By Abdul Adil
(AA, Al Jazeera, NNA, Wafa, The Muslim News)
GAZA
At least 21 more Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, bringing the overall death toll since last year to 45,227, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Saturday.
A ministry statement added that some 107,573 others were injured in the ongoing assault.
“Israeli forces killed 21 people and injured 61 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.
Gaza’s Civil Defense reported on Saturday that Israeli forces killing Palestinians and leaving their bodies in the streets where stray dogs feed on them is a clear violation of international law.
In a statement, the Civil Defense explained that Israeli forces have repeatedly targeted rescue teams and ambulances, specifically when they attempt to approach the bodies of those killed.
It emphasized that Israel has also obstructed efforts to recover the bodies of thousands of Palestinians who have died under the rubble of homes destroyed in Israeli airstrikes.
It added that it had found several Palestinian bodies that had been reduced to skeletons.
In other instances, it described seeing stray dogs feeding on the bodies in several neighborhoods, including Zeitoun, Shujaiya, Tel al-Hawa, the Jabalia area, Tal al-Zaatar, Beit Hanoun, and parts of the eastern areas of Khan Younis and Rafah.
Stressing that these actions by Israel constitute violations of the Geneva Conventions, it called on the signatory countries to “take immediate action to ensure Israel’s compliance with international law.”
Meanwhile, Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital released a video describing the unprecedented attacks by the Israeli military on the hospital.
He said that the military had opened fire on critical areas, including the ICU and incubators. He added that all medical teams were now trapped in a single room trying to seek shelter from the ongoing assault.
The Israeli attacks on the hospital have caused extensive destruction and severe damage in terms of the ability of medical teams to provide essential medical care.
Explosives had been deployed near the hospital.
The director also said Israel is demanding the immediate evacuation of the hospital.
Israeli occupation forces launched a heavy and unprecedented bombardment on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, located in northern Gaza, this evening, resulting in damage to some sections.
Medical sources reported that the hospital came under intense and indiscriminate shelling, with Israeli forces targeting the facility using bombs, artillery shells, and sniper fire. The attack caused significant damage to the hospital’s infrastructure, including its power generators and various departments.
Four Palestinians were killed and several others were injured in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a home in the Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza, on Saturday evening.
WAFA correspondent reported that Israeli fighter jets struck the home of the Kabaja family, causing the murder of four civilians and injuring others. The attack also caused damage to neighboring homes.
Earlier in the day, another Israeli airstrike on Al-Mansoura Street in the Shujaiya neighborhood east of Gaza City resulted in the killing of four more individuals and left others injured.
In a separate incident, an Israeli airstrike targeted a house belonging to the Felfel family, located near Sheikh Zayed Mosque in northern Gaza. A woman and her three daughters were killed in the attack.
Additionally, seven Palestinians were killed, and others injured in a series of airstrikes on the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City. Israeli forces also continued to demolish and burn homes in the remaining parts of Jabalia and Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, World Food Programme (WFP) says that since October, it has requested to deliver food to areas in Gaza’s north Governorate, which includes Beit Hanoon, Beit Lahiya and Jabalia, 101 times.
However, 97 percent of those requests were rejected or impeded on the ground.
In a post on X, it said a joint UN convoy with nine trucks reached people that had previously been cut off from assistance for more than 75 days in Beit Hanoon on Friday.
It delivered two trucks of bottled water and seven trucks of wheat flour and distributed canned food.
WEST BANK
A Palestinian man was killed on Saturday by Israeli army gunfire in the northern occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a statement that its teams in the Jenin city transported Hussein Abdul Qader Khudur, who succumbed to a gunshot wound to the thigh.
Khudur, 24, was shot near the Israeli separation wall between the villages of Faqqua and Arabbuna, eyewitnesses told Anadolu.
A Palestinian child was killed on Saturday when an Israeli landmine exploded in the Bethlehem area in the southern occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the death of 7-year-old Mohammad Yasser Ali Rashaida, who was killed by the explosion of an Israeli mine in the Rashida area, southeast of Bethlehem.
“Since Oct. 7, 2023, these remnants of war have killed four Palestinians and injured approximately 86, the majority of whom are children,” Issa Alghnimat, deputy director of the Palestinian Mine Action Center, told Anadolu.
A Palestinian youth was injured on Saturday evening following an assault by Israeli occupation forces in the town of Beita, south of Nablus.
Local sources informed WAFA that Israeli forces broke into the town, patrolled its streets, and detained a young man. They proceeded to beat him severely before later releasing him.
The Israeli army has forced two Palestinians to demolish their homes south of Jerusalem.
The Wafa news agency reported that the all-Israeli Municipality pressured Hani Shkeirat to demolish part of his home in the Jabal al-Mukaber neighbourhood after saying it was built without a permit.
Sources quoted in the report added that the municipality forced Mahmoud Aqil to demolish his home in the Silwan neighbourhood, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque, under the pretext that it was built without a licence.
Israeli authorities routinely force Palestinian residents in Jerusalem to demolish their own homes, claiming the lack of building permits while at the same time consistently denying Palestinians permits to build houses.
Those who resist demolishing their homes could face the destruction of their houses by Israeli bulldozers in addition to fines imposed on the owners.
For a second year in a row, Christmas celebrations in the West Bank town of Bethlehem remain muted in solidarity with Gaza, where Israel has killed more than 45,000 people since October 2023.
The Bethlehem municipality announced on Saturday that celebrations will be limited to religious rituals.
