Live blog: Israeli attacks kill 71 more Palestinians in the past 24 hours

Thursday, January 2, 2025

1803 GMT — The Israeli army carried out 34 air strikes in the last 24 hours, targeting unarmed civilians across Gaza, killing 71 Palestinians and injuring dozens, the Gaza Media Office said.

"The Israeli air strikes targeted civilians and infrastructure in horrific crimes added to the occupation's dark record," it said in a statement.

It pointed out that the army prevented medical and civil defence teams from reaching victims to evacuate bodies, which remain scattered on streets, especially in Gaza city and northern Gaza.

It held Israel responsible for the "brutal crimes" and urged the international community and UN institutions to bear their legal and moral responsibilities to halt the genocide.

The office demanded "urgent international protection for the Palestinian people in Gaza, who are subjected to the worst kinds of crimes and violations."

More updates 👇

1846 GMT — Israeli delegation to resume ceasefire talks in Doha

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved a delegation to resume ceasefire negotiations in Doha, Qatar, his office said in a statement.

1842 GMT — UN urge end to Israel’s "blatant assault" on the right to health in Gaza

UN experts urged an end to the “blatant disregard” of the right to health in Gaza, following last week’s raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital and the arbitrary arrest and detention of its director, Hussam Abu Safiya.

"For well over a year into the genocide, Israel’s blatant assault on the right to health in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory is plumbing new depths of impunity," UN special rapporteur on the right to health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, and UN special rapporteur for Palestine, Francesca Albanese, said in a statement.

"We are gravely concerned with the fate of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, yet another doctor to be harassed, kidnapped and arbitrarily detained by the occupation forces, in his case for defying evacuation orders to leave his patients and colleagues behind," they said.

"This is part of a pattern by Israel to continuously bombard, destroy and fully annihilate the realisation of the right to health in Gaza," they added.

1840 GMT — 'We want hospitals to be off limits' in Gaza: UN

The UN denounced the targeting of hospitals in Gaza, saying that medical facilities need "to be off limits."

Noting that there are more than 12,000 people in Gaza who need medical evacuation, UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said: "There's a lot of hospital needs. We do continue to call on all sides to keep hospitals out of harm's way, which means not placing or trying to infiltrate the hospitals, but also not attacking them."

Haq cited an Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report and said Israel's "evacuation orders" cover more than 80% of Palestine's Gaza.

December was recorded as the month with the highest number of restrictions on humanitarian aid, Haq said.

He urged a lifting of all obstacles against journalists, emphasising the need to uphold media freedoms.

1816 GMT — Israeli military says it destroyed Hezbollah rocket launchers in southern Lebanon

The Israeli military said that it had attacked and destroyed medium-range rocket launchers at a Hezbollah military site in southern Lebanon.

The military claimed in a statement that before the strike it had sent a request to Lebanon's army to destroy the launchers and that the launchers were only attacked after the Lebanese side failed to act.

The Lebanese army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

1542 GMT — Over 50 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza: Hamas

More than 50 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza, the Palestinian resistance group Hamas said.

In a statement, Hamas said the attacks targeted a designated "safe zone" in al-Mawasi in the southern city of Khan Younis, and homes in Jabalia, Gaza City in northern Gaza, and the central city of Deir al-Balah.

It added that the attacks “represent an escalation in the fascist occupation's war of extermination against defenceless civilians and an unprecedented violation of international and humanitarian laws.”

Hamas appealed to the international community to intervene “to stop this crime, which has persisted for more than 15 months."

1425 GMT — Gaza children will 'freeze to death' without aid, IFRC warns

The head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) urged for immediate humanitarian access into Palestine's Gaza amid reports of hypothermia-related deaths of newborns and infants.

"Recent UN reports of babies dying from hypothermia in Gaza underscore the critical severity of the humanitarian crisis there," Jagan Chapagain said on X. "I urgently reiterate my call to grant safe and unhindered access to humanitarians to let them provide life-saving assistance."

"Without safe access - children will freeze to death. Without safe access - families will starve. Without safe access - humanitarian workers can't save lives," Chapagain underlined.

He said that his urgent plea to all the parties is to put an end to this human suffering now.

1425 GMT — Lebanon Parliament speaker discusses Israeli ceasefire violations with US general

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri met in Beirut with US Gen. Jasper Jeffers, who heads a committee overseeing a ceasefire with Israel.

