Live: Major clashes break out near Bethlehem after Israeli raid

The Palestinian Ministry of National Economy on Wednesday condemned the restrictions imposed by the Israeli authorities on the supply of essential goods and basic commodities to the Gaza Strip.

The ministry said that Israel is only allowing the supply for "an exclusive group" of vetted private sector companies.

In a statement, it said that such actions form an unprecedented escalation aimed at dismantling the foundations of Palestinian economic life and constitute a clear violation of the recent UN General Assembly resolution and international human rights laws. 

Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich on Wednesday ordered the construction of 126 units in the former settlement of Sanur, located in the Jenin Governorate in the northern occupied West Bank.

Sanur settlement in the northern West Bank was evacuated in 2005.

According to a statement, the new construction plan will also include commercial areas, paved roads, and designated areas for kindergartens and schools.

Smotrich instructed the Higher Planning Council, the body responsible for approving settlement expansion and construction, to convene a meeting to discuss and approve the 126 settlement units, the official Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Canada on Tuesday condemned Israel’s decision to approve 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, calling the move illegal under international law. 

“Canada strongly condemns Israel’s decision to approve 19 new settlements in the West Bank,” the ministry said in a statement on the US social media company X’s platform.

“This continued settlement expansion, illegal under international law, puts at risk the 20-point Peace Plan and undermines prospects for a two-state solution,” it added. 

Israeli forces, in an overnight raid in the East Jerusalem town of Silwan, detained a minor after assaulting him, Palestinian media reported. 

Israeli forces also launched a wide-scale arrest campaign across the occupied West Bank, detaining at least 43 Palestinians, Wafa news reported. 

Israeli forces carry out daily raids across cities, towns, and refugee camps in the occupied West Bank.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot, in a statement issued on Tuesday, said that both countries "agreed to continue implementing" President Donald Trump's Gaza plan.

State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement that Rubio and Barrot also "discussed the urgent need for a humanitarian cease-fire in Sudan" in their meeting and "agreed to continue cooperation on diplomatic efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war."

Israeli warplanes on Wednesday launched multiple air strikes on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, in a new escalation of violence.

Arab48 reported gunfire directed at tents housing displaced people in the Mawasi area of ​​Rafah, in southern Gaza.

The report said that artillery shells also targeted the eastern areas of the Tuffah neighbourhood, east of Gaza City.

Israeli forces also renewed artillery shelling of areas northeast of the Al-Bureij camp in central Gaza. 

Twenty-four Palestinians were wounded in East Jerusalem clashes after Israeli forces raided the city's Kafr Aqab and Qalandiyah neighbourhoods, the Palestinian Red Crescent said late Tuesday. 

According to the Red Crescent, three people were wounded by live fire, three were wounded after being shot with rubber-coated bullets, one was beaten and 17 sustained injuries due to tear gas inhalation. 

Israeli police said the forces carried out a "joint enforcement operation" in East Jerusalem, seizing "a large quantity of unregulated eggs" and also confiscating cigarettes. 

Belgium submitted a formal request on Tuesday to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to join South Africa's lawsuit against Israel. 

In a statement, the Netherlands-based court said that Belgium is focusing its intervention on the interpretation of the concept of "genocidal intent" set out in Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

The ICJ, which is the highest judicial body of the United Nations, said that Belgium had formally filed a declaration of intervention in the proceedings, based on Article 63 of the court's statute.

South Africa filed a lawsuit against Israel in December 2023, accusing it of violating the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in its actions against Palestinians in Gaza.

Countries including Turkey, Brazil, Colombia, Ireland, Mexico and Spain have joined this lawsuit. 

Good morning, Middle East Eye readers. Here are the latest updates:

• Belgium has submitted a formal request and joined South Africa's case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

• Israeli forces detained a minor after assaulting him during a raid in the East Jerusalem town of Silwan.

• Israeli army launched air strikes and attacks by tanks targeting areas along the yellow line in Gaza, as part of the ongoing military escalation. 

