Live: Israeli forces withdraw from Netzarim Corridor

The director of Gaza's last functioning hospital is being held at Israel's notorious Sde Teiman prison, where abuse - including torture, murder and rape - is rife, recently released detainees have said.

Hussam Abu Safiya has not been seen in public since Friday, when Israeli forces stormed the bombed-out Kamal Adwan Hospital following a nearly three-month blockade of northern Gaza.

All medical staff, patients and their relatives were taken out of the hospital at gunpoint, forced to strip down to their underwear and transferred to an unknown location.

The last photo of Abu Safiya showed him walking alone towards a row of Israeli tanks that had amassed outside the facility.

On Saturday, the Israeli military said - without providing any evidence - that it was holding Abu Safiya on suspicions of "being a Hamas terrorist operative".

On Sunday, several former detainees at Sde Teiman, a military prison in Israel's Negev desert, said the director and other medics from Kamal Adwan were being kept there.

Read more: Gaza hospital chief held at notorious Sde Teiman prison, released detainees say

Hamas has issued a statement condemning the arrest of Hussam Abu Safiya during an Israeli raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital, Al Jazeera reported.

“We hold the Zionist occupation fully responsible for the safety of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya and all nurses and paramedics who share the same unknown fate after being abducted by occupation forces,” the Palestinian group said.

Hamas also cited reports of mistreatment and abuse against those detained during the raid.

A dew drop fell from a tent onto Yahya Muhammed al-Batran’s nose and woke him to the news that his newborn son, one half of a pair of twin brothers, had frozen to death overnight on Sunday.

Originally from Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, Batran’s wife had given birth a month earlier and the children’s first home was a makeshift tent for the displaced, patched over with blankets, in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

The rudimentary protection from the winter cold and the lack of appropriate clothing meant the boys were at risk from the outset.

Recalling the discovery that his child had died, Batran said: “My wife was awake. I asked her what was wrong, and she pointed to Jumaa and shook her head. 

“She said, ‘Ali seems half alive, but Jumaa, I’ve been trying to wake him for a while, and he won’t wake up.’ 

“She said that his head felt like ice. He was pale and completely lifeless.”

Batran wrapped his son in a blanket and rushed to the al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah.

“When I got there, the doctor said, ‘May God grant you patience; he’s dead.”

Read more: Born in the heat of war, dead from the cold: Gaza's children are freezing to death

The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Hussam Abu Safiya, who was arrested during an Israeli raid that shut down the last major functioning healthcare facility in northern Gaza, is being held at a military base that also operates as a detention centre, according to a report by CNN, which cited accounts from released detainees. 

“Two Palestinian prisoners released this weekend from the facility said they saw Abu Safiya at the prison, and another former detainee said he heard Abu Safiya's name being read out,” the report said.

The Israeli army has confirmed the arrest, alleging that Abu Safiya is a “Hamas terrorist operative” and the Kamal Adwan Hospital was being used as a “command centre”. However, the military has not presented evidence for its claims.

Israeli troops stormed the hospital on Friday following nearly three months of a suffocating blockade and constant air strikes targeting the facility and its surroundings. 

The bombardment caused fires in several hospital departments, resulting in the deaths and injuries of Palestinian medical staff and patients.

All remaining medical personnel, patients and their families were forced out of the hospital at gunpoint, stripped to their underwear and taken to an undisclosed location.

The health ministry in Gaza said on Monday that 27 people were killed in the Palestinian territory in the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll of the war to 45,541.

The ministry also said in a statement that at least 108,338 people had been wounded since October 7, 2023.

Medical sources reported that the twin of the child who died yesterday also succumbed to the cold on Monday morning, bringing the total number of infant deaths due to freezing temperatures to six in a week, Wafa news agency reported.

One-month-old Ali al-Batran, the twin brother of Juma, who died a day earlier in a tent in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, succumbed to the harsh conditions.

Earlier this week, four newborns aged between four and 21 days also died from the low temperatures and harsh conditions.

Sources said food insecurity among mothers is causing more children to fall ill, further worsening the already dire health crisis in the region.

Muhammad Abu Afash, director of medical relief for Gaza and North Gaza, said children are dying daily due to the severe cold and a lack of essentials such as food, water and baby formula. He added that there are no proper tents, blankets, clothes or food for children.

Hundreds of tents in displacement camps across the Gaza Strip were flooded last night and this morning due to heavy rains, Wafa news agency reported.

Displaced residents, particularly in Deir al-Balah, al-Mawasi and Khan Younis in southern Gaza, endured a gruelling night as their tents were inundated with rainwater and battered by strong winds.

Since 7 October 2023, approximately two million displaced people have been forced to live in makeshift tents that fail to meet basic living standards following the destruction of their homes by Israeli forces. These structures offer little protection against the cold winter or harsh frost.

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, has warned of an "approaching famine" in Gaza, where residents are grappling with severe food insecurity and a critical shortage of humanitarian aid amid the ongoing Israeli war, now in its 14th month.

In a series of posts on X yesterday evening, Unrwa said its teams are working to deliver aid to those in need but emphasised that the assistance is "far from sufficient".

The agency highlighted the worsening food insecurity in Gaza and called for "international cooperation and an immediate ceasefire to ensure the delivery of life-saving aid".

Israeli forces have arrested two Palestinians from the town of Tuqu in the occupied West Bank. The men, aged 19 and 23, were detained a day after another man from the same town was arrested, Wafa news agency reported.

