Israel claims food delivered to besieged north Gaza, but provides no details: Report

Israel has claimed that “thousands of food packages and sacks of flour” have been delivered to northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoon town, which has been under more than 60 days of siege by Israel’s military and where the UN warns famine is likely under way.

COGAT, the Israeli military agency that controls the border crossings into Gaza, claimed the food aid was delivered to Beit Hanoon. But it did not say who delivered the aid, nor provide details on the exact amount of aid involved, The Associated Press (AP) news agency reports.

Alia Zaki, a spokesperson for the UN’s World Food Programme, told the AP that practically no food has entered northern Gaza for two months and that the agency’s daily requests to enter the area have been denied by Israel.

Of two UN missions that have been approved since October 6, Zaki said, only two trucks of aid were delivered to a shelter for forcibly displaced Palestinians that Israeli soldiers soon after ordered to be evacuated and then burned.

Thousands of food packages means little with 30,000+ people still trapped there.

Sound of powerful explosions heard in northern Gaza’s Jabalia: Report

Local media have reported that huge explosions have shaken the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. Initial reports indicate the explosions have demolished buildings in the refugee camp, which has been under an Israeli military siege for more than two months.

Aid kitchen runs out of food in south Gaza, children scrape cooking pots for remnants

The Associated Press reports that many forcibly displaced Palestinians who gathered in large crowds at an aid kitchen in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis went hungry as the facility ran out of food.

After the kitchen was forced to shut down, crying children used their hands to scoop bits of rice left in large empty cooking pots. “The food ran out,” said Adel Mohammad, who was hoping to get a meal of rice – the only food being served – for his children. “At night they wake up hungry,” he said.

UN and relief agencies, including the World Food Programme, have warned for months that the humanitarian aid response in Gaza is “nearing collapse as famine looms” amid Israel’s continued restriction on the flow of food and other aid into the war-torn territory.

Concerns are growing even more intense with the onset of another winter in Gaza where 1.9 million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes by Israeli attacks and military flee-or-die orders.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned on Friday that an estimated 945,000 displaced people in Gaza are at risk of exposure to cold weather and rain this winter.

Israeli forces enter Kamal Adwan Hospital, tell staff, patients to evacuate towards tanks

Dr Eid Sabbah, director of nursing at the Kamal Adwan Hospital, told Al Jazeera earlier about the latest attack by Israeli forces on the medical facility on Friday that killed about 30 people.

“Since the beginning of this attack and since the beginning of this aggression, the hospital of Kamal Adwan in northern Gaza has been under attack from the Israeli military,” Dr Sabbah told Al Jazeera in a telephone interview.

“What happened this morning is that Israeli tanks were approaching in a very fast manner, as close as 50 metres to the hospital. People that we didn’t know were sent inside the hospital wearing different uniforms and equipped with weapons and speakers,” Sabbah said.

“They sent a message to [hospital director] Dr Hussam Abu Safia and his colleagues, and the occupation forces asked them to evacuate the hospital, including patients and medical staff. They asked them to evacuate towards the tanks,” he said.

“Shortly after they demanded the evacuation of all patients and the injured, this operation led to the killing of 30 people inside the hospital including four staff members. They were targeted and killed.”

_{Victims of an Israeli attack on the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip are treated at the medical complex on Friday}

Footage shows moment Israeli forces fire on ambulance outside Gaza hospital

As we have been reporting, the Israeli military has carried out several deadly attacks over the past day as it has laid siege to the Kamal Adwan Hospital and the surrounding area in northern Gaza.

One such attack – caught on video in a clip authenticated by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification unit – involved Israeli forces opening fire on a Palestine Red Crescent Society ambulance.

At least 29 people have been killed in the assault so far. We will bring you updates when we have them.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades targets Netzarim Corridor with rocket fire: Monitors

The Palestinian armed group, one of several smaller factions fighting alongside Hamas in Gaza, launched rockets on Friday at Israeli forces operating along the military access road, war monitors report.

The Netzarim Corridor, built by the Israeli military to cut the Gaza Strip in two and allow for rapid deployment of forces, has been under near-daily attacks from Palestinian resistance fighters in the war-torn Strip.

US-based defence think tanks, the Critical Threats Project (CTP) and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), also said that Israeli forces were engaged in demolishing civilian infrastructure in northern Gaza’s besieged Jabalia refugee camp and the town of Beit Lahiya on Friday.

We reported earlier that huge explosions had been heard in the early hours of Saturday morning in the Jabalia refugee camp in what was believed to be Israeli demolitions of Palestinian-owned buildings.

Israeli forces kill more Palestinians in occupied West Bank as settler violence surges: UN

The latest humanitarian situation report on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank paints a brutal picture of increasing Israeli settler violence, forced displacement of local Palestinian communities, and ongoing killings by Israeli forces.

