Live: Major clashes break out near Bethlehem after Israeli raid

Israeli occupation soldiers carried out a large-scale arrest raid in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, detaining 11 Palestinians in the village of Husan, west of Bethlehem.

Security sources told Wafa said Israeli troops stormed the village in the early hours, deploying across several neighbourhoods before carrying out the arrests.

Those detained were identified as Muhammad Nader Fakhri Sabateen, 18; Ali al-Zaoul, 20; Omar Sabateen; Amjad Shousha; Muhammad Hamamra; Mustafa Sabateen; Mehran Sabateen; Zaki Zaoul; Hamad Nader Sabateen; Ali Arafat Zaoul; and Rashid Samih Hamamra.

The arrests form part of a wider campaign of near-daily Israeli raids across the occupied West Bank, which have intensified alongside Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.

A year has passed since the fall of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. Many of the foreign players in Syria were attending the Doha Forum as Aleppo, Homs, Hama, and Damascus fell like a house of cards to advancing rebel forces. 

I was watching Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, as he took in the news from a television screen. Even the poker face of the world’s longest-serving foreign secretary could not hide what he was thinking. His face fell like a stone.

On stage as a “newsmaker”, Lavrov became irritably averse to being questioned about the news and demanded he talk about Ukraine instead.

No sooner had Abu Mohammad al-Jolani taken off his fatigues and become Ahmed al-Sharaa than the interim Syrian president was preaching peace.

Read more: How Israel's overreach in Syria could be its downfall

Israeli occupation soldiers carried out a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jericho on Thursday, detaining a Palestinian man, Wafa reported.

Eid Brahmeh, director of the Prisoner Club in Jericho and the Jordan Valley, told Wafa that Israeli forces stormed the city, raided a home and arrested Muhammad Ahmad Musa Jalayta after searching the property.

Israeli occupation soldiers carried out overnight raids near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, arresting one Palestinian and assaulting others, according to Wafa.

At dawn on Thursday, Israeli military vehicles entered al-Ain refugee camp, west of Nablus, where troops raided several homes, searched them and damaged property. During the operation, soldiers arrested Muhammad Yusuf Mahmoud Khaled from his home.

In a separate raid, Israeli forces stormed the village of Madama, south of Nablus. Security and local sources said troops broke into a number of houses, ransacked their contents and severely beat residents. No arrests were reported during the Madama operation.

Good morning, Middle East Eye readers,

Our live blog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning. 

Here are the day's key developments:

- At least one Palestinian has been killed and another injured in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said. The death toll since the 10 October ceasefire is now 394, with 1,075 injured, the ministry said.

- Another 17 Palestinians, including four children, died after buildings collapsed in the Gaza Strip due to the extreme cold, Al Jazeera reported, citing the Civil Defence in Gaza.

- Despite being battered by heavy rainfall and early winter storms for several weeks now, "winterisation supplies" remain "limited" in Gaza, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said in its daily report.

- Israeli forces have arrested at least 40 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank during raids on Wednesday, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS). A child and former prisoners were among those who were arrested, the advocacy group said.

- Dozens of displaced residents returned to the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank to retrieve their belongings before Israeli forces carry out the demolition of 25 residential buildings.

- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Wednesday that Israel has approved a natural gas agreement with Egypt, calling it the country's "largest ever", worth nearly $35b.

- The Metropolitan and Greater Manchester police forces have announced they will arrest people for chanting "globalise the intifada" or holding placards displaying the phrase. 

The United Nations and aid groups warned on Wednesday that humanitarian operations in the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly Gaza, were at risk of collapse if Israel does not lift impediments that include a "vague, arbitrary, and highly politicized" registration process.

Dozens of international aid groups face de-registration by 31 December, which means that they then have to close operations within 60 days, said the UN and more than 200 local and international aid groups in a joint statement.

"The deregistration of INGOs (international aid groups) in Gaza will have a catastrophic impact on access to essential and basic services," the statement read.

"INGOs run or support the majority of field hospitals, primary healthcare centers, emergency shelter responses, water and sanitation services, nutrition stabilization centers for children with acute malnutrition, and critical mine action activities," it said.

