Israeli army continues offensive activities in the Gaza Strip

Our colleagues on the ground in Gaza report that the Israeli army has launched an air strike and carried out artillery shelling on parts of Khan Younis that it currently controls. There have been no reports of casualties so far.

Elsewhere, in northern Gaza, the army carried out more building demolitions in Beit Lahiya.

As we reported earlier, Hamas said that there would be no movement towards the second phase of the ceasefire in Gaza as long as Israel continued what it termed “violations” of the agreement.

The truce is now 60 days old, but Israeli attacks and other actions like these continue daily.

Palestinian Civil Defence recovers 15 more bodies from al-Shifa Hospital

The Palestinian Civil Defence has recovered the bodies of 15 Palestinians from the courtyard of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Today’s work brings the total number of bodies recovered from Gaza’s largest medical facility to 113.

“Several bodies remain missing on the hospital grounds, as work is still ongoing to retrieve them,” the agency said. It added that four of the bodies had not been identified.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said it had discovered a mass grave at the hospital in May 2024, calling it “part of the genocide and crime committed by the Israeli army inside the Shifa Medical Complex”.

UN condemns Israeli commander’s claim that yellow line is ‘new border’ of Gaza

United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric has responded to Israeli Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir’s claim that the so-called “yellow line” that currently demarcates Israeli-occupied territory in Gaza represents a “new border” with Israel.

Israel has retained about 58 percent of Gaza after withdrawing to the so-called “yellow line” as part of the ceasefire. Israeli forces are meant to eventually withdraw from all of Gaza under the plan.

Dujarric said the statement “seems to me to go against the spirit and the letter of the Trump peace plan”.

“We firmly stand against any change of the borders of Gaza and Israel,” he said.

Hamas official to Al Jazeera: Disarming the Palestinians means taking their lives

Khaled Meshaal, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, has given comment to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic. He said that Gaza must be aided in every way possible, and that an increase in relief efforts is essential for a move to the second phase of the ceasefire in Gaza.

He also said that any authority in Gaza must be Palestinian, and that disarming the people is akin to taking away their lives.

Palestinian ambassador marks genocide victim commemoration

United Nations envoy Majed Bamya has issued a warning to the international community as the UN marks the 10th anniversary of International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide.

“It is difficult to convey what it means to speak here on behalf of the people of Palestine as they endure genocide,” Bamya said during a high-level meeting.

The Palestinian ambassador called the genocide in Gaza “one of the most documented crimes in modern history”.

“Live-streamed for all to see, recorded by those suffering, in the hope that the world watching would act, and even recorded by those committing the crimes, confident they will never be held to account,” he said.

“Which one of them will we prove right? The victims or the perpetrators?” he asked.

Main events on December 9th

• Hamas officials have said more pressure must be put on Israel to reach an agreement on phase two of the ceasefire, which concerns the future governing of Gaza.
• The UN has decried an Israeli general’s statement that the “yellow line” in Gaza represents the enclave’s “new border” with Israel.
• Gaza authorities have warned of heavy rains over the next three days, with residents unable to properly prepare for floods due to Israeli restrictions.
• Condemnation has continued to roll in after Israel yesterday stormed the UNRWA compound in occupied East Jerusalem.

Netanyahu to defy Trump on peace deal? Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes double down

Benjamin Netanyahu had hinted at implementing the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal amidst speculations that Donald Trump is keen on making this happen at the earliest. Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson has hit back at AIPAC and Nick Fuentes has said that he was unapologetic about his past comments related to the Second World War. Rifat Jawaid analyses these developments as he also looks at the plight of the last Columbia University protester, Leqaa Kordia, who continues to remain in ICE detention for more than 220 days.

Ben Gvir Just Put A Noose Around Israel’s Neck

While Ben Gvir poses with a noose shaped lapel pin, record numbers of prison fatalities on his watch is hitting Israel hard.