Israeli raids were also reported in the town of Beitunia, located west of Ramallah, the city of Yatta, situated south of Hebron, the town of Anata, northeast of Jerusalem, the town of Qaffin, near Tulkarm, and the city of Nablus.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, demanded the immediate release of the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, stressing that critically injured patients displaced to a non-functioning hospital do not have access to healthcare.

Ghebreyesus said WHO and its partners have delivered food, water and basic medical supplies to the Indonesian Hospital and transferred 10 critical patients to the nearby al-Shifa Hospital. However, Israeli forces detained four patients during the transfer.

"Seven patients, along with 15 caregivers and health workers, remain at the severely damaged Indonesian Hospital, which has no ability to provide care," the WHO chief said, adding that al-Ahli hospital and el-Wafa rehabilitation hospital in Gaza City had also been damaged in the recent attacks.

"We repeat: stop attacks on hospitals. People in Gaza need access to healthcare. Humanitarians need access to provide health aid. Ceasefire," he said.

Hospitals in #Gaza have once again become battlegrounds and the health system is under severe threat.

Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern #Gaza is out of service — following the raid, forced patient and staff evacuation and the detention of its director, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya two…

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) December 30, 2024

The United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, said: “All of us must do all we can to save the Kamal Adwan Hospital’s director.

“For each Palestinian life that should and could have been saved in Gaza, we have been put to the test. And we have failed, over and over. We must not fail again,” she wrote on X.

For each Palestinian life that should and could have been saved in Gaza, we have been put to the test. And we have failed, over and over. We must not fail again.
All of us must do all we can to save Dr Abu Safiya.#FreeDrHussamAbuSafiya https://t.co/FM3kFohXvh pic.twitter.com/uzixrKGAqQ

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) December 29, 2024

Good morning, Middle East Eye readers, 

Here are the latest updates from Israel's war on Gaza:  

• An open briefing is scheduled to take place later today at the UN headquarters, according to the non-profit Security Council Report.

• Survivors of Israel’s raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital report “deliberate killings, field executions and assaults on women and girls”, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said.

• The Biden administration is under fire following the retraction of a US-backed report on famine in the Gaza Strip last week, sparking allegations of political interference and pro-Israel bias.

• Qatar and Saudi Arabia condemned Israeli settlers who stormed Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday and performed Talmudic rituals.

• Israeli forces conducted "large-scale" bombings in southern Lebanon, local media reported, while rescue workers continue to search for those missing due to Israel's assault on the area.

Good evening Middle East Eye readers,

Our live coverage from Gaza will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are some of the day's key developments:

• Israeli forces have killed at least 45,514 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023

• Latest Health Ministry figures on Sunday showed that 108,189 Palestinians had been wounded by Israel's military offensive against Gaza

• Medical sources have reported that Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since early Sunday have claimed the lives of 30 Palestinians, with half of the casualties occurring in the northern part of the besiged enclave

• A newborn Palestinian baby who was 30 days old died in Gaza from hypothermia on Sunday

• The Israeli military announced on Sunday that it would not allow the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza to resume operations following a raid by Israeli forces

• An Israeli air strike near Syria’s capital, Damascus, has killed 11 people, according to a war monitor, as Israel continues its military operations targeting Syrian infrastructure

• Israel is facing significant challenges in addressing the Houthis, as it grapples with limited intelligence about the group's leadership and weapon stockpiles, analysts told The New York Times

• Egyptian sources have warned that ceasefire negotiations could collapse due to Israel’s actions, as reported by Al Arabiya on Sunday

• Palestinian journalist Islam Badr has reported shocking claims of torture by Israeli soldiers against Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital

• Amnesty International has expressed "extreme concern" over the fate and wellbeing of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, who was abudcted by Israeli forces during a raid on the hospital on 27 December. The organisation is calling for his "immediate and unconditional" release

• The family of Dr Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, has issued an urgent plea for his release after his abudction by Israeli forces during a raid on the hospital on Friday

• Ireland’s Foreign Minister, Michael Martin, has renewed his calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, expressing grave concern over the intensifying violence and Israel’s recent attack on Kamal Adwan Hospital

Herzi Halevi, Israel’s military chief of staff, has declared that the onslough in Gaza is set to drag on, with no clear end in sight.

Speaking at a ceremony for wounded soldiers at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv, Halevi described what international human rights organisations have called a genocide as “a long war” and emphasised that its conclusion is not foreseeable.

Despite the ongoing toll, Halevi claimed that the Israeli forces have achieved victories, including the defeat of Hamas' military wing and the complete rout of Hezbollah.

Jimmy Carter, the 39th US president and driving force behind the Camp David Accords, which eventually led to the Israel-Egypt peace treaty in 1979, died on 29 December 2024 at the age of 100, surrounded by his family at his home in Plains, Georgia, said the Carter Centre.

Although only in power for one term, from 1977 until 1980, Carter’s policies and actions during several pivotal events in the Middle East have had a lasting impact on the region and represented some of his biggest triumphs and challenges.

“Jimmy Carter deserves much more credit for his presidency than he has been given and particularly his role in the Middle East,” said Bruce Riedel, former CIA analyst and a nonresident senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution.

“In many ways, you could say the modern Middle East was shaped by Jimmy Carter.”

Carter, one of only four US presidents to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, was born in 1924 in Plains, Georgia, a small farming town where his father, Earl, worked as a businessman and his mother, Lillian, as a nurse at the hospital where he was born. 

Read more: Jimmy Carter: The US president who shaped the modern Middle East dies aged 100