By Abdul Adil
(AA, Wafa, Al Jazeera, NNA, The Muslim News):
GAZA
At least 52 more Palestinians were killed in Israeli indiscriminate attacks in the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, bringing the overall death toll of Palestinians killed since last year to 45,028, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Monday.
A ministry statement added that some 106,962 others were injured in the ongoing assault.
“Israeli forces killed 52 people and injured 203 others in seven 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.
Several others were wounded in the attack that struck a residential home in the al-Sabra neighbourhood in the south of Gaza City, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reports.
The attack comes shortly after three others were killed in a separate strike on a home northwest of Gaza City.
Israeli drones targeted Kamel Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, the northern Gaza Strip, on Monday, striking power generators and causing extensive damage to the facility.
The attack resulted in a power outage, jeopardizing the lives of more than 50 patients, including those in intensive care requiring oxygen and water.
“Quadcopter drones dropped a bomb directly on the hospital’s generators, leading to a total power failure,” a medical source told Anadolu. He added that the outage poses severe risks to patients reliant on life-support systems.
The drones also fired at anyone moving within the hospital courtyard and targeted the intensive care unit with live fire, further threatening the safety of medical staff and patients inside, the source said.
Since Oct. 5, Israel has launched a large-scale ground operation in northern Gaza to allegedly prevent Hamas from regrouping. Palestinians, however, accuse Israel of seeking to occupy the area and forcibly displace its residents.
At least four Palestinians were killed and 15 others injured Monday in an Israeli drone strike targeting civilians in western Gaza City, according to medics.
A medical official at Gaza’s Al-Shifa Medical Complex confirmed to Anadolu the casualties, reporting that the victims were brought in following the attack on Aydiya Street in the Al-Shati Refugee Camp.
In central Gaza, Israeli artillery shelled a home in the Al-Nuseirat Refugee Camp, leaving several Palestinians injured, according to paramedics who spoke to Anadolu.
Witnesses also reported artillery fire targeting Al-Raed Tower at the entrance to the Al-Bureij Camp.
A Palestinian grandfather, who grieved for his 3-year-old granddaughter killed in an Israeli airstrike last year, lost his life in another attack in central Gaza on Monday.
Khaled Nabhan won widespread recognition last November when his 3-year-old granddaughter, Reem, and her 5-year-old brother, Tariq, were killed in an attack in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
According to an Anadolu reporter, Nabhan was killed on Monday in an Israeli strike in the Nuseirat camp.
Images of Nabhan made headlines as he embraced the lifeless body of his granddaughter, bidding farewell as he kissed her eyes and stroked her hair and face, calling her the “soul of my soul.”
His heart-wrenching story went viral worldwide and dominated world media as one of many innocent lives lost in Israel’s genocidal war on the Palestinian enclave.
“Reem, she is my darling. My heart is broken. I sleep and wake up and my eyes are full of tears. We lived in the same house with Reem. I used to play games with her every day. I wouldn’t just call her ‘darling.’ I would call her ‘my heart, my two eyes.’ I miss her very much,” Nabhan told Anadolu at that time.
“I never thought that our children would be bombed. Yes, my heart aches. They filmed me and everyone saw it. I wasn’t even aware that I was being filmed. But there are many others here who weren’t caught on video and whose hearts are burning,” he said.
Five civilians, including two women, were killed and several others were wounded in Israeli airstrikes targeting a residential apartment in the al-Mukhabarat area, northwest of Gaza City, and a house in the Sabra neighborhood south of the city.
Earlier, an Israeli airstrike targeted a group of civilians in the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City. The strike resulted in the killing of four civilians and injury of at least 15 others.
WEST BANK
A Palestinian man was killed by Israeli military fire on Monday evening and several others were injured in suffocation incidents during Israeli army raids across the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that “a martyr tried to reach the Rafidia Government Hospital in Nablus coming from the Askar refugee camp.”
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society, which earlier issued an alert about a young man injured on the hill near Askar camp, confirmed that medical teams had been blocked by Israeli forces from reaching the site. The young man was later reported to be in critical condition.
According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, Israeli forces raided several areas in Nablus, including the al-Masaken al-Sha’biya and Askar Hill neighborhoods, using military vehicles. They opened live fire, as well as tear gas and sound bombs, resulting in at least one Palestinian being shot.
