Live: Israeli forces withdraw from Netzarim Corridor

The Israeli army reportedly “kidnapped” a man during an incursion into the town of Tebnine in southern Lebanon, according to the country’s National News Agency.

The man was on his way to work at the Indonesian battalion centre, which is part of United Nations Interim Force In LebanonUnifil, located in the town of Adshit al-Qusayr in the Marjayoun District.

The Israeli military has yet to comment on the incident, and the UN force in southern Lebanon has not provided specific details.

Unifil issued a statement urging that “any actions that jeopardize the fragile cessation of hostilities must cease.”

Statement:

Any actions that risk the fragile cessation of hostilities must cease.

Israel and Lebanon have recommitted to full implementation of Security Council resolution 1701.

— UNIFIL (@UNIFIL_) December 26, 2024

Photographer Omar al-Jadi has documented the moments after a precise Israeli military air strike targeted his journalist brother Ayman and his four colleagues who were inside in their vehicle marked as “press” in central Gaza.

“Guys, Ayman is inside, Ayman... my brother is martyred,” he shouted in the video as he helplessly filmed the burning van. 

 

 

 

 

Bu gönderiyi Instagram'da gör

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OMAR NIHAD 📜 عُمر (@omar_al_gedi)'in paylaştığı bir gönderi

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said he “went up to our holy place this morning to pray for the safety of our soldiers, for the speedy return of all those kidnapped and for complete victory with God’s help” in a post on X on Thursday morning.

Ben Gvir also shared a photo of himself surrounded by armed soldiers as he entered the holy Muslim site.

The Israeli minister previously said that if he could, he would build a synagogue on the site of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and has stormed the complex multiple times.

Under a longstanding international agreement, Jews are not allowed to pray at the site.

עליתי הבוקר למקום מקדשנו, לתפילה לשלום חיילנו, להחזרת כל החטופים במהרה ולניצחון המוחלט בעזרת השם. pic.twitter.com/uSBQCk64aZ

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) December 26, 2024

Israel’s foreign ministry summoned the Vatican’s top diplomat for discussions following recent comments by Pope Francis accusing Israel of “cruelty” in Gaza, according to Israeli news outlet Ynet.

The summons, which took place on Tuesday, was described as an expression of Israel’s disappointment rather than a formal rebuke. There has been no immediate confirmation of the report.

Pope Francis had repeatedly criticised Israel, particularly over the killing of Palestinian children.

“And with pain, I think of Gaza, of so much cruelty, of the children being machine-gunned, of the bombings of schools and hospitals. What cruelty,” he had said on Saturday.

The killing of five journalists earlier today by Israel has raised the total number of media workers killed in Gaza since the start of the war to 201, Gaza's government media office said on Thursday.

The office strongly condemned Israel’s "targeting, killing and assassination of Palestinian journalists", adding: “We hold the Israeli occupation, the US administration, and countries involved in the crime of genocide, such as the UK, Germany and France, fully responsible for this brutal act.”

It also called on the international community and organisations to pursue legal action against Israel in international courts and hold those responsible to account.

“We also call for serious and effective pressure to stop the genocide, protect journalists and media workers in Palestine, and end the killing and assassination of journalists,” the statement added.

The Israeli army has confirmed that it carried out "a precise strike" on a press vehicle in Gaza and killed five Al-Quds Today journalists.

The military said the strike targeted a "terrorist cell inside in the area of Nuseirat" and the individuals were linked to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement but provided no evidence to back up its claims.

The journalists were reportedly sleeping in the van in front of the al-Awda Hospital in the Nusierat refugee camp when the air strike occurred in the early hours of this morning.

The Palestinian TV channel identified the five journalists as Faisal Abu al-Qumsan, Ayman al-Jadi, Ibrahim al-Sheikh Khalil, Fadi Hassouna and Mohammed al-Ladaa.

They were killed "while performing their journalistic and humanitarian duty", the outlet's statement said.

"We affirm our commitment to continue our resistant media message," it said.

Five media workers lost their lives in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a bus for the press in front of Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, they are:
Fadi Hassouna
Ibrahim Al-Sheikh Ali
Mohammed Al-Ladah
Faisal Abu Al-Qumsan
Ayman Al-Jadi pic.twitter.com/uy5DosZIcI

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) December 26, 2024

Good morning, Middle East Eye readers, 

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

• Five journalists working for the Palestinian TV channel Al-Quds Today were killed Thursday in an Israeli strike on their vehicle, the outlet said in a statement.

• Juliette Touma, director of communications for the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), described northern Gaza as going through “the hell of the hell" during Israel’s nearly three-month-long siege.

• The Israeli military has confirmed it attacked a media vehicle marked as press in Gaza and killed five journalists working for Al-Quds Today, claiming its air forces had targeted a “terrorist cell”.

• Israeli forces detonated an explosives-laden robot near the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, wounding a nurse, the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) reported.

• The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fews Net) has withdrawn a report released on Monday that warned famine was occurring in northern Gaza due to Israel’s near-total blockade on supplies entering the territory.

