Live: Major clashes break out near Bethlehem after Israeli raid

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.

As seen from satellite imagery, nearly half of all the buildings in the camp, 48 percent, have already been destroyed by Israeli forces. 

AFP reported that under Israeli army monitoring, Palestinians salvaged items ranging from furniture and toys to water tanks and family photos. Troops only permitted those whose homes were slated for demolition to enter after ID checks and searches. 

Unrwa reports that over 32,000 people remain displaced from the now-empty, military-occupied camp.

Israeli forces have begun removing dozens of olive trees south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, Wafa news agency reported on Wednesday. This follows previous notices of planned tree removals, which will result in the destruction of around 500 mature olive trees.

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

They said on Wednesday: "Violent acts have taken place, the context has changed - words have meaning and consequence. We will act decisively and make arrests."

The announcement comes days after the devastating massacre that killed at least 15 people and wounded 40 on Bondi Beach in Australia. The attack is widely considered as antisemitic as it targeted Jewish people celebrating the first night of Hanukkah.

The two police forces said: "We know communities are concerned about placards and chants such as 'globalise the intifada' and those using it at future protests or in a targeted way should expect" the two forces "to take action".

Read more: British police forces to make arrests over 'globalise the intifada' chants

Israeli air strikes have killed at least one Palestinian and wounded nine others in central Gaza, outside an Israeli military deployment area, local sources report.

A Palestine Action-affiliated prisoner on hunger strike reported to be in “imminent danger” has been refused an ambulance by British prison staff.

Friends report that Qesser Zuhrah, who has entered day 46 of her food refusal, is in “imminent danger” and no longer able to stand. 

But HMP Bronzefield has refused their repeated requests to call an ambulance. Her friends have repeatedly called the South East Coast Ambulance Service, but were told that if one were sent, the prison would turn it away.

A spokesperson for the ambulance service told Middle East Eye that they would “not send an ambulance to attend a prison at the request of a third party but would instead work with the prison health team to establish if a response is required”.

Ella Moulsdale, Zuhrah’s next of kin, told MEE that she has been on the phone to her since 5pm yesterday, “trying to help her breathe through the pain”.

Read more: Prison denies ambulance to Palestine Action hunger striker in ‘life-threatening state’ 

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 in a statement.

The recent update brought the enclave’s death toll since the 10 October ceasefire to 394, with 1,075 injured, the ministry said.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed a total of 70,668 Palestinians and injured 171,152 since 7 October, 2023, the ministry said.

US President Donald Trump’s new National Security Strategy (NSS) has stirred heated debate about Washington’s future posture in the world, its strong anti-liberal ideological footprint, and the prospects for transatlantic relations as the Russia-Ukraine war reaches a critical stage.

The new vision is part of a wider rejection of the post-Cold War order. It moves away from the “democracy versus autocracy” framework outlined by the Biden administration just three years ago, and explicitly rejects the goal of “permanent American domination” in favour of “global and regional balances of power”.

Among the regions where this balance assumes a critical importance is the Middle East, where the new doctrine seems relevant not for what it says, but mainly for what it does not.

Read more: Trump's national security plan declares end to Middle East wars. But is it for real? Opinion by Marco Carnelos

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.

The raids took place in the governorates of Salfit, Jenin, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Nablus, Tulkarm and Hebron.

According to the group, Israeli forces have arrested more than 21,000 Palestinians since October 2023.

On stage in a theatre in London’s Kings Cross, a disturbed man, his face partially covered with tape and a mask, explains a thesis about the human brain to the audience. 

Waseem Khair, the Palestinian actor and filmmaker, wears a doctor’s white coat, and a long key chain hangs around his neck. His movements and his appearance are clown-like - both tragic and comic. 

He explains in Arabic how the primitive, lizard part of the brain, the 400 million-year-old amygdala, still controls much of the brutal, instinctive behaviour of humans - “the strong kick ass, the weak lick ass”.

“It is not the world which makes us suffer, but the way that we look at it,” he says.

Read more: In the Shadow of the Martyr: The neuroscience of occupation and why art in Palestine is resistance

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

The Israeli military announced killing one person in an attack yesterday in the Taybeh area of southern Lebanon, claiming he was a Hezbollah member.

The army accused the individual of “collecting intelligence" regarding IDF [Israeli army] activity in southern Lebanon and taking part in "Hezbollah’s attempts to re-establish its infrastructure”.

There was no immediate reaction from Hezbollah. 

Since the “ceasefire” began on 27 November 2024, Israel has carried out more than 10,000 violations of Lebanese sovereignty,  including more than 7,500 air violations and 2,500 ground violations, alongside repeated naval breaches, assassinations and systematic destruction.

We earlier reported that a special forces unit, accompanied by military reinforcements, stormed the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, raided a house and turned it into a military post on Wednesday

Wafa news agency is reporting that two Palestinians were injured after being brutally assaulted by Israeli soldiers in the city.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said that its crews transferred two injured Palestinians after they were attacked and beaten up by the Israeli army in eastern Jenin.

Israeli special forces raided the eastern neighbourhood of Jenin city at dawn on Wednesday, carrying out widespread arrests, Wafa news agency reported, citing local sources.

The local sources said the forces were followed by military reinforcements arriving from the Jalameh checkpoint, raided a house and turned it into a military post, while surrounding another home.

The Jenin Education Directorate said it had delayed the start of classes on Wednesday at government and private schools and kindergartens to ensure the safety of students.

The United Nations aid coordination office (Ocha) warned on Tuesday that humanitarian assistance to Gaza is being delayed because aid cargo is routinely given lower priority than commercial goods, as winter storms further worsen already dire living conditions for displaced families.

“Despite sustained efforts by the UN and its partners...we continue to provide a response, but the needs outpace the speed with which we can respond,” Olga Cherevko, an Ocha spokesperson, said, according to the UN News website.

“Inside Gaza, the number of routes available for transporting aid remains limited, as do the crossings through which supplies can enter."

She added that a growing list of items, including heavy machinery, equipment, and spare parts needed to repair damaged infrastructure, continues to be blocked by Israeli authorities

Good morning, Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates:

• Heavy rains caused by severe weather flooded tents housing displaced people in the Atatra area of Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip.

• Civil defense crews rescued six people, including two children, from the Dabbash family after the roof of their home collapsed due to severe weather in the Beach Refugee Camp, west of Gaza City.

• Trump's meeting with the Pakistani army chief in the coming weeks is likely to focus on the international stabilisation force in Gaza, Reuters reported, citing two sources.

• Israeli strikes target areas where the Israeli army is deployed in the Al-Tuffah and Al-Zaytoun neighbourhoods, east of Gaza City, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

• Israeli settlers burn vehicles and write racist slogans in the village of Ein Yabrud, Ramallah district, in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.