Bethlehem Mayor Anton Salman told a press conference that “the municipality has decided to limit this year’s Christmas celebrations to prayers and religious rituals, as an affirmation of our rejection of the (Israeli) oppression against Gaza and all of Palestine.”
Salman condemned “the ongoing aggression on Gaza” and criticized “the international community’s silence in the face of Israeli massacres.”
He called for “serious and immediate intervention to put an end to Israeli violations.”
The mayor said Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, has been suffering from Israeli restrictions and measures that have isolated it from its Palestinian surroundings since Oct. 7, 2023.
LEBANON
The Israeli army committed 10 additional violations of a cease-fire with Hezbollah on Saturday, bringing total breaches since the agreement took effect 25 days ago to 285.
Anadolu’s tally was compiled based on announcements by Lebanon’s National News Agency.
According to various reports published by the agency, the violations on Saturday were concentrated in the Tyre district in the South governorate and the Marjayoun and Bint Jbeil districts in the Nabatieh governorate.
The violations included artillery shelling, incursions by soldiers and military vehicles, bulldozing lemon orchards, demolition of homes and buildings, flights by warplanes and drones and the establishment of a military checkpoint.
In the Tyre district, Israeli forces carried out new bulldozing operations that targeted lemon orchards near the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in Naqoura.
Also in Naqoura, the army conducted new demolitions of buildings and homes and established a permanent military checkpoint at a location previously held by the Lebanese army near the fishermen’s harbor.
In the Bint Jbeil district, warplanes were reported flying at low altitude.
The Israeli army also targeted the outskirts of Hanin with five artillery shells while simultaneously blowing up several homes in the area.
In the Marjayoun district, a hostile Israeli drone was reported flying at low altitude above Khiam, Burj Al-Muluk, Qlayaa, Jdeidet Marjayoun, Dibbine and Blat, as well as the Marjayoun plain.
Meanwhile, around 20 Israeli army personnel stationed themselves at the entrance to Deir Mimas with military vehicles and bulldozers.
At least 30 people have been killed and 37 others injured in Israeli attacks since a cease-fire deal between Israel and Lebanon took effect Nov. 27, according to an Anadolu tally based on Lebanese Health Ministry figures.
YEMEN
The Israeli army claimed Saturday that it intercepted a drone launched from the east towards settlements in the southern Negev region, near the Gaza Strip.
“Following the sirens that were activated a short while ago in Talmei Eliyahu, Gvulot, and Ein HaBesor, the Air Force intercepted a drone that entered the country from the east,” the army said in a statement on X.
The three mentioned settlements are located in the Eshkol Regional Council area Negev, within the vicinity of Gaza.
The army did not specify the side responsible for launching the drone, and no group has claimed responsibility for the attack as of yet.
Earlier in the day, at least 20 Israelis were injured when a missile launched from Yemen landed in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa area in central Israel.
The Israeli army confirmed the attack, stating: “A missile originating in Yemen impacted central Israel after interception attempts failed.”
In a statement, Houthi [Ansar Allah] military spokesperson Yahya Saree announced that their fighters carried out “a military operation targeting a military site of the Israeli enemy in the occupied Jaffa area with a hypersonic ballistic missile.”
The announcement comes after the Houthis claimed multiple drone strikes on central and southern Israel on Friday and three more military operations against Israeli positions on Thursday, coinciding with Israeli airstrikes on Yemen’s cities of Sana’a and Al Hudaydah.
An investigation by the Israeli army on Saturday disclosed several failed attempts to intercept a ballistic missile launched from Yemen, which struck central Tel Aviv.
The missile, fired by Houthi forces, landed in a stadium in the Jaffa area early Saturday creating a large crater, injuring 20 people, and damaging numerous apartments, according to Israeli daily Haaretz.
The investigation revealed that the missile was detected and an alert was issued for the central region, according to the Israeli army report.
It noted that initial interception attempts using upper-atmosphere defense systems failed outside Israeli borders. Subsequent attempts at lower altitudes also missed allowing the missile to penetrate Israel’s defense system and strike Jaffa.
The Houthi group claimed responsibility for the attack with spokesperson Yahya Saree noting that the missile targeted a military site in response to Israeli airstrikes on Yemen and the ongoing war in Gaza.
On Thursday, Israeli airstrikes on Yemen targeted infrastructure in Sana’a and Al Hudaydah killing nine civilians and injuring others.
SRI LANKA
Israel evacuated one of its soldiers in Sri Lanka moments before he was to be summoned in an investigation about alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip, according to media reports.
The incident unfolded Wednesday after the soldier was identified by the pro-Palestinian Hind Rajab Foundation, Channel 12 reported.
The foundation matched images the soldier shared on social media with pictures from his operational service in Gaza, noting he boasted about killing a Palestinian civilian, said the Israeli broadcaster.
The group promptly notified Sri Lankan authorities and urged them to arrest the soldier, whose identity remains undisclosed.
Israeli authorities instructed the soldier to immediately leave Sri Lanka to avoid detention. Details about how he left the country remain unclear, and Sri Lankan officials have not commented.
The incident follows the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) recent issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes against humanity in Gaza.
There are growing concerns in Israel about potential secret arrest warrants targeting other military personnel, as rights groups worldwide gather evidence to push for prosecutions.
Channel 12 emphasized that while Israel managed to prevent the arrest but the repercussions highlight an increasing willingness for nations to pursue legal action against Israeli soldiers accused of violations in Gaza.
[Photo: Palestinian children struggle to receive food who escaped from the attacks of the Israeli army and took shelter in the Khan Yunis, located in the south of the Gaza Strip and who are struggling with hunger. Photojournalist: Doaa Albaz/AA]