Itamar Ben Gvir turning up to the Knesset in a bright yellow noose pin is one of those moments where the performance finally catches up with the policy isn’t it? Because you do not need to be a legal scholar to see what a man is telling you when he walks into a parliamentary committee dressed like the executioner while more than a hundred Palestinian detainees have died on his watch in detention. You do not need insider briefings to understand what it means when he praises soldiers who shoot surrendered men in Jenin and then tries to promote the officer responsible. And you certainly do not need a UN mandate to work out why states are starting to bar him from entering their borders. You just have to look at the noose and look at the bodies and ask why anyone is still pretending the two things are not connected. He might want to put a noose around the neck of Palestinians, but his antics, going consistently without meaningful censure are placing it around the neck of Israel itself instead.

Ben Gvir walking into the Knesset wearing a bright yellow noose pin is not a one-off stunt, it is the straightest expression yet of what he is doing with the carceral system he controls, and of what the Israeli state is now prepared to put in plain sight. He and his Otzma Yehudit colleagues sit on the National Security Committee with little nooses on their lapels while they debate a bill that would formalise the death penalty – but only for Palestinians - on so-called “nationalistic” grounds, and he sits there cheerfully explaining that hanging is one of several options, along with the electric chair and lethal injection.

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Mass boycott? 4 countries so far... (Who still deal with Israel anyway)

Israeli forces make arrests in violent raids across West Bank

A series of Israeli military raids late last night and this morning targeted Palestinian land across multiple areas of the occupied West Bank, during which at least 14 people were arrested.

Seven people were arrested from the town of Beit Ummar near Hebron after Israeli soldiers ransacked homes and seized jewellery and other valuables at dawn, according to local sources cited by the Wafa news agency.

Two released prisoners were rearrested during separate raids on their homes in towns south of Jenin. Two young men were taken from the city of Qalqilya, while several nearby towns were also raided.

At least one Palestinian was arrested in Tulkarem at dawn, while another arrest was reported in the town of Tuqu, southeast of Bethlehem. Israeli forces also made an arrest during a raid in Nablus.

In Salfit, Israeli forces carried out a large raid during which dozens of young men were detained and interrogated in the field before being released. A large number of Palestinian homes were also searched.

Ex-minister, academic among those arrested in West Bank raids

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting Israeli forces have arrested Nasser al-Din al-Shaer, a former minister and Palestinian academic. Quoting local media, our colleagues reported that forces stormed al-Shaer’s home in Nablus during a spree of dawn raids in the occupied West Bank.

Al-Shaer served as education minister and deputy prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority in the mid-2000s, and was a previously released prisoner, our colleagues added.

Israeli forces arrest over 100 Palestinians in West Bank

We have more information about the wave of dawn Israeli military raids carried out in the occupied West Bank. More than 100 Palestinians have been arrested in total, including many released prisoners, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office (ASRA) said in its latest update.

The hardest-hit areas included the cities of Nablus and Silwad, as well as Deir Jarir town, northeast of Ramallah, ASRA reported, along with “extensive” arrest campaigns in Salfit, Hebron, Bethlehem, Qalqilya and Jenin cities.

In Nablus, about 30 citizens – largely former prisoners – were detained and interrogated before some were released. Another 24 people were arrested in Silwad and Deir Jarir, along with 20 in al-Eizariya town and Abu Dis village and more than 14 in Jericho city.

Israeli forces also stormed homes, stole belongings and pilfered some jewellery, the update said.

Young Palestinian prisoner dies in Israeli custody

Abdul Rahman al-Sabateen, a 21-year-old Palestinian who was arrested by Israeli soldiers in late June, has been confirmed to have died in Israeli custody last night, according to the Palestinian Authority.

The young man from the town of Husan near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank died at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, the PA said in a statement, adding that the prisoner had shown no signs of physical or health problems when his family saw him during a court session on November 25.

The prisoner had suffered a “serious abdominal injury” a year before his arrest, but his condition had stabilised, the PA said.

