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

Israeli forces have detained 12 Palestinians in the Hebron governorate in the occupied West Bank, with raids taking place in the historic centre of Hebron city and nearby towns such as Beit Ummar and as-Samu, according to the Wafa news agency.

Among those arrested were a father and his 16-year-old son.

The ongoing violent raids and detentions in the occupied West Bank have become routine, with over 11,900 Palestinians detained since 7 October of last year, many without formal charges.

For more than a year, those calling for an end to Israel’s slaughter of civilians in Gaza have been relentlessly vilified: as apologists for Hamas, as antisemites, even as supporters of a genocide against Israel and the wider Jewish people.

These smears have been buttressed by western politicians and the media insisting that Israel is conducting a legitimate, “defensive” war with limited aims: supposedly to eradicate Hamas and free a few dozen remaining Israeli hostages.

The bigger picture has had to be swept from view. That Israel has levelled the infrastructure in Gaza needed to sustain life; bombarded Palestinians wherever they have sought refuge; butchered many tens of thousands of civilians - or more likely hundreds of thousands; and actively starved most of the population by withholding aid.

And, overlooked in all of this, Israel has failed to make any significant impact on Hamas’ fighting ability and has almost certainly endangered the lives of the hostages with its indiscriminate bombing campaigns.

Finally, 14 months on, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has struck a major blow against Israel’s tissue of lies and deceptions - as well as the complicity of western elites.

Read more:  Biden and Starmer's lies for Israel are destroying the liberal democratic order

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir expressed hope that US President-elect Donald Trump would work with Israel to make significant changes in Gaza once he takes office.

In a recent interview, Ben Gvir discussed his vision for Gaza, stating that he would present Trump with a proposal to encourage Israeli settlement in Gaza while also promoting the "voluntary emigration" of Palestinians from the area which in Israel is a code word used to describe the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their ancestral homeland. 

He argued that this plan would benefit both Gaza residents and Israel, portraying it as a moral and logical solution. He further claimed that Israel's greatest victories have come when it has taken territory, describing past military actions as "liberations" rather than occupations.

Israeli forces bombed a family home in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least three people and injuring others, according to a civil defense source cited by the Palestinian Information Center.

The strike comes just a day after Israeli forces targeted an aid distribution point in the camp, killing at least four children.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

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

• Medical sources report that women and children are amongst the 20 victims "incinerated" in Israel's bombing of al-Mawasi, where the attack targeted tents sheltering over 14 Palestinian families

• Amnesty International has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, alleging that its military actions violate at least three of the five acts prohibited under the 1948 Genocide Convention

• Israeli raids across the occupied West Bank persist, including in Beit Furik, where settlers set Palestinian homes and cars ablaze on Wednesday

• The Israeli military launched three additional raids into southern Lebanon, as concern mounts over Israel's repeated violations of its ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah

• Philemon Yang, president of the UN General Assembly, urged the body to take charge of resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, citing the paralysis of the UN Security Council

Good evening Middle East Eye readers. On Wednesday, Israel launched several major attacks across Gaza, leading to several massacres both in the north and south.

One Israeli bombing on al-Mawasi, an area that Israel had designated a humanitarian zone, killed at least 20 Palestinians and wounded dozens of others. Rescue crews could be seen pulling charred bodies from the site of the strike, including the burned bodies of children.

Another Israeli strike targeted an area in Gaza City. That air strike killed at least 25 Palestinians, and wounded another 50.

Around 70 Palestinians were killed in total across Gaza on Wednesday.

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

• Israeli security forces raided Al-Araby Hospital in the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, kidnapping a man who was wounded in an Israeli drone attack the day before. The security forces were disguised as doctors and nurses.

• Hamas' armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, released a video showing an operation in which its fighters targeted an Israeli tank using an improvised explosive device as well as rocket fire in Jabalia.

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the body of Israeli captive Itay Svirsky was recovered in a rescue operation in Gaza.

• Gaza's ministry of health said on Wednesday that more than 100 patients at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza are currently facing death. The hospital has been targeted several times by Israeli forces in recent days.

• The Palestinian Prisoners' Club said that Palestinian prisoner Muhammad Walid Hussein Ali, who was detained by Israel several days ago, has died while in Israeli detention.

• US President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy travelled to Israel and Qatar in a push to seal a ceasefire deal in Gaza before Trump’s inauguration in January.

• Two Palestinian-American sisters who are also students at George Mason University in Virginia had their home raided by the FBI. The house was searched for six hours and their electronic devices were seized.

