Monday, December 4, 2023
16:16 GMT — At least 50 people have been killed and hundreds of others injured in Israeli airstrikes on two schools sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza, according to the official news agency Wafa.
Israeli fighter jets and artillery cannons shelled the UN-run Salah Ad-Din school and Martyr Assad Safwati school in Al Darraj neighbourhood, Wafa reported, citing local sources.
17:04 GMT — Doctors Without Borders calls for pressuring Israel to stop Gaza attacks
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) called for pressuring Israel to stop attacks on the people of Gaza.
"It #MustStopNow! We are asking governments around the world to pressure Israel to stop the attacks on people in #Gaza and end the siege," the French-based humanitarian organization wrote on X.
The organisation also shared an "open letter" in a video format, showing the aftermath of the Israeli attacks on Gaza.
"We are witnessing the fundamental principle of humanity being openly disgraced," MSF said, adding that Israel’s “all-out assault” is not being waged just on Hamas.
"It is being waged on all of Gaza and its people at any cost," it added.
16:58 GMT — Infectious diseases spreading rapidly in Gaza hospitals: doctors
Speaking to British website The Independent, doctors at Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza said the lack of essential vaccines for newborns accelerates the spread of diseases in hospitals.
In addition to infectious diseases, they also said they are dealing with casualties and fatalities due to Israel's intense attacks.
Dr Asem Mohammed said the overcrowding creates favourable conditions for the spread of infectious diseases, and the lack of medical equipment and limited access to clean water further worsens the situation.
He said the surroundings of the hospital are overflowing with "infectious diseases such as fungal infections, skin infections, pneumonia, and epidemiological problems."
Dr Yousef Adnan said that due to limited access to clean water, they treat thousands of people suffering from diarrhoea every day, calling the current situation in the hospital a "disaster.”
16:50 GMT — Hezbollah targets 10 Israeli sites near Lebanon's border
Hezbollah has said that its fighters had targeted an Israeli infantry unit at five new locations, including the Karam Al Tuffah site east of the Brannit barracks, a gathering of soldiers in Hiraj Shetula, and others in Hiraj Hanita, Birkit Risha, and Jal Al Alam in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah also successfully targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers east of the Misgav area with guided missiles, it said in another statement. Furthermore, it targeted Hiraj Shetula and Al Rahib opposite the town of Ayta Shaab in Lebanon using appropriate weaponry, the statement added.
In another statement, the group also said it targeted the Israeli Baghdadi site opposite the Lebanese town of Meiss Al Jabal.
15:25 GMT — Genocide is often preceded by warning signs and must be prevented: UN rights chief
The UN human rights chief said the world must remember that genocide is often preceded or accompanied by statements from political leaders and other public figures that dehumanize and demonize people from targeted communities.
"Important lessons of the Holocaust, whose indescribable crimes led to the Convention – and the lessons of Cambodia, Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, and others – made it absolutely clear that preventing genocide, and bringing its perpetrators to account before all humanity, is essential to the work of advancing human rights," Volker Turk said.
He was speaking at a meeting to mark the 75th anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Turk said that the prohibition of genocide is not an ordinary rule of international law. "It is an overriding principle for all humanity and all States to follow at all times and without exception," he said.
"The convention calls on all states and people to maintain vigilance, and it demands action to prevent and to punish genocide," said the UN rights chief.
14:51 GMT — Almost 1.9M Palestinian displaced across Gaza — UN
Almost 1.9 million people, or over 80 percent of the population, have been displaced across Gaza since October 7, the UN Agency for Palestinian refugees or UNRWA has said in a statement.
As of December 2, 111 UNRWA staffers have been killed since the beginning of Israeli war on the Palestinian enclave, it added.
The Israeli army resumed bombing Gaza early on Friday after declaring an end to a weeklong humanitarian pause.