Hamas, monitors condemn harsh prison conditions after prisoner’s death

Hamas has said the custodial death of the 21-year-old prisoner that we reported on earlier represents another crime “added to the horrific record of violations perpetrated by the Israeli prison administration against Palestinian prisoners”.

The Palestinian group said in a statement that Abdul Rahman al-Sabateen’s death is further evidence of a “policy of slow killing” through torture, abuse, starvation and deliberate medical neglect.

The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, two monitors that follow up on prisoners, said in a joint statement that the “systematic” policy to kill or torture those in custody constitutes “an essential part of the ongoing war of extermination against our people”.

Palestinian deaths in Israeli custody have surged during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, with about 100 people confirmed dead and more forcibly disappeared.

Nearly 200 Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem

Roughly 190 Israeli settlers flanked by Israeli forces stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site, in occupied East Jerusalem, Wafa news agency is reporting.

Settlers streamed into the mosque’s courtyards in groups, local sources told the agency, where they performed “provocative” tours and Talmudic rituals as Israeli soldiers and police watched on. Jewish worshippers are not allowed in the mosque compound, which is under the custodianship of Jordan.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque is located inside a 35-acre (14-hectare) compound referred to as al-Haram al-Sharif that also hosts the Dome of the Rock, a seventh-century structure believed to be where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.

Israel approves nearly 800 illegal housing units in three West Bank settlements

Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said he gave final approval for 764 housing units to be built in three illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The far-right politician, who acts as de facto governor of the West Bank and has pledged to never allow the formation of a Palestinian state, said he will “continue the revolution”.

He said that since he came to power in late 2022, some 51,370 housing units have been approved in the West Bank to curtail future Palestinian statehood.

The Israeli Broadcasting Authority said a review of state documents and leaks has revealed what it described as “historic” transformations in the West Bank under Smotrich, with record numbers of Palestinians driven from their land and homes, which are subsequently transferred to Israeli state control and turned into settlements.

The actions of the Israeli government run counter to the international position that calls for a sovereign Palestinian state living side by side with an Israeli state. Trump’s ceasefire plan agreed in October also talks about the so-called two-state solution.

Gaza authorities raise alarm over impact of Storm Byron on displaced

A new disaster could be threatening hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip over the next 48 hours as Storm Byron advances with heavy rainfall and winds, the enclave’s Government Media Office has warned.

The storm poses real dangers, the office said in a statement, pointing out that countless Palestinians have continued to live in dilapidated tents for more than a year without any end in sight to their painful conditions.

“The Gaza Strip is facing severe weather consequences that could cause widespread damage to tens of thousands of families living in tents and makeshift shelters that offer no protection from the winter cold or the harshness of storms,” it said, calling the situation a “recurring tragic scenario”.

“We emphasise that this weather reality exacerbates the humanitarian catastrophe resulting from the genocidal war and the unjust siege imposed on our Palestinian people.”


_{Buildings destroyed by Israel lie in ruins amidst the rubble in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on December 8}

Flash floods, hail, gusty winds to grip Palestine through Friday

Three days of cold thunderstorms are expected to hit Palestine starting from today, the Palestinian Meteorological Department has warned, unleashing flash floods, high winds and even hail.

Gusts will reach speeds of about 50km/h (31mph), accompanied by a drop in temperatures and intense rain across most of the country – including occasional icy hail – with conditions continuing overnight, the department said.

The low-pressure system is predicted to “deepen its impact” tomorrow, the service added. Temperatures will drop again and bring a fresh deluge of stormy weather. Although temperatures will rise slightly by Friday, the system is not slated to start easing off until the weekend, when conditions will remain cold and largely cloudy.

About 850,000 displaced Palestinians face highest flood risk in Gaza: OCHA

Nearly 850,000 people, currently sheltering in 761 displacement sites in the Gaza Strip, face the highest risk of flooding this week, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

In an update, OCHA said it had tracked more than 3,500 displacement movements between December 7 and 8, likely in anticipation of the heavy thunderstorms forecast to batter Palestine starting today. Flooding has previously been recorded at more than 200 of the highest-risk sites, the office said, affecting more than 140,000 people.

