By Abdul Adil
(AA, Al Jazeera, NNA, Wafa, The Muslim News):
GAZA
At least 50 more Palestinians were killed in Israeli indiscriminate attacks in the Gaza Strip, pushing up the overall death toll since last year to 44,758, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Monday.
A ministry statement added that some 106,134 others were injured in the ongoing assault.
“Israeli forces killed 50 people and injured 84 others in three massacres of families in the last 24 hours,” the ministry said.
“Many people are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.
Overnight, an Israeli attack in the southern city of Rafah also killed 10 people while they had lined up to buy flour.
In central Gaza, where Al Jazeera correspondent was reporting from outside Al-Aqsa Hospital, bodies were also piling up at the medical facility’s morgue following the latest Israeli bombing of a residential building in the Bureij refugee camp.
At least nine members of one family, most of them women and children, were killed in the attack, Mahmoud said.
“The agony keeps on unfolding here at Al-Aqsa Hospital, where survivors and relatives showed up early this morning to collect the bodies from the morgue of the hospital,” he said.
“At some point, the morgue of the hospital was packed with the bodies and there was not enough room for more bodies.”
At least 15 Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed and others were injured late on Monday in Israeli airstrikes on several homes in the Beit Hanoun area of northern Gaza.
The strikes targeted residential homes in the town, including some that were sheltering displaced families, eyewitnesses told Anadolu.
One of the dwellings that housed evacuees belonged to the Abu Jarad family, resulting in numerous casualties.
At least 16 people were killed in the Gaza Strip on Monday as the Israeli army continued its deadly offensive on the Palestinian enclave, medical sources said.
Four people, including three children, were killed and several others injured in an Israeli strike on a group of civilians east of the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, a medical source said.
Six more people lost their lives and several others were injured in another strike in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, the source added.
Witnesses said the fatalities occurred when a drone targeted a group of civilians while they were trying to check their homes around the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Beit Lahia Project area.
One person was also killed in a drone strike east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
Israeli shelling also targeted a group of civilians in Jabalia in northern Gaza, leaving three people dead, another medical source said.
One person was also killed in an Israeli strike in Khirbet Al-Adas, north of Rafah in southern Gaza, while another Palestinian lost his life in a drone strike in the same city, the source said.
According to witnesses, Israeli forces opened fire on tents of displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area in western Rafah.
Israeli army forces also set fire to a school sheltering displaced civilians in Beit Lahia to force them to flee the building, they added.
In Gaza City, an Israeli airstrike targeted the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, but no information was yet available about injuries.
A number of Palestinians were also killed and several others were injured after the Israeli air force bombed a residential area near Al-Maqadma Mosque, in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan Hospital, north of the Gaza Strip.
WAFA correspondent reported that the Israeli warplanes launched a raid on the Maghazi camp, killing two children and wounding others, while medical teams are still trying to recover more victim
Meanwhile Three Israeli soldiers were killed, and 12 others were injured, including two critically, during a clash with Palestinian fighters on Monday in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, according to an Israeli army statement and a report by Haaretz.
The army confirmed that the casualties occurred when soldiers from the Shaked Battalion of the Givati Brigade engaged in combat in northern Gaza.
In its statement, the army added that one soldier from the Sky Rider unit in the Artillery Corps and a reservist from the Shaked Battalion were seriously injured in the same battle.
The statement did not provide specific details regarding the circumstances of the soldiers’ deaths or injuries.
Haaretz reported that the incident in Jabalia was caused by Palestinian fighters firing an anti-tank missile at the soldiers. The report noted that, in addition to the three fatalities, 12 soldiers sustained injuries, with two in critical condition.
Those critically injured were airlifted to a hospital for treatment.
With the soldiers’ death, the officially announced toll of Israeli military fatalities since the start of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023 rose to 816.
WEST BANK
Two Palestinian young men were killed on Monday afternoon, in the Israeli occupation’s bombing of the city of Tubas, West Bank.
Security sources confirmed the two young men Khalil Al-Masry, 26, Adi Daraghmeh, 32, were killed following an Israeli drone strike that targeted a gathering of citizens in Tubas. The Israelis further withheld the bodies of the two young men following the attack.
The Israeli forces stormed the city this morning after undercover special forces infiltrated the city, and were present near a commercial store on the main street, while the soldiers fired smoke bombs in the area, before sending military reinforcements from the Tayasir military checkpoint towards the city.
An Israeli patrol was also stationed in the main street area, as the occupation forces obstructed the movement of Palestinians, in addition to its deployment and snipers in several areas of the city, amidst the flying of drones at low altitude.
Meanwhile, The Israeli army demolished two Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem on Monday, a local official said.
Israeli forces raided the village of Al-Walaja, south of East Jerusalem, and brought down the two structures on claims of lacking a building permit, local councilor Anwar Abu al-Teen told Anadolu.
He said several homes were demolished by the Israeli army in the village two weeks ago.
Abu al-Teen said there are around 70 homes in the village facing the risk of demolition for alleged lack of building permits.
According to Palestinian and Israeli rights groups, Israeli municipal authorities in occupied East Jerusalem offer building permits to Jewish settlements and impose severe restrictions on issuing such permits to Palestinians.
Figures released by Palestinian authorities showed that Israeli authorities have demolished over 500 homes and facilities across the occupied West Bank since Oct. 7 last year.
The Israeli army detained at least 16 Palestinians in military raids in the occupied West Bank, according to prisoners’ affairs groups on Monday.
A woman was among the detainees in the raids that targeted Hebron, Jenin, and Ramallah, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.
“The raids were marked by abuse, threats against detainees and their families, and acts of vandalism and destruction on citizens’ homes,” it added.
