Israel really does have America by the balls, might as well be called The United States of Israel.

Recap for December 15th

• The Israeli government has approved a plan aimed at doubling the population of its settlements in the occupied Golan Heights that Netanyahu said would strengthen Israel.
• The interim government in Syria has reopened schools and universities, prompting thousands of students to hold celebrations at universities across the country.
• Ahmed al-Sharaa (aka al-Julani), the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the group that led the offensive that toppled Bashar al-Assad and now heads the new Syrian administration, met with UN envoy Geir Pedersen, who is visiting Damascus.
• In exclusive footage obtained by Al Jazeera, large crowds of former Syrian regime soldiers can be seen gathering outside the Hama Police Headquarters to begin the process of settling their legal and military status.
• Students return to classrooms in Syria after the country’s new rulers ordered schools to reopen.
• More than 7,600 Syrian refugees crossed the Turkish border to return home in the five days after the fall of ousted President Bashar al-Assad, Turkiye’s interior minister says.
• Israel’s air force carries out 61 missile attacks on military sites across Syria while ground troops destroy roads, power lines and water networks in southeastern Quneitra.
• Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa condemns Israel’s land grabs and ongoing attacks, but says the country is too “exhausted” for a new conflict.
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the Biden administration has “been in contact” with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is led by al-Sharaa but is designated a “terrorist” organisation by Washington.
  

Israeli strikes target weapon depots in Tartous: SOHR

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) says Israeli fighter jets have “targeted the missile launchers in the 107th Barracks in Hama area and weapon depots in Tartous countryside” in southern Syria.

In an article posted on its website, the SOHR said that earlier today, an Israeli fighter jet carried out an air strike on radars in Deir Az Zor military airport in eastern Syria.

It added that an “anonymous explosion took place at the only bridge on Euphrates River that connects between the city and Hatla Village, which is one of the seven villages in [US-backed Syrian Defence Forces]-held areas”.

UAE condemns Israeal’s Golan Heights settlement plans

In a statement, the UAE says that Israel’s plans to allocate state money to expand its presence in the occupied Golan Heights “threatens further escalation and tension in the region”.

Israel’s government today announced that it had approved a plan to increase the number of settlers in the illegally occupied Golan Heights days after seizing more Syrian territory following the toppling of Syria’s longtime leader Bashar al-Assad.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the government had “unanimously approved” the “demographic development” of the occupied territory, which would seek to double the Israeli population there.

The UAE, along with its “strong” condemnation, said that it is committed to the “territorial integrity of Syria, noting that the decision to expand settlements in the Golan Heights is a continuation of the occupation and a violation of international laws.

White Helmets pledge to rebuild Syria

After more than a decade of conflict, the United Nations reports that 7.4 million people remain displaced in Syria. About 70 percent of the population requires humanitarian aid and 90 percent lives in extreme poverty. Aleppo, Hama and Homs have faced severe displacement crises.

Farouq Habib, deputy general manager of the Syrian White Helmets, expressed mixed emotions upon returning to Homs after a decade. He emphasised the need for justice and international assistance to rebuild the country and prevent further violence.

Death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza surpasses 45,000

Israel’s war on Gaza has now killed more than 45,000 people, the Ministry of Health in the besieged and battered Palestinian enclave has confirmed. The revised death toll, which includes 17,000 children, was announced by officials on Monday, marking another grim milestone in the 14-month war.

It does not include the 11,000 missing Palestinians who are thought to be trapped under the rubble.



Some 96% of Gaza’s children feel their death is imminent, study finds

The assessment conducted by rights groups in Gaza found that some 96 percent of children surveyed felt their death was imminent while 49 percent expressed a desire to die. It also found that 92 percent of children were “not accepting of reality”, 79 percent suffered from nightmares and 73 percent displayed symptoms of aggression.

Helen Pattinson, chief executive of War Child UK, called the report “one of the most horrifying insights into the mental wellbeing of children anywhere in the world”.

She said Gaza’s children are bearing the brunt of a war they had no role in starting, suffering from both the destruction of physical infrastructure and the psychological scars left by war’s brutality.

Ireland won’t be silenced over Israel’s war on Gaza, says PM

We have some more comments from Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris after Israel’s decision to shut down its Dublin embassy citing Ireland’s recognition of a Palestinian state and support for South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Speaking to reporters in a Dublin suburb, Harris accused Israel of engaging in “distraction” policies, adding that he was very proud of Ireland standing up for the Palestinian people.

“You’re all here today asking about Ireland’s position. What about Israel’s actions?” Harris said.

