Gaza Live: Israeli air strike takes out 25 members of same family

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

Here are the latest updates from the Israeli war on Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon:

• Israeli forces attacked a school in the Bureij camp in central Gaza, sheltering displaced Palestinians, setting over a dozen tents on fire

• Dr Hussam Abu Safia, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, reported that one of three medical staff injured in a drone strike is in critical condition and undergoing complex surgery

• Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas are reportedly nearing an agreement to appoint a committee of politically independent experts to govern Gaza post-war, according to the Associated Press

• The Israeli military claimed responsibility for killing three Hamas operatives by bombing their vehicle in the Aqqaba area of the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank

• A 15-year-old Palestinian succumbed to his injuries after being shot by Israeli forces in the Silwan neighbourhood, south of occupied East Jerusalem

• The UN General Assembly approved a resolution to convene a high-level peace conference next year, aiming to achieve a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict

Hello Middle East Eye readers. On Tuesday, Lebanese officials began calling on the US and France to pressure Israel into respecting a ceasefire with Hezbollah.

Despite both sides agreeing to the ceasefire, Israel has repeatedly violated the terms of the agreement by launching military operations that Beirut considers flagrant breaches.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, Israeli air strikes continue to increase the number of Palestinians killed. Dozens of Palestinians were killed in Israeli bombardment on Tuesday alone.

Here's what else you need to know about Tuesday's developments in the Israeli war on Gaza:

• Israel's new military attache in Belgium has been accused of war crimes by the Hind Rajab Foundation, a Brussels-based non-profit organisation.

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the ceasefire with Lebanon does not mean the war is over, and vowed to continue fighting Hezbollah.

• A new report released by Israeli human rights group B'Tselem documents "brutal violence" by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians in central Hebron in a new report. The document collected over 20 testimonies and detailed how victims were randomly seized or attacked with no explanation, with some abducted in plain sight.

• An Israeli air strike targeting a car near Damascus has killed a senior Hezbollah figure responsible for liaising with the Syrian army, according to the Israeli military.

• Hamas's armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, shared the second video in recent days showing a major ambush of Israeli forces in Gaza's southern city of Rafah. The video shows Palestinian fighters launching rocket fire at an Israeli soldier and an Israeli tank.

• The US State Department said it was "outraged" at the killing of a Save The Children staffer by Israeli forces in Gaza and called for an urgent investigation by Israel.

• An Israeli quadcopter dropped bombs on the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, injuring three medical staff members. One staff member is in critical condition.

More than 11,900 Palestinians have been detained by Israel since the beginning of the Israeli war on Gaza, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said, according to Al Jazeera.

The group said the figure includes 790 children and 136 journalists, and added that at least 47 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody.

This past weekend, Ayman al-Salaymeh became the youngest Palestinian prisoner at the age of 14 years old. His charge was throwing stones at Israeli settlers.

Abdulaziz Mohammed al-Mansoori, a Qatari official, spoke at the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' annual pledging conference in Geneva on Tuesday.

There, Mansoori rejected the idea of reducing the role of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unwra), which has faced attacks from Israel over the past year.

“The State of Qatar expressed its rejection of any attempts to either terminate or reduce the role of Unrwa, strip Palestinians of their refugee status, or liquidate their cause,” he said, as reported by QNA news agency.

Hello MEE readers. Here's a recap of the latest developments in the Israeli war on Gaza from the last several hours on Tuesday:

• The US State Department said it was "outraged" at the killing of a Save The Children staffer by Israeli forces in Gaza. It called for an urgent investigation by Israel.

• Gaza's civil defence says at least three people were killed in an Israeli strike on a residence in the neighbourhood of Sabra in Gaza City. Several others were wounded in the attack.

• In a message on Telegram, Israeli forces say they killed a senior Hezbollah figure who was responsible for liaising with the army of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

• An Israeli quadcopter dropped bombs on the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, injuring three medical staff members. One staff member is in critical condition.

• Beit Lahiya, located in northern Gaza, where Israeli forces have held a military siege for two months, has been facing heavy bombardment from Israeli forces.

• Hamas's armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, announced that two of its members were killed by Israeli forces near the city of Tubas in the occupied West Bank.

• An Israeli military vehicle ran over a 17-year-old boy in the town of Beita in the occupied West Bank.

Hamas's armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, shared the second video in recent days showing a major ambush of Israeli forces in Gaza's southern city of Rafah.

The video shows Palestinian fighters launching rocket fire at an Israeli soldier and an Israeli tank.

On Sunday, the Qassam Brigades shared a video showing three different ambushes along the same route being used by Israel's military in Rafah. That operation used rocket and sniper fire.

Both operations launched by the group were named after Yahya Sinwar, the former leader of Hamas who was killed while fighting Israeli troops in Rafah in October.

An Israeli strike on Haris, southern Lebanon, killed six people on Monday in a seeming breach of the ceasefire agreement between the two countries.

