Live blog: Three soldiers killed in combat in northern Gaza — Israeli army

Monday, December 23, 2024

2038 GMT — The Israeli military said three of its soldiers have been killed in combat in northern Gaza.

Two soldiers, both aged 21, and a third aged 22 "fell during combat" in northern Gaza, the military said.

The military added that this brings its losses to 389 since it launched a ground offensive in Palestine's Gaza on October 27 last year.

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1839 GMT — Israel violates ceasefire, killing two more people in southern Lebanon

Two people were killed and another injured in an Israeli air strike near a school in Marjayoun, southern Lebanon.

Lebanon's official National News Agency reported that "two martyrs and one wounded" were the result of an air strike that targeted a group of people near the Tayibe Official School in the area.

This attack brings the total casualties from Israeli violations of the ceasefire in southern Lebanon to 32 killed and 38 wounded, according to data from the Health Ministry and the official news agency, as monitored by Anadolu.

1537 GMT — 'Some progress' made on Gaza deal, Netanyahu tells parliament

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told lawmakers that "some progress" had been made in negotiations to secure the release of prisoners held in Gaza.

"Everything we are doing cannot be disclosed," Netanyahu said in parliament, as talks to reach a deal have been renewed in recent days.

"We are taking actions to bring them back. I wish to say cautiously that there has been some progress, and we will not stop acting until we bring them all home."

1641 GMT — Hostages' fate depends on moves by Israel military: Hamas

The fate of the hostages held by Hamas depends on moves made by the Israeli military in some areas seeing aggression, the group's armed wing Qassam Brigades spokesperson, Abu Ubaida, said on Telegram.

1628 GMT — Lebanon PM, UN peacekeepers call for accelerated Israeli withdrawal

United Nations peacekeepers and Lebanon's prime minister called for the Israeli army to speed up its withdrawal from the country, nearly a month into a fragile ceasefire.

"UNIFIL strongly urges accelerated progress in the IDF's (Israeli military) withdrawal from and the LAF's (Lebanese army) deployment in south Lebanon," the force said in a statement.

It called on "all actors to cease and refrain from violations of (Security Council) resolution 1701 and any actions that could jeopardise the fragile stability that currently prevails".

That came after Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the United States and France should put pressure on Israel to complete its withdrawal faster.

1215 GMT — Palestinian death toll in Israel's war on Gaza tops 45,300

At least 58 more Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza, bringing the overall death toll since last year to 45,317, the Health Ministry in the enclave said.

A ministry statement added that some 107,713 others were wounded in the ongoing assault.

"Israeli forces killed 58 people and injured 86 others in five 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.

1024 GMT — Israeli air strikes on Gaza kill at least 20 people, Palestinian medics say

Israeli air strikes on Gaza overnight killed at least 20 people, Palestinian medics said.

One of the strikes hit a tent camp in Al Mawasi area, an Israel-declared humanitarian zone, killing eight people, including two children, according to Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, which received the bodies.

1024 GMT — Lebanon's caretaker PM visits military positions in south

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister has begun a tour of military positions in the country's south, almost a month after a ceasefire deal that ended Israel's war on Lebanon that battered the country.

Najib Mikati was on his first visit to the southern frontlines, where Lebanese soldiers under the US-brokered deal are expected to gradually deploy, with Hezbollah and Israel both expected to withdraw by the end of next month.

Mikati's tour comes after the Lebanese government expressed its frustration over ongoing Israeli strikes and overflights in the country.

"We have many tasks ahead of us, the most important being the enemy's (Israel's) withdrawal from all the lands it encroached on during its recent aggression," he said after meeting with army chief Joseph Aoun in a Lebanese military barracks in the southeastern town of Marjayoun. "Then the army can carry out its tasks in full."

0844 GMT — Israel kills 14 Palestinians in Gaza, including aid truck guards

The Israeli army killed at least 14 more Palestinians, including five guards escorting aid trucks, and injured dozens in several air strikes and shellings across Gaza.

A medical source told Anadolu that five Palestinians guarding aid trucks were killed in western Rafah city, southern Gaza, while over 20 others were injured in the Israeli air strike.