In eastern Nablus, Wafa reported that Israeli forces attacked a 13-year-old boy, Amir Hanni, in the town of Beit Furik, beating him and detaining him for several hours after storming the town.
Incidents of suffocation were reported in the village of Qusra, south of the city, where Israeli forces launched gas canisters and sound bombs, leading to clashes and several cases of suffocation.
In the southern West Bank, near Bethlehem, Israeli forces raided the town of al-Khader, causing injuries due to asphyxiation from tear gas.
Israeli authorities demolished dozens of Palestinian structures, including residential apartments, in the occupied West Bank on Monday, a local official and witnesses said.
“Israeli forces razed 40 shops and a 400-square-meter house in al-Ramadin town” in the southern West Bank, municipal chief Anis al-Zaghah told Anadolu.
He said Israeli authorities cited the lack of building permits for demolishing the structures.
“The structures were built on private land and were vital for local families’ livelihoods,” he added.
Isa Al-Rwashdeh, the owner of one of the demolished businesses, said the targeted shops sold produce, building materials, and agricultural tools. He added that the demolition was followed by the burning of remnants on-site.
The Israeli forces also razed 11 other structures, including nine residential apartments, in Al-Bustan neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, witnesses said.
According to the witnesses, the apartments were inhabited by 31 families, including children, with Israeli forces citing lack of a building permit for the demolitions.
Al-Bustan is home to 116 Palestinian houses with approximately 1,550 residents.
In recent months, the Israeli authorities have intensified demolitions in the neighborhood where the Jerusalem Municipality plans to build a “biblical park,” according to Palestinians.
Silwan remains one of the most targeted areas in East Jerusalem for demolitions and land confiscations by the Israeli authorities.
Meanwhile, at least 16 more Palestinians were detained in fresh Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank, according to prisoners’ affairs groups on Monday.
The raids targeted the cities of Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus, Tulkarem, Jenin and Ramallah in the occupied territory, 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 12,100, including those who were released after being arrested, according to Palestinian figures.
Several Palestinians suffocated on Monday night during an Israeli military raid into the town of Abu Dis, east of occupied Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem Governorate stated in a brief statement that Israeli forces attacked residents with a hail of stun grenades and toxic tear gas canisters during a raid into central Abu Dis, leading to several suffocation cases.
An eighteen-year-old Palestinian, from Nablus’ Askar refugee camp, died of critical wounds he sustained earlier tonight after being shot by Israeli soldiers during an Israeli military incursion into eastern Nablus, according to local sources.
Sources told WAFA that Israeli forces, accompanied by several military vehicles, stormed two areas east of Nablus, amid the firing of live rounds, sound bombs and toxic tear gas canisters, shooting and injuring a Palestinian youth. Forces also beat up another resident during the raid.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) confirmed that a youth was shot and critically injured by Israeli forces during the military incursion. The youth was identified as Mohammed Yasser Abu Koshok, 18.
Israeli forces reportedly prevented medical teams from reaching the wounded youth, hindering efforts to provide immediate medical care, until he succumbed to his serious wounds.
Israeli soldiers Monday night assaulted a 13-year-old boy in Beit Furik east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, according to local sources.
Sources said that Israeli forces raided the town and attacked a teenager in the al-Dubat neighborhood, beating him up and detaining him for several hours before he was released.
This incident is part of a broader pattern of frequent Israeli military incursions into Beit Furik, which often lead to confrontations and result in injuries among Palestinian residents.
LEBANON
Three people were injured on Monday in an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon, in the latest violation of a cease-fire deal, the Health Ministry said.
A ministry statement reported the injuries in a strike targeting the town of An-Najjariyah in Sidon district.
Lebanese authorities have reported around 228 Israeli violations since the cease-fire deal between Israel and Lebanon 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.
YEMEN
Israel is preparing for a military offensive against Yemen’s Houthi group in response to continued missile and drone attacks, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (KAN) said Monday.
The announcement came after Israel intercepted a ballistic missile and a drone launched by the Houthis earlier in the day.
The Houthis have launched six drones and two ballistic missiles toward Israel in the past week alone, officials said.
[Photo: Relatives of Palestinians who were killed by Israeli bombings on Ahmed Abdel Aziz school-turned shelter mourn in Khan Yunis, Gaza on December 16, 2024.Photojournalist: Abed Rahim Khatib/AA]
