military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi has been placed in house arrest following her arrest on Sunday over allegations that she was involved in leaking a video showing Israeli soldiers abusing a Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli detention facility.

The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court approved her release in line with a police request and with the agreement of her legal team. Authorities also imposed restrictions barring Tomer-Yerushalmi from contacting other suspects linked to the leak until 31 December.

The video, which has circulated widely online, has reignited criticism of the Israeli military’s handling of Palestinian prisoners and raised questions about accountability within the Israeli army's legal system. Human rights groups have long condemned what they describe as systemic mistreatment of Palestinians in Israeli cells.

Tomer-Yerushalmi, once the Israeli army top legal adviser, faces scrutiny not only for the alleged leak but also for the broader implications it carries for transparency and oversight in Israel’s military institutions.

A series of Israeli air strikes and artillery attacks is reported in and around Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city. according to Al Jazeera.

Artillery fire struck the outskirts of Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis, while air bombardments targeted areas further east.

Despite the nearly month-long ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Israeli attacks continue, with Gaza’s Health Ministry reporting over 240 Palestinians killed since early October.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Friday that he has ordered the military to “destroy and annihilate” all tunnels used by Hamas in Gaza.

He added on X that “if there are no tunnels, there is no Hamas.”

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,
Here are the latest developments from Gaza and the surrounding region:

• The Committee for Missing Persons in Gaza has warned that the enclave has become the world’s largest mass grave, with more than 10,000 bodies still trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings.

• Meanwhile, Israeli jets carried out early Friday air strikes on the Yellow Line areas east of Khan Younis and east of Gaza City. Authorities have yet to report on casualties or the extent of the damage.

• In the northern West Bank, Israeli forces raided the city of Qalqilya early Friday. Elsewhere, in Al-Judeira, north west of occupied Jerusalem, a young man was injured by Israeli gunfire, while another was arrested.

• On the diplomatic front, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the United Nations is working on a resolution to create an international stabilisation force in Gaza, noting that volunteer countries would require a UN mandate and that progress is being made.

• US President Donald Trump added that the arrival of the international force is imminent, describing Gaza’s situation as “currently stable”. He cautioned that Hamas could face serious repercussions if it fails to act as promised, and highlighted that several countries have volunteered to intervene if issues arise with Hamas or other challenges occur.

Six people have been arrested at the Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv game in the UK on Thursday evening.

Three people were arrested for “racially aggravated public offences,” and another was detained for breach of the peace at the game. Birmingham's safety advisory group banned Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv fans three weeks ago over fears that there would be a repeat of the agression they unleashed in Amsterdam during a Europa League match in 2024. 

Around 200 pro-Palestine protestors gathered outside stadium to call on the match to be cancelled and ban Israeli teams from European, and international football.

Around 40 people pro-Israel protestors also turned up.

The ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans coming has sparked controversy the British prime minister Keir Starmer labeling it antisemitic.

More than 400 Palestinian footballers have been killed during Israeli's war on Gaza.

Only 84 out of 285 Palestinian bodies returned from Israel have been identified because of the level of torture they experienced. Their features are no longer recognisable, Al Jazeera reported on Thursday.

Israel has refused to provide names with the bodies, and there are no DNA testing facilities currently in Gaza.

Mothers told Al Jazeera they were trying to identify their loved one through articles of clothing, such as socks, trousers and shirts at the morgue in Al-Nasser Hospital.

The majority of those who are unidentified are being buried in a mass grave in Deir el-Balah.

The Lebanese president accused Israel of committing "a full-fledged crime under international humanitarian law" after it launched a series of air strikes on several towns in southern Lebanon on Thursday.

In a statement, President Joseph Aoun said that "every time Lebanon expresses its openness to peaceful negotiations… Israel intensifies its aggression".

"Nearly a year has passed since the ceasefire took effect, and during that period Israel has spared no effort in showing its rejection of any negotiated settlement between the two countries," Aoun added.

Israel has launched nearly daily air strikes on southern Lebanon.

The United Nations secretary-general's deputy spokesman, Farhan Haq, relayed in a briefing in New York on Thursday the ongoing dire conditions still facing Palestinians in Gaza. 

According to Haq, the Israeli military continues to destroy residential buildings in areas where they are deployed in Gaza on a daily basis and continues to launch attacks on residents in areas that are near the yellow line. 

He also stated that the Israeli authorities rejected 107 requests for the entry of relief materials, including blankets, winter clothing, tools, and materials to maintain and operate water, sanitation, and hygiene services. Almost 90 percent of these rejected requests were from more than 330 local and international NGOs.