In numbers: Casualties across Gaza and occupied West Bank

As Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza continues, alongside ongoing settler and Israeli military violence in the occupied West Bank, here is a closer look at the figures since October 2023 shared by the Palestinian Health Ministry:

UN chief condemns Israel’s closure of UNRWA health centre in East Jerusalem

The UN secretary-general has strongly condemned Israel’s entry into a UN facility in occupied East Jerusalem and the temporary closure of a key health centre run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

In a statement, Guterres said Israeli authorities “unlawfully” entered the UNRWA Jerusalem Health Centre on January 12, ordering it shut. The facility provides primary healthcare to hundreds of Palestinian refugees each day and is, for many, their only access to medical services, the statement added.

Guterres said he had raised “grave concerns” directly with Israel’s PM and alerted the UN General Assembly and Security Council.

He also warned that UNRWA had been informed that electricity and water supplies to several of its facilities in occupied East Jerusalem could soon be cut.

Palestinian man wounded by Israeli fire in occupied West Bank

Israeli forces shot and wounded a Palestinian man and detained another late on Thursday near the entrance to the town of Beita, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

A Palestinian man was also wounded in an attack by Israeli settlers in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, while another group stormed a local school with livestock.

Armed settlers from the Susiya settlement reportedly attacked Palestinian shepherds in the Wadi al-Rakheem area, injuring an elderly man.

Israeli settlers carry out further attacks on Palestinians in occupied West Bank

Israeli settlers have carried out attacks on Palestinians east of Ramallah and northwest of Nablus in the occupied West Bank. Wafa news agency reported that illegal settlers, under the protection of Israeli forces, opened fire and stormed grazing lands south of the village of al-Mughayyir, east of Ramallah.

A Palestinian family was attacked before a military patrol raided their farm. The village has repeatedly come under attack from settlers. Four foreign activists who had been present to document the attacks and support residents were arrested.

In a separate incident, a group of Israeli settlers attacked a farmer on his land in the al-Masoudiya plain, northwest of Nablus, evicting him with a warning not to return and telling him they had seized his land. The area has also come under frequent attack by Israeli settlers.

Israeli forces kill Palestinian child near Ramallah

A 14-year-old Palestinian boy has been killed by Israeli gunfire in the village of al-Mughayyir, east of Ramallah, according to the Wafa news agency.

Israeli forces entered the village, triggering confrontations during which live ammunition was fired at residents. The boy, identified as Mohammed Saad Na’san, was shot in the back and chest.

Israeli forces also assaulted worshippers as they left al-Mughayyir West Mosque after Friday prayers, firing stun grenades and tear gas.

Israeli military helicopter crashes during recovery operation near Bethlehem

An Israeli military helicopter crashed during a recovery operation near Bethlehem in the southern occupied West Bank, according to the Israeli army.

The Times of Israel reported the military as saying that a Black Hawk helicopter went down while being airlifted after making an emergency landing because of bad weather.

During Friday’s recovery operation, the damaged helicopter was being carried by another aircraft using a cable when it became detached and crashed to the ground. No injuries were reported.

Israeli Air Force chief Tomer Bar has ordered the establishment of a military investigative committee to examine the incident, the report said.

Breaking | An Israeli military helicopter crashes during an evacuation operation near Bethlehem in the southern West Bank. pic.twitter.com/RbsscYn9U8

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 16, 2026

Far-right Israeli MP attacks foreign activists in occupied West Bank: Report

A far-right Israeli MP has stormed a gathering of Palestinian Bedouins north of Jericho in the occupied West Bank and attacked several foreign activists, the Wafa news agency is reporting.

Zvi Sukkot, a settler activist who is a member of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionist party – part of Israel’s governing coalition – stormed the gathering in the al-Auja area north of Jericho.

The activists were at the gathering to show support for the Palestinians and defend their rights amid ongoing settler attacks in the occupied West Bank.The incident came hours after Israeli forces arrested four foreign activists near the village of al-Mughayyir, east of Ramallah.

UNIFIL says Israeli drone dropped explosive near peacekeepers in Lebanon

UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, has said the Israeli military used a drone to drop an explosive device near its personnel during a patrol.

In a statement, UNIFIL said peacekeepers on a planned patrol near the town of Adeisse were alerted by residents to a potential threat at a nearby house, where they discovered an explosive device connected to a detonating cord.

As they prepared to inspect another location, a drone hovering overhead dropped a grenade about 30 metres from the patrol.

UNIFIL said no peacekeepers were injured and it sent a stop-fire request to the Israeli army. It said such actions endanger both peacekeepers and civilians, urging Israel to ensure their safety and halt activities that put them at risk.