“What about what Netanyahu is doing to the innocent children of Gaza? This is the diplomacy of distraction. I think it is deeply regrettable that they took that decision. They have every right to take that decision to close the embassy. I’d rather it didn’t happen.

“We will continue to engage, continue to engage diplomatically, but nobody is going to silence Ireland. We know right from wrong,” Harris said. He continued: “We value human rights, we respect international law. We expect international law to be applied consistently.”

Harris also said he would keep the Irish embassy in Israel open. “We will also not allow our position to be misrepresented by Israel, by the government of Israel,” he added.

“Do you know what I think is reprehensible? Killing children. I think that’s reprehensible. You know what I think is reprehensible? Seeing
the scale of civilian deaths that we’ve seen in Gaza. You know what I think is reprehensible? About people being left to starve and humanitarian aid not flowing.”

UNRWA shows Al Jazeera around Gaza school sheltering 65,000 people

For more than 14 months, schools in Gaza have become home to tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians. Every shelter is overcrowded, with food, water and supplies severely limited, in some cases completely cut off, leading to widespread starvation.

Louise Wateridge, the spokesperson for UNRWA, showed Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud around one such school in Deir el-Balah.

She said some 15,000 people were sheltering inside the building, while more than 50,000 people were camping in makeshift tents outside.

“The weather and the temperature is getting very cold. It’s December now. We’ve had rains, we’ve had freezing temperatures, people just don’t have enough. We don’t have enough supplies coming in,” Waterige said.

“Just this week, I’ve spoken to an elderly woman who is 85 and she is sleeping on a mattress in a corner. She has a very thin blanket, and that’s it. And she’s been surviving on bread for 14 months. It’s unacceptable and inhumane when people are forced to live in these conditions.”

Nearly 19,000 children hospitalised for acute malnutrition in past four months

UNRWA says the number is nearly double the cases recorded in the first half of the year in the Gaza Strip.

The surge comes as Israel continues to restrict the entry of humanitarian aid into the war-torn enclave. It has also largely blocked all aid to besieged North Gaza since October 6. Among the items in short supply is baby formula.

UNRWA says one of its only functioning health centres recently received its first delivery in three months, but has only just six boxes to distribute. “Immediate aid and a ceasefire now are vital to save lives,” it says.

Translation: Moving scene of a child with a double amputation using skates to move between the tents of the displaced in Gaza.

According to the UN, Gaza now has the highest rate of child amputees anywhere in the world. That includes at least 1,000 children who lost one or both legs in just the first four months of Israel’s war on the Strip.

Many of these amputations were performed without anaesthesia, underscoring the dire medical conditions in Gaza.

Israeli forces bomb another UN-run school, kill 20 Palestinians

Israeli forces bombed the Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz School in southern Khan Younis, killing at least 20 people, according to the Wafa news agency. The victims included children. Many others were also wounded, Wafa added.

The school is run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and is located near the Nasser Medical Complex, west of Khan Younis, The strike cam without any warning and left behind a huge level of destruction and caused a huge fire to break out.

Civil Defence workers have banded together with civilians at the site of the attack and are looking for anyone who may be alive. Those who were injured and killed were transported to the Nasser Medical Complex.

It’s quite heartbreaking. Especially because families were sleeping when the strike took place.

Day in and day out, the Israeli military has been focused on pummelling these UN-run shelters that civilians have been taking refuge in, due to the lack of standing buildings and safe spaces.

_{Palestinians search the school after the attack}

Israeli attacks kill 11 more Palestinians in north, central Gaza

Israeli forces bombed a home in the Shujayea neighbourhood of northern Gaza City, killing at least 6 people and wounding several others, Wafa reports. The military also attacked a home near the Qassam Cemetery in the central Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least five people, including a child. At least 13 others were wounded, Wafa added.

Death toll rises from Israel’s attack on school in Beit Hanoon

The spokesperson for the Government Media Office in Gaza says at least 43 people have been killed after Israeli forces stormed the Khalil Oweida School in Beit Hanoon early on Sunday morning.

Ismail al-Thwabta also said Israel’s killing of Al Jazeera’s al-Louh has taken the death toll among journalists in Gaza to 196. He added that Israel also killed five mayors in the Gaza Strip in recent days.

“We condemn the various complex crimes committed by the occupation army against our people. We call on the countries of the world to condemn the crimes of the occupation,” al-Thwabta said. “We hold Israel and the United States legally responsible for the massacres of the occupation,” he added. “We demand a quick and final end to the successive crises against our people before it is too late.”

