Rights group accuses Israeli forces of field killings, sexual abuse at Kamal Adwan

The Euro-Med Monitor says survivors of Israel’s raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital have provided “harrowing testimonies” of how Israeli troops carried out “deliberate killings, field executions, as well as sexual and physical assaults on women and girls” in and near the medical facility.

A 44-year-old paramedic recounted how Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man who was waving a white flag as well as a child who had a psychological disorder.

“Among us were five injured individuals who were forced to walk in front of the tank. Suddenly, they were shot dead without any questioning,” he said.

The Euro-Med Monitor also said testimonies indicate Israeli soldiers forced women and girls to remove their clothing under threats, insults and offensive slurs. Several women and girls also reported being sexually harassed.

One woman told the group’s field team: “A soldier forced a nurse to take off her trousers, then placed his hand on her. When she tried to resist, he struck her hard across the face, causing her nose to bleed.”

Another woman reported that a soldier told a woman in their group: “Take it off, or we’ll force it off you.”

Abu Safia, Kamal Adwan staff faced ‘extremely challenging situation’ before Israeli raid

Dr Junaid Sultan, a British surgeon who volunteered in Gaza earlier this year, says Abu Safia, the detained director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, was at the forefront of advocating for life-saving aid to reach Gaza.

“He was asking for the injured patients who were particularly severely injured to be transferred to the other facilities, and for the international humanitarian missions to come and provide help and give a hand to the local doctors and nurses as well,” Sultan told Al Jazeera from London.

“But none of these pleas were being listened to at all.”

The British surgeon said Israeli authorities denied humanitarian missions from accessing the Kamal Adwan Hospital and blocked the delivery of medication and other supplies to the facility.

Food and water were also denied, while the intensive care unit was attacked, along with the hospital’s oxygen tanks and generators, he added.

“It was a complete systematic destruction and very extreme challenging situation which the local staff were facing [in] how to run the hospital in these sort of difficult circumstances,” said Sultan.

Several Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza’s al-Wafaa Hospital

Israeli forces have carried out attacks on two hospitals in northern Gaza, escalating their attacks on the Strip’s healthcare system.

An Israeli strike on the upper floor of al-Wafaa Hospital in Gaza City killed at least seven people and critically wounded others, according to Gaza’s civil defence.

A witness at the scene of the bombing described seeing bodies “ripped to pieces”. The Israeli military claimed the attack targeted a Hamas “command and control centre” but provided no evidence to support this assertion.

Death toll due to extreme cold in Gaza rises to 7: Media office

The death toll due to the “bitter cold and frost” among displaced Palestinians living in tents has increased to seven, a number that is expected to rise further, according to a statement from Gaza’s Government Media Office.

“We have warned more than once of the danger … [of] air depressions, winter and frost waves coinciding with the tragic reality experienced by our Palestinian people who are being subjected to killing[s], genocide and [the] destruction of homes and vital sectors, and [who] are being subjected to displacement and eviction,” the statement read.

“Heavy rains are expected to continue, as well as the continuation of frost waves and winter cold in the coming days, which poses a great danger, … a real threat to the lives of the displaced who are suffering tragically as a result of the crimes of the ‘Israeli’ occupation,” it added.

Gaza authorities said “dilapidated tents” are not protecting people from the cold, which has killed six babies and one adult in the past week.

“We hold the ‘Israeli’ occupation fully responsible for the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, as well as the US administration and the countries that supported and participated in the genocide such as Britain, Germany and France, and we demand that they stop the genocide,” the statement added.

Qassam Brigades claims killing of at least 5 Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza

The armed wing of Hamas says its fighters managed to successfully execute a “complex operation” to storm a newly established Israeli military post in Jabalia refugee camp, in the north of the Gaza Strip.

The Qassam Brigades said Palestinian fighters “eliminated five soldiers from point zero” and proceeded to burn an Israeli Merkava tank with the crew inside. It added that fighters used hand grenades against an Israeli military four-wheel drive with a number of soldiers inside, inflicting casualties.

The group said that in a separate incident, Qassam fighters destroyed an armoured troop carrier with an explosive shell in Beit Hanoon, also in the northern Strip.

Four Palestinians killed in Israeli strike on Jabalia: Report

The Palestinian news agency Wafa, citing medical sources, is reporting that four civilians have been killed and others wounded after Israeli warplanes struck Jabalia, north of Gaza City.

It also reported that Israeli warplanes had bombed a house located near the Jordanian Hospital south of Gaza City.

Israeli forces storm Jenin

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that Israeli soldiers have launched a raid on eastern neighbourhoods in the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank. The raid comes as Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces continue to clash with armed Palestinian fighters in the Jenin refugee camp, which is located to the west of the city.

The PA, which partially governs the occupied West Bank, says it is carrying out a campaign to recover the Jenin refugee camp from “the control of outlaws”.

The city of Jenin and its adjacent refugee camp are a stronghold for armed factions, including the Jenin Brigades, who are seen as a more effective resistance to the Israeli occupation, in contrast with the PA, which coordinates security matters with Israel.


