Live blog: In New York, thousands rally for Gaza children slain by Israel

Thursday, December 28, 2023

2017 GMT — Thousands of protesters have gathered in New York City to express solidarity with Palestine and remember thousands of its children killed by Israel in last 82 days.

Protestors staged a silent demonstration and also carried baby models shrouded in white cloth.

The models were placed on the ground in Times Square to symbolise killings of nearly 9,000 children by Israel since October 7.

Near nightly protests have broken out in cities across the United States since Israel's war on Gaza.

In New York, pro-Palestinian organisers have responded to the growing death toll in Gaza with escalating actions aimed at disrupting some of the city's best-known events, including the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the annual tree-lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center.

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2021 GMT — No action against Israeli troops who killed captives

Israeli troops killed three Israeli captives in besieged Gaza on December 15 when it mistook their cries for help as a ruse by Palestinian fighters to draw them into an ambush, the military said, concluding that the soldiers acted rightly to the best of their understanding.

The Israeli military published its findings and concluded "that there was no malice in the event, and the soldiers carried out the right action to the best of their understanding of the event at that moment."

The statement said that Army Chief General Herzi Halevi had "emphasised the utmost importance of adhering to standard operating procedures."

"In a situation where there is no immediate threat and the identification is not a clear enemy, there is a need for a moment of examination before firing, given the opportunity," he said.

The investigation found that, during intense days of fighting, there was no intelligence indicating the captives were being held in buildings where troops encountered heavy fire.

"The IDF failed in its mission to rescue the hostages in this event," Halevi said. "The entire chain of command feels responsible for this difficult event, regrets this outcome, and shares in the grief of the families of the three hostages."

1923 GMT — Hamas delegation to discuss Egypt's Gaza ceasefire plan

A Hamas delegation is due in Cairo on Friday to give its "observations" about an Egyptian plan for a ceasefire that would end the war in besieged Gaza, a Hamas official said.

The plan was put last week to officials of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which is also battling Israeli forces in the territory when the chiefs of both movements visited the Egyptian capital.

Sources close to Hamas say Cairo's three-stage plan provides for renewable ceasefires, a staggered release of captives in exchange for Palestinians held in Israel, and ultimately, a ceasefire to end Israel's war on Gaza.

It also provides for a Palestinian government of technocrats after talks involving "all Palestinian factions", which would be responsible for governing and rebuilding post-war Gaza.

1921 GMT — People in Berlin protest against Israel onslaught on Gaza

A protest against the Israeli army’s intensified onslaught on the besieged Gaza has been held in Berlin, with demonstrators expressing solidarity with Palestine.

Protesters gathered in Wittenbergplatz Square to show their support for Palestine and to condemn Israel's attacks on besieged Gaza since October 7.

They carried Palestinian flags and banners with slogans such as "Stop the war," "Every 10 minutes, a child is killed in Gaza," "Stop the genocide," "We will never turn a blind eye," "Gaza will live," and "Ceasefire now."

During the demonstration, demonstrators chanted "Freedom for Palestine" and "The only solution is to end the occupation."

Britta Ohm, who participated in the protest, told Anadolu Agency that the situation in besieged Gaza could no longer be sustained and that the debate in Germany is "too narrow" and is turning into hostility against democracy.

"We have to deal with it," Ohm said, adding that Israel's attacks on Gaza are not following the international community and particularly the UN.

1747 GMT — Israel kills 23 Palestinians, wounds 55 in Rafah strike

An Israeli air strike has killed 23 Palestinians and wounded 55 others in Rafah in southern Gaza, Palestinian Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al Qidra has said.

Their bombed building was housing displaced civilians, according to local medics and residents.

Reuters news agency video showed rescuers scrabbling frantically through rubble to uncover and pull out victims including a baby and several children and rushing them through milling crowds of dazed and weeping people to the near by Kuwaiti Hospital.

1844 GMT — Hezbollah accuses Israel of hacking Lebanon CCTV cameras

Lebanon's Hezbollah has accused Israel of hacking into CCTV cameras installed outside homes and shops in southern Lebanon and urged residents there to take the device offline.