14:44 GMT — Palestinian killed, 22 injured by Israeli fire
One Palestinian was killed and 22 others were injured in an Israeli military raid in the Qalandia refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, according to the Health Ministry.
Israeli forces raided the Qalandia camp and the Kafr Aqab neighbourhood north of the occupied East Jerusalem early morning, witnesses said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its medics dealt with 22 injuries in the camp, including 15 by live fire.
13:36 GMT — Cost of Gaza war increases to $51B for Israel
Israel's Finance Ministry has said the initial cost of the Gaza war at $51B, up from a previous estimate of $44B.
13:33 GMT — Complete outage of communication services in Gaza
Palestinian telecommunications companies said that communication services in Gaza were completely cut off due to the ongoing Israeli bombardment.
13:21 GMT — Rising civilian deaths in Gaza absolutely unacceptable: Spanish premier
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez reiterated that the soaring civilian deaths in the relentless Israeli attacks on the besieged Gaza are absolutely unacceptable, local media reported.
Speaking to Cadena SER radio, he said: "I aspire to have the best relationship with Israel, but I am above all concerned about the death of civilians."
13:04 GMT — Thirty Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on northern Gaza
At least 30 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on northern Gaza, a Palestinian official news agency reported.
Overall 15,899 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since Oct 7, 70 percent of them women and children, Gaza-based Palestinian Health Ministry spokesperson said.
12:55 GMT — Suffering in Gaza 'intolerable': Red Cross
The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross has said that she had arrived in Israeli-bombarded Gaza, warning that the suffering in the Palestinian territory was "intolerable".
"I repeat our urgent call for civilians to be protected in line with the laws of war and for aid to enter unimpeded," Mirjana Spoljaric said on X, formerly Twitter, adding that "the hostages must be released and ICRC allowed to safely visit them".
12:34 GMT - Dozens of Israeli tanks move into southern Gaza
Dozens of Israeli tanks have entered the southern part of Gaza near Khan Younis, witnesses told AFP, with the Israeli military widely expected to start ground operations in the area soon.
Armoured personnel carriers and bulldozers were also seen.
Amin Abu Hola, 59, said the Israeli vehicles were "two kilometres inside" the Palestinian territory in the village of al Qarara near Khan Younis, while Moaz Mohammed, 34, said Israeli tanks were on the southern part of Salah al-Din road which runs from the north to the south of the enclave.
12:00 GMT - Operations in Gaza's north almost done: Israeli general
The commander of Israel's armoured corps has said that he and other ground forces were close to achieving their war mission in northern Gaza and were operating elsewhere in the Palestinian enclave against Hamas.
"The goals in the northern section have almost been met," Brigadier-General Hisham Ibrahim told Israel's Army Radio. "We are beginning to expand the ground manoeuvre to other parts of the Strip, with one goal: to topple the Hamas terrorist group."
11:29 GMT - Israel orders mass evacuations as it widens ground invasion
The Israeli military has renewed its calls for mass evacuations from the southern town of Khan Younis, where tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought refuge in recent weeks, as it widened its ground invasion and bombarded targets across Gaza.
The ground invasion has transformed much of the north, including large parts of Gaza City, into a rubble-filled wasteland. Hundreds of thousands of people have sought refuge in the south under Israel's orders, but the south could meet the same fate as the north, and both Israel and neighbouring Egypt have refused to accept any refugees.
Residents said they heard air strikes and explosions in and around Khan Younis overnight and into Monday after the Israeli military dropped leaflets warning people to leave further south toward the border with Egypt.
10:13 GMT - Netanyahu will be tried as war criminal: Türkiye's Erdogan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be tried as a war criminal over Israel's ongoing invasion in Gaza. In a speech to a meeting of an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) committee in Istanbul, Erdogan said that Gaza is Palestinian land and will always belong to the Palestinians.