_{Mourners carry the body of Shatha al-Sabbagh, a Palestinian journalism student killed overnight by a bullet to the head whose family claims was fired by Palestinian security forces, during her funeral in Jenin on Sunday}

Palestinian Authority’s raids on Jenin appeal to Israeli, Western interests

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is cracking down on armed groups in the Jenin refugee camp in what experts say is an attempt to restore its limited authority in the occupied West Bank and persuade incoming United States President Donald Trump that it can be a useful security partner.

However, the crackdown has earned it condemnation from many Palestinians, especially after the Saturday night killing of 21-year-old journalist Shatha Sabbagh, who had been reporting from Jenin and whose family said she was killed by PA gunfire.

Since the start of the PA raids, they have been criticised as serving the interests of Israel over supporting the Palestinian struggle for freedom and self-determination.

“Over the past few years, the PA has lost control over the West Bank, and I imagine it is trying to claw back control to prove its worth to its handlers – Israel and the United States,” said Omar Rahman, an expert on Israel-Palestine with the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, a think tank in Doha, Qatar.

 
Israeli forces arrest two in occupied West Bank

The Wafa news agency is reporting that Israeli forces have arrested two Palestinians from the town of Tuqu in the occupied West Bank. The arrests of the 19-year-old and 23-year-old men follow the detention of another man from the same town near Bethlehem a day earlier.

Israeli raids were also reported in:

IDF Abducts Hero Doctor In Final Hospital Destruction

BOMBSHELL Report: Israeli Spies Are Writing the News

Senior Staff Writer at Mint Press News, Alan MacLeod, joins Bad Faith to discuss this explosive report on the sheer number of former Israeli intelligence officers who work in US media & tech, and how they influence US news coverage of Israel's occupation of Palestine.

 
"Total Moral, Ethical Failure": Holocaust Scholar Omer Bartov on Israel's Genocide in Gaza

Since October 7, 2023, Israel's onslaught in Gaza has killed more than 45,500 Palestinians and injured more than 108,000. At the same time, Gaza officials continue to accuse Israel of deliberately blocking aid deliveries. Human rights organizations are condemning Israel for attacking Palestinian lifesaving infrastructure, including Gaza's water supply and medical system.

All of this has led to the world's leading specialist on the subject of genocide to declare Israel is carrying out a combination of "genocidal actions, ethnic cleansing and annexation of the Gaza Strip." Omer Bartov, an Israeli American professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University, describes why he believes Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza right now. "There was actually a systematic attempt to make Gaza uninhabitable, as well as to destroy all institutions that make it possible for a group to sustain itself, not only physically but also culturally," says Bartov, who warns impunity for Israel would endanger the entire edifice of international law.

"This is a total moral, ethical failure by the very countries that claim to be the main protectors of civil rights, democracy, human rights around the world."

Unlawful abduction of hospital chief Abu Safia ‘is the symbol of the Gaza genocide’: Israeli politician

Ofer Cassif, an Israel politician from the left-wing, Arab-majority Hadash-Ta’al party, has said in a post on X: “We must not allow the Israeli government to kill this noble man [Abu Safia]. His life and liberty, like those of all Palestinians, must be protected”.

Calls from rights and aid groups continue to grow for information on the whereabouts of Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital who was detained on Friday by Israeli forces.

Earlier reports suggested that he is being kept in Israel’s Sde Teiman military prison, which is noted for instances of torture behind its doors.

In human history, every genocide has had its own martyrs and symbols. Those who faced barbaric power and humanitarian calamity with resilient, stoic virtue.

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and his unlawful abduction is the symbol of the Gaza genocide. We must not allow him to perish in… pic.twitter.com/oimq8CMdJC

— Ofer Cassif עופר כסיף عوفر كسيف (@ofercass) December 30, 2024

Calls for the release of Gaza hospital director detained by Israel

The whereabouts of Kamal Adwan Hospital’s director remain unknown, leading to his family’s pleas for his immediate release. The Israeli military said on Saturday that Hussam Abu Safia was held for questioning on suspicion of “being a Hamas terrorist operative”.

It arrested more than 240 people from the hospital premises.

Prominent Israeli politician calls for end of war on Gaza

Yair Golan, a former member of parliament and current chairman of Israel’s Democratic Party, says on X that the war must end “with a political settlement”.

He mocked claims by the Israeli leadership of “total victory”, pointing out that rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory for several consecutive days.

“The arrangement in Gaza is simple: a deal to release hostages, a ceasefire, rehabilitation and demobilization – creating a governing alternative to Hamas,” he said. “How simple, yet impossible in a government of anarchy and madness”.

Main events on December 30th

‘Until Palestine is free…not one single one of us in this room is free.’

“Our liberation is bound up in the liberation of others around the globe… this is not just about some leftist cliche. It’s about understanding that the networks and the institutions of power are connected.”

