A fireball erupts after Israeli strike over Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on December 20, 2023. (Photo by Said Khatib / AFP)
Doha, Qatar: Israel continued bombing various parts of Gaza, while ordering evacuation of about 20 percent of area in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. This latest order of evacuation sparked fear among civilians as the area houses major public facilities, including a part of Gaza Health Ministry's operation centre, the Nasser hospital, the Jordanian field hospital, and many residential buildings.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for improved conditions to allow 'large-scale humanitarian operations' in Gaza amid hunger and displacement.
In a post on X, he wrote, “intense fighting, lack of electricity, limited fuel and disrupted telecommunications” have “severely” restricted the UN’s efforts “to provide life-saving aid to Palestinians in Gaza”.
“Conditions to allow for large-scale humanitarian operations need to be reestablished immediately,” he added.
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[11:16 pm Doha Time] The Palestinian Red Crescent said it treated 45 injuries resulting from Israeli raid on Ramallah. PRCS said that among those it treated were 40 tear gas injuries, four rubber-coated bullet wounds and one burn.
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[9:38 pm Doha Time] Hunger is ravaging Gaza, and this is expected to increase illness across the Strip, most acutely among children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and older people.
In new estimates released today, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) global partnership, which includes WHO, said Gaza is facing “catastrophic levels of food insecurity,” with the risk of famine “increasing each day.”
An unprecedented 93% of the population in Gaza is facing crisis levels of hunger, with insufficient food and high levels of malnutrition. At least 1 in 4 households is facing “catastrophic conditions”: experiencing an extreme lack of food and starvation and having resorted to selling off their possessions and other extreme measures to afford a simple meal. Starvation, destitution and death are evident. Read more.
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[9 pm Doha Time] Entire Gaza faces 'crisis or worse' hunger level: UN
Every single person in war-torn Gaza is expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity in the next six weeks, a report by the UN's hunger monitoring system said on Thursday.
The forecast said that in its most likely scenario, by February 7 "the entire population in the Gaza Strip (about 2.2 million people) would be at crisis or worse levels of hunger." Read more.
Boxes containing humanitarian aid are unloaded at the Karm Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on December 21, 2023. (Photo by Mohammed Abed / AFP)
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[5 pm Doha Time] Israel bombs more Gaza targets. In the far-southern city of Rafah, a centre for many internally displaced Palestinians, fireballs and smoke rose after explosions since yesterday. The latest death toll stands at 20,301 Palestinians.
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[3:24 pm Doha Time] Qatar delivers more aid for Palestinians in Gaza
A Qatari Armed Forces plane headed to the city of El Arish in the Arab Republic of Egypt, carrying 20 tonnes of aid.
The aid includes food and medical supplies provided by Qatar Fund for Development, and the Qatar Red Crescent in preparation for transporting it to Gaza.
[2:41 pm Doha Time] Al Jazeera holds memorial for Samer Abudaqa
The Qatar-based media network is holding a memorial for its journalist and cameraman Samer Abudaqa, who was killed last week by an Israeli drone attack while covering an earlier strike on a school in Khan Younis.
“Many of them [journalists in Gaza] were asked to leave but they preferred to stay including our fallen colleague Samer, for whom we stand today, calling for justice. Justice for the targeting and assassination of our colleague and all other fellow journalists operating in Gaza,” Al Jazeera Arabic’s news anchor, Mohammad Hamdan, said at the gathering in the network’s headquarters in Doha.
Wael Dahdouh, Al Jazeera’s Gaza Bureau chief, who was wounded in the attack that killed Abudaqa, joined the televised memorial via video link from Gaza.
“We cannot put our feelings into words. On this solemn moment, this saddening moment, this painful moment as we remember our fallen colleague, the cameraman Samer Abudaqa,” Dahdouh said.
“We are joining our voices to yours; we are here to express our rejection, yet we cannot express our sadness. We have lost many dear, beloved ones”.
“We are here to pledge we will continue to fulfil our mission. The journey of journalism continues even after Israel killed Samer Abudaqa,” he added.
Al Jazeera has said it will refer the killing of Abudaqa to the International Criminal Court.
[2 pm Doha Time] Israel strike kills border crossing chief, three others: Hamas
An Israeli strike killed the head of the Kerem Shalom border crossing and three others on Thursday, Hamas government sources said.
Crossing director Bassem Ghaben was killed as Israeli planes targeted the infrastructure, the crossings authority and the health ministry in the Gaza Strip said.
[12:40 pm Doha Time] No functioning hospital left in northern Gaza
The area, which has been intensely bombarded and cut off by the Israeli army, has been left without an operational hospital due to a lack of fuel, staff and supplies, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
“Al-Ahli [Hospital] was the last one but it is now minimally functional,” Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative in Gaza, also said in a via video link from Jerusalem.
[12:08 pm Doha Time] UNICEF warns of water crisis in Gaza
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell warned of the lack of safe water in the Gaza Strip, which will cause more children to die due to diseases, stressing at the same time that "access to sufficient amounts of clean water is a matter of life and death".
The UN official said, in a press statement, that children in Gaza have barely a drop of water to drink, forcing them and their families to use highly salinated or polluted water from unsafe sources, adding that "without safe water, many more children will die from deprivation and disease in the coming days".
[9am Doha Time] Toll due to persistent aggression on Gaza rises to 26,700 martyrs and missing
The toll due to the persistent Israeli occupation's aggression on Gaza Strip has risen to 26,700 martyrs and missing persons, as well as nearly 53,000 casualties since last October.