09:45 GMT — Two more Palestinians killed by Israeli army gunfire in West Bank
Two more Palestinians have been killed by Israeli army gunfire in the city of Qalqilya in the northern occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said it was informed by the Palestinian General Authority for Civil Affairs “of the death of two young men killed by Israeli occupation bullets, and that their bodies were held during the aggression against Qalqilya.”
The ministry stated that the death toll in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of the year has risen to 464, including 256 killed since October 7. Some 3,100 others have been injured.
08:24 GMT - Death toll of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza rises to 75
The Israeli army has said that the death toll of soldiers killed in Gaza has risen to 75 since it expanded the ground invasion in the enclave on October 27.
Three more soldiers have been killed and another soldier sustained serious injuries in clashes in Gaza, the Israeli army said.
07:25 GMT - Israeli army opens fire on 2 ambulances in Gaza
The Israeli army opened fire on two ambulances in blockaded Gaza late Sunday, wounding three people.
The incident occurred in the Faluja area in northern Gaza, the Palestine Red Crescent said in a statement. Two paramedics from the Palestine Red Crescent and a third person were wounded.
The Israeli army also bombed a house in Gaza on Sunday belonging to a Jordanian family, according to a statement from the Jordanian Foreign Ministry.
06:19 GMT - Israeli settlers wound 2 Palestinian children in West Bank
Israeli settlers shot and wounded at least two Palestinian children on Sunday in the village of Deir Qaddis west of the city of Ramallah in the West Bank.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that settlers stormed the Al-Muhallal area in the village and opened fire on residents, wounding two children aged 12 and 14. It said one was shot in the foot and the other in the thigh, adding they were transferred to a hospital.
“Ambulance crews treated two injured people who were later transferred to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah to complete treatment,” Raed Al-Khatib, head of the West Ramallah Emergency Center, told Anadolu.
“Both were injuries caused major lacerations. However, their conditions are now stable,” he added.
05:00 GMT - Israel to fight 'hard' in southern Gaza
The Israeli army said that its forces will fight in southern Gaza against Hamas fighters as they did in the north.
"We fought hard and thoroughly in the north of Gaza and we will do it now in the south,” said Israeli Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.
Halevi “toured the Gaza Division and had a conversation with the reservists in the sector,” according to an army statement.
04:30 GMT - Yemen’s Houthi group says it targeted 2 Israeli ships in Red Sea
Yemen’s Houthi group said that it targeted two Israeli ships in the Bab al Mandab Strait in the Red Sea with a naval missile and a drone.
“The Naval Forces in the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a targeting operation against two Israeli ships in Bab Al Mandab, namely the ship Unity Explorer and the ship Number Nine, where the first ship was targeted with a naval missile and the second with a marine drone,” said spokesman Yahya Saree.
Saree said “the targeting operation came after the two ships ignored the warning messages from the Yemeni Naval Forces.”
03:39 GMT - At least 4 killed in Israeli attack on hospital in northern Gaza
At least four people were killed and nine others wounded in an Israeli strike late Sunday that targeted the entrance to a hospital in the northern Gaza, local media reported.
An Israeli drone fired a missile targeting the northern gate of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the city of Jabalia, said the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.
“Over 10,000 displaced people are seeking shelter at the hospital,” WAFA noted.
03:00 GMT - Qatar to continue efforts to resume humanitarian pause in Gaza: Premier
Qatar said that it will continue its efforts with other countries to resume the humanitarian pause in Gaza with the goal of reaching a permanent ceasefire.
“The State of Qatar spared no effort in the mediation process to stop that retaliation war,” Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said in a speech during the 158th Preparatory Ministerial Council meeting of the 44th session of the Supreme Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) held in Doha, according to the Qatari Foreign Ministry.
Al Thani reiterated “the State of Qatar's condemnation of the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation and its calling for an immediate, comprehensive and impartial international investigation into those crimes, especially the attacks that targeted civilian, relief and humanitarian facilities.”
For our live updates from Sunday (December 3), click here.