In the week between November 26 and December 2, Israeli forces killed five Palestinians and wounded 27 others – including seven children – across the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports.

OCHA also said that Israeli settlers vandalised more than 700 mostly olive trees owned by Palestinians in three locations in the occupied West Bank over just three days.

During the latest reporting period, 14 people, including eight children, in three Palestinian Bedouin households were forcibly displaced by Israeli settler violence, OCHA said.

Since October 7, 2023, an estimated 300 Palestinian households – totalling around 1,757 people, including 855 children – have been displaced from Bedouin and herding communities due to settler attacks and restrictions on accessing their land imposed by Israeli authorities.

The UN also reports on continued collusion between Israeli military and police forces and violent settlers, including on December 1 when “masked and armed Israeli settlers believed to be from Yitzhar settlement raided Madama village, south of Nablus city”.

“Villagers gathered to try to repel the settlers, after which Israeli forces intervened by firing live ammunition, tear gas canisters, and sound grenades at the Palestinians. According to medical sources, six Palestinians, including two children, were treated on-site for gas inhalation,” the UN reports.

Israeli military carries out raids across the West Bank

The Israeli military has carried out raids in locations across the occupied West Bank over recent hours, including:

Israeli settlers attack Palestinians in Nablus, Hebron

A group of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians and their belongings east of Yatta, located south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank. The settlers attacked a family and thrashed their home, broke solar cells, and stole dozens of sheep, according to Wafa news agency.

Footage on social media showed other Israeli settlers, who were protected by Israeli soldiers, storming a village south of Nablus, where there have been multiple raids today.

Israeli settler militias, under the protection of Israeli occupation forces, storm the village of Qaryut south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank and attack Palestinian homes in the area. pic.twitter.com/9187Ivv1IP

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) December 7, 2024

Israeli air raid hits southern Lebanon town: Report

An Israeli plane has launched an air attack on Beit Lif, a town in the Bint Jbeil district, Lebanon’s National News Agency is reporting.

Lebanon’s National News Agency is reporting that four people were killed in the attack and six others were wounded.

Israeli forces kill six people in two attacks on southern Lebanon

The death toll from an Israeli attack reported earlier in Beit Lif has risen to five people, with five others injured, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

In a post on X, the ministry said that one person was also killed in an Israeli drone attack in Deir Siryan, also in southern Lebanon.

Syria war to have ‘massive’ effect on Lebanon: US envoy Hochstein

The weakening of Syria’s government with the recent gains made by the opposition forces is going to have “massive implications” in neighbouring Lebanon, according to US envoy Amos Hochstein.

Speaking at the Doha Forum on Saturday, the diplomat said Iran would find it difficult to transfer weapons to the Lebanese armed group, Hezbollah.

A rebel alliance led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched its lightning offensive against Bashar al-Assad’s government on November 27 – a day after the ceasefire Hochstein helped broker between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.

The Syrian government has faced unprecedented strategic losses since then – losing four cities in a short time span.

“I think what’s happened in Syria, which of course, happened the day after the ceasefire started, is now creating a new weakness for Hezbollah,” Hochstein said at the forum in Qatar’s capital bringing together world leaders, senior diplomats, and experts in international relations.

You're a bit behind Hochstein, Assad has already fled the country.

Stability in southern Lebanon key to Middle East peace, Lebanese PM says

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said that stability in southern Lebanon is crucial for ensuring peace in the broader Middle East.

“We confirm that Resolution 1701, which the Lebanese army will implement south of the Litani River in coordination with UNIFIL forces, is the basis for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of the enemy from our occupied land,” said Mikati during a special cabinet session held in the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.

“We are only kilometres away from the ongoing operations of the enemy army and its repeated violations of the agreement,” said Mikati, noting that the “stability in southern Lebanon and its reconstruction is the key to stability in the Middle East”.

“Security and peace will only return to the region through the implementation of international resolutions and the protection of our country, land, and sovereignty,” he added.

One-sided ceasefire’ means south Lebanon still under regular Israeli bombardment

This evening the Lebanese Health Ministry issued a statement confirming multiple Israeli raids on at least two villages in southern Lebanon. They say that a raid on one of the towns killed five people and wounded five others, and another raid killed one person.

We’re about 10 days into the ceasefire and this has what has been going on throughout the course of this so-called ceasefire. Many people are now calling it a “one-sided ceasefire” in which Israel has secured an addendum in which it can continue to carry out attacks and killings on Lebanese soil while Hezbollah, with whom the Israels were fighting, are forced to stand by and watch.

In the first 10 days or so of the ceasefire, the committee overseeing the ceasefire – including the United States, France the United Nations, the Lebanese armed forces – recorded more than 100 violations of the agreement that they say were carried out by Israel.

Israeli attacks have largely ceased in other parts of the country, but continue to happen in southern Lebanon.

