Live: Major clashes break out near Bethlehem after Israeli raid

Israeli forces launched raids in the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin, Wafa news agency reported.

According to local media, the Israeli military deployed snipers and stormed the town with a bulldozer and army vehicles on Friday evening.

168 Palestinian doctors graduated with advanced medical certifications in a ceremony held in the rubble of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, Al Jazeera reported.

Dubbed the “Humanity Cohort,” the doctors had prepared for their examinations while working in Gaza’s hospitals throughout Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza. 

According to Al Jazeera, some of the graduating doctors had been injured, arrested, or had family members killed.

The ceremony also featured empty chairs with photographs of healthcare workers who had been killed during the genocide.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered for Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque amid “strict military measures,” according to Wafa news agency.

Wafa reported that Israeli forces posted outside of the gates of the mosque stopped and searched those entering and blocked people ahead of the prayers.

An armed Israeli settler deliberately ran over a Palestinian on Thursday while he was praying in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.

The incident, which occurred in the village of Deir Jarir, was carried out by a suspect who is also a reserve soldier. 

In footage circulating online, a man is seen praying on the side of the road before the settler drives a vehicle over him. 

Citing medical sources, Al Jazeera reported that the unnamed young man sustained injuries and bruises that required him to be admitted to the hospital.

According to a statement published by the Israeli army, occupation authorities separately received a report of a shooting committed by an Israeli citizen and reserve soldier, who was dressed in civilian clothing, in the village.

Read more: Armed Israeli settler runs over praying Palestinian in Ramallah

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics and the Palestine Monetary Authority announced that the Palestinian economy “remains deeply mired in recession during 2025,” according to a joint press release published earlier this week. 

While the economy increased by 4 percent in 2025 as compared to 2024, the report cited a 24% decline in GDP in comparison to 2023. 

“This decline reflects the scale of the cumulative damage inflicted on the economy since the start of the Israeli occupation aggression on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which led to the deterioration of productive capacity and the persistence of bottlenecks in economic activities,” the report stated.

The agencies predict that the Palestinian economy will increase by 4.1 to 4.5 percent in 2026, following a path of “gradual recovery.”

Hamas has called on Israel to allow an impartial international investigation into its attack on 7 October 2023 and has rejected that it killed civilians or committed atrocities. 

The Palestinian group published a 42-page document on Friday, which laid out its account of 7 October, as well as details on Israel’s subsequent genocide and Hamas’ view on what comes next in the enclave. 

Around 1,200 Israelis were killed when Hamas and other groups launched a surprise attack on southern Israel over two years ago. A further 251 people were taken to Gaza as captives. 

In the new document, Hamas said that “Western media and Zionist lobby groups” had launched a disinformation campaign about the events of the attack. 

Read more: Hamas calls on Israel to allow impartial investigation into 7 October attacks

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Friday that he had instructed the Israeli military to act “forcefully and immediately” against the northern West Bank village of Qabatiya. 

The comments came as Israeli news outlets reported that the perpetrator of an attack in Israel that killed two people was Ahmad Abu al-Rub, a 37-year-old from Qabatiya.

Two people were killed on Friday after an attacker rammed a 68-year-old man and then stabbed a young woman at two separate locations in northern Israel, local media reported.

Israel Police chief Danny Levy said the attacker was killed.

Two people were killed on Friday after an attacker rammed a 68-year-old man and then stabbed a young woman at two separate locations in northern Israel, local media reported.

Israel Police chief Danny Levy said the attacker was killed.

Israeli news outlets identified him as Ahmad Abu al-Rub, a 37-year-old from the northern West Bank town of Qabatiya. 

Israeli police on Friday released the Israeli settler who deliberately ran over a Palestinian while he was praying in Ramallah, after briefly questioning him, Israeli media reported.

Police had announced on Thursday that they arrested and questioned a reserve soldier after footage circulating online showed a man praying by the roadside before the settler drove a vehicle over him, Haaretz said.

The soldier was later released and placed under house arrest for five days, according to the newspaper.

Al Jazeera reported that the unnamed Palestinian man sustained injuries and bruises that required him to be admitted to the hospital.

Israeli settlers on Friday began ploughing Palestinian-owned lands in the town of Turmus Ayya, northeast of Ramallah, local media reported. 

Witnesses told Wafa news agency that a group of settlers stormed the area and began ploughing a 2.5-hectare plot planted with olive trees, in an effort to expand a settler outpost recently established near the town.

They added that settlers had uprooted around 1,000 olive saplings in the area the previous night.

Palestinian Christians tell the story of their expulsion from their homes by Israeli forces in 1948 in a resurfaced 2013 documentary titled The Stones Cry Out.

Palestinian Christians tell the story of their expulsion from their homes by Israeli forces in 1948 in a resurfaced 2013 documentary titled The Stones Cry Out. pic.twitter.com/9IwScI9YnQ

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) December 26, 2025

Israeli settlers on Friday attacked Palestinian farmers near the town of Deir Istiya in the occupied West Bank and briefly detained several of them, Wafa news agency reported. 

Settlers from a nearby outpost assaulted mushroom gatherers while they were in the area, Wafa news reported. 

The report said settlers also broke into the eastern outskirts of Salfit earlier on Friday. 

The Israeli army on Friday opened machine-gun fire towards areas in Syria’s southern Quneitra countryside, Syrian state media reported. 

Israeli forces fired medium-calibre machine guns from the Western Tal Ahmar position towards the Eastern Tal Ahmar in the southern rural Quneitra province, state-run al-Ekhbariya reported. 

Israeli forces have carried out repeated incursions into Syria in recent weeks, attacking civilians, destroying forest areas and setting up checkpoints. 

Israel also continues to carry out near-daily strikes in Lebanon despite a ceasefire that came into force in November last year. 

A Palestinian child was wounded by Israeli gunfire near al-Sikka Street in Shujaiya neighbourhood, east of Gaza City, according to local media.

The Palestinian health ministry on Thursday said that the number of Palestinians killed due to the Israeli genocidal war since 7 October 2023 has risen to 70,942, while the number of wounded has reached 171,195. 

The Israeli army said on Friday that it killed three Palestinians near the yellow zone controlled by Israel, saying they posed a threat to its soldiers. 

Israeli forces also launched raids on several areas in the central and southern Gaza, coinciding with artillery shelling from its helicopters, Al Jazeera Arabic reported. 

The report said that in the Shujaiya and Tuffah neighbourhoods in eastern Gaza City, Israeli forces conducted air strikes.

Israeli shelling also targeted areas east of Khan Younis city, especially the Bani Suheila area, where the Israeli army demolished Palestinian homes.