Hezbollah said Israel had hacked the camera systems to gain visibility after the group's cross-border attacks had "targeted most of the cameras" Israel had installed near the border.

"The enemy has recently hacked into civilian cameras connected to the internet and installed in front of homes, shops and institutions in frontline villages," a Hezbollah statement said.

1839 GMT — Hamas official says end to war must be final, not temporary

A Hamas official has said that the Palestinian resistance group is “open to any ideas or proposals for a complete and final cessation of aggression against our people in Gaza.”

Osama Hamdan said the group is not interested in a “partial or temporary cessation of aggression” and reiterated the group’s official position that the remaining hostages who have been held in Gaza since the group launched its Oct. 7 operation in Israel would only be released after a permanent ceasefire is implemented.

As for the enclave’s post-war governance, Hamdan said it would be a “decision of the Palestinian people alone” and that Palestinians in Gaza would “not accept a leadership that comes on the back of a Zionist or American tank or under the protection of this tank.”

1750 GMT — Another Palestinian killed by Israeli fire in occupied West Bank

A Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli army forces in the occupied West Bank, the Health Ministry has said.

A ministry statement said Mohammad al Jundi, 38, was killed at the Nafaq military checkpoint, west of Bethlehem city. No details were provided about the circumstances of his death.

1742 GMT — Israel’s Netanyahu says 'in contact' to release hostages held by Hamas

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he is holding “contacts” to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

"We are in contact until this moment. The situation cannot be detailed, and we are working to recover them all," Netanyahu said during a meeting with the families of the hostages. He, however, did not provide any further details about the nature of the contacts.

1648 GMT — Lebanon warns of 'all-out war' amid growing tension with Israel

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has warned of an all-out war in the region due to Israeli "provocations."

"The continuation of Israeli provocations in southern Lebanon could lead to a deterioration of the situation and the outbreak of an all-out war in the region," Mikati said during a meeting with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron in Beirut, according to a cabinet statement.

"The gateway to stopping the war in Gaza begins with a ceasefire, then moving on to negotiating a solution based on the two-state formula and giving the Palestinians their rights," Mikati said.

1548 GMT — 47 Israeli soldiers injured in Gaza in last 24 hours, army says

The Israeli army has said that 47 soldiers were injured in fighting in Gaza in the last 24 hours.

The new injuries brought the number of injured soldiers to 921 since Israel expanded its ground invasion in Gaza on Oct. 27, according to military figures. Army figures showed that 501 soldiers had been killed and 2,159 others injured since Oct. 7.

1530 GMT — Israeli attacks displaced 657,000 Palestinians in southern Gaza: UN

The UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) has confirmed that there are more than 657,000 displaced Palestinian residents in southern Gaza because of Israeli attacks, most without shelters, living in the southern city of Rafah in Gaza.

"Many families are sleeping on the floor around the UN agency shelters, which are already extremely crowded and exceeding full capacity," Inas Hamadan, the acting media director for UNRWA’s field office in Gaza, told Anadolu.

"The arrival of further displaced people poses further challenges to UNRWA's teams, which work around the clock to ensure delivery of humanitarian aid to the displaced people," she added.

1327 GMT — Israel issues tenders to build 1,839 settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem

Israel has issued three tenders for building 1,839 settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem, an Israeli rights group has said.

In a statement, the Ir Amim organisation said 500 units will be built in the Mount Scopus settlement, 1,039 in French Hill, or Givat Shapira, settlement, and 300 others in the East Talpiot settlement.

The rights group warned that Tel Aviv is exploiting the world’s attention with the war in Gaza to advance its settlement plans in the occupied West Bank.

1313 GMT — Egypt awaits responses on plan to end Gaza bloodshed: Cairo

Egypt has confirmed that it had put forward a framework proposal to end the Israeli war on Gaza that includes three stages ending with a ceasefire, and said it was awaiting responses on the plan.

Egypt would give further details of the plan once those responses are received, Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt's State Information Service, said in a statement.

