By Abdul Adil
(NNA, AA, Al Jazeera, Wafa, The Muslim News):
GAZA
At least 31 more Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, pushing up the overall death toll of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since last year to 45,059, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Tuesday.
A ministry statement added that some 107,041 others were injured in the ongoing assault.
“Israeli forces killed 31 people and injured 79 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.
The Palestinian Ministry of Education says more than 12,799 students have been killed and at least 20,942 wounded in Gaza and the occupied West Bank since the beginning of the war.
Staff at north Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital say that shrapnel from Israeli attacks has wounded patients seeking treatment, as an Israeli attack on a nearby home kills at least eight people.
Ten people lost their lives in a strike that hit a home in the Al-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City, a medical source told Anadolu.
The Gaza Civil Defense said that body parts and charred remains of the victims were brought to the hospital.
Two more people were killed in another strike targeting a group of civilians near a mosque in the Zeitoun neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, eyewitnesses said.
Another Israeli strike targeting a house left 15 people dead in the northern town of Beit Lahia, another medical source said.
Four more people were killed and several others injured in Israeli shelling of a group of civilians in the Beit Lahia Project area, he added.
Another Palestinian was killed and several people were injured when Israeli forces bombed a car west of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, the source said.
Meanwhile, UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, says UN-led aid missions to the north of Gaza are still being “overwhelmingly denied” by Israeli authorities, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Tuesday.
“Three humanitarian missions planning to bring food and water to parts of besieged North Gaza were once again denied by Israeli authorities”, on Tuesday, Dujarric added.
He said missions to the “besieged areas” in Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoon and parts of Jabalia were “especially” affected.
“As the Israeli siege on North Gaza continues, OCHA stresses once again that civilians who remain there must be protected, and their essential needs must be met.”
Eight Palestinians were killed and seven others injured on Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike on a house sheltering displaced families in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza.
A medical source told Anadolu the victims were brought to the Kamal Adwan Hospital following the strike, which targeted a home belonging to the Battah family near the hospital building.
Israeli warplanes bombed the family’s home, which was housing displaced people from the Ashkar and Swaiti families, mostly women and children. The strike caused a fire in the house, resulting in burn injuries to several displaced individuals, witnesses told Anadolu.
In a separate incident in the same area, Israeli warplanes bombed areas near the Al-Nazlah School west of Jabaliya. Additionally, Israeli military vehicles fired intensively at the Tel al-Zaatar neighborhood in the Jabaliya refugee camp, witnesses reported.
Israeli Apache helicopters also targeted northern Gaza areas with gunfire, according to the same source.
Palestinian resistance group Hamas said Tuesday that it killed three Israeli soldiers in clashes in the northern Gaza Strip.
The group’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said its fighters killed three soldiers at “point-blank range” and destroyed a personnel carrier in the Jabalia refugee camp.
According to the statement, Israeli helicopters were seen evacuating dead and injured soldiers from the site.
The group also said in a separate statement that it had detonated a house in central Jabalia when 11 soldiers were inside, saying soldiers were killed and injured in the attack.
There was no comment from the Israeli army on the claim.
WEST BANK
A Palestinian man Tuesday evening was shot with live fire, and several others suffocated by tear gas during confrontations with Israeli forces in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus, according to local sources.
Sources said that Israeli forces raided the village, amid the firing of live ammunition, tear gas canisters and sound bombs, shooting and injuring a man in the abdomen.
Several others, including an entire family inside their home, suffered from gas suffocation. Ambulance teams evacuated the injured and provided them with medical treatment.
Qusra is regularly subjected to incursions by Israeli forces, leading to frequent confrontations with residents, which often result in injuries and property damage.
Two Palestinians were shot dead in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, according to medics.
Witnesses said that Israeli soldiers opened fire on two Palestinian youths near a separation barrier in the northern city of Qalqilya.
The Red Crescent Society confirmed that the bodies of the two victims were transferred to the hospital.
Israeli forces on Tuesday evening fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse dozens of Palestinians protesting in Hebron’s Old City against the closure of a main road.
Israeli occupation forces detained three brothers and subjected them to severe beatings after raiding their home in Hebron’s Old City on Tuesday evening.
The brothers, who were identified as Yazan, Umayya, and Abd Ghaith, were detained following a violent raid on their property, which resulted in significant damage to their home.
Four protesters were physically assaulted during the incident, according to local activists.