Aftermath of an Israeli attack on Deir el-Balah tent camp

_{Palestinians inspect the damage at a tent camp sheltering displaced people, following an Israeli bombing in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday}

Constant Israeli shelling and air attacks continue in the north

In the north of Gaza, civil defence teams have been unable to rescue or retrieve anybody from the area for more than 70 days.

Constant shelling and air attacks continue – quadcopters are chasing and killing Palestinians on the streets. We have been seeing a lot of Palestinians on the ground and no one has been able to get to them, just like in yesterday’s massacre that took place in the school in Beit Hanoon.

Additionally, an attack hit a family in Nuseirat, killing six of its members.

Israeli military ramps up attacks on al-Mawasi ‘humanitarian area’

The Israeli military has considerably increased its attacks on the al-Mawasi area near Khan Younis in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, which it has designated as a so-called “humanitarian zone”.

There have been at least eight confirmed attacks on the area since November 9, whereas five attacks were recorded from May until that date, according to the Haaretz newspaper.

UNRWA suspends services in Jenin refugee camp

Philippe Larrazini, the head of UNRWA, said his agency was forced to make the decision for another day due to continued “violent clashes” between Palestinian security forces and armed groups in the occupied West Bank refugee camp.

“Children remain out of school & camp residents are unable to access primary healthcare & other critical services,” he wrote on X. The rising tensions are undermining the “fragile stability” in the occupied West Bank, he said.

“For far too long, residents of Jenin and Jenin Camp have been subject to a cycle of violence & destruction, rendering the camp nearly uninhabitable. It is time to break that cycle & ensure that normal life resumes,” he added.

The days-long clashes came after the Palestinian Authority (PA), which partially governs the occupied West Bank, began what it called a security operation to restore law and order in Jenin’s refugee camp. The area is a stronghold of Palestinian fighters who are alienated from the PA.

What’s happening in Jenin?

As we’ve been reporting, Palestinian Authority (PA) forces have raided the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, killing at least two people during exchanges of gunfire with fighters there.

Palestinian residents there note that the city of Jenin and its refugee camp have been the epicentre of Israeli military aggression for two years, and have suffered widescale destruction and dozens of casualties.

They say the infighting among Palestinians is the last thing this battered city needed

“We’re afraid this infighting could spiral out of control,” said resident Fadi Washahi. “This is not in our interest. We are all targets of the Israeli enemy, which is rejoicing at our infighting.”

Jenin fighters refuse to surrender weapons

We’ve spoken to a Jenin Brigades fighter on the clashes there. In an exclusive interview, the spokesman said his armed group was the only thing keeping Palestinians safe from the violence of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.

“Our compass is clear; only against the occupation and nothing else. Our message is clear to everyone, for God’s sake, just let us be. We want to fight the Israelis,” he said.

He said the PA’s forces have attempted to enter the camp multiple times, and have assassinated Jenin Brigades commander Yazid Ja’ayseh, a man the Israelis have pursued for four years but could not capture.

The spokesman said the Jenin Brigades would not surrender their weapons.

“Let’s say that I have surrendered. What if a settler enters my house, what could I do?” he asked. “How could I surrender? Evict the Israelis from our country and my rifle is yours. I would be yours to execute. Evict the Israelis from the country and you may execute me.”

Israeli forces close road, bulldoze land in Hebron

Israeli forces used barbed wire to close a road in the Old City of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on Sunday evening cutting off two neighbourhoods and blocking access to the Ibrahimi Mosque, Wafa reports.

More than 100 Israeli gates and checkpoints prevent Palestinians from moving freely in Hebron’s Old City, with the few residents that remain often describing the historic area as a prison.

Israeli forces also began building a new road for an illegal Israeli settlement south of Hebron on Sunday, Wafa reports, “uprooting trees and razing Palestinian land in the process.”

Earlier, Wafa reported that Israeli settlers had seized around 60 dunums (14.8 acres) of land belonging to Palestinian residents south of Hebron while soldiers forced farmers to leave farmland estimated at 250 dunums (61 acres), declaring they would need Israeli-issued permits to return.

Child shot during Israeli army raid on Balata refugee camp

A 16-year-old Palestinian boy was struck in the head with bullet shrapnel as heavy gunfire and loud explosions were heard during an Israeli army raid on the Balata refugee camp, in Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, Wafa reports.

The boy was rushed to hospital to receive treatment, Wafa added.

Meanwhile, a young Palestinian man was arrested during an Israeli raid on Yabad, south of Jenin, Wafa reports.

Israeli forces also raided several villages and towns in the Salfit, Ramallah and el-Bireh governorates on Sunday night, Wafa reported.