The proposal is an attempt "to bring viewpoints between all concerned parties closer, to stop Palestinian bloodshed and the aggression against Gaza and restore peace and stability to the region," he said.

1306 GMT — Gaza grapples with catastrophic hunger amid Israeli attacks: UN refugee agency

Gaza is grappling with catastrophic hunger amid ongoing Israeli attacks, the UN Palestinian refugee agency has said.

"Every day is a struggle for survival, finding food and finding water," Thomas White, director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza, said in a statement.

White warned that “40 percent of the population are now at risk of famine." "The reality is, we need more aid. The only remaining hope is a humanitarian ceasefire," he added.

1249 GMT — Gaza death toll soars as 210 killed in past 24 hours: ministry

At least 210 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 21,320 since October 7, the Health Ministry in besieged Gaza has said.

The ministry also added that 55,603 people have been wounded since the start of the Israeli war on the enclave.

1200 GMT — Israel intercepts drone from Lebanon: military

Israel shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle that had crossed into its territory from Lebanon, the military has said.

Air raid sirens had sounded in northern Israel and there were no immediate reports of casualties.

1137 GMT — Israeli army detains 25 more Palestinians in occupied West Bank

The Israeli army has detained 25 more Palestinians from various areas of the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

According to a joint statement issued by the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Authority and the Palestinian Prisoner Society, the new arrests bring the total number of Palestinians detained by the Israeli forces since Oct. 7 to 4,820.

1010 GMT — Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Gaza struggles amid overwhelming patient influx

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza faces overwhelming challenges in patient care, with wooden boards used to cope with patients' influx.

The situation inside the facility is extremely catastrophic, and the number of patients exceeds the number of beds by five times, the hospital's spokesperson Khalil al Dakran told Anadolu.

"In the emergency department, we receive injuries on wooden boards and treat them on the ground due to the lack of sufficient beds," he said.

0947 GMT — UN asks Israel to end 'unlawful killings' in occupied West Bank

The United Nations has said the human rights situation in the occupied West Bank was rapidly deteriorating and urged Israel to "end unlawful killings" against the Palestinian population.

A report demanded an immediate end to the use of military weapons and means during law enforcement operations, an end to arbitrary detention and ill-treatment of Palestinians, and the lifting of discriminatory movement restrictions.

"The use of military tactics and weapons in law enforcement contexts, the use of unnecessary or disproportionate force, and the enforcement of broad, arbitrary and discriminatory movement restrictions that affect Palestinians are extremely troubling," UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.

0908 GMT — UN warns of impeded aid deliveries as Israel expands offensive in Gaza

Fleeing Palestinians have packed into areas along Gaza's border with Egypt and the southern Mediterranean coastline, where shelters and tent camps are overflowing.

The UN humanitarian office says the scale and intensity of ground operations and fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian resistance groups and their devastating impact is impeding aid deliveries.

0708 GMT — Israeli embassy pulls video imagining Hamas attack in Seoul

The Israeli embassy in South Korea has removed a video showing an imaginary scenario in which Koreans are attacked by masked assailants in Seoul, a reference to Hamas, Seoul's foreign ministry said.

The ministry said in a statement sent to AFP that the video was deemed "inappropriate" and that it had asked the Israeli embassy to take it down.

The video, which is no longer available on the embassy's social media, depicted a distressing scenario in which a South Korean woman in the capital is abducted by an armed assailant on Christmas Day, and forcibly separated from her young daughter, a clip published by South Korean broadcaster YTN showed.

0703 GMT — Israeli soldiers injured in Gaza refuse to meet with Netanyahu: Israeli media

Israeli soldiers injured in the country’s ground offensive in Gaza refused a visit from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a hospital in West Jerusalem, Israel’s Channel 13 reported

This is not the first time that Gaza-injured soldiers have refused to meet with the controversial leader. A similar incident took place a week ago at a hospital in central Tel Aviv, according to the channel.

"I was in the (Hadassah) hospital and a medical staffer asked me if I want to meet Netanyahu. Of course, I refused," soldier Or Shneiberg said on X.

"Out of 18 injured fighters, 15 requested that he not enter their room."