The UN Security Council has voted to extend UNIFIL’s mandate until the end of 2026, followed by an “orderly and safe drawdown and withdrawal” during 2027.

Two killed in Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon

Two people have been killed in separate Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Health Ministry says.

One person had been killed in a raid on a truck in the town of al-Mansouri, in the district of Tyre in southern Lebanon, earlier today. In a separate incident overnight, one person was killed in the Israeli attack on a car in Mayfadoun in the Nabatieh district, the ministry said.

Israeli forces carry out new incursions in Syria’s Quneitra countryside

Israeli forces have advanced into villages in Syria’s southern Quneitra countryside, according to Syria’s state news agency SANA.

The Israeli army deployed eight military vehicles and three tanks from the Tal al-Ahmar area westward towards Ain al-Zaywan and Sweisa in southern Quneitra. The force spread through Sweisa for about an hour before moving towards the small village of Dawayah, as tanks simultaneously entered the Abu Qubais hill, SANA reported.

Local sources said the forces remained there briefly before withdrawing, with no reports of arrests or casualties.

The latest incursion occurred despite an agreement reached earlier this month between Syria and Israel to establish a US-supervised communication mechanism aimed at reducing military escalation and facilitating coordination, according to a trilateral statement issued following talks in Paris.

‘Easy way or hard’: Trump issues new demand for Hamas demilitarisation

President ‍Trump has issued a new demand, accompanied by threatening language, that Hamas disarm.

Trump pledged on social media late on Thursday to achieve a “comprehensive” demilitarisation Hamas, threatening the Palestinian group if it fails to do so, and demanded the return the remains of the last Israeli captive.

“Hamas must IMMEDIATELY honor its commitments, including the return of the final body to Israel, and proceed without delay to full Demilitarization,” Trump wrote on social media.

“As I have said before, they can do this the easy way, or the hard way.”

US Senator Lindsey Graham to meet Netanyahu during Israel visit

US Senator Lindsey Graham said he is travelling to Israel to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior members of his government, describing the visit as taking place at a “crucial time” for the Middle East.

In a post on X, Graham said the talks would focus on what he described as “historic opportunities” created under Trump and reaffirmed his support for Israel. The Republican senator praised the Trump–Netanyahu relationship as one of the “strongest partnerships in the history of US–Israel relationship”.

Graham is a divisive figure in US politics, having previously claimed the “Palestinians in Gaza are the most radicalised population on the planet”.

US judge to issue order protecting academics amid pro-Palestine activism crackdown

A US federal judge has said he will issue an order aimed at protecting academics who are challenging the arrest and potential deportation of non-citizen, pro-Palestine activists on US university campuses.

Speaking at a hearing in Boston, US District Judge William Young said the order, expected within a week, would seek to prevent the Trump administration from changing the immigration status of non-citizen academics involved in the case.

The lawsuit was filed last year after immigration authorities arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia University graduate, in March.

Khalil was the first individual targeted under Donald Trump’s effort to deport non-citizen students involved in pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel activism.

Palestinian committee to govern post-war Gaza meets in Egypt: Report

The first meeting of a Palestinian technocratic committee tasked with managing the day-to-day governance of post-war Gaza has begun in Cairo, according to Egyptian media.

Al-Qahera News TV reported that the initial session of the Palestinian National Committee convened in the Egyptian capital, with discussions focused on relief efforts and post-war reconstruction plans.

Ali Shaath, a former deputy minister in the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, has been appointed to lead the committee.

The committee is expected to operate under the oversight of the US-proposed “Board of Peace”, which Washington has said will supervise Gaza’s post-war
transition.


Figures behind massacre of starving Gazans now shaping US Gaza plan

The DESPERATE Attempt To Rewrite Israel’s History And Future

"The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."

The Israeli professor that the BBC won’t interview

Professor Avi Shlaim is a world renowned Israeli historian at Oxford University, but over two years of genocide in Gaza he was never invited for a TV interview by the BBC. The reason? Shlaim describes himself as an anti-Zionist Jew.

The Oxford University emeritus professor believes Netanyahu's government is ‘the most racist and belligerent’ Israeli regime so far and believes that it has made Israel the most unsafe place for Jews in the world.

Shlaim has turned his back on the Jewish state - he was a proud Zionist and Israeli soldier in his youth - and now supports a one-state solution for Palestine and Israel.

Shlaim also told Declassified co-director Mark Curtis about the influence of the pro-Israel lobby in British politics, and the deliberate conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism by Kier Starmer's Labour Party.