The new arrests brought the number of Palestinians detained by the Israeli army in the West Bank since October last year to over 12,000, including those who were released after being arrested, according to Palestinian figures.
The figure does not include those arrested from the Gaza Strip whose numbers are estimated to be in the thousands.
Over the past few years, the Israeli military has conducted regular raids in the West Bank, which have escalated with the beginning of the war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. Palestinians have also been violently attacked by illegal Israeli settlers.
At least 807 Palestinians have since been killed and over 6,450 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.
Israeli occupation forces Monday night stormed the village of Al Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, where they assaulted several Palestinian residents, according to a local official.
The chairman of the Al Mughayyir village council, Amin Abu Aliya, told WAFA that Israeli forces stormed the village, raided multiple homes and beat up four citizens, causing them bruises throughout their bodies. They were also detained and used as human shields.
Additionally, the forces fired live ammunition and tear gas canisters at the villagers and their homes. however, no further injuries were reported.
Israeli illegal settlers Monday evening launched two separate attacks on Palestinian residents in the West Bank areas of Nablus and the Jordan Valley.
In the first incident, settlers attacked Palestinian residents’ tents in the northern Jordan Valley’s Ein al-Hilweh area. Mahdi Daraghmeh, head of the village council, reported that settlers gathered on a hilltop near the tents, throwing stones and terrorizing, threatening and intimidating residents.
This incident adds to the growing number of attacks by Israeli settlers against the area, which often take place under the protection of Israeli forces.
In the second attack, settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles traveling south of Nablus, near the Yitzhar illegal colony. According to local sources, the colonists threw stones at the vehicles, causing damage to some of the cars, including broken windows. This attack is part of a recurring pattern of colonists’ violence along this route.
A Palestinian young man Monday night sustained bruises and fractures after being attacked by Israeli forces in the town of Dura south of Hebron, according to security sources.
Sources reported that Israeli forces severely beat up a resident during the raid, causing him fractures in his right leg and bruises throughout his body, which necessitated his transfer to a hospital for treatment.
Forces also seized several vehicles belonging to Palestinian residents in the town of Yatta south of Hebron.
LEBANON
A Lebanese civilian was killed and four Lebanese soldiers were injured in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon on Monday, in the latest violation of a cease-fire deal between the two sides, the Lebanese army said.
A military statement said Israeli forces struck a car near a military checkpoint in Bint Jbeil district, killing one person and injuring four soldiers.
Israeli forces also shelled the outskirts of the southern town of Naqoura, the state-run National News Agency said, without providing details about injuries.
On Sunday, three Lebanese were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Dibbin town in southern Lebanon.
At least 24 people have been killed and 24 others injured since a cease-fire deal between Lebanon and Israel took effect on Nov. 27, according to figures released by the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Lebanese authorities have reported around 160 Israeli violations of the cease-fire since the deal came into force last month.
Under the cease-fire terms, Israel is required to withdraw its forces south of the Blue Line – a de facto border – in phases, while the Lebanese army is to deploy in southern Lebanon within 60 days.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday reiterated condemnation “in the strongest terms” of Israel’s military aggression against Lebanon, reaffirming Islamabad’s “unwavering” support for Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
In a phone conversation with his Lebanese counterpart Najib Mikati, he welcomed the Lebanon-Israel cease-fire and called for a similar cease-fire agreement in Gaza, said a statement from Sharif’s office.
Referring to “brotherly and warm” relations between the two nations, Sharif stated that the “entire” Pakistani nation stands in solidarity with the people of Lebanon during these challenging times.
Pakistan has already provided humanitarian assistance to Lebanon.
Meanwhile, four Israeli reserve soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon, the military said on Monday.
A military statement said the soldiers were killed in an “operational accident” on Sunday while searching for Hezbollah weapons in the area.
The military said the four soldiers served in the army’s 226th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade of the 9263rd Battalion.
According to an initial army investigation, the “operational accident” happened while the forces were scanning a tunnel in the Labbouneh area when a cache of Hezbollah weapons detonated.
At least 813 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon since Oct. 7, 2023, according to military figures.
On Nov. 27, a cease-fire deal between Israel and Lebanon came into force in the hope of ending 14 months of fighting between the Israeli army and Hezbollah. It is, however, described as fragile, as around 160 Israeli violations were documented by Lebanon.
Under the cease-fire terms, Israel is required to withdraw its forces south of the Blue Line – a de facto border – in phases, while the Lebanese army is to deploy in southern Lebanon within 60 days
The US and France are responsible for overseeing the agreement’s implementation, but details on enforcement mechanisms are unclear.
YEMEN
Yemen’s Houthi group said Monday that it carried out a drone attack on a “vital target” in southern Israel.
In a televised statement, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said that it fired a drone at an Israeli target in Yavne, south of Jaffa, resulting in a direct hit.
He, however, did not give details about the nature of the target.
The spokesman said the attack was “in response to the Israeli enemy’s massacres” against the Palestinians in Gaza.
The Israeli army said Monday that a drone from Yemen struck an apartment in central Israel amid rising regional tensions over its ongoing war on the Gaza Strip.
A military statement said the drone hit the apartment in Yavne city after air defense systems failed to detect it.
No injuries were reported in the attack, which caused damage to several apartments in the building, Israeli media said.
The army said it is investigating the failure of the air-raid sirens to detect the drone.
There was no immediate confirmation of the attack by Yemen’s Houthi group.
[Photo: Palestinian relatives mourn as the bodies of their dear ones killed by Israeli army in al-Maghazi refugee camp in Deir al Balah, Gaza, on 9 December 2024 are brought into al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Photojournalist: Ashraf Amra/AA]
