Live blog: Six children among 24 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes

Sunday, December 22, 2024

1314 GMT –– Six children among 24 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes

Another 24 Palestinians, including six children, were killed and several others injured on Sunday in Israeli air strikes targeting various locations across Gaza.

According to a medical source at the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, eight bodies, including that of two children and two women, along with several injured individuals, were brought to the hospital following an Israeli air strike on the Musa Bin Nusair School in the Al-Daraj neighbourhood in central Gaza City.

Five Palestinians, including four children, were killed when an Israeli air strike targeted a gathering of civilians in the Jabalia al-Nazla area in northern Gaza, he added.

In another attack, medical sources reported that four people were killed and several others injured when Israeli jets targeted a vehicle in Gaza City's Al-Jala Street.

Two more people were killed and seven others injured in an Israeli strike targeting a group of civilians in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, medics said.

Sixteen people were also injured in a drone strike on a school sheltering displaced civilians in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, they added.

A Palestinian man and his wife were also killed by an Israeli helicopter attack on their apartment in central Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Additionally, three Palestinians were killed in Israeli air strikes in eastern Rafah in southern Gaza, medics said.

Five people were critically injured after an explosion caused by unmanned robotic devices in the Sheikh Zayed area in northern Gaza, a medical source said.

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1735 GMT –– Israeli army hands over seven Lebanese detainees to UN peacekeeping mission

The Israeli army handed over seven Lebanese citizens to the UN peacekeeping mission (UNIFIL), according to Lebanese media.

"The seven citizens, who were detained by the Israeli army after the ceasefire, were handed over to the UNIFIL forces," the National News Agency NNA said.

The Lebanese Red Cross confirmed that its teams transported seven individuals from Ras Naqoura to the Lebanese-Italian Hospital in the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon.

1534 GMT –– Israeli army rounds up six more Palestinians in West Bank raids

At least six more Palestinians were detained in fresh Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank, according to a prisoners' affairs group on Sunday.

A child was among the detainees in the raids that targeted Tulkarem, Nablus, Tubas and Ramallah, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a statement.

The new arrests brought the number of Palestinians detained by the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank since October last year to over 12,100, including those who were released after being arrested, according to Palestinian figures.

1613 GMT –– Netanyahu says Israel will continue to act against the Houthis

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would continue acting against the Houthis in Yemen, whom he accused of threatening world shipping and the international order, and called on Israelis to be steadfast.

1322 GMT –– Israeli drone strikes cause power outage at northern Gaza hospital

Electricity was completely cut off at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza after Israeli drone strikes on the facility's power generators and fuel tanks.

According to witnesses, Israeli drones struck power generators and fuel tanks at the hospital in the town of Beit Lahia, leaving it entirely without power.

Marwan Al-Hams, the director of field hospitals in Gaza's Health Ministry, described the situation at the hospital as "dire", saying that communication with medical staff has been cut off.

1301 GMT –– Israeli minister calls for 'comprehensive deal' to end Gaza war, retrieve hostages

Israeli Minister of Regional Cooperation David Amsalem called for a comprehensive prisoner exchange deal with Hamas that could pave the way to end his country's war in Gaza.

"We should have sought a single, comprehensive deal from the beginning," Amsalem told the Israeli public broadcaster KAN.

He argued that such an agreement could enable Israel to conclude the ongoing war in Gaza while maintaining operational control over the enclave akin to its approach in the occupied West Bank.

1138 GMT — Hamas says it shot Israeli army officer in Gaza's Jabalia

Palestinian resistance group Hamas has said that it had shot an Israeli army officer in northern Gaza.

The group's armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said the officer was shot by its fighters in the Jabalia refugee camp, without specifying whether he was killed.

The claim came one day after Hamas said that its fighters had killed five Israeli soldiers in clashes in Jabalia on Saturday.

There was no immediate Israeli comment on the Hamas's claim.