According to Palestinian figures, the Israeli army has killed over 720 Palestinian policemen and security personnel guarding aid trucks in Gaza since the onset of the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza in October last year.

The Israeli army also targeted a car in western Khan Younis city, leaving two Palestinians dead, according to a medical source.

0715 GMT — Israel builds 7 illegal settlements in Area B of West Bank: Israeli group

Israeli authorities have built seven illegal settlement outposts inside Area B of the West Bank, which is supposed to be under the Palestinian Authority’s administrative control, an Israeli rights group has said.

These are the first settlement outposts established in Area B since the signing of the Oslo Accord in 1993.

"For the first time since Oslo Accords, 7 outposts established in West Bank Area B," the Israeli group Peace Now said in a statement.

It also said that "five of the outposts were established in the area called the Agreed-Upon Reserve" in east and southeast of Bethlehem city, while the other two were established in the Ramallah area, all of which are in the areas classified as Area B of the West Bank.

0158 GMT — Israel's relentless attacks on Gaza 'safe zone' kills 11

Israeli forces continue striking Gaza, killing four people in two air attacks on the Al Mawasi "safe zone", while rescue operations continue after another attack killed at least seven lives in the same area.

The Palestinian resistance group Hamas has condemned the Israeli military's ongoing assault on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, describing it as an "unprecedented crime against humanity" in a statement.

It said the region is under relentless bombardment, with the hospital being directly targeted by Israeli air strikes.

"The occupation army continues its relentless bombing and systematic destruction of northern Gaza, focusing particularly on the Jabalia refugee camp and Beit Lahia.

"The strikes are targeting residential areas, shelters, schools and especially Kamal Adwan Hospital," it added.

0127 GMT — Israel targets homes in southern Lebanon in latest violations of ceasefire

The Israeli military has targeted and demolished homes in southern Lebanon in the latest violations of a ceasefire that began on November 27.

The number of violations by the Israeli military has reached 287, resulting in 31 deaths and 37 wounded, according to official reports.

Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) reported that the Israeli military destroyed numerous homes in the town of Kfarkela in Nabatieh governorate in southern Lebanon.

Similar actions were reported in the Hanin area of Bint Jbeil, where homes were also targeted.

0038 GMT — Only 12 trucks delivered food, and water in North Gaza Governorate since October: Oxfam

Just 12 trucks distributed food and water in northern Gaza in two-and-a-half months, aid group Oxfam has said, raising the alarm over the worsening humanitarian situation in the besieged territory.

"Of the meagre 34 trucks of food and water given permission to enter the North Gaza Governorate over the last 2.5 months, deliberate delays and systematic obstructions by the Israeli military meant that just twelve managed to distribute aid to starving Palestinian civilians," Oxfam said in a statement, in a count that included deliveries through Saturday.

"For three of these, once the food and water had been delivered to the school where people were sheltering, it was then cleared and shelled within hours," Oxfam added.

2253 GMT — Israel kills 7 Palestinians in designated 'safe zone' in Gaza

Israel has killed at least 7 Palestinians and wounded several others in its strike on displaced people's tents in an area of southern besieged Gaza previously designated as a "safe zone" by the army.

Medical sources told Anadolu that the strike set the tents ablaze, resulting in casualties, with medical teams continuing to respond to the wounded.

"Our teams are responding to an Israeli attack on displaced Palestinians' tents near the British hospital in the Al-Mawasi area near Khan Younis," the Gaza Civil Defense Directorate said in a statement.

Civilians and civil defence teams rushed to contain the blaze; eyewitnesses told Anadolu.

2309 GMT — UNRWA chief says Israel has broken all rules of war in Gaza

Israel has violated all the rules of war in besieged Gaza, the commissioner-general of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) said.

Philippe Lazzarini highlighted the ongoing violations in the enclave, where Israel has continued its attacks for the past 14 months.

"Escalation over the past 24 hours. More civilians are reported killed and injured," he said in a post on his X account.

"Attacks on schools and hospitals have been commonplace. The world must not become numb. All wars have rules. All of those rules have been broken."

Lazzarini also emphasised that a ceasefire in Gaza is "long overdue," calling for a halt to the attacks to protect civilians.

For our live updates from Sunday, December 22, 2024, click here.