• At least 10 people, including five journalists, were killed and more than a dozen wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza early on Thursday, medics with the Palestinian health authorities said.

• Doctors report that at least three Palestinian infants have died from hypothermia over the past two days while sheltering in tents in southern Khan Younis as temperatures drop sharply across the Gaza Strip.

Good evening Middle East Eye readers. On Wednesday, hopes of achieving a ceasefire in Gaza were dimmed after Hamas said that Israel had imposed new conditions, which have led to delays in achieving a deal.

The conditions reportedly pertain to the withdrawal from Gaza, the Israeli hostages and the return of displaced Palestinians.

In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas was lying, and said that the Palestinian group is "reneging on understandings that have already been reached".

Amid the public spat around the negotiations, Israel's military continued its bombardment of Gaza on Wednesday, killing dozens of Palestinians in the process.

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

• Al-Qassam Brigades released a video showing a Palestinian fighter targeting an Israeli soldier using sniper fire. The armed wing of Hamas also said it was able to target an Israeli helicopter with rocket fire.

• An Israeli bombing of the Zeitoun neighbourhood in Gaza City killed at least five Palestinians and wounded another 20. Videos shared on social media showed rescue crews pulling out the bodies of several dead children from the rubble of the bombing.

• Three Palestinian babies have frozen to death in Gaza, including a three-week-old infant, Sila, whose parents found her unconscious in their tent on Wednesday morning in Mawasi, an area west of Khan Younis.

• After firing a ballistic missile on central Israel earlier on Wednesday, the Houthi movement in Yemen announced it had launched two drone attacks on areas near Tel Aviv and Ashkelon, and said that both of the attacks were successful.

• In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces killed a young man in Qaffin, an area just north of Tulkarm, where Israel on Tuesday launched a military raid.

• Israeli security forces also demolished a park in Nahalin, which is located west of Bethlehem.

• An initiative funded by USAID has taken down a report on its website that sounded the alarm about tens of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza at risk of death under Israeli siege. The report was taken down after the Israeli ambassador to the US criticised it. Read more here.

An initiative funded by the US agency overseeing foreign aid, USAID, has taken down a report on its website that sounded the alarm about tens of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza at risk of death under Israeli siege. 

The report was published on Monday and used figures provided by the United Nations.

According to the news outlet Jewish Insider, which initially reported on the report's withdrawal, the report described a "near-total blockade of humanitarian and commercial food supplies to besieged areas of North Gaza Governorate," and stated that 65,000 to 75,000 civilians remained in the area, "including civilians who have been unable to or prevented from evacuating".

The US ambassador to Israel, Jacob Lew, quickly reprimanded the report on social media. 

Read the full story by clicking below.

READ MORE: Gaza famine warning withdrawn after US diplomat scolds USAID-funded group

Haaretz is reporting that the Israeli military is preparing to possibly keep its forces in southern Lebanon after the 60-day period that was agreed to in the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah.

The report said that if the Lebanese army didn't achieve full control of southern Lebanon, then Israel's forces would stay in the area.

Lebanon has accused Israel of repeatedly violating the ceasefire agreement, including on Wednesday when Israel's military conducted an air strike on Baalbek, a city in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley.

A three-week-old Palestinian infant froze to death overnight on Tuesday in the Mawasi area in southern Gaza. 

Doctors in Gaza told the Associated Press that this is the third baby to die due to cold temperatures in just the past few days.

The infant's father told the AP that their tent was not sealed from the wind and the ground was cold.

On Wednesday morning, the baby, Sila, was found unresponsive and by the time doctors had reached her, Sila's lungs had deteriorated and she was declared dead from hypothermia.

“It was very cold overnight and as adults we couldn’t even take it. We couldn’t stay warm,” he said, noting that Sila woke up crying three times in the night.

Several reports are stating that an Israeli raid on the Zeitoun neighbourhood in Gaza City has killed at least five Palestinians.

Another 20 Palestinians were wounded in the attack.

Israeli security forces shot dead a young Palestinian man on Wednesday night in the town of Qaffin, which is located north of Tulkarm.

According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, the man, Ahmed Mahmoud Khaled Amarneh, was killed by Israeli fire after security forces besieged his house.

With the killing of Amarneh, 25, the death toll from Israel's raid on Tulkarm that began on Tuesday is now nine Palestinians.

The Houthi movement in Yemen, officially known as Ansar Allah, said in a statement on Wednesday that its forces carried out two drone attacks on Israeli targets.

The first one was launched at a "vital and sensitive target" of Israel's military in the area of Tel Aviv, while the second was carried out in the area of Ashkelon.

Ansar Allah has begun to carry out more direct attacks in Israel in recent months, after launching a naval blockade last year aimed at stopping Israel-linked ships from travelling through the Red Sea.

That blockade led to a series of confrontations with the US, which earlier this year began launching air strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.

Hamas' armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, shared a video on its Telegram channel on Wednesday showing one of its fighters targeting an Israeli soldier with sniper fire.

The fire appears to hit the soldier, who is seen collapsing to the ground.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.