Live: Major clashes break out near Bethlehem after Israeli raid

The US is examining whether Israel violated a Gaza ceasefire by assassinating a senior Hamas official, President Donald Trump said on Monday.

Raad Saad was killed alongside three others on Saturday when his car was targeted near al-Nabulsi square in western Gaza City, according to Israeli media reports.

Saad was a senior member of al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing. He was said to be second in rank only to the group's latest military chief, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, according to Reuters.

Israel has repeatedly violated a ceasefire that was signed on 10 October and guaranteed by Egypt, Qatar and the US.

Over 350 Palestinians have been killed by Israel, according to what Gaza’s Government Media Office says are at least 738 violations.

Read more: Trump says US to investigate Israel's assassination of Hamas official as ceasefire violation

The head of Israel’s Prison Service warns that Israeli jails are close to a dangerous escalation, as conditions for Palestinian captives continue to deteriorate amid the ongoing war.

Appearing before the Knesset’s National Security Committee on Tuesday, Prison Service chief Kobi Yaakobi says tensions inside security wings are reaching a breaking point, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

“There’s a sense that the war is [ongoing] at a low intensity,” Yaakobi tells lawmakers, linking developments inside prisons to Israel’s broader military campaign.

He says the situation behind bars is especially volatile, adding, “I can say with certainty that, inside the prisons, we’re on the verge of [a violent escalation].”

Rights groups have repeatedly warned that Israel’s prison system has become another front in the war, with Palestinian prisoners facing intensified repression, collective punishment and worsening conditions since Israel’s genocide in Gaza. 

Qatar strongly denounced Israel’s decision to approve the construction of 19 settlements in the occupied West Bank, calling the move as a clear breach of international law and a direct assault on Palestinian rights.

In a statement, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the expansion violates multiple international resolutions, including UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which deems Israeli settlements illegal under international law.

Doha urged the international community to meet its legal and moral obligations by taking concrete steps to force Israel to end its settlement policy across the occupied Palestinian territories.

The ministry reiterated Qatar’s “firm and unwavering position” in support of the Palestinian cause and the steadfastness of the Palestinian people.

Heavy rain is deepening the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where displaced Palestinians are struggling to survive in flimsy, makeshift shelters in storms that have killed at least 14 people.

“The situation is extremely grim on the ground,” Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported from Gaza City on Tuesday, as downpours batter displacement sites where families live in tents made from plastic sheets, fabric and scrap materials.

Rainwater has flooded large areas, turning the ground to mud and seeping into tents, destroying what little people have left. Displaced residents say shelters provide “very little protection against the rain”, with almost no access to waterproof materials and no drainage systems to divert floodwater.

Aid agencies warn that the weather is accelerating an already dire crisis, while Israel continues to block the entry of tents and mobile homes. As a result, some displaced Palestinians are forced to shelter in partially destroyed buildings, risking collapse as the rain intensifies.

The head of Unrwa affairs in the occupied West Bank warns that Israeli occupation forces are escalating their campaign against refugee camps in the north, with a new demolition order targeting Nur Shams.

Roland Friedrich says Israeli authorities have issued an order that places around 25 homes in the camp at immediate risk of destruction from December 18, threatening hundreds of Palestinian refugees who have already been forcibly displaced.

Friedrich says satellite imagery shows the scale of the damage inflicted even before the latest order, with nearly half of all structures in Nur Shams already damaged or destroyed.

“This falls within a recurring pattern witnessed in the region this year, whereby Israeli forces demolish homes with the aim of imposing long-term control over the camps in the northern West Bank, which would lead to a permanent change in the geographical character of these camps.”

He says Israeli authorities justify the demolitions under claims of “military necessity”, but stresses that such actions “do not make anyone safer”.

Friedrich warned that the forced displacement of more than 32,000 Palestinian refugees across the northern West Bank must not become permanent, saying families have waited anxiously for 11 months to return home, only to see that hope eroded with each new demolition.

Israeli occupation soldiers carried out a pre-dawn demolition in the village of Deir Qadis, west of Ramallah, intensifying their campaign of home destruction across the occupied West Bank.

Local sources told Wafa that Israeli soldiers, backed by a military bulldozer, raid the village and tear down the home of Nader al-Khawaja, leaving a large family displaced.

The demolished house has two storeys and sheltered more than 10 people. Residents say the family had lived there for around 15 years before Israeli forces reduced it to rubble.

The incident forms part of a wider pattern of punitive demolitions carried out by Israel, which rights groups describe as collective punishment under international law.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli occupation bulldozers also destroyed a Palestinian home in the town of Rafat, northwest of occupied Jerusalem, extending the wave of demolitions to another area of the West Bank.

The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday ruled against Israel's arguments that the investigation into crimes in Gaza after 7 October 2023 was invalid.

The decision is a significant development in the Palestine investigation, which led to arrest warrants for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant in November last year.

Israel has filed numerous appeals to try to invalidate the warrants, including an attempt to disqualify the court's chief prosecutor Karim Khan for alleged lack of impartiality and a challenge to the court's jurisdiction in Palestine.  

The ICC’s investigation into war crimes committed in occupied Palestine was initiated in 2021, based on a referral by the state of Palestine in 2018.

