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

Israeli warplanes launched multiple attacks on villages and towns in the Tyre and Bint Jbeil districts of southern Lebanon, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.

The agency noted that Israel resumed “launching flares and thermal balloons” early in the morning over the village of Aita al-Shaab in Nabatieh governorate.

On Sunday, Ayham al-Salaymeh, a 14-year-old Palestinian, began serving a one-year prison sentence, becoming the youngest Palestinian ever to be imprisoned in Israel.

Salaymeh turned himself into the Israeli Prison Service at al-Maskoubiya prison, his father, Nawaf, said in a video. The prison administration refused to allow Ayham to bring in belongings such as clothes, shoes and other personal items.

Ayham's sentencing came after he had spent a year-and-a-half under house arrest in his family's home in the Ras al-Amud neighbourhood in Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem.

Before entering prison, Nawwaf took his son on one last tour of their hometown, Jerusalem. In several viral clips online, Nawaf can be seen accompanying the young boy and advising him on how to behave in prison.

"Every prisoner inside is your brother," his father tells him in one video. "They are all like you. They were imprisoned because of the love they have for their country."

Read more: Palestinian 14-year-old becomes Israel's youngest-ever prisoner

Al Jazeera Arabic reported that two people were killed and several others wounded in an Israeli air strike targeting Palestinians near Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.

At least eight people have been killed in Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip since dawn, the media channel reported.

Fatah and Hamas have agreed to create a joint committee to oversee the administration of Gaza, based on an Egyptian proposal. The agreement was finalised during meetings in Cairo that concluded on Monday.

The committee will focus on coordinating humanitarian aid distribution, managing Gaza's civilian administration, rebuilding efforts, and operating the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, similar to its function in 2005.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to issue a decree establishing the Community Support Committee. This body will operate under the Palestinian government, addressing administrative, financial, supervisory, and legal matters.

At least 341 humanitarian workers have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the conflict began on 7 October last year, according to Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The figure is based on data from the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

“Israeli air strikes killed four humanitarian workers - three from World Central Kitchen and one from Save the Children - bringing the total number of aid workers killed since October last year to 341,” Dujarric said during a media briefing.

He also highlighted warnings from humanitarian partners about the severe impact of military ground operations, airstrikes on civilian areas, and unexploded ordnance on Gaza’s local food systems, which have been devastated by the ongoing violence.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and French President Emmanuel Macron, meeting in Riyadh, issued a joint statement emphasising the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The French presidency said both leaders agreed to "make every effort to contribute to de-escalation" across the Middle East.

The statement stressed that their "priority… is to establish a ceasefire without further delay in Gaza," facilitating the release of hostages held by Hamas and ensuring humanitarian aid reaches Palestinian civilians.

They also reaffirmed their commitment to sustaining the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah and called for urgent diplomatic efforts to resolve Lebanon's political impasse by holding a presidential election.

Macron’s visit to Saudi Arabia marked the first state visit by a French president to the kingdom since 2006.

Israeli media outlet, Channel 12 reported on the findings of an Israeli military investigation into the army’s handling of the Al-Aqsa Flood attack by Palestinian forces on 7 October, 2023.

The attack, which exposed significant vulnerabilities in Israel’s defence systems, has been described as the largest intelligence failure in the country’s history, with critics blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government for not anticipating it.

The investigation committee concluded that "a misconception of security constituted an inadequate response to threats."

It highlighted that the Southern Command dismissed the "Jericho Wall" document, which detailed Hamas's plans for the attack, considering it an implausible scenario.

This document, submitted in May 2022 to military intelligence and Southern Command leadership, had warned of such an operation, but senior officials advised against prioritising it, believing Hamas lacked the capacity to execute it.

Channel 12 revealed that the findings will be presented to Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi within two weeks, after which Halevi may take disciplinary actions against certain army commanders.

The investigation also found that Israel's defence strategy had focused on smaller-scale infiltrations of one to three Hamas groups, underestimating the scale of the eventual attack.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

Here are the latest updates from the Israeli war on Gaza and Lebanon: 

• Israeli air strikes on Gaza continued, with attacks reported in northern Gaza City, southern Khan Younis, and Rafah. At least five Palestinians were injured in Deir el-Balah
• The UN's food agency warned that food availability in Gaza is "at an all-time low" and urged unrestricted access to prevent widespread famine
• Israeli rights group B’Tselem reported that Israeli forces arbitrarily arrested at least 25 Palestinians, including women and children, in Hebron, subjecting them to severe psychological and physical abuse
• The Israeli cabinet plans to meet in northern border communities to encourage displaced residents to return, following extensive strikes in southern Lebanon
• Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and French President Emmanuel Macron called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during a meeting in Riyadh

Our liveblog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are the day's key developments: 

-The Lebanese health ministry on Monday said that at least nine people were killed in Israeli air strikes on two towns in southern Lebanon. After the Israeli military attacked dozens of what it says were Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, it added that Israel "remains obligated to the fulfillment of the conditions of the ceasefire agreement." 