US Ambassador To Israel Comes Out As ISRAEL FIRST!

UNIFIL says Israeli forces fired at its position in southern Lebanon

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has accused Israeli forces of opening fire with small-calibre weapons at one of its positions in the southern Lebanese town of Kfarchouba.

The shots, fired from a Merkava tank, hit a UNIFIL sentry post near the border and penetrated UNIFIL living quarters, without causing casualties, said the peacekeeping force.

UNIFIL called on the Israeli military to “ensure the safety of peacekeepers and to cease activities that endanger them and their positions”. Israeli forces have repeatedly carried out attacks near UNIFIL positions in recent months, including dropping grenades near UNIFIL forces in September.

The UN Security Council decided in August to end UNIFIL’s mandate on December 31, 2026, followed by a one-year plan for a phased drawdown of forces.

EU urges Israel to stop advancing illegal E1 settlement plan

The European Union (EU) has urged Israel to discontinue its E1 settlement project, which aims to link thousands of illegal settlements in occupied East Jerusalem to the expanding Maale Adumim settlement bloc in the occupied West Bank.

In a statement, the EU’s diplomatic service said recent Israeli moves to advance the project, including to build a bypass road that would restrict Palestinians’ access to key areas of the occupied West Bank, are a “serious provocation”.

“We call on Israel to halt the E1 settlement project,” said the statement, before condemning Israel’s broader settlement activity, which it said has been accelerating for months and is illegal.

EU has been urging Israel forever, virtue signalling while still supporting the settlements and Israel in general.

Israeli military acknowledges killing Palestinian child in West Bank

The Israeli military has acknowledged it killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, hours after reports emerged that a 14-year-old had been shot dead near Ramallah. Earlier, we reported that Mohammed Saad Na’san, 14, was killed by Israeli gunfire in the village of al-Mughayyir, east of Ramallah, according to the Wafa news agency.

In a statement on X, the Israeli military said its forces entered al-Mughayyir after receiving reports that Palestinians had thrown stones, burned tyres and blocked roads. It said the Israeli forces fired in the air several times and then killed what it described as a “terrorist who was holding the rock”. Palestinian sources said the 14-year-old was shot in the back and chest.

Israeli settlers chase Palestinian residents out of West Bank village near Nablus

Israeli settlers have stormed villages south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank. Quoting local sources, the Wafa news agency reported that settlers stormed the village of Beita, chasing Palestinian citizens out of the area.

Clashes involving gunfire also broke out when settlers stormed nearby Huwara. The incidents come a day after Israeli forces shot and wounded a Palestinian man and detained another near the entrance to Beita.

Armed Israeli settlers attack Palestinians near Ramallah: Report

A group of armed Israeli settlers have attacked Palestinians near the town of Kafr Nima in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

The settlers pursued Palestinian families while they were hiking near the town, said the agency. It noted that Israeli forces provided cover to the settlers by firing tear gas at the Palestinians.

The incident adds to a series of settler attacks targeting Palestinians today, including one that injured an elderly man near Hebron.

Israeli forces fire tear gas at residents during raids near Hebron: Report

Israeli forces have carried out a series of incursions across Hebron governorate in the occupied West Bank, spanning the towns of Idhna, Beit Ummar and ad-Dhahiriya, as well as the Arroub refugee camp, according to the Wafa news agency.

In central ad-Dhahiriya, Israeli forces fired stun grenades and tear gas at residents, while in the Arroub camp, their bullet shrapnel injured a resident, said Wafa.

Gaza debris removal requires unimpeded access to fuel, machinery

Technical teams from the United Nations Development Programme estimate it will take seven years to clear most of the rubble in Gaza, and only under the right conditions. These include receiving unimpeded access, uninterrupted fuel supplies, heavy machinery, and sustained international support.

Margunn Indreboe, deputy special representative of the administrator for UNDP, said the operation is currently collecting about 5,000 tonnes of debris every day in Gaza, with two crushing machines processing about 2,000 tonnes daily.

“What we do with the crushed materials is we reuse it for humanitarian access,” she told Al Jazeera. “So we rehabilitate roads, we rehabilitate sites for displaced people. We work with organisations like World Central Kitchen, with UNICEF, with WFP, so that they are able to then establish their operations in a safe place.”


_{People inspect the site where at least four Palestinians died following the collapse of walls onto tents sheltering displaced people in Gaza City}

Israeli gunfire kills Palestinian child in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya

Israeli forces have shot and killed a Palestinian in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya area, according to a local medical source cited by our colleagues on the ground. This brings the total number of people killed by Israeli forces in Gaza today to three, following earlier attacks that killed a girl and an elderly woman.