- Reporting by Reuters 

Backlash spread online after US President Donald Trump banned citizens of five African and Arab countries - including Syrians and Palestinian nationals - prompting sharp criticism from politicians and advocates.

The expansion, announced on Tuesday, adds 20 countries to Trump’s existing travel ban, bringing the total number of restricted nations to 39.

The order includes a full ban on Syrian nationals and explicitly targets individuals holding Palestinian Authority travel documents, alongside new restrictions affecting multiple African and Arab countries. 

The White House said the measures were aimed at safeguarding US national security and are set to take effect on 1 January.

Read more: Trump draws condemnation for expanding travel ban, barring Palestinians

Despite being battered by heavy rainfall and early winter storms for several weeks now, "winterisation supplies" remain "limited" in Gaza, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said in its daily report on Wednesday.

The agency said that 44 designated emergency shelters - 21 in Khan Younis, 22 in Gaza City, and one in North Gaza governorate - were severely flooded due to blocked drainage channels just this week. 

"This caused temporary disruptions in the delivery of drinking water and food, and some families were forced to relocate to bathrooms, administrative rooms, and temporary learning spaces due to damaged tents and soaked belongings," Ocha said.

"In total, 4,721 displaced people were affected, and more than 691 tents were damaged or impacted by flooding" on Monday and Tuesday, the agency reported.

"Site management teams responded promptly by mobilising residents to clean blocked manholes, rainfall gullies, rainwater discharge pipes and pump water from flooded areas into the drainage system."

Officials from the Gaza Health Ministry as well as the senior leadership of Hamas have complained for weeks that Israel is not allowing the entry of winter shelters that can withstand heavy winds and better protect against frigid temperatures. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Wednesday that Israel has approved a natural gas agreement with Egypt, calling it the country's "largest ever" gas deal.

The deal is worth nearly $35b, Netanyahu said in a live address.

"This deal with the American Chevron company, with Israeli partners, will supply gas to Egypt," he said.

The initial export agreement was signed back in August. 

The Jewish advocacy group J Street has called US President Donald Trump's addition of Palestinian passport holders to his travel ban on Tuesday "damaging and counterproductive".

“At a time when the Trump administration claims that it is working to advance the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal, its decision to bar Palestinian travel to the US is both deeply damaging and counterproductive," the statement read.

"Rather than advancing stability, this policy further delegitimizes and weakens the Palestinian Authority at the very moment when US policy should be focused on strengthening its capacity to sideline Hamas, improve governance, and help stabilize and secure Gaza and the West Bank."

J Street says it "was created to serve as the political home and voice for pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy Americans".

The Austrian public broadcaster ORF, host of the 2026 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, has confirmed it will not censor out any booing aimed at Israel’s performance, as has happened in previous competitions. 

The pop music spectacle, which attracts over 100 million viewers annually, is facing its biggest crisis to date over Israel’s inclusion despite growing international boycott calls and high-profile walkouts.

Five European countries, including Spain and the Netherlands, have already said they will boycott the event over Israel's presence due to the genocide in Gaza. 

Stefanie Groiss-Horowitz, ORF’s director of programming, said on Tuesday that the sound of any booing from the crowd would not be drowned out - a practice observed during Israel's performance in this year's semi-final performance by Yuval Raphael.

Read more: Eurovision announces it won't censor boos against Israel amid boycott calls

The Israeli army advanced in the countryside of Quneitra, south of Damascus, the Syrian news agency Sana reported on Wednesday. 

A convoy of four military vehicles entered Quneitra and set up a temporary checkpoint, marking the latest violation of the 1974 disengagement agreement between Syria and Israel, days after the Israeli army fired on and arrested civilians.

Twelve Palestinian prisoners from Gaza have been released from Israeli detention, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office announced on Telegram on Wednesday. It added that the Red Cross will receive them at the Karem Abu Salem crossing.

The Israeli army has claimed to have misfired a mortar shell and missed a target, Haaretz reported on Wednesday. The shelling killed at least one Palestinian and wounded several more.