During the genocidal war that has been continuing for 75 days, the occupation forces committed a massacre that led to the martyrdom of 20,000 Palestinians whose bodies arrived at hospitals, among them 8,000 toddlers and 6,200 females, the government media office in the Gaza reported in a statement Wednesday.
Relatives of Jehad Arafat, killed in Israeli bombardment, mourn over his body at the Najar hospital in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2023. (Photo by Mahmud HAMS / AFP)
The statement added that there are 6,700 people still missing either under the rubble of homes that were demolished on the heads of their inhabitants, or they are unaccounted for, pointing out that the genocidal war being perpetrated by the occupation forces against the Palestinian people resulted in the martyrdom of 310 Palestinians from the medical crews, along with 35 martyrs from civil defense personnel, in addition to 97 martyrs from journalists.
Hundreds of Palestinians were arrested, including 99 from medical crews and 8 journalists, the statement read, adding that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is dramatically becoming catastrophic because over 1,800,000 people were displaced from their homes, with nearly 2,400,000 people experiencing unprecedented and difficult situations who are extremely suffering from shortages of food, medicines and drinking water.
Regarding, the health sector, the occupation forces targeted over 23 hospitals and rendered them unfunctional, including 53 health centers which likewise became unfunctional, in addition to targeting 140 health facilities which squarely affected the provision of health services and bombarding 102 ambulance vehicles that were entirely damaged.
In addition, the Israeli occupation forces bombarded 308,000 residential units and entirely demolished 53,000 residential units with 255,000 residential units partially demolished. The occupation also decimated 126 government premises with 90 schools and universities became entirely inoperable, in addition to partially damaging 283 schools and universities, while 114 mosques were entirely destroyed and 200 mosques partially destroyed while 3 churches were targeted.
[8:30am Doha Time] Discussion about recognition of State of Palestine imperative, says Spanish Prime Minister
The discussion about the recognition of the Palestinian State will be essential at some point during the Spanish legislative term, said President of the Government of Spain Pedro Sanchez.
Addressing the Spanish Parliament, Sanchez added that it is incumbent upon the European Union to work for a lasting and comprehensive solution for the conflict that primarily leads to the two-state solution, affirming that the time has come for Europeans to clearly talk in one voice about the brutal Israeli attacks on Gaza Strip.
Talking about the Israeli brutal attacks on Gazacomes neither because the world watches, nor because the history will judge, but because humans andGazatoddlers are suffering and losing their lives, he said.
Gaza children and toddlers are suffering and losing their lives, Sanchez emphasized, adding that Madrid will never stand idly by in this regard. He pointed out that humanitarian assistance must flow to the people who are suffering from cold, hunger and pain.
[8:00am Doha Time] Palestinian Foreign Minister pleads for global protection for civilians in Gaza, West Bank
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al Maliki called for providing international protection for all Palestinian people, protecting their property and natural resources, as well as ensuring their fundamental rights, primarily their rights to life.
During his participation in the meetings of the sixth session of the Russian-Arab Cooperation Forum held in Marrakesh, Morocco Wednesday, Al Maliki said the Palestinian people are being exposed to an unprecedented genocidal war for the 75 consecutive days unleashed by the Israeli occupation forces in Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Children, women, elderly, and sick people are tragically being targeted while they are defending the supreme values in the world, in a genocidal war that amounts to war crimes according to the international law and the international humanitarian law.
It is time for the international community to break the silence through responding to the humanity appeal, cease aggression and provide global protection within the framework of the resolutions rendered by the UN system, prevent forced displacement which aims to wipe out the entire indigenous Palestinians, in addition to emptying the Palestinian territory of their original inhabitants and converting Gaza Strip into unfathomably uninhabitable place without fundamental humanitarian care, Al Maliki added.
He talked about the plight of millions of Palestinians in camps and Diaspora who are still waiting for their rights to return to their homeland and homes they left since 75 years, hailing the Russian historic and supportive positions for the Palestinian people and their just cause, including their inalienable legitimate rights. (QNA)
[7:30am Doha Time] Any pause in Gaza should lead to ceasefire, return to negotiating table: Jordan King
King Abdullah II of Jordan underscored the unwavering and clear position of his country towards the Palestinian cause and the aggression on Gaza, stressing that works must be continued strongly with a loud voice for the sake of this cause.
During his meeting Wednesday with Jerusalemite and Jordanian religious leaders, King Abdullah II of Jordan stressed the importance of standing united to defend the Islamic and Christian holy places in Jerusalem, adding that Jordan will continue its historic role in caring for the Islamic and Christian sanctities in Jerusalem.
Any pause in Gaza Strip should lead to ceasefire and return of the two parties to the negotiating table to find a solution for the Palestinian cause based on the two-state solution which receives a global consensus, King Abdullah II outlined.
He expressed his rejection and condemnation of targeting places of worship through military means, such as Mosques and Churches in Gaza, pointing out that there are many of those who sheltered there for protection.
King Abdullah II of Jordan pointed out that Jordan is continuing its relief and humanitarian efforts through deploying special field hospitals in Gaza concurrently with the mounting pressure aimed at permanently opening corridors in front of ample assistance. He warned of the seriousness of the consequences of the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza Strip due to the Israeli aggression, alongside Jerusalem and West Bank due to the persistent assaults against the people there.
In addition, King Abdullah II warned of imposing restrictions on Christians during the Christmas Mass in Bethlehem, emphasizing that Jordan will exert utmost efforts with the international community to help them perform rituals.