• Israeli forces demolished several residential buildings in areas it controls east of Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip.

• Israeli forces opened fire towards the northeastern areas of Al-Bureij camp, in the central Gaza Strip.

Protesters blockaded and sprayed red paint on the Aspen Insurance headquarters in central London on Tuesday. Organisers say Aspen Insurance was targeted because it provides employers' liability insurance to Elbit Systems, one of Israel's largest weapons contractors.

Supporters say they are taking direct action against Elbit Systems in solidarity with the six prisoners who have been on hunger strike for 52 days over their treatment and the proscription of Palestine Action.

The Labour Party's HQ in Newcastle was similarly attacked on Monday night, allegedly in protest of the government's response to the hunger strikers. The words "Free the hunger strikers" were spraypainted on the building's walls and several windows were smashed.

Another protest in solidarity with the pro-Palestine hunger strikers took place on Tuesday outside the British Council headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

In a statement released following the action, the protesters wrote that "their continued imprisonment without trial, reports of reluctance to provide them with adequate healthcare, and the government’s refusal to meaningfully engage with their demands places the responsibility for loss of life with the British state".

The statement continued, comparing their hunger strike to those carried out by South African anti-apartheid activists, Palestinian political prisoners and Guantanamo Bay detainees.

It finished by urging the UK government "to reflect on the historical consequences of a Thatcherite response to the hunger strike that led to the deaths of Bobby Sands and nine other Irish Republican political prisoners in 1981".

Christmas should be the busiest time of the year for the shopkeepers of Manger Square, but the birthplace of Jesus is now a ghost town.

Christmas has been the beating heart of the Giacaman family’s Bethlehem business for generations.

The Giacamans own Christmas House, one of the main shops on Manger Square selling Nativity figurines, festive ornaments, rosaries, crucifixes and other religious paraphernalia, all ornately carved in their nearby workshop from local olive wood.

But for the past two years, the doors of Christmas House have remained closed, Jack Issa Giacaman told Middle East Eye.

“You don’t see anybody around. Unfortunately during the last years Israel converted Bethlehem to be a big prison,” said Giacaman, who currently manages the company.

Days before Christmas, Manger Square is almost deserted, with only a few locals taking photos of the star-topped Christmas tree decorated in red and gold baubles.

Read more: Christians in Bethlehem face existential threat under Israel's occupation

A Palestinian man has died from injuries sustained after being shot by Israeli forces a week earlier in the town of al-Ram, in occupied East Jerusalem, Wafa news agency reported.

He was shot last week while attempting to enter his workplace, Wafa said. He was later transferred to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, and admitted to intensive care. He was declared dead on Tuesday due to his critical wounds.

A Palestinian man was shot and wounded by Israeli forces on Tuesday after they raided the Qalandiya refugee camp north of occupied Jerusalem, Wafa news reported. 

Israeli soldiers closed the Qalandiya military checkpoint, raiding several shops in the town of Kafr Aqab and firing tear gas at residents, the report quoted the Jerusalem Governorate as saying. 

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza on Tuesday reported five Palestinian deaths during the past 24 hours, including one new killing and four recovered bodies. 

The ministry said that since the beginning of the ceasefire, Israel has killed a total of 406 Palestinians. 

Since the beginning of Israeli aggression on 7 October 2023, 70,942 Palestinians have been killed, while 171,195 others have been wounded.

The Palestinian Prisoners' Media Office on Tuesday said that women inmates inside the Israeli Damon prison are subjected to "brutal" violations, including "removing their headscarves" and physical assault. 

Al Jazeera Arabic reported that a series of attacks during December have resulted in injuries to several women prisoners.

Earlier, a Hamas statement had said that Palestinian women prisoners are subjected to “a flagrant violation of all human laws and norms" in the Damon prison. 

It added that the women prisoners were "taken out to the courtyard and forced to sit on the ground, their veils were removed, and they were subjected to beatings, in addition to the use of dogs and stun grenades."