• Hamas threatened that it would "neutralise" the captives in its possession if Israel Israel tried carrying out a hostage rescue operation similar to one conducted in Gaza's Nuseirat camp in June. That Israeli operation killed more than 200 people, making it one of the bloodiest Israeli assaults of the war.

• Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, announced it sold all its shares in Israel’s largest telecoms group, Bezeq, as it provides telecommunication services to illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

• An Israeli drone attack killed at least five children in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

• Palestinian officials revealed that Hamas and Fatah are nearing a historic agreement to establish a committee of politically independent technocrats to govern the Gaza Strip following the war.

US President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy travelled to Israel and Qatar in a push to seal a ceasefire deal in Gaza before Trump’s inauguration in January. 

Incoming Middle East envoy Steven Witkoff met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani in November, according to a report by Reuters, which cited an anonymous source.

The meetings underscore how American diplomacy's centre of gravity has shifted from the Biden administration to the incoming Trump administration ahead of Trump's inauguration next month.

Trump made ending wars in the Middle East a key part of his presidential campaign.

Read the full story by clicking below.

Trump's Middle East envoy travelled to Israel, Qatar for Gaza ceasefire talks: Report

Two Palestinian-American sisters who are also students at George Mason University (GMU) in Virginia had their home raided by the FBI. The house was searched for six hours and their electronic devices were seized, according to a new report by The Intercept on Tuesday.

More than a dozen police officers, as well as a member of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, arrived at the family home in Springfield, Virginia, a suburb outside of Washington, DC, in the early morning hours of 7 November and broke down the door. They forced the family to sit in the living room as the house was searched.

Officers refused to show the family a search warrant but told them the investigation concerned spray-painted graffiti on the GMU campus related to a protest against Israel's war on Gaza. At the time, the university had publicised a $2,000 reward for information on any suspects.

To read the full story, click below.

FBI raids home of Palestinian American over campus graffiti during Gaza protest

Israeli security forces on Wednesday raided Al-Araby hospital in the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, kidnapping a man who was wounded in an Israeli drone attack the day before.

According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, the Israeli forces were dressed in disguises that included doctors and nurses.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health condemned the raid, saying it was a "flagrant violation of all international laws".

According to the health ministry, the World Health Organisation has reported more than 600 Israeli attacks on healthcare facilities and workers in the occupied West Bank since the Israeli war on Gaza began on 7 October 2023.

Dressed as medical staff.

A while ago, Israeli military dressed as medical staff raided Alaraby Hospital in Nablus.

They stormed the ICU, drew their weapons, assaulted nurses, and abducted a patient who had been injured yesterday before in an Israeli attack near Tubas. pic.twitter.com/1LZvzLhKup

— Younis Tirawi | يونس (@ytirawi) December 4, 2024

Earlier on Wednesday, an Israeli strike on Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip killed at least 10 Palestinians, while wounding a further 50, according to the Gaza's civil defence.

The death toll from that strike has now increased to at least 25 Palestinians.

Hamas's armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, released a video on Wednesday showing an operation in which its fighters targeted an Israeli tank using an improvised explosive device as well as rocket fire in Jabalia, in northern Gaza.

The video also showed Palestinian fighters using rocket fire against a squad of Israeli soldiers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on X on Wednesday that the body of Israeli captive Itay Svirsky was recovered in a rescue operation in Gaza.

In January, Israel's military confirmed that Svirsky was dead.

Two days before his death was confirmed, Svirsky appeared in a video along with another captive, Noa Argamani - who was freed in an army operation in June - calling for the Israeli government to bring them home.

A day later, Hamas released another video showing Svirsky's dead body, with Argamani saying he was killed in an Israeli air strike.

Israel's army said Hamas was lying about how Svirsky was killed and accused Hamas of killing the captive.

Gaza's Ministry of Health said on Wednesday that more than 100 patients at the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza are currently facing death.

After repeated attempts, the World Health Organisation (WHO) was able to deploy an emergency medical team consisting of six staff to the hospital on 1 December, along with a fuel tank, some medical supplies, and meal kits.

However, Israel, in recent days, has stepped up its attacks on Kamal Adwan hospital, killing the director of its intensive care unit last week using a drone.

Another Israeli drone attack on Tuesday injured three medical staff on-site at the hospital.

At least 10 Palestinians were killed, and 50 others wounded, in an Israeli strike in Gaza City in northern Gaza on Wednesday, according to the Gaza civil defence.

The strike comes as Palestinians in the area of Beit Lahiya are being displaced by Israeli forces.

At least 55 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since dawn on Wednesday, Al Jazeera reported, citing medical sources in Gaza.