The meeting discussed the security situation in Lebanon, particularly Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement, the parliament said in a statement.

Early on Thursday, an Israeli patrol staged an incursion into the town of Beit Lif in southern Lebanon for the first time since the ceasefire took effect on Nov. 27.

The latest breach brought the number of Israeli violations of the ceasefire deal to 336, according to an Anadolu tally based on figures released by the Lebanese authorities.

1338 GMT — Suicides soar among Israeli army soldiers since Gaza war

Twenty-eight Israeli soldiers are suspected to have committed suicide since the outbreak of Israel's war on Gaza in October 2023, according to the military.

A military statement said 17 soldiers were killed in “suspected suicides” in 2024.

"The figure is higher than 2023 when 17 soldiers were killed in ‘suspected suicides,’ including seven after the outbreak of war," it added.

According to figures released by the army, at least 891 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 5,569 others injured since the outbreak of Israel's war.

The army explained that 363 soldiers were killed in 2024, and 558 soldiers in 2023, up from only 44 in 2022.

1105 GMT — Death toll nears 45,600 as Israel kills 28 more Palestinians

At least 28 more Palestinians were killed in relentless Israeli attacks in Palestine's Gaza, bringing the overall death toll since October 2023 to 45,581, the Health Ministry in the enclave said.

A ministry statement added that some 108,438 others were injured in the ongoing assault.

“Israeli forces killed 28 people and injured 59 others in two massacres of families in the last 24 hours,” the ministry said.

“Many people are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.

1108 GMT — Gaza's Islamic Jihad says Israeli hostage tried to take own life

An Israeli hostage held by Gaza's Islamic Jihad group has tried to take his own life, the spokesperson for the movement's armed wing said in a video posted on Telegram.

One of the group's medical teams intervened and prevented him from dying, the Al Quds Brigades spokesperson added, without going into any more detail on the hostage's identity or current condition.

Israeli authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

0753 GMT — Children and women killed in Israeli strike on Gaza 'safe zone'

At least 11 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed in an Israeli air strike on tents of displaced people in southern Gaza.

The air strike was carried out in the Al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis city, a medical source said, adding the deceased included three women and four children.

"Eleven people were martyred, including three children and two women, and 15 were injured after the occupation aircraft bombed a tent housing displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis city in southern Gaza," Gaza's civil defence agency said in a statement.

Among those killed were the police chief Mahmud Salah and his deputy Hussam Shahwan, agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said.

Al-Mawasi area has been designated by Israel as "a safe humanitarian zone.” Israeli warplanes and drones, however, have struck the area many times, committing massacres and killing hundreds of people.

0009 GMT — Israeli soldiers wound 3 Palestinians in occupied West Bank

Israeli soldiers have opened fire during a raid in the Old City of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, wounding three Palestinians.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said they were transferred to Rafidia Government Hospital in Nablus.

The ministry said that one of the victims sustained a serious gunshot wound to the back, while the other two suffered moderate wounds from gunshots to the leg and thigh.

2348 GMT — Israeli soldier injured in West Bank car-ramming attack: Army

A female Israeli soldier was lightly injured in a car-ramming attack in the occupied West Bank, the army said.

The driver, a Palestinian, was subsequently "neutralised" by Israeli forces.

"A ramming attack was carried out toward IDF ( Israeli army) soldiers operating in the area of (the town of) Dayr Qadis. An attacker attempting to flee was neutralised by soldiers," the military said in a statement.

2004 GMT — Israeli protesters block main Tel Aviv highway over lack of hostage deal

Dozens of Israelis, including activists and families of hostages, blocked a major road in Tel Aviv to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's failure to reach an early agreement with Hamas to release hostages in besieged Gaza.

The demonstrators blamed Netanyahu for failing to reach such an agreement with the Palestinian group.

According to Maariv Daily, they closed the Ayalon Highway, demanding that the Israeli government take immediate action to negotiate a comprehensive deal.

The Israeli hostage families condemned Netanyahu in a statement, saying, "Our loved ones are enduring a living nightmare in Hamas captivity because Netanyahu is deciding to abandon them there."

"Instead of ending the war through a comprehensive deal that would bring all captives home, Netanyahu continues to sabotage the negotiations," they added.

For our live updates from Wednesday, January 1, 2024, click here.