Previous storms have contaminated displacement sites with sewage and solid waste, swept away families’ tents and forced them out of makeshift shelters.

_{Palestinians struggle with flooding after heavy rain hits the Abu Marhil camp in the Zeitoun neighbourhood in Gaza City, Gaza on December 10}

About 288,000 Palestinian families are without shelter as Storm Byron bears down on the Gaza Strip, the director of the enclave’s Government Media Office, Ismail al-Thawabta, has told Al Jazeera. Roughly 250,000 tents and mobile homes were supposed to enter Gaza, al-Thawabta said. But there are currently 6,000 trucks “loaded with aid stuck at the crossings”.

“We are issuing an urgent appeal to the world, [United States] President Trump and the [United Nations] Security Council to pressure the Israeli occupation,” he added.

Need for medical evacuations out of Gaza ‘immense and growing’, WHO chief says

More than 18,500 patients, including 4,000 children, are currently waiting to leave the Gaza Strip for urgent specialised medical care, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

On Monday, the WHO evacuated 25 people and 92 companions out of Gaza to countries including Belgium, Italy, Norway and Romania, Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on social media.

But the need for medical evacuations is “immense and growing” as “the number of people needing medical evacuation has been increasing”, Tedros warned.

“The increase is partly because people previously unable to reach health facilities due to the insecurity are now able to present to hospitals for medical assessment, and consideration for evacuation for health care,” the chief added, calling for more countries to take patients from Gaza and for medical evacuations to the occupied West Bank to be restored.

Gaza atrocities persist ‘despite all efforts’ from the international community, Erdogan says

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza shows that the values defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights “have been severely damaged”, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

In a statement carried by Turkiye’s state news agency Anadolu in commemoration of Human Rights Day, Erdogan contrasted Israel’s on-the-ground behaviour with the standards espoused in the declaration, which Israel has signed.

“The atrocities we face in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories unfortunately persist despite all the efforts of the international community,” the president said. “The path to a just and lasting peace in Gaza lies in strengthening the ceasefire – which was established with the contribution of our country – and in implementing the two-state solution model.”

“Increasing international pressure on Israel is critically important to prevent Gaza from being dragged back into conflict,” he added.

Turkiye has emerged as one of Israel’s most vocal critics, prompting Israel to insist it won’t accept Turkish forces as part of future peacekeeping efforts.

_{A general view of a camp for displaced Palestinians at the Islamic University following the resumption of classes during a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza City, on December 2, 2025. Israel has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians since launching its devastating war on Gaza in 2023}

Gaza civil defence discovers mass grave at al-Shifa Hospital

Teams working with Gaza’s civil defence have found a mass grave within the grounds of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, which Israel has attacked multiple times since October 2023.

The civil defence is working to recover more than 30 bodies from the site, it said in a Telegram post, part of a broader effort to retrieve an estimated total of about 300 bodies from across the Gaza Strip.

The post included video footage of heavy machinery moving white body bags from a huge pile of dirt and crews dragging them by hand to higher ground.

Two Palestinians killed in last 24 hours in Israeli strikes: Gaza Health Ministry

The Palestinian Health Ministry says two people have been killed in the Gaza Strip in Israeli attacks over the past day, along with five people wounded and transferred to local hospitals. Earlier a third body was recovered from the al-Waha area north of Gaza City.

Since the ceasefire took effect in October, Israeli forces have killed 379 Palestinians and wounded nearly 1,000 others, according to the health authorities. During the same period, Gaza authorities have been able to recover at least 627 bodies buried in debris.

Storm is exacerbating Gaza’s humanitarian crisis: Mayor

Rising water levels are flooding Gaza’s shelters and making roads inaccessible, Gaza City Mayor Yahya al-Sarraj has told Al Jazeera.

