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

Hamas said in a statement that it is calling for an international committee to investigate Israel's use of certain weapons, alleging that bodies are being "vaporised" in Gaza.

“The horrific testimonies provided by citizens and doctors in northern Gaza following the air strikes and massacres carried out against innocent civilians, and the confirmation of cases of targeting with weapons and ammunition that lead to the vaporisation of bodies, strongly point to the use of internationally banned weapons by the terrorist occupation army,” Hamas said in a statement, as reported by Al Jazeera.

Palestinian news outlets are reporting that more than 40 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a residence in the Tal al-Zaatar area in northern Gaza.

The reports say the house belonged to the Araj family.

The Israeli army said that one of its soldiers, 20-year-old Zamir Burke, was killed in combat in northern Gaza on Friday.

The number of journalists killed in Gaza has risen to 191 after the death of Mamdouh Quneita in al-Ahli Arab Hospital, according to the government media office in Gaza.

Quneita was an editor for the Gaza-based Al-Aqsa TV satellite channel. The statement from the media office did not say how Quneita died, however Palestinian news reports stated that he was killed by Israeli drone fire in the courtyard of the hospital.

"The Government Media Office condemns in the strongest terms the targeting, killing and assassination of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation," the media office said in its statement.

The US-based charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) is pausing its operations in Gaza after an Israeli air strike targeted a vehicle carrying its aid workers, killing three of them.

Israel claimed, without providing any proof, that one of the aid workers killed had participated in the 7 October attacks on southern Israel.

Israel has targeted the WCK before. In April, an Israeli strike killed four international aid workers belonging to the charity. The incident caused international outrage and condemnation.

According to the United Nations, Israel has killed more than 330 aid workers in the besieged strip since the start of its war on Gaza in October 2023.

The Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing, has published a video of an Israeli-American soldier currently being held in Gaza.

In the video, Edan Alexander, 20, directed his message towards US President-elect Donald Trump, pleading for Trump to secure his release.

In September, the families of American captives held in Gaza met with President Joe Biden and called for a unilateral deal - a deal that doesn't include Israel - to secure the release of their relatives.

Hamas leaders were expected to arrive in Cairo on Saturday for ceasefire talks, in which a possible deal could secure the release of captives in return for Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli forces struck Sidon on Saturday despite a ceasefire being in place to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. 

Lebanon's national news agency reported that Israeli forces conducted a raid on Tabna in al-Bissarieh. 

Lebanon's health ministry said a seven-year-old was among three people injured in a vehicle struck by Israel in southern Lebanon. 

The Israeli army released a statement and said that it was responding to Hezbollah "breaking the ceasefire agreement".

“We bombed militants in southern Lebanon who were loading a car with RPG weapons, ammunition boxes and other military equipment,” it said.

“We attacked Hezbollah elements after they arrived at the organisation’s facilities, and the force that arrived at the scene found weapons, including hand grenades,” the statement added.

The military also claimed to have attacked “a Hezbollah facility” in the Sidon area, targeting “rocket launch platforms”.

“We attacked a military vehicle operating in the missile production infrastructure area of Hezbollah,” it added.

A former chief of staff to the Israeli army has accused Israel of going down the path of ethnic cleansing in Gaza. 

Speaking to Israeli media, former Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon said Israel's campaign in Gaza will lead to the country's destruction if it continues. 

“The path we are being dragged down is occupation, annexation and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip,” the prominent government critic told Democrat TV.

“Transfer, call it what you want, and Jewish settlements.

"Now look at the polls. Seventy per cent - sometimes more and sometimes a little less - of the public in the state of Israel advocates a path that is Jewish, democratic, liberal etc, and also with separation.

“Therefore, there must be no confusion here. The one who wants to confuse us is the one who is currently leading us to nothing less than destruction.”

The Palestinian health ministry said on Saturday that the death toll in Gaza had reached at least 44,382. 

The ministry added that at least 105,142 Palestinians had also been injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since 7 October 2023. 

Israeli forces have arrested more than a dozen Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, according to a prisoner network. 

On Saturday, the Commission of Prisoners' Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner's society said that Israeli forces had arrested at least 16 Palestinians. 

The network said the arrests took place across the governorates of Qalqilya, Nablus, Hebron, Tulkarem and Jerusalem. 

The report added that the number of arrests by Israel of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since Israel's war on Gaza began has passed 11,900. 

Al Jazeera has reported that an Israeli air raid that targeted a house in the Shujayea area in eastern Gaza City has injured a number of people, and killed a child. 

The Palestinian Information Centre said that a child was killed and a number of people injured in the attack. 

Good evening Middle East Eye readers, 

Israel pounded the Gaza Strip on Friday with heavy strikes reported in Beit Lahia. Palestinian health authorities said the attack killed dozens of people. In addition, at least 19 bodies of Palestinians were pulled from the rubble of building in Nuseirat refugee camp after devastating Israeli strikes, medics told Reuters. 

Meanwhile, a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon appeared to be holding. Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said on Friday that the group would coordinate at a "high level" with the Lebanese army to implement the terms of the deal.

Here are some of the day's other key developments:

• Women and children are scavenging for food among mounds of trash in parts of the Gaza Strip, a UN official said on Friday
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz want Israel's military chief of staff Herzi Halevi to step down by the end of the 60-day Lebanon ceasefire agreement, according to Kan public broadcaster
• Three Palestinians were trampled to death in a stampede at a bakery in the central Gazan city of Deir el-Balah
• A Hamas delegation is set to arrive in Cairo on Saturday for talks with Egyptian officials on a ceasefire
• US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said President-elect Donald Trump wants to see a Gaza hostage deal and ceasefire before he returns to the White House in January.

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said on Friday that Israel's appeal against arrest warrants issued for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant should be dismissed. 

The chief prosecutor added that the appeal processes should be ended. 

Israel launched raids across the occupied West Bank on Friday. Israeli troops attacked the Wadi al-Hariyya area in the city of Hebron. 

They also raided the village of Yatma, south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus. Soldiers fired tear gas at civilians who suffocated from the gas.

US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told Axios that US President-elect Donald Trump wants to see a Gaza hostage deal and ceasefire before he returns to the White House in January.

“Trump is more determined than ever to release the hostages and supports a ceasefire that includes a hostage deal. He wants to see it happening now,” Graham told Axios. 

Graham is a staunch supporter of Israel and a key Trump ally. 

“I want people in Israel and in the region to know that Trump is focused on the hostages issue. He wants the killing to stop and the fighting to end,” he said. 

“I hope President Trump and the Biden administration will work together during the transition period to release the hostages and get a ceasefire," he added.