By Abdul Adil
(AA, Wafa, Al Jazeera, NNA, TheMuslim News):
GAZA
At least 77 more Palestinians were killed in relentless Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, bringing the overall death toll since October 2023 to 45,658, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Friday.
A ministry statement added that some 108,583 others were injured in the ongoing assault.
“Israeli forces killed 77 people and injured 145 others in eight 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.
24 Palestinians were killed and many others injured on Friday in Israeli airstrikes that targeted at least five homes and civilian gatherings in the Gaza Strip, officials and sources said.
The civil defense service in a statement said the Israeli army struck a gathering of civilians in the Shejaiya neighborhood, eastern Gaza City, resulting in seven deaths and several injuries. Four children and a woman were among the victims.
Separately, three Palestinians were killed and others injured in an attack near Bahloul Junction in Sheikh Radwan, west of Gaza City, according to medics.
The civil defense also reported recovering bodies of two Palestinians, and another two were injured after a strike in Khirbat al-Adas, north of Rafah.
In central Gaza, a medical source confirmed that five Palestinians were killed in airstrikes on a house, a tent, and a civilian gathering in Deir al-Balah.
The source added that three Palestinians, including a journalist, were killed when a drone struck a house in the al-Sawarha area, north of the town of Zawaida.
One more Palestinian journalist was killed in an Israeli attack in the central Gaza Strip, the Gaza government media office said on Friday.
In a statement, the media office said Palestinian photojournalist Omar Salah Al-Derawi was killed in an Israeli bombing targeting his home in the Al-Zawaida area, central Gaza, killing him along with his parents. Derawi had been working with several news agencies.
The new fatality brought the total number of Palestinian journalists killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip to 202 since Oct. 7, 2023, it added.
The Media Office condemned the targeting of Palestinian journalists, describing it as a “systematic effort to kill and assassinate” media professionals.
It called on the international community and organizations dedicated to press freedom to denounce these acts and pursue accountability for Israel in international courts.
Two more Palestinians were killed when a drone targeted a home south of the Nuseirat refugee camp.
Meanwhile, a woman succumbed to injuries from an airstrike on a family home in Nuseirat late Thursday night.
In Gaza City, a Palestinian was killed and others injured in an airstrike targeting an apartment near Abdul Al Junction on al-Jalaa Street, according to a medical source.
Witnesses said Israeli naval forces shelled Gaza’s coastline and opened fire toward homes along the shore. They also reported demolition of homes west of Jabalia camp, where massive explosions were heard.
Seven civilians, including four children, were killed and several others were injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip.
WAFA correspondent reported that Israeli warplanes targeted the Shuja’iyya neighborhood in Gaza City, resulting in the killing of seven civilians and the injury of several others, including some critically.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military threatened medical teams, patients and staff at Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza that it would bomb the facility if it were not evacuated immediately.
Large fires broke out yesterday in the vicinity of the hospital due to ongoing bombardment and fires deliberately set by Israeli forces
Armed wing of Hamas announced Friday that it had targeted and destroyed five Israeli army tanks in the northern Gaza Strip, which endures an Israeli genocidal war for over 15 months.
In a statement, the Al-Qassam Brigades said its fighters targeted a Merkava tank with an explosive device in Al-Saftawi area, west of Jabalia refugee camp. In a second statement, it added that its fighters targeted four more tanks with explosive devices in eastern Jabalia town.
The Al-Qassam Brigades said in a separate statement that its fighters targeted an Israeli Apache helicopter with a SAM rocket in the east of Al-Bureij refugee camp, the central Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army is yet to comment on the Hamas statements.
WEST BANK
The Palestinian Health Ministry has said Muhammad Madhat Amin Amer, 18, was fatally shot during an Israeli raid of the Balata refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, in which eight people were injured by gunfire.
Wafa reported that one of those injuries was critical and that Israeli forces blocked ambulances trying to enter the camp, located east of Nablus.
At least 16 Palestinians sustained injuries Friday in assaults by the Israeli army and illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said medical teams transferred nine Palestinians to hospitals, including two in serious condition, who were injured by the Israeli army, which raided the Balata refugee camp in eastern Nablus in the northern West Bank.
Witnesses told Anadolu Agency that fighting erupted between the army and Palestinians in the camp, during which Israeli forces used heavily live bullets.
Earlier, seven Palestinians sustained injuries from an assault by armed settlers on the town of Silwad in eastern Ramallah in the central West Bank.
The Palestinians sustained injuries as the settlers beat them with batons and hurled stones, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Their condition, however, is stable.
Silwad Mayor Raed Hamed told Anadolu that 40 armed settlers raided the town’s Nasiba area, assaulted the Palestinians and set fire to at least five cars.
