Saturday, December 16, 2023
13:30 - Israel investigates killing of hostages in Gaza amid outrage
The Israeli army has been investigating the killing of three hostages which it said had been "mistakenly identified" as a threat by soldiers, an incident that sparked protests in Tel Aviv.
The military said Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz and Samer el Talalqa — all in their 20s — were shot during operations in Gaza City.
They were among about 250 people taken hostage during Hamas's October 7 attacks in Israel, which killed around 1,140 people, according to Israeli figures.
1246 GMT - Number of Palestinians killed in occupied West Bank hits 288
With the overnight killing of a young man by the Israeli army, the Palestinian death toll in the occupied West Bank since the start of the ongoing conflict on October 7 has risen to 288, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
The ministry announced in a brief statement that “Hamza Ibrahim Muhammad Bashkar, 30, was killed by Israeli forces gunfire near the town of Huwara on Friday evening.”
The ministry did not provide further details about the circumstances of Bashkar’s killing.
12:11 GMT - Israeli attacks on Gaza hinder humanitarian work: UN agency
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said that the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza hinder the humanitarian work in the region.
In an interview with the BBC News channel, Juliette Touma, the communications director at the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said: "We cannot access those who need us most and fulfill our duties."
"Imposed access restrictions, limited supplies and continued heavy bombardments prevent UNRWA's ability to provide aid in,'' she said. "You can't deliver aid under a sky full of airstrikes," she added
11:06 GMT - Al Jazeera journalist killed by Israeli army in Gaza laid to rest
Al Jazeera television cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa who was killed during an Israeli army bombing on Gaza, has been laid to rest on Saturday.
The funeral was attended by hundreds of Palestinians, as well as Abu Daqqa's colleagues and dozens of journalists, in the garden of Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis city, southern Gaza.
Wael al Dahdouh, Al Jazeera's Gaza correspondent, was also injured in the same attack and attended his colleague's funeral.
10:23 GMT - Dozens killed, injured in multiple Israeli army attacks on Gaza
Israeli warplanes bombed two houses belonging to the Al Najjar and Hadar families in northern Gaza, killing at least 14 people and injuring many more, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
In another attack, the Israeli army targeted a house in the Jabalia Refugee Camp, killing dozens of Palestinians, including children and women, the news agency said, adding that dozens of people were injured and many others were trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings.
The Israeli army also bombed a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Deir al Balah, central Gaza, where people had taken refuge, resulting in many casualties and injuries, including children and women, the news agency reported.
09:53 GMT — Multiple neighbourhoods in northern and southern Gaza bombed, attacked
Israeli warplanes also launched a raid targeting a house in the Al Brahma area in Rafah, while the Israeli army continued its bombing of the Shujaiya, Tuffah, and Daraj neighbourhoods in Gaza.
Separately, an Israeli sniper shot dead a Palestinian young man inside his house in the Tel ez Zater region of northern Gaza.
The Israeli army also carried out attacks in the eastern parts of the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. There were no details on the total number of casualties and injuries in the Israeli attacks.
09:06 GMT - Israeli army detains 16 more Palestinians, including cancer patient woman in West Bank: NGO
The Israeli army has arrested 16 more people, including a cancer patient woman, bringing the total number of Palestinian detainees in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem to 4,520 since October 7, a Palestinian prisoners' affairs group said.
The Palestinian Prisoners Society said in a statement that Israeli authorities “arrested 16 citizens on Saturday, adding that the figure does not include arrests in Gaza, it said.
08:35 GMT - Palestinians ‘left to rot’ as world silent on Gaza massacre: BAFTA award-winning director
British Palestinian director Farah Nabulsi has spoken out against Israel's blockade of Gaza and its ongoing killing of Palestinians at Istanbul's 11th Bosphorus Film Festival.
Palestinians inside Gaza have been “left to rot in stagnation and helplessness, and they threw away the key, and anyone who dared to come out was shot,” she said.
Nabulsi, who blasted Israel’s ongoing aggression against Gaza, became known after she said “Stop the massacre in Gaza” during her speech at the award ceremony of the Red Sea International Film Festival.
08:21 GMT - International outcry over Israeli attack on Anadolu photojournalist in Jerusalem
Anadolu photojournalist Mustafa Alkharouf has been wounded by Israeli forces in a violent attack in occupied East Jerusalem, which has garnered widespread condemnation from various international organisations, including the UN, and several governments.
Alessandra Vellucci, director of the UN Information Service, urged all parties to adhere to international human rights law and ensure the protection of journalists.
She said that media equipment, offices, and studios should not be targeted in attacks or reprisals.
08:09 GMT - Senior US official, top German diplomat discuss Gaza situation over phone
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock have spoken by phone about the situation in Gaza, according to an official statement.
Blinken called Baerbock and welcomed German leadership in “supporting Israel's right to ensure Hamas can never repeat the attacks of October 7," US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement, reading out the two leaders' conversation.
"The leaders discussed the urgency of addressing humanitarian needs in Gaza, protecting civilians from harm, and efforts to prevent the further spread of the conflict," the statement said.
07:40 GMT — Pakistan army chief meets with UN chief in New York to discuss Gaza
Pakistan Army chief Gen. Asim Munir has met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York and discussed the current situation in Gaza.
During the meeting, Munir reiterated Pakistan's position on the Palestine issue and urged Guterres to mobilise the international community for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Gaza to prevent a human tragedy from unfolding, said a statