Israeli military claims to have targeted Hamas commander in al-Mawasi strike

The Israeli military claims that its recent strike in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, which killed five people, including two children, targeted a Hamas commander and was a response to reported clashes between Palestinian fighters and Israeli soldiers in Rafah earlier today.

Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, says that dozens of people were wounded in the strikes, in addition to those killed.

The attacks caused the burning of several tents housing displaced Palestinians, and medical sources at the Kuwaiti Hospital, which initially reported the casualties to our team on the ground, told Wafa that the bodies of those killed arrived badly charred.

Hamas calls Israel’s strike on al-Mawasi a ‘war crime’

Hamas has released a statement in which it said Israel’s bombing of tents housing displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis was “a war crime” and demonstrated “disregard” for the ceasefire agreement.

It demanded that the mediators and guarantors of the ceasefire agreement “restrain” the Israeli military and not allow the Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu, to evade the agreement.

Phase two of ceasefire will happen ‘pretty soon’, says Trump

The US president, in response to a question about phase two of the Gaza ceasefire deal, said, “Phase two is moving along, it’s going to happen pretty soon”.

At the news conference held in the White House, he referred to “a problem” today in which a bomb that “had just gone off” had injured some people and possibly killed others without providing further details.

However, he said that “we have peace in the Middle East” and that there is “tremendous” support for the ceasefire deal.

Yeah it's so peaceful in the Middle East... What bomb is he referring to? That wasn't in any of the details. Slip of the tongue?

Germany launches initial operations of Israeli Arrow 3 missile system

The German military says the first elements of the Israeli system – radar, launchers and trained personnel – are now operational and can begin protective operations on a limited scale.

The system, which was procured in Israel, is reportedly a response to the threat posed by Russia and is expected to give Germany, for the first time, the ability to detect and intercept incoming ballistic missiles outside the Earth’s atmosphere.

The German armed forces are investing $4.2bn in the system, which is being deployed outside of Israel for the first time.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz, quoting German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, said the contract for the agreement was signed only two years ago.


_{German soldiers play in a military brass band in front of the Arrow 3 shield system and a radar dome at the Annaburger Heide Airbase in Schoenewalde and Holzdorf, eastern Germany}

No wonder Germany can find no fault with Israel...

‘Strong reasons’ to believe war crimes committed in Gaza: UN chief

UN chief Antonio Guterres has told the Reuters Next conference in New York that “there are strong reasons to believe war crimes may have been committed.”

That's about all he's allowed to say, still can't say the word genocide. War crimes 'may' have been committed. 

Hind Rajab Foundation files complaint against former Israeli PM, FM

🚨🚨 With Ehud Olmert & Tzipi Livni visiting Canada, the #HindRajabFoundation, together with @CLAIHR and @pchrgaza, has filed a complaint seeking their arrest for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza (2008–2009). These Crimes are not forgotten.
More info ⬇️… pic.twitter.com/AOLHAPdkw6

— The Hind Rajab Foundation (@HindRFoundation) December 3, 2025

Main events on December 3rd

• At least five people have been killed after the Israeli army launched strikes on al-Mawasi, located west of the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
• Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office says the International Committee of the Red Cross has transferred the body of a captive to Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip.
• The Israeli army says that during an operation in eastern Rafah, its forces encountered several fighters who emerged from a “subterranean structure in the area”, and several soldiers were injured in the incident.
• The Wafa news agency reports that the two Palestinians were wounded after being beaten by Israeli soldiers in the village of Maslya, south of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.
• Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has said that a lasting peace with Israel could pave the way to normalising ties with the country and establishing economic ties, but that those milestones remain far off, given current tensions.
• Hundreds of prominent cultural figures have signed an open letter urging Israel to release Marwan Barghouti, the most prominent Palestinian detainee in Israeli custody.

U.S.-Backed Ceasefire Is Cover for Ethnic Cleansing in Gaza & West Bank

Israel has announced it will reopen the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt in the next few days as part of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire. However, the border will only open in one direction: for Palestinians to exit. Israeli American human rights lawyer Sari Bashi says the move validates fears that Israel's goal is to "continue the ethnic cleansing of Gaza."

Own goal for Netanyahu, Marco Rubio as they invent imaginary common enemy

Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio have announced their new common enemy. However, as Rifat a Jawaid argues, this may further erode public confidence in the current US government and its blind support to Netanyahu. Just like their narrative on Iran, this too is likely to push young Americans against their legacy politicians.

‘Relentless, steady’ killing continues despite ceasefire

Last night, as many as five members of a single family – a middle-aged mother, father, their eldest son and their two young children – were killed in a series of attacks concentrated in Khan Younis’s al-Mawasi evacuation zone, an area supposed to be safe for displaced families.

The genocide never really ended. We’ve seen the pace of killing continue. Since the ceasefire took hold [nearly two months ago], only one form of violence ended – the mass bombardment. But relentless, steady killing is still happening. It’s killing despite the ceasefire.

‘Children and women left in pieces’: Witness recalls Israeli attack on al-Mawasi ‘safe zone’

At the site of an Israeli strike on a tented encampment al-Mawasi, a so-called “safe zone” west of the city of Khan Younis, Palestinian survivors are in shock.

“Suddenly, a fire broke out, I looked around and [saw] that it was in our camp,” Jihad Samir al-Arja told the Reuters news agency. “People, children and women were left in pieces. Everyone took part in putting out the fire and the gas canisters and tents that were on fire.”

Al-Arja, 35, expressed anger at the absence of safety even amid a ceasefire, which nominally came into effect on October 10. According to authorities in Gaza, Israeli forces have since violated the ceasefire at least 591 times.

“Where are the mediators? Where are those who sought for a ceasefire? There is nothing, we do not see a ceasefire,” al-Arja said. “Every week there are strikes, assassinations, bombardment and targeting of buildings. We do not see a ceasefire at all.”

Medics at the Kuwaiti Hospital in Khan Younis said they recovered the bodies of five Palestinians, including two children, after the missile attack on Wednesday evening.

_{Young boys stand at the site where Palestinians were killed on December 3 by an Israeli strike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on December 4}


Gaza’s living conditions set back 20 years, UNRWA estimates

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has said it needs “all possible resources and capacity” to respond to the “immense needs” in Gaza, whose living conditions “are estimated to have fallen back more than 20 years”.

The agency said it is continuing to work “relentlessly” in the enclave and urged for its aid supplies – which it says Israel has not allowed direct entry to Gaza for nine months – to be let in.

Living conditions in #Gaza are estimated to have fallen back more than 20 years. The UN needs all possible resources and capacity to be able to respond to the immense needs.#UNRWAworks relentlessly in Gaza, and the Agency’s aid supplies must be allowed in.

Raise awareness on… pic.twitter.com/D0UIP8EH5O

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 4, 2025

Gaza death toll rises

At least six Palestinians have been killed and 16 others injured in new Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry. Two bodies were also recovered from the rubble of previous Israeli attacks, the ministry said in a statement published on Telegram.

A total of 366 Palestinians have been killed and 938 injured by Israeli forces in the enclave since the October 10 ceasefire, it said. Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza killed 70,125 Palestinians and injured 171,015 others since October 7, 2023, the ministry concluded.

Hamas says Israel’s reported bulldozing of Palestinian bodies constitutes war crimes

_{People gather near bodies lined up for identification after they were unearthed from a mass grave found in the Nasser Medical Complex in the southern Gaza Strip in April 2024}

Israeli military claims to have killed Hamas commander in Rafah

The Israeli military says that it has killed Muhammad Jawad Muhammad al-Bawab, whom it called the commander of Hamas’s Eastern Rafah Battalion, in an attack on Sunday that also killed three others, including his deputy commander, Ismail Kanaan Abd al-Hay Abu Labdeh.

Israeli forces have continued to carry out strikes across Gaza, killing dozens of people despite an ostensible ceasefire.

The Israeli military said that al-Bawab was killed while exiting underground infrastructure in eastern Rafah and that the attack also killed a security guard named Abdullah Azi Ahmed Hama and a regional Hamas platoon leader named Tawfiq Khaled Tawfiq Salem.

Palestinian woman killed in Israel’s latest attack on Gaza

A Palestinian woman has been killed and several people wounded by Israel’s army Gaza City in the latest violation of the US-brokered ceasefire. Medical sources said soldiers opened fire toward Palestinian homes in the al-Tuffah neighbourhood, killing the woman and injuring an unknown number of others.

Separately, the Israeli army said in a statement its forces killed a Palestinian in the southern Gaza Strip for allegedly crossing the “yellow line” truce demarcation and “posing an immediate threat” to its troops.

Israeli-backed gang leader in Gaza, Yasser Abu Shabab, is killed: Reports

Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a militia group that worked with Israel to counter Hamas and has been accused of looting humanitarian aid, has been killed, according to Israel’s Army Radio.

Abu Shabab led the gang that called itself the Popular Forces, gaining notoriety during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza when reports started coming out accusing his group of stealing the little humanitarian assistance entering the territory under the protection of the Israeli military.

Israel’s Channel 14 first reported his death on Thursday, without providing further details. Channel 12 said Abu Shabab was killed in clashes with “Gaza clans” and later pronounced dead at the Soroka Medical Center in southern Israel.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/4/gaza-militia-leader-accused-of-collaborating-with-israel-killed-reports

https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/04/middleeast/abu-shabab-killed-gaza-israeli-sources-intl

Israel also planned to use Abu Shabab’s organization, which he called the “Popular Forces,” to secure reconstruction projects inside Israeli-occupied Gaza under the next phase of the ceasefire deal. During the last several months of the war, Abu Shabab helped control the flow of aid from the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza.

Hamas, which had previously vowed to target Abu Shabab, did not comment on his death. A Hamas-affiliated group said on Telegram, “Like we told you, Israel will not protect you.” Pictures circulated on multiple Gaza messaging groups showed a number of Palestinians celebrating Abu Shabab’s death. One picture obtained by CNN shows Abu Shabab with a red “X” over his face and calls him a “pig.”

Abu Shabab was the leader of one of several loosely organized Palestinian gangs that Israel backs in Gaza, and its members largely stay within the Israeli-occupied part of the enclave. Abu Shabab’s group, which he claimed numbered in the hundreds, would carry out raids in Hamas-controlled territory before retreating quickly back to Israel’s protection, according to Muhammad Shehada, a Gaza expert with the European Council on Foreign Relations.


Questions remain around gang leader Abu Shabab’s death in Gaza

Yasser Abu Shabab has been known among Israeli military officials as the anti-Hamas militia leader. In the available news coming from the Israeli side, there isn’t any confirmation coming in from the official Facebook page of his group, no official comments from him or from his family.

But it does seem to be the case that he was killed, and there are different accounts of what really happened. Who was behind it, what really went on that led to his death, is still unclear.

But people here are reacting to what’s going on and a chief question is what the impact will be on the delivery of aid trucks. Over the course of the past months, Abu Shabab and his group were largely accused of looting many of these humanitarian aid trucks.

Killing of gang leader throws future of Israeli collaborators into question

Alignment with Israel in the middle of a genocide in Gaza was radioactive, and these armed groups were socially condemned in Palestinian society. There was some debate when the ceasefire agreement came into place in October what Israel should do with them – whether they should allow them into Israel to escape a backlash and Hamas hunting them down.

And the answer from the Israeli military establishment was “no, let them fend for themselves, we’re not going to defend them”. These groups will have to consider what they will do next, because it seems the killing of Abu Shabab was an internal matter. Right now, there’s debate in Israel over who could take his place, and whether there’s any utility in keeping these gangs funded and keeping them going under Israeli protection.

Israeli army conducts raids in occupied West Bank

The Israeli military has raided the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank as it continued to conduct arrests and displace residents for a third day. The army imposed a curfew and restricted Palestinian movement inside the area as it raided homes. Videos reviewed by Al Jazeera show several Palestinians being arrested.

Separately, the Wafa news agency reported that the military raided several homes in Qalqilya and closed all access points to the city. A curfew was imposed on the Kafr Saba neighbourhood, and residents were ordered to stay indoors.

Israeli forces arrest 13 Palestinians in West Bank

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office (ASRA) says Israeli forces have apprehended at least 13 Palestinians since the early morning hours, amid a campaign of arrests across the occupied West Bank.

Former prisoner Bajis Nakhla was arrested in the Jalazone refugee camp one month after his release from administrative detention. He had spent more than 22 years in Israeli prisons. Two former prisoners were also arrested again in Hebron, and their homes were raided.

The Israeli military also raided the city of Nablus and the surrounding villages and arrested three young men from Madama.

Seven Palestinians injured in Israeli settler attack near West Bank’s Hebron

Israeli settlers have injured seven Palestinians in an attack between the city of Halhul and the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank.

The Wafa news agency reported that armed Israelis from the illegal Karmei Tzur settlement assaulted a group of farmers with stones, clubs and pepper spray, in an attempt to reach Palestinian land in the Wardan area. The injured farmers were taken by ambulance to the Mahmoud Abbas Governmental Hospital in Halhul.

Palestinian man, daughter injured in Israeli settler attack near Nablus

A Palestinian man and his daughter have been injured by Israeli settlers who attacked them and set their car on fire near the village of al-Lubban Asharqiya in the occupied West Bank, on the road between Ramallah and Nablus. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its staff treated the injured man and his daughter before transporting them to hospital, according to the Wafa news agency.

Armed settlers also stormed the village of Berin, southeast of Hebron, threatening residents to forcibly expel them from the area. The group came from a recently established illegal Israeli outpost, Adurin, according to Wafa.

Settlers also stormed the town of Sebastia, northwest of Nablus, under the protection of the Israeli army. The West Bank town, home to a Roman-era archaeological site, has come under repeated settler attack as Israel’s Civil Administration proceeds to expropriate large swaths of Palestinian land.

Masked Israelis assault Palestinians, burn vehicle on highway

The Israeli military has issued a statement, saying army and police officers were dispatched after reports of violent assaults against Palestinians on Highway 60, which intersects the occupied West Bank.