But since November 2023, seven other referrals have been filed by South Africa, Bangladesh, Comoros, Bolivia, Djibouti, Chile and Mexico. 

Read more: ICC rejects Israel's appeal that sought to invalidate Netanyahu arrest warrant

Former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos called on Israel to release jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, arguing that his freedom could unlock a credible path towards lasting peace.

Speaking at the United Nations on Monday on behalf of diplomatic leaders' group The Elders, Santos says Israel cannot credibly claim to seek peace while keeping Barghouti behind bars.

The Elders, founded by Nelson Mandela, brings together former heads of state and senior global figures who focus on conflict resolution and diplomacy.

“If Israel really wants peace, Israel should release him — and his release would help very much the possibility of having a long-term peace in Israel and Palestine,” Santos tells delegates.

Santos says The Elders have consistently pressed for Barghouti’s release, portraying him as a leading advocate of a two-state solution and the most popular political figure among Palestinians.

He adds that Barghouti represents a serious and legitimate counterpart for negotiations, in contrast to Israel’s continued strategy of sidelining Palestinian political leadership through imprisonment and repression.

The Elders have repeatedly criticised Israel’s policies for undermining any meaningful peace process.

Good morning, Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates on Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza and the occupied West Bank:

• US president Donald Trump has claimed that 59 countries have signalled their readiness to take part in what he calls a Gaza “stabilisation force”, presenting it as an international effort despite the ongoing Israeli war on the enclave.

• Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump claims the force is already operating and insists that more states will join, even as Gaza remains under Israeli siege and bombardment.

• Trump says Washington will review whether Israel’s killing of Qassam Brigades leader Raed Saad amounted to a breach of the ceasefire, stopping short of any direct criticism or consequences.

• Israeli occupation forces storm the city of Tubas and the town of Tammun early on Tuesday, extending daily military pressure across the northern West Bank.

• Ahmed Al-Asaad, governor of Tubas and the Northern Jordan Valley, orders schools and official institutions to delay opening until 9am, citing the need to protect students and workers following the Israeli raids.

Our live blog is now closed until tomorrow morning.

Here are the day's key developments:

- The US is examining whether Israel violated a Gaza ceasefire by assassinating a senior Hamas official, President Donald Trump said on Monday. While the Trump administration has been generally quiet on these violations in public, the assassination of Qassam Brigades commander Raed Saad could complicate plans to move the ceasefire forward.

- Trump also said that the International Stabilisation Force (ISF) was "already running" in Gaza. Middle East Eye spoke with three western and Arab officials on the issue, and no one was aware of the force operating.

- The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday rejected an Israeli appeal against its decision to investigate Israeli war crimes in Gaza since 7 October 2023.

- The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a resolution affirming the right of Palestinian self-determination. The US and Israel abstained. 

- The Israeli military shot dead a 16-year-old Palestinian boy as it raided the town of Tuqu', south of Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry announced.

- Imprisoned Palestinian prisoner Abdullah Barghouti, who is serving 67 life sentences in Israeli prisons, has lost 43 kilograms and his right hand was broken due to abuse in prison, Quds News Network reported, citing his lawyer Hassan Abbadi.

- The governor of Tulkarm, Abdallah Kamil, said he was informed of a major upcoming demolition plan by the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank town, AFP reported.

The US is examining whether Israel violated a Gaza ceasefire by assassinating a senior Hamas official, President Donald Trump said on Monday.

Raad Saad was killed alongside three others on Saturday when his car was targeted near al-Nabulsi square in western Gaza City, according to Israeli media reports.

Saad was a senior member of al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing. He was said to be second in rank only to the group's latest military chief, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, according to Reuters.

Israel has repeatedly violated a ceasefire that was signed on 10 October and guaranteed by Egypt, Qatar and the US.

Read more: Trump says US to investigate Israel's assassination of Hamas official as ceasefire violation

In a Monday vote by the United Nations General Assembly, the body overwhelmingly backed a resolution affirming the right of Palestinian self-determination.

One hundred sixty-four nations voted in favour, while eight voted against, including the US, Israel, and Argentina. 

Nine other countries abstained. 

The Israeli military has shot dead a 16-year-old Palestinian boy as it raided the town of Tuqu', south of Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry announced on Monday.

The boy was identified as Ammar Yaser Sabbah. He was shot in the chest. 

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, speaking to Drop Site News in Doha, Qatar, has urged the US government to heed the concerns of its own voters and put the America First agenda over Israel's demands. 

"Unfortunately, one of the problems with the US administration is that it prioritises Israel’s interests more than the United States’ own interests. Even Trump’s people—MAGA—came to realize that Israel is a burden on them, restricting and harming US interests," Meshaal said in a piece published on Monday.

Maga refers to the Make America Great Again movement, which President Donald Trump launched during his first presidential campaign in 2015.

"I am simply calling on the American people and the US administration to judge based on America’s interests, not Israel’s," Meshaal added.

"If they look at us even for a moment in a fair and impartial way, they will see that the Palestinian people are oppressed under occupation, and they have the right to resist—unless America steps in and forces Israel to withdraw, in which case we would thank America."

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday rejected an Israeli appeal against its decision to investigate Israeli war crimes in Gaza since 7 October 2023.

This means a lower court decision, which had made clear the ICC jurisdiction over Gaza remains in place, and the arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant remain in effect.