The person shot dead by Israeli forces in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya was 16-year-old Mohammad Raed al-Barawi, according to the Wafa news agency. The boy died “instantly” after being shot in the head by Israeli forces, said the agency.

‘Catch-up’ vaccination campaign in Gaza to begin on Sunday: Ministry

The Ministry of Health in Gaza has announced the resumption of a “catch‑up” vaccination campaign aimed at strengthening the national immunisation programme for children under the age of three.

“The campaign will begin next Sunday, January 18, and will last for 10 days,” the ministry said. “The campaign will be conducted through 130 health centres affiliated with the Ministry of Health, UNRWA, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, and local and international organizations operating in the Gaza Strip.”

‘Nothing’s changed’: Gaza City resident expresses frustration as Israel continues attacks amid ceasefire

From his tent in Gaza City, Mahmoud Abdel Aal said residents were frustrated and worried because nothing had changed in the Palestinian territory since the start of the US-brokered ceasefire’s second phase.

“There is no difference between the war and the ceasefire, nor between the first and second phase of the deal: strikes continue every day,” Abdel Aal told the AFP news agency. “Everyone is worried and frustrated because nothing’s changed.”

Most residents interviewed by AFP said they were sceptical about recent announcements regarding the formation of the so-called “Board of Peace”, an entity chaired by Trump and supposed to oversee reconstruction, and a Palestinian technocratic committee with which it is to work.

“No one is concerned for us,” said Hossam Majed, who is living in the ruins of his home in Gaza City. “The whole world meets in Cairo to talk about Gaza, but they can’t even enter it,” he told AFP. “Israel will use the pretext of handing over the last body [of a captive], then the weapons [of Hamas], and the second phase will stretch over additional years,” he said.

Hamas returned 47 of 48 captives it was supposed to hand over under the terms of the first phase, and has yet to commit to disarming as is planned under the second phase.

_{Palestinians in Gaza City survive in flimsy tents amid winter cold}

Israel ‘dictates’ pace of all activity in Gaza

Israel retains sweeping control over the “pace” and scope for all events unfolding in Gaza, whether it is prisoner exchanges or extracting bodies from underneath the rubble, says Sultan Barakat, a professor of public policy at Hamad Bin Khalifa University.

He told Al Jazeera that the same dynamics are likely to govern any reconstruction in the enclave, with Israel able to decide what can enter Gaza and which actors can operate there.

“So far, we haven’t really had any commitment for a grand reconstruction budget that talks about the annual budget that has been earmarked,” he said.

“But that requires Israel also to facilitate,” Barakat added, noting that financing and technical support remain constrained by Israeli decisions on access and movement.

New governing panel for Gaza marks ‘important progress’, but challenges remain

Sultan Barakat has described the announcement of a new technocratic body for Gaza as an important step forward, though he warned that the pace of implementation is unlikely to match the urgency of needs on the ground.

“The fact that they were able to put together this 15-member technocratic committee … is important progress, particularly because the head of this committee is a former senior civil servant from the Palestinian administration [Palestinian Authority], although he originally comes from Gaza,” he told Al Jazeera.

Ali Shaath, a former deputy minister in the PA, will lead the committee. The administrative body will be tasked with providing public services to the more than two million Palestinians in Gaza. “The fact that Hamas have approved him means that they’ve somehow papered over some of the differences with the PA, and I think that’s a step in the right direction.”

However, he also pointed out that the committee’s effectiveness will hinge on how far external actors – particularly the United States and leaders who have aligned themselves with Washington – are prepared to go in pressing Israel to allow tangible progress on the ground.

Trump has ‘no interest’ in European role in Gaza peace efforts

Nathalie Tocci, former EU special adviser to the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, says Trump appears to be sidelining Europeans in his Gaza peace plan.

“We have a US president who has no interest in a European role,” Tocci told Al Jazeera. “If he has to involve others, he would much rather have countries from the Gulf or Turkiye playing a role.”

While Tocci said Trump may include more European figures in Gaza’s Board of Peace, which Trump is chairing and is to be led by Bulgaria’s former foreign and defence minister, Nickolay Mladenov, she questioned whether such participation would be “meaningful”.

Europe is expected to play even less of an impact in other aspects of Gaza’s post-war transition, such as the deployment of an International Stabilisation Force and Hamas’s demilitarisation, she added.

“Europeans always played second fiddle to the United States because the United States wanted them to play second fiddle,” said Tocci. But “this is no fiddle at all. We’re not part of the orchestra”.