By Elham Asaad Buaras
London, (The Muslim News): Israel’s military killed at least three Palestinians in Gaza and one in West Bank, on Sunday, as severe winter storms flooded makeshift camps and compounded the enclave’s humanitarian crisis amid restricted aid.
A source at Nasser Medical Complex told Al Jazeera that three people were killed east of Khan Younis, while additional strikes hit Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood and areas near Rafah. The Health Ministry described the situation as “disastrous,” warning that blocked medicines, medical supplies, and evacuation efforts were worsening the crisis. “Medical points for civilians have shut down due to the rain, with tents blown away by strong winds,” spokesman Khalil al-Daqran said, calling for urgent international assistance.
More than 69,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, with 2.4 million facing catastrophic conditions despite a ceasefire that began on 10 October. The storm that flooded thousands of tents was expected to ease by Sunday evening.
Israel’s operations also intensified across the occupied West Bank, where a 15-year-old boy was shot dead during a raid on al-Far’a refugee camp south of Tubas, reports Wafa News Agency. Local security sources identified the boy as Jadallah Jihad Jumaa Jadallah, saying soldiers shot him inside the camp and later withheld his body. The Palestine Red Crescent said its crews treated two youths with shrapnel wounds, while a third injured person was detained after ambulances were blocked from reaching him. The Ministry of Education said Jadallah was a ninth-grade student at the UNRWA-run Al-Far’a Boys’ Basic School.
In Jenin, two Palestinians were injured when an Israeli military vehicle rammed a taxi on Haifa Street, Wafa reported. In the northern Jordan Valley, forces accompanied by the so-called “Israeli Colonies Council” raided al-Maleh School, detaining its maintenance worker and photographing the facilities, rights activist Aref Daraghmeh said.
The raids form part of a broader surge in West Bank violence since the Gaza war began in October 2023, which Palestinian figures say has left more than 1,070 dead and 10,700 wounded in army and settler attacks. The escalation comes despite a landmark advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice last July, which declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Tensions also rose in Hebron, where activists said Israeli forces imposed a curfew in the Old City ahead of a Jewish holiday celebrated by settlers. Aref Jaber of the Hebron Defence Committee said troops closed checkpoints on Friday, sealing off the area and leaving many residentsunable to reach their homes. He said hundreds of settlers staged “provocative” marches under heavy guard and accused Israel of seeking full control of the Ibrahimi Mosque to convert it into a synagogue. The Palestinian Ministry of Religious Endowments said key gates to the mosque have remained closed since early 2025.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said it had received 15 more bodies from Israel via the International Committee of the Red Cross, bringing the total returned since the ceasefire to 330. Forensic teams have identified 97, while Palestinian authorities said many remains showed signs of abuse and were returned without names.
Settler violence surged over the weekend. The Bedouin rights group Al-Baydar said settlers raided Al-Maliha village west of East Jerusalem, briefly detaining residents, and cut down fruit-bearing trees in Firasin near Tulkarem. The group said the attacks “reflect a systematic Israeli policy to put pressure on Palestinian farmers and threaten their economic and social stability.” The Palestinian government’s Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission has recorded 7,154 settler attacks since October 2023, killing 33 Palestinians and displacing 33 communities.
The Israeli army also carried out a wide-scale arrest campaign across the West Bank, detaining 15 Palestinians in Nablus, Madama, Beit Furik, Qalqilya, and Bayt Rima, local sources said. Since October 2023, over 20,000 Palestinians have been arrested, with more than 9,100 still in detention, according to the Commission of Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society.
Meanwhile, Hamas said it had received an official Israeli list of 1,468 Palestinians detained from Gaza during Israel’s two-year war. “The list was reviewed and cross-checked with the relevant bodies, and the status of all names was verified except for 11 cases still under review,” the group said. It held Israel “fully responsible for the lives of all detainees” and accused authorities of “stalling, procrastination, and manipulation,” adding that Israel “continues to forcibly hide additional detainees and refuses to disclose their names or numbers.”
Under the first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas has released 20 Israeli captives and returned the remains of 27 others, though Israel has disputed one of the bodies.
Humanitarian agencies warned that conditions in Gaza remain critical as aid continues to be blocked. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Israel had rejected 23 requests since the ceasefire, preventing nearly 4,000 pallets of supplies from entering. “Millions of urgently needed shelter items remain stuck… awaiting approval,” he said, warning that civilians, particularly children, face increasing risk from unexploded ordnance.
[Photo: Palestinians who lost their homes in two years of Israeli attacks continue to live among the rubble of destroyed buildings in northern Gaza’s Jabalia Camp, struggling to meet basic needs and cope with cold weather conditions, on November 16, 2025. Photojournalist: Saeed M. M. T. Jaras/AA]