People say there may be a ceasefire in other parts of the country, but that has not meant peace for the people in southern Lebanon who routinely see these raids, still hear Israeli jets flying over their towns and villages, and still hear drones in the air.

Journalists honoured at the Doha Forum

Al Jazeera journalists Wael Dahdouh and Carmen Joukhadar were among six media workers honoured at the Doha Forum for political dialogue for their sacrifices made reporting from conflict zones.

Dahdouh, Al Jazeera Arabic’s Gaza bureau chief, was wounded in an Israeli drone attack in southern Gaza last December that killed Al Jazeera Arabic’s cameraperson Samer Abudaqa while they were reporting. Dahdouh also lost his his wife, son, daughter, and grandson in Israeli attacks.

In October 2023, Al Jazeera’s Carmen Joukhadar was injured in an Israeli air attack in Lebanon that killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and wounded several other journalists.

AFP journalists Christina Assi and Dylan Collins, who were injured alongside Joukhadar in the attack, also received awards, along with Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza and Afghan radio journalist Sadaf Popalzai.

“I felt like there’s a need to keep speaking up, sharing our story, for me, for us, for Issam and all our colleagues who been targeted this year,” Assi, who had to have her right leg amputated, was quoted by AFP as saying.

“I’m still in a wheelchair, and I still need another year to start walking. However, I just can’t wait for that day because that’s how we will get back our justice,” Assi said. “You keep fighting until the day you actually stand up, hold your camera and do what you love, because that’s our duty, and that’s our job.”

Collins was wounded that day shortly after suffering an injury in Ukraine.

“I lost several friends in Ukraine. I lost several friends in Gaza. I lost friends in Lebanon. I think sadly, it’s never been more dangerous of a time to be a journalist,” he said. “We’ve watched … this label of press on our chest. It’s supposed to protect us, and it’s sadly turned us into a target.”

Funds from the prize, awarded by Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, will be donated to the Rory Peck Trust, a nonprofit organisation supporting freelance journalists.

Qatar says ‘momentum’ building back up in Gaza ceasefire efforts

A month after suspending its mediation bid, Qatar has said it sees “momentum” in efforts to reach a deal to end Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.

Speaking at the Doha Forum, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said the country took a step back from mediating Gaza ceasefire talks because it failed to see “a real willingness” to end the war.

But the minister said that after the United States presidential election on November 5, Qatar has sensed “that the momentum is coming back”.

“We have seen a lot of encouragement from the incoming administration [of US President-elect Donald Trump] in order to achieve a deal even before the president comes [into] office” in January, Al Thani said.

Ready to be bamboozled by the next US president...

Hamas releases video claiming to show living captive

In the video a man who introduces himself as Matan Zangauker, 24, can be seen pleading with the Israeli leaders to make a deal that would bring captives being held by Hamas in Gaza back to Israel.

Mediating countries, including Qatar, see increased momentum for a possible deal that could allow the 100 captives being held in Gaza to be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, after Israel signed a landmark ceasefire deal with Hezbollah in Lebanon last month.

Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy has travelled to Qatar and Israel to try to kick-start the US president-elect’s diplomatic push for a Gaza ceasefire and captive release deal before he takes office on January 20, a source briefed on the talks told the Reuters news agency.

Hamas has released several videos of captives begging to be released over the course of the war as it enters its 15th month, but Israeli officials have dismissed the short, edited clips as psychological propaganda meant to put pressure on the government.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents the family members of captives, called the video “proof of life” and said that it “provides further evidence that after more than 420 days in captivity, there are hostages still alive and enduring severe suffering”.

Power cut off at the critical Kamal Adwan hospital by latest Israeli attack

Electricity has been cut off at Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza due after Israeli gunfire caused its generators to catch fire, the director-general of the healthy ministry in Gaza, Munir al-Bursh, has told Al Jazeera.

“We are awaiting the announcement of the deaths of children and patients who rely on oxygen following the power outage at Kamal Adwan hospital after the latest attack on the hospital’s generators,” he said.

Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya is one of the few hospitals still partially operating in the Gaza’s northernmost province, where Israeli forces are pressing an offensive that has almost completely sealed off the area from humanitarian aid for two months.

At least 29 people were killed, including four medical staff, when Israeli attacks pummelled the area around the hospital on Friday.

Four injured in Israeli attack on northern Gaza hospital

Kamal Adwan Hospital Director Hussam Abu Safia says the Israeli army targeted sections of the hospital during the day, resulting in four Palestinians being wounded.  Among those wounded were three children, Abu Safia said, adding that Israeli forces also targeted the hospital’s intensive care unit.

Israeli army says soldier killed in southern Gaza

The Israeli army says a 24-year-old platoon commander in the 46th Battalion was killed in southern Gaza. The military did not provide details of how he was killed.