Several masked Israelis hurled stones and set tyres on fire near the Shilo junction, the statement said. One vehicle was set on fire, and its passengers were assaulted. One woman who escaped from the vehicle suffered from smoke inhalation and received initial treatment from the Red Crescent.

The incident followed the evacuation of an Israeli outpost in the area, it added.

Israeli forces severely injure 12-year-old boy in West Bank’s Qalqilya: Report

Israeli forces have shot and severely injured a 12-year-old boy during an incursion in the city of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency. The boy, who was shot in the head, has been hospitalised for treatment, Wafa cites the Palestinian Red Crescent Society as saying.

The report says Israeli forces have been raiding the town since the early morning, searching residents’ homes and firing live ammunition and rubber bullets.

Israeli forces detain four in Dura as settlers attack residents in Masafer Yatta

Israeli forces have detained four Palestinians in the town of Dura, southwest of Hebron, while armed settlers attacked several residents in the Masafer Yatta area. The Wafa news agency said soldiers fired stun grenades and tear gas toward residents during the raid, before detaining four young men whose identities are not known.

In a separate incident, the news outlet reported that armed Israeli settlers forcibly held several members of the al-Adra family in the Rujum Ali area of Masafer Yatta.

Masafer Yatta, a cluster of 12 Palestinian villages spread across the rolling hills south of Hebron, has been the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, which depicts life in the beleaguered community as Palestinians there are threatened with expulsion.

Global campaign launched to free jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti

An international campaign to free popular Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, who has been jailed in Israel since 2002, is gathering pace, with more than 200 A-listers, from Margaret Atwood to Javier Bardem, lending their support.

“We express our grave concern at the continuing imprisonment of Marwan Barghouti, his violent mistreatment and denial of legal rights whilst imprisoned,” said an open letter published on Wednesday, calling on the United Nations and governments to take action.

Most of the high-profile signatories were already active in efforts to bring an end to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, but the new letter is part of an international “Free Marwan” campaign launched by Barghouti’s family earlier this week.

Barghouti, a senior leader of President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah group, who is viewed by many as Palestine’s Nelson Mandela, is serving five life sentences in Israeli prisons on alleged charges related to attacks during the second Intifada, which lasted from 2000 to 2005.


_{A mural depicting Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, with a message reading ‘See you soon’ in Arabic on Israel’s separation wall in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank}

UNRWA chief says dismantling agency will not address refugee status of Palestinians

Philippe Lazzarini has said the absence of a “political solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is what determines the protracted status of Palestinians as refugees.

Israel has been conducting a campaign against the UN agency for Palestinians, which was created with a temporary mandate after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 to serve approximately 750,000 Palestinians displaced by the war. Israel has banned the UNRWA, which enshrines the right of Palestinian refugees to return home, and US President Donald Trump has cut vital funds.

#Palestine Refugees remain refugees because of the absence of a political solution.

They are no exception.

Other refugees across the world have also been waiting decades for a lasting political solution to their plight.

Dismantling @UNRWA will not address the refugee status of…

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) December 4, 2025

Israeli army threatens residents of two villages in southern Lebanon

Israeli forces will attack the villages of Jbaa and Mahrouna in southern Lebanon soon, Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee has warned on X.

Publishing two maps with five buildings marked, the army claimed the target was Hezbollah’s military infrastructure.

“You are located near buildings used by Hezbollah and for your safety, you are required to evacuate them immediately and stay away from them by a distance of at least 300 metres [984 feet],” he told the residents of the buildings. “Remaining in the area of the marked buildings exposes you to danger.”

Israel bombs southern Lebanon’s Mahrouna

Israeli warplanes have carried out an air strike on the town of Mahrouna, shortly after warning of an upcoming attack there, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. I

n a post on X, Israel’s Arabic language spokesperson confirmed attacks in southern Lebanon are under way.

Israel’s military threatens residents of two more Lebanese towns with attacks

Israel’s military has said it will soon carry out attacks on two more towns in southern Lebanon – al-Majadel and Braashit. In a post on X, the military’s Arabic language spokesperson Avichay Adraee published maps marking several buildings as targets.

He said residents should immediately evacuate more than 300 metres (984 feet) away from the buildings, which he claimed had been used by Hezbollah.

Israel’s military destroys building in Lebanon’s Jbaa: Report

Israel’s military has now followed through on its threat to attack Lebanon’s southern town of Jbaa, reports Lebanon’s National News Agency.

The attack hit a building in a densely populated residential neighbourhood, completely destroying the building and causing major damage to nearby areas, according to the news agency.


_{A rescue worker stands in the rubble after Israel’s attack on Jbaa, southern Lebanon}