-Rockets were initially fired into Israeli airspace from Lebanon as a response to the "approximately 100 ceasefire violations" by Israel there, according to a Unifil source cited by CNN. 

-US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said there would always be "various violations at times" of the ceasefire, when asked about Israel's violations. "What we don't want to see is the ceasefire break down," he told reporters. "And we've not seen the ceasefire break down. When we get reports of potential violations, we have a mechanism that we put in place with the government of France to look at those potential violations." 

-A new video released by al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, warns Israel against furthering the war on Gaza and discloses for the first time that a total of 33 Israeli captives held in the strip have been killed by Israeli airstrikes.

-US President-elect Donald Trump has warned of "hell to pay" if Hamas does not release the Israeli captives in Gaza before his inauguration on 20 January. 

-A Hamas delegation discussed a ceasefire in Gaza with Egyptian intelligence officials, two officials from the Palestinian group told AFP. The "delegation met with the head of the Egyptian general intelligence, Major General Hassan Rashad, and a number of Egyptian intelligence officials, and discussed ways to stop the war and aggression, bring in aid, and open the Rafah crossing" at Gaza's border with Egypt, said a senior Hamas official who was part of the Cairo meeting on Sunday evening.

-Gaza's Media Office has reported that around 3,700 Palestinians have been killed or are missing in northern Gaza since Israel laid siege to region in early October.

US President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday named Massad Boulos as his senior advisor on the Middle East, catapulting his Lebanese-American in-law to the centre of his foreign policy in the region as it grapples with multiple crises. 

Boulos’ son, Michael, is married to Trump’s youngest daughter, Tiffany. Boulos led the Trump campaign’s successful outreach to Arab-American voters.

Tiffany met Michael in 2018 at the Lindsey Lohan Beach Club in Mykonos, Greece. 

The billionaire businessman’s nomination suggests he will continue to play a key role once Trump returns to the White House in January.

Bringing Boulos on board as an advisor will inject a new personality into Trump’s inner circle, which has mainly been dominated by pro-Israel Jewish Americans, like his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and evangelical Christians, including Michael Huckabee, Trump’s nominee for ambassador to Israel. 

Read more: Massad Boulos: Christian-Lebanese billionaire and Trump in-law who could shape Middle East policy

The Lebanese health ministry on Monday said that at least nine people were killed in Israeli air strikes on two towns in southern Lebanon.

In Haris, five people were killed while two others were wounded.

In Talousa, four people were killed and one person was wounded. 

After the Israeli military on Monday attacked dozens of what it says were Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, it added that Israel "remains obligated to the fulfillment of the conditions of the ceasefire agreement", according to the Reuters news agency. 

Earlier on Monday, as Israel declared its intent to bomb Lebanon, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said there would always be "various violations at times".

"What we don't want to see is the ceasefire break down," he told reporters. "And we've not seen the ceasefire break down. When we get reports of potential violations, we have a mechanism that we put in place with the government of France to look at those potential violations." 

The Israeli military said on Monday that it had begun air strikes against what it called Lebanese "terror" targets in response to rocket fire from Hezbollah earlier in the day. 

The rocket attacks had followed up to 100 incidences in which the Israeli military violated the ceasefire reached last week. That count comes from Unifil, the UN's peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon-Israel border. 

The Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed shared an image of the aftermath of an Israeli bombing in the Bint Jbeil district in southeast Lebanon on Monday evening local time: 

🚨 مراسل الجديد: الطيران الحربي الإسرائيلي شن غارة قبل قليل غارة استهدفت منزلاً في بلدة حاريص بقضاء بنت جبيل ومعلومات عن سقوط إصابات@farhat_muhamad1 pic.twitter.com/JmusUcfjPE

— Al Jadeed News (@ALJADEEDNEWS) December 2, 2024

US President-elect Donald Trump has warned of "hell to pay" if Hamas does not release the Israeli captives in Gaza before his inauguration on 20 January. 

"It’s all talk, and no action!" Trump wrote on his TruthSocial account on Monday.

"If the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity. Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America."

Israel has informed the US of its intent to strike back at Hezbollah after rockets were fired from Lebanon earlier on Monday. The rockets were in response to previous ceasefire violations by Israel, as noted by France, which acts as a monitor of the ceasefire.

Israeli Broadcasting Authority: Israel has informed Washington of its intention to carry out a series of strikes in #Lebanon in response to Hezbollah's rocket fire

— Zeina Khodr (@ZeinakhodrAljaz) December 2, 2024

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller only had this to say to reporters on Monday in response to the Israeli decision to fire back: "I am not going to speak to reports of possible action, hypothetical action, and try to litigate from here whether those would violate the ceasefire agreement or not. We're going to have those conversations privately. We have channels set up to do that, and we will hold those conversations."