Arif Jaber, an activist and resident of Hebron’s Old City, told Anadolu that the demonstration followed repeated Palestinian official requests to reopen the road, which serves as the only connection between several neighborhoods.
“We approached the Palestinian liaison office (responsible for coordination with Israel), asking them to intervene and reopen this essential route, but the Israeli authorities continue to block it,” Jaber said.
Hebron’s Old City is home to several illegal Israeli settler enclaves housing approximately 500 settlers, protected by hundreds of Israeli soldiers.
The city is divided under the 1997 Hebron Agreement into two zones: H1, under Palestinian control, and H2, comprising about 20% of the city, including the Old City and the Ibrahimi Mosque, under Israeli control.
The Hebron Rehabilitation Committee, a Palestinian government body, estimates that since the escalation of hostilities in Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, the Israeli military has erected additional barriers in Hebron. These add to over 100 pre-existing checkpoints and obstructions.
Jaber reported that the military closed the Hamra checkpoint three days ago, prompting protest. “As residents spoke to Israeli officers across the barrier, soldiers fired tear gas and stun grenades, then opened the checkpoint to chase participants,” he said.
The military also raided several neighborhoods, searched homes, and severely beat four members of the Ghaith family, according to Jaber.
Residents of Hebron’s Old City, he said, face severe restrictions on movement while free access is granted to illegal settlers. On Saturdays, the settlers’ weekly day of rest, Palestinians are prohibited from leaving their homes.
Israeli forces and illegal settlers proceeded on Tuesday to bulldoze Palestinian land in the village of Deir Razah, south of Hebron, seizing around 400 dunums of land for the benefit of constructing a new colonial road.
Human rights activist Raed Amro stated that Israeli forces started work on a three-kilometer-long road, which would take over significant portions of land belonging to the Amro family.
The bulldozers and settlers continued their operation into the night, uprooting trees and damaging crops all the way to a hilltop in the village. Tents and makeshift structures were also erected.
The residents, who have been barred from accessing their lands, voiced their concerns about the Israeli occupation’s intentions, fearing the creation of a new illegal colony in the area.
Human rights activist Raed Amro stated that Israeli forces started work on a three-kilometer-long road, which would take over significant portions of land belonging to the Amro family.
Israeli occupation forces began on Tuesday demolishing Palestinian shacks and agricultural and commercial facilities in the town of Deir Ballut, west of Salfit.
Local sources said that the occupation forces, accompanied by five military bulldozers, stormed the Al-Mureij area, north of the town, where they proceeded to demolish shacks and structures, built on an area of approximately 5 dunams.
The forces further demolished a facility and warned of demolishing an agricultural house, a water well, and an agricultural facility containing approximately 10,000 broiler chickens, within hours,
The soldiers also prevented local residents from reaching the targeted structures to help their owners.
LEBANON
Two people were injured in an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, in the latest violation of a cease-fire deal between the two sides, Lebanese media said.
The strike targeted a vehicle in the town of Majdal Zoun in Tyre district, the state news agency NNA reported.
Lebanon has reported nearly 250 Israeli violations, including the killing of 30 people and injury of 36 others, since the cease-fire deal came into force on Nov. 27.
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.
SYRIA
The United Nations says Israel violated the ceasefire with Syria after it captured a demilitarised buffer zone following the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“The presence of the Israeli Defence Forces in the buffer zone is a violation of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Dujarric added that the agreement “needs to be respected, and occupation is occupation — whether it lasts a week, a month or a year, it remains occupation.”
Earlier, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu announced that troops would remain on the border for the foreseeable future until an alternative arises.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israeli forces will continue occupying Syria’s Golan Heights in the foreseeable future.
His remarks came during a military assessment he held along with his defense minister, army chief of staff, and other officials on the peak of Hermon Mount (Jabal al-Sheikh) on the Syrian side of the border.
“We are holding this assessment in order to decide on the deployment of the IDF (army) in this important place until another arrangement is found that ensures Israel’s security,” a statement from his office said.
“The prime minister reviewed the IDF deployment in the area and set guidelines for the future,” the statement said.
The area is part of the Golan Heights, which Israel has occupied since the 1967 Middle East War.
[Photo: Smoke and flames rise from the house belonging to the al-Tabatibi family near the Palestine Square as the resident and officials respond to the fire with limited means following an Israeli attack in Gaza City, Gaza on December 17, 2024. Photojournalist: Hamza Z. H. Qraiqea/AA]