1028 GMT — Israel kills 45,259 people in Gaza as its brutality continues

Israel has killed at least 45,259 Palestinians and wounded 107,627 others in Gaza since October 7, 2023, the Health Ministry in the besieged enclave has said.

0832 GMT — Israel continues bombing Gaza; at least 28 killed in new attacks

At least 28 Palestinians have been killed in the latest Israeli attacks, including at one family's home and a school building, according to the civil defence agency in the besieged enclave.

There was no let-up in the violence in Gaza more than 14 months into Israel's brutal war on the besieged enclave, even as Hamas said a ceasefire deal was "closer than ever".

Civil agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said in a statement that at least 13 people have been killed in an air strike on a house in central Gaza's Deir al Balah belonging to the Abu Samra family.

Bassal said that eight people including four children were killed in the attack on the school, which had been repurposed as a shelter for Palestinians displaced by the war.

He also said an overnight strike killed three people in Rafah, in the south.

And a drone strike early on Sunday hit a car in Gaza City, killing four people, he added.

0315 GMT — Israeli army arrests Palestinian child in occupied West Bank raids

Israeli soldiers have detained a Palestinian child during raids in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian news agency, Wafa.

Israeli forces carried out operations in towns and villages across Al-Bireh, Hebron, and Jenin, using tear gas and live ammunition during raids. A child was taken into custody in Al-Bireh.

Illegal Israeli settlers damaged Palestinian-owned vehicles in Bethlehem, escalating tensions in the area.

0147 GMT — Israeli government still far from reaching prisoner swap agreement with Hamas: Report

Israeli officials stated that the Israeli government is still far from reaching a prisoner swap agreement with Hamas.

According to a report on Israeli state television KAN, unnamed Israeli officials shared their views on the ongoing negotiations for a prisoner swap.

The officials mentioned that there are still significant issues in the talks between Israel and Hamas, and that the situation is far from moving toward a mutually acceptable formula.

The officials confirmed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no intention of halting the attacks on Gaza.

0135 GMT — Nationwide protests erupt in Israel to demand Netanyahu’s resignation

Israelis staged protests across the country, demanding the resignation of PM Benjamin Netanyahu's government, accusing it of obstructing a ceasefire and prisoner swap agreement with Gaza.

Opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid emphasised that they would not negotiate with Netanyahu's government and would not back down.

"We will win. Bibi (Netanyahu) is not actually growing stronger. The people are not on their side. There are no elections because they are terrified of elections because they know the truth," he said.

2203 GMT — Spain's PM calls for global recognition of Palestine

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has urged the international community to recognise Palestine as a state and work towards granting it full membership in the United Nations, while calling for an end to the Israeli occupation.

Speaking at the Socialist International Conference in Morocco, he emphasised the importance of achieving a "just and comprehensive peace" in the Middle East, stressing that global efforts must be unified to address the escalating crises in various regions, particularly in Palestine.

"We must end the Israeli occupation and enable the Palestinian people to establish their independent state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, within the framework of a two-state solution," Sanchez said.

2139 GMT — Israel bombs Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza

Israeli army have launched a heavy bombardment on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, in northern besieged Gaza, resulting in damage to some sections, WAFA news agency said.

The agency cited medical sources who reported that the hospital came under intense and indiscriminate shelling, with Israeli soldiers targeting the facility using bombs, artillery shells, and sniper fire.

The attack caused significant damage to the hospital's infrastructure, including its power generators and various departments.

2123 GMT — US carries out strikes in Sanaa against Houthis

The US military said it conducted precision air strikes against a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility operated by Houthis in Yemen's capital, Sanaa.

In a statement, the US military's Central Command said the strikes aimed to "disrupt and degrade Houthi operations, such as attacks against US Navy warships and merchant vessels in the Southern Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb, and Gulf of Aden".

The US military also said it struck multiple Houthi one-way drones and an anti-ship cruise missile over the Red Sea.

For our live updates from Saturday, December 21, 2024, click here.