By Elham Asaad Buaras
London,(The Muslim News): An Israeli artillery and missile strike hit a designated displaced persons’ area in the Jabalia refugee camp on Thursday, killing an elderly Palestinian woman and injuring five others, in a direct attack on a zone protected under the ongoing ceasefire.
The strike, which occurred amid a severe winter storm flooding Gaza, targeted an area where families had sought shelter under the first phase of the US-brokered truce that began on October 10. Witnesses and medics reported that rescue efforts were hindered by submerged streets and soaked tents.
This fatal violation of the ceasefire unfolded alongside a deepening environmental catastrophe, also with lethal consequences. In Khan Younis, eight-month-old Rahaf Abu Jazar died from severe cold on Thursday, her body succumbing to temperatures inside a rain-saturated tent. Munir al-Bursh, head of Gaza’s Health Ministry, confirmed the death and issued a stark warning: “Low temperatures are ravaging children, the elderly and the sick.”
“Stagnant water inside tents creates a perfect environment for pneumonia,” al-Bursh stated, describing a health crisis where patients cannot find medicine or care. The cold, he said, leads to severe shivering, loss of body heat, respiratory failure, and death.
Gaza’s Civil Defence reported that entire displacement camps were now underwater, naming sites across Khan Younis, Deir al-Balah, and Nuseirat. “Displaced citizens, with their children and women, are drowning now,” the agency said, describing the scenes as “tragic.” Spokesperson Mahmoud Basal reported over 2,500 distress calls in 24 hours, noting that more than 250,000 families in flimsy tents are acutely vulnerable.
CEASEFIRE IN NAME ONLY: MOUNTING CASUALTIES & VIOLATIONS
The killing in Jabalia is not an isolated incident. Despite the formal ceasefire, Gaza’s Government Media Office reports that Israeli forces have killed 386 Palestinians and wounded 980 in the 60 days since the truce began. Authorities accuse Israel of committing 738 documented ceasefire violations, including firing on civilians, artillery strikes on residential areas, home demolitions, and military raids.
Earlier this week, on Tuesday, witnesses reported renewed Israeli airstrikes on Rafah and shelling east of the city, alongside naval fire off the coast of Khan Younis. On the same day, Gaza Civil Defence teams recovered 15 more bodies from a mass grave in the courtyard of Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, bringing the total exhumed from the facility’s grounds to 113. The Gaza Media Office alleges the grave is evidence of a pattern of executions during the Israeli military’s earlier siege and operation at the hospital.
VIOLENCE & PROVOCATIONS SPREAD ACROSS OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
The violence extends beyond Gaza. In the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Israeli military raids injured at least eight Palestinians. Soldiers fired live ammunition and tear gas in Husan, while clashes erupted in Aqraba after troops conducted detentions inside a mosque. Since October 2023, Israeli forces and settlers have killed 1,092 Palestinians in the West Bank, injuring nearly 11,000 and making over 21,000 arrests.
In occupied East Jerusalem on Thursday, under the protection of Israeli police, groups of illegal Israeli settlers stormed the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque. Local sources reported the settlers conducted provocative tours and performed Talmudic rituals, the latest in a series of incursions that have seen thousands of settlers enter the holy site in recent weeks.
INTERNATIONAL CALLS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY & SANCTIONS
Marking Human Rights Day, a coalition of international human rights organisations submitted a formal dossier calling on the UK, Canada, and the EU to impose sanctions on three Israeli individuals and their companies. They are accused of directly providing the bulldozers and heavy machinery used by the Israeli military to demolish homes, medical facilities, schools, and mosques across Gaza.
“Civilian property is protected under international law, yet entire towns and urban neighbourhoods are being levelled,” said Corey Balsam of Independent Jewish Voices.
A new Reporters Without Borders (RSF) report further accused the Israeli military of being responsible for nearly half of all journalists killed worldwide in the past year, 43% of the 67 global deaths were in Gaza. RSF states approximately 220 journalists have been killed by Israeli forces since October 2023.
Meanwhile, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, accused Israel of a brazen violation on Monday, stating Israeli forces forcibly entered its East Jerusalem compound, replaced the UN flag with an Israeli flag, seized equipment, and cut communications, an act the agency’s chief called a “blatant disregard” for international obligations.
AID BLOCKADE CONTINUES
The humanitarian framework of the October 10 ceasefire is failing. Aid deliveries remain far below the agreed-upon levels, with an average of only 226 trucks entering Gaza daily, which is well short of the 600 required. Sharply limited fuel deliveries are crippling hospitals, bakeries, and water systems.
With Israeli ceasefire violations mounting, aid critically insufficient, and a harsh winter now drowning the displaced, the truce appears to exist only on paper. For Gaza’s population, survival is threatened by both ongoing military actions and a deliberately engineered humanitarian collapse.
[Photo: Palestinians trying to maintain daily life in partially destroyed buildings as heavy rainfall cause tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the eastern Zaitoun neighborhood to flood in Gaza City, Gaza on December 12, 2025. The damaged tents, already vulnerable due to harsh winter conditions, further worsened living conditions for civilians struggling to survive in cold and difficult circumstances. Photojournalist: Saeed M. M. T. Jaras/AA]