0700 GMT — Palestinian women, children killed in Israeli air strikes

At least 50 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes in Beit Lahia, Khan Younis and Maghazi, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Earlier today, the Wafa news agency reported, citing local sources, that at least seven civilians, mostly children and women, were killed in an Israeli air strike on a refugee camp in central Gaza.

Several others were injured when Israeli shelling pounded a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp.

0630 GMT — Operation to find and kill the Qassam Brigades leader will take 'long time'

Israel’s operation to find and kill Hamas' armed wing leader Muhammed al Deif will take a "long time," said an Israeli army spokesperson.

​​​​​​​In a press conference, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari stressed the need to find and kill the Qassam Brigades leader Deif, stating that no matter how long it takes, it must be accomplished but that it will take considerable time, Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported.

0323 GMT — Israeli army chief says troops need to be ready to launch offensive against Hezbollah

The Israeli army needs to be ready to launch an attack against the Lebanese Hezbollah group if necessary, Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi said.

Halevi, along with the Commanding Officer of the Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, and other commanders, conducted a situation assessment, according to a statement from the army.

Saying the army’s primary mission is to return those to their homes who evacuated from the northern regions of Israel due to attacks by Hezbollah, Halevi noted that the preparedness of the Israeli army and the Northern Command is at a high level.

0230 GMT — Two Australians killed in Israeli air strike in Lebanon

Two Australian citizens including an alleged Hezbollah fighter were killed by an Israeli air strike in Lebanon, Australia’s acting foreign minister said.

Ibrahim Bazzi and his brother Ali Bazzi were killed in the air strike on Tuesday in the town of Bint Jbel in southern Lebanon, Acting Foreign Minister Mark Dreyfus said.

Ibrahim Bazzi had arrived in Lebanon recently from Sydney to accompany his Lebanese wife Shorouq Hammoud to Australia, news media reported.

0215 GMT — Israeli strike kills three in south Lebanon: state media

An Israeli strike in south Lebanon killed a Hezbollah fighter, the group said, as state media reported two of his relatives were also killed and the Iran-backed movement launched rockets in retaliation.

The border between Lebanon and Israel has seen escalating exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and Hamas ally Hezbollah, since October 7, raising fears of a broader conflagration.

0128 GMT — Russia calls for end to historic injustices endured by Palestine

Russia has said the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East is a result of the longstanding failures of US foreign policy and called for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

In his comments to TASS news agency, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for de-escalation of the Middle East conflict, denouncing as "unacceptable" both acts of terror and "collective punishment".

"It is vital to break the vicious cycle of violence and do away with the injustice from which several generations of Palestinians have suffered," he was quoted as saying.

"Only by doing this can stability be achieved in the zone of confrontation in the Middle East as a whole."

0103 GMT — 'Gaza is a public health disaster in the making'

The UN’s relief chief has warned of a health disaster in Gaza as hospitals are barely able to provide services due to the ongoing war.

"Hospitals are barely functioning. Infectious diseases are rife and spreading fast in overcrowded shelters. Hundreds of people with war injuries are unable to receive care. Gaza is a public health disaster in the making," Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said on X.

0022 GMT — Dozens arrested in pro-Palestine protests at two major US airports

Pro-Palestinian protesters blocked morning traffic around Los Angeles International Airport and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport - two of the nation's busiest - in coast-to-coast demonstrations that ended with dozens of arrests.

Thirty-six people were taken into custody at LAX, where demonstrators became unruly, the Los Angeles Police Department said.

0019 GMT — Israel's Shin Bet said to have received intelligence before Hamas attack

A source who worked for Israel's Shin Bet security agency in Gaza passed along specific information that the Palestinian resistance group Hamas was planning to carry out a major attack in early October, Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 reported.

According to the report, the information reached Shin Bet during the summer, clearly stating that "Hamas was planning a major move in the week following Yom Kippur."

However, the information was not passed on to senior officials in Israel because it was believed that additional supporting information would come if such a thing was imminent, it said.

For our live updates from Wednesday, December 27, click here.