“We expect another wave of the storm, but we lack the necessary equipment to deal with it,” he said. “We rely on equipment rented from the private sector, which is old and unsuitable for dealing with the storm.”

‘Critical’ for Israel to lift aid restrictions before Byron pummels Gaza, rights group says

Save the Children has called on Israel to allow tent poles and other banned items to enter Gaza, along with tents, winter clothes and blankets, to better protect families from Storm Byron’s effects. Since the ceasefire took effect in October, Israel has still not allowed the Strip to receive timber, tent poles or tools because it considers them “controlled dual-purpose” items.

“No child should lie awake all night freezing in sewage-sodden bedding. This is unconscionable,” said Ahmad Alhendawi, the organisation’s regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe. “What Palestinian children in Gaza need immediately is tents including tent poles, shelter, warm clothes, blankets and bedding”, as well as repairs to the sanitation system.

Last month’s storms forced half of Save the Children’s child-friendly spaces to close as camps were deluged with flooding, sewage and water damage, while attendance at its remaining four spaces has halved, the group said.

Although the organisation has not been allowed to bring its own supplies into Gaza since March, it plans to distribute locally procured winter household items and shelter kits in the coming weeks, including 2,000 kits of winter clothing for children.


_{Palestinian children go back to school}

In case of a flood, the few remaining ambulances, civil defence crews and other emergency responders will not be able to freely move around. Rescue crews have repeatedly been attacked by Israel, in some cases after obtaining clearance of movement from the Israeli army.

The limited entry of humanitarian aid and emergency equipment into Gaza also means that, in addition to lacking adequate food supplies and clean water, Palestinians are unable to access resources needed to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by Israel.

Israeli fire kills one child in Jabalia refugee camp

An ambulance and emergency services source tells Al Jazeera that Israeli fire has killed at least one child near the yellow line in the Jabalia refugee camp. Palestinian news agency Wafa separately reported that Israeli forces killed three people in the camp, which is located in northern Gaza.

The three bodies, including a woman and a child, were taken to a Gaza City hospital, Wafa said.

‘Man-made’ humanitarian crisis in Gaza could have been prevented

The potential devastation that is foreseen after this storm, which Israel expects to be quite massive … could have been prevented. This is a man-made disaster in the making.

Israel was supposed to allow for the reconstruction of infrastructure, for the repair of damaged infrastructure that Israeli forces have been destroying over the past two years, for heavy equipment to go in so that [Palestinians] can clear the roads from debris [and] so that movement can be managed better. That has not happened.

The aid that is going in is a fraction of what was supposed to go in. Israel uses the pretext of “dual-use items” to forbid the entry of things as basic as paper and pens. There is really no explanation given, except that “dual-use” excuse.

It doesn’t seem that the mechanism set up by the United States has had a lot of influence on changing these restrictions. Some have been lifted; we’ve seen a handful of trucks go through Allenby Bridge between Jordan and the West Bank, taking aid to Gaza.

But that is a drop in the ocean of what is needed and what should have been going in for two months now.

Jeremy Corbyn says UK government is endangering pro-Palestine hunger strikers

The former UK Labour leader has issued a statement in solidarity with Amu Gib, accused of participating in the Palestine Action break-in of RAF Brize Norton airbase this summer.

The action, carried out in protest of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the UK government’s participation in it, led to the proscription of the group under “anti-terrorism” laws. Dozens of protesters have since been arrested for voicing support for Palestine Action.

Six people, including Gib, are currently on trial in the UK for their role in the protest action, and Gib and eight others have been on a hunger strike since early last month.

Corbyn visited Gib in prison, and afterward said that the hunger strike is “an emergency that should be the front page of every newspaper in Britain”.

“Amu has now been in prison for several months. The trial date is not set until January 2027, which means they will have been in prison for 18 months before the trial. This constitutes cruel and unusual punishment,” Corbyn said in a statement.

Gaza Hunger Strike BURIED By Media - Situation CRITICAL