On that same day, Israeli forces killed four people in Tallouseh and one person in Jdeidet Marjayoun, all in southern Lebanon.

The attacks on Haris and Tallouseh came as Israel said it was responding to “serious” breaches of the agreement by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, who had fired two rockets into the Shebaa Farms, a strip of Lebanese land occupied by Israel.

In a statement following the attack, Hezbollah said it fired “warning” strikes as a response to Israel’s repeated violations of the ceasefire agreement.

Israel has already breached its ceasefire agreement with Lebanon about 100 times since it went into effect last Wednesday.

Read the full story by clicking below.

Israel violating Lebanon ceasefire agreement with dozens of strikes on south

An Israeli air strike targeting a car near Damascus has killed a senior Hezbollah figure responsible for liasing with the Syrian army, Reuters is reporting, citing a Lebanese security source.

Earlier, Syria's state news agency SANA reported that an Israeli strike had targeted the airport road, but did not mention casualties.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Reporting by Reuters

Israeli human rights group B'Tselem documented "brutal violence" by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians in central Hebron in a new report. 

The organisation collected over 20 testimonies from central Hebron, in the southern occupied West Bank, where victims were randomly seized or attacked with no explanation, with some abducted in plain sight.

Field researchers had spoken to other Palestinians who endured similar violence, however many declined to give their testimony out of fear that they might face repurcussions from Israeli soldiers or authorities. 

The rights group added that none of the victims were suspected of an offense or charged, however, many were released in "a state that required medical attention".

Only two out of the 25 who testified in the report were arrested, then released shortly after.

READ MORE: Israeli soldiers 'unleashing severe abuse' on Palestinians, warns B'Tselem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Tuesday that the ceasefire with Lebanon does not mean the war is over.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting in the northern border city of Nayariya, Netanyahu said that Israel had attacked over 20 targets across Lebanon in response to Hezbollah violations of the ceasefire.

"We are currently in a ceasefire, I note, a ceasefire, not the end of the war," he said.

"We have a clear goal to return the residents, to rehabilitate the north. We are enforcing this ceasefire with an iron fist, acting against any violation, minor or serious."

Despite the truce being signed with Hezbollah less than a week ago, Israeli attacks on Lebanon killed at least 12 people on Monday.

A Unifil source reported at least 100 Israeli ceasefire violations.

Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), has said that Israel's war on Gaza has caused "an epidemic of traumatic injuries," with no rehabilitation services available.

"During this war, people needing special care have suffered in silence. Their stories rarely told," Lazzarini said in a post on X.

He added that Gaza now has the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world, with many undergoing amputations without anaesthesia.

The World Health Organization estimates that one in four Palestinians injured in Israel's war on Gaza have suffered life-changing injuries and will require rehabilitation services.

#Gaza, a pandemic of #disabilities.

Before the war, one in five families surveyed had at least one person with disabilities. Nearly half of them included a child with disabilities.

During this war, people needing special care have suffered in silence.
Their stories rarely… pic.twitter.com/oLh4GDKgi6

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) December 3, 2024

Israel's new military attache in Belgium has been accused of war crimes by the Hind Rajab Foundation, a Brussels-based non-profit organisation.

Colonel Moshe Tetro served as head of the Israeli military unit responsible for coordinating aid into the besieged Gaza Strip earlier this year.

The Hind Rajab Foundation's chair, Dyab Abou Jahjah, described Moshe as a "key figure in the implementation of Israeli policy towards hospitals and the strategy of famine and thirst as a weapon of war".

The foundation said it has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Tetro, highlighting his "role in orchestrating starvation and targeting healthcare facilities".

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and its former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, are subjects of ICC arrest warrants for alleged war crimes - including using starvation as a weapon of war. 

READ MORE: Israel's military attache in Belgium referred to ICC for alleged war crimes

At least 13 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza, including two attacks on a school and a sportsclub in Gaza City, Wafa news agency is reporting citing local sources.

According to the sources, Israeli fighter jets bombed the al-Falah school where displaced people were sheltering in the city's Zeitoun neighbourhood, killing six people and injuring others.

Two women were killed in a separate attack in Zeitoun targeting a group of civilians.

Meanwhile, a drone strike targeting the al-Jazeera sports club in the centre of the city, where displace people were also sheltering, killed two more people.

Elswhere, three Palestinians were killed and others injured in an Israeli strike north of the Rafah governorate in southern Gaza.

Lebanon's National News Agency is reporting that General Joseph Aoun, the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces met with UN's Lebanon coordinator, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.

The two reportedly discussed efforts to enforce the ceasefire agreement with Israel.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said that "diplomatic contacts have been intensified" to stop Israel's violations of the ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah and ensure the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanese border towns, Lebanon's National News agency is reporting.

“During these contacts, we stressed the priority of stabilising the situation for the return of the displaced people to their towns and regions, and expanding the army’s deployment in the south,” he said.

“The army command’s announcement of the need to recruit trained soldiers into the army’s combat units falls within the context," he added.