Several Palestinians were injured by live fire and tear gas during clashes with Israeli forces across the occupied West Bank on Friday, according to local reports.
Confrontations erupted in the towns of Kafr Qaddum east of Qalqilya, Beita south of Nablus, and Jabal Al-Tawil in Al-Bireh, where Israeli forces fired live bullets and tear gas to disperse protesters, according to an Anadolu reporter.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society confirmed dealing with one live fire injury in Jabal Al-Tawil, with the victim transported to a hospital for treatment.
Clashes in the Jabal Al-Tawil area during an Israeli military raid, where live bullets and tear gas were used, witnesses reported.
In Kafr Qaddum and Beita, Israeli forces suppressed weekly protests opposing settlement expansion. Field medics reported treating several individuals for tear gas inhalation at the scene.
Also, in Tubas, northern West Bank, Israeli soldiers raided a home, further escalating tensions in the region.
Several Palestinians Friday evening sustained injuries in settlers’ attack to the east of Yatta, south of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, according to a local activist.
Osama Makhamra said that Israeli settlers, under army protection, stormed al-Bweib village, opened live ammunition and assaulted the farmers, causing several to sustain bruises and fractures.
Two of the casualties, a father and his son, were detained along with two others by Israeli forces.
Settlers’ violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.
Settlers violence includes property and mosque arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, attacks on vulnerable homes, among others.
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 settlers.
At least 835 Palestinians have since been killed and more than 6,700 injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.
There are over 700,000 Israeli settlers living in illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
LEBANON
Lebanese authorities reported on Friday 11 more Israeli violations of the cease-fire agreement that ended hostilities between the Israeli army and the Hezbollah group on Nov. 27.
According to the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA), the violations occurred in the capital Beirut and the southern districts of Marjayoun, Bint Jbeil, and Tyre.
The reported violations included the demolition of homes, arson, road closures, sweeping operations involving heavy gunfire, and drone activity over various parts of Lebanon.
Israeli drones reportedly flew at low altitude over Beirut and its southern suburbs, areas considered strongholds of Hezbollah, according to NNA.
The Israeli army also barricaded the Bani Hayan road from the Wadi al-Sulouqi area in Marjayoun district. In addition, several homes in the town of Kfarkela were destroyed, and two others were set on fire in the town of Bani Hatan.
Heavy gunfire was reported during sweeping operations in the area between Bani Hayan and Talloussa. In Bint Jbeil, Israeli bulldozers demolished homes in Naqoura, NNA reported.
The latest breaches bring the total number of Israeli violations to 364 since the cease-fire took effect, according to an Anadolu tally based on figures released by Lebanese authorities.
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.
Data from the Lebanese Health Ministry indicates that since Israel’s onslaught against Lebanon began on Oct. 8, 2023, at least 4,063 victims have been killed, including women, children, and health workers, while 16,664 others have been injured.
YEMEN
Yemen’s Houthis [Ansar Allah] on Friday claimed responsibility for an aerial attack involving a ballistic missile and a combat drone against targets in central Israel.
In a statement read during a mass rally in the capital Sana’a, Yahya Saree, the group’s military spokesman, said they carried out two military operations in central Israel.
The first operation targeted a power station in the east of Tel Aviv with a hypersonic missile, while the second involved a drone being fired on an Israeli army’s target near the city of Jaffa, central Israel, he added. He claimed both attacks “successfully” hit their targets.
The spokesman vowed to continue attacks against Israel until aggression on Gaza, which continues since October 2023, is over and siege on the enclave is lifted.
According to Israeli media, at least 12 Israelis were injured, as crowds rushed to bomb shelters after a missile launched from Yemen entered Israeli airspace.
The Israeli army claimed to have intercepted the missile, but debris is said to have fallen in Modi’in, central Israel.
At least 12 Israelis were injured on Friday as crowds rushed to bomb shelters after a missile launched from Yemen entered Israeli airspace.
The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation confirmed that air raid sirens sounded across the greater Tel Aviv area, the Mediterranean coastal region, and Jerusalem.
Residents reported hearing explosions in and around Jerusalem.
Separately, the Israeli army announced that it had intercepted a drone launched from Yemen before it entered Israeli territory hours after a missile from the same source sent millions of Israelis rushing to bomb shelters.
“No alarms were activated in accordance with current policy,” the army said in a statement.
Israeli political and security institutions are reportedly struggling to devise a strategy to halt Houthi attacks as ongoing Israeli airstrikes on critical sites in Yemen have failed to deter the group.
Media reports suggest widespread frustration within Israeli leadership over the escalating threat.
[Photo: Relatives of the Palestinians who were killed by Israeli indiscriminate bombings, mourn in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on January 3, 2025. Photojournalist: Ashraf Amra/AA]