Activist and historian, Marc Lamont Hill spoke about the history and importance of being allies during a panel at the Congressional Black Caucus conference in Washington, DC, moderated by Mehdi Hasan. The panel was hosted by Congresswoman Cori Bush, who opened up about risking her entire political career to lead a permanent ceasefire resolution for Gaza and included speakers Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and Georgia State Rep. Ruwa Romman.

Watch their lively and engaging conversation on Black and Palestinian Solidarity, and on why Palestine is not just a Muslim or Arab issue, but a global one.

"A Genocidal Project": Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah on Israel's Destruction of Gaza Health System

Gaza's Health Ministry has confirmed that close to 46,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's ongoing assault, but Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah estimates the true number is closer to 300,000.

"This is literally and mathematically a genocidal project," says Abu-Sittah, a British Palestinian reconstructive surgeon who worked in Gaza for over a month treating patients at both Al-Shifa and Al-Ahli Baptist hospitals. Israel continues to attack what remains of the besieged territory's medical infrastructure. On Sunday, an Israeli attack on the upper floor of al-Wafa Hospital in Gaza City killed at least seven people and wounded several others. On Friday, Israeli troops stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital, northern Gaza's last major functioning hospital, and set the facility on fire. Many staff and patients were reportedly forced to go outside and strip in winter weather. The director of Kamal Adwan, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, was arrested, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

"It's been obvious from the beginning that Israel has been wiping out a whole generation of health professionals in Gaza as a way of increasing the genocidal death toll but also of permanently making Gaza uninhabitable," says Abu-Sittah. "On the 7th of October, the Israelis crossed that genocidal Rubicon that settler-colonial projects cross."

UK’s Corbyn lauds late US President Jimmy Carter for ‘speaking honestly about Palestine’

The UK’s former Labour Party leader and current Member of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn has described the late Jimmy Carter, who died on Sunday, as “one of the only US Presidents to speak honestly about Palestine”.

Reposting a video of Carter on social media, Corbyn quotes the late president, who died at the age of 100, using the word “apartheid” to describe the situation for Palestinians under Israeli occupation.

“The word apartheid… is exactly accurate,” Carter says in an interview.

“The Palestinians can’t even ride on the same roads that the Israelis have created or built in Palestinian territory,” Carter said.

“The word 'apartheid' is exactly accurate…they are absolutely and totally separated."

I will remember Jimmy Carter as one of the only US Presidents to speak honestly about Palestine. pic.twitter.com/DGjsoRFVvo

— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) December 30, 2024

More than 13,500 Israelis ‘wounded from the war’ since October 7, 2023: Report

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation has reported that the rehabilitation department of Israel’s Defence Ministry receives about 1,000 new people each month who have been “wounded from the war”.

Since October 7, 2023, more than 13,500 Israelis have been injured and admitted for treatment at the rehabilitation department, the broadcaster reported in a post on social media.

Of those wounded, 51 percent are under the age of 30 years and 43 percent of the total are dealing with “psychological reactions”, the broadcaster said.

Houthi spokesperson says US launched multiple strikes on Yemen

Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdul Salam says the US has launched multiple strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, without specifying the exact area of the attacks.

“The American aggression is a blatant violation and an outright support for Israel [and its] genocidal crimes in Gaza,” the spokesperson said on X. “Yemen, with its great sacrifices, continues to defend itself against any aggression and remains steadfast in its support for Gaza.”

Reuters quoted a US official who confirmed Washington had launched attacks on Yemen.

Lebanese army moves into southern town after Israeli withdrawal

The army says its units are stationed around the town of Shamma in the southern district of Tyre in coordination with the UN’s peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL.

The units “began entering [the town] simultaneously with the withdrawal of the Israeli enemy from it” after contact with the committee supervising the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the army said on X.

Next, it said, “specialized units will conduct an engineering survey of the town with the aim of removing unexploded ordnance” left from Israel’s attacks.

It asked citizens not to approach the area until the army’s deployment ends.

The Israeli army’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon was initially supposed to last 60 days from the date of the ceasefire – November 26. But top Israeli officials have been quoted as saying that they expect their army to remain in Lebanon past this date.

_{Lebanese army units enter the town of Shamaa after Israel’s withdrawal on December 31}

Surviving 2024 in Gaza

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/12/31/surviving-2024-in-gaza

When I was a child, I dreamed of travelling the world, exploring new cultures and learning new things. I yearned for a journey of discovery.

Living in Gaza felt like sitting in the stands, watching the world’s achievements – its development, progress and technological marvels – unfold from afar without being able to participate.

It was both a sanctuary and a cage – its regular rhythm comforting yet repetitive, its streets too familiar, its horizons too narrow for the aspirations I carried within me.

I cherished its warmth and closeness, but the pull of life beyond its borders was irresistible. I was ready to leave the moment an opportunity came my way.

This year, I did embark on a journey, but not the one that I had dreamed of. Instead of a trip of carefree exploration abroad, I found myself on a journey navigating a genocidal war and a struggle for survival within the narrow strip of Palestinian land I call home.

Along the way, I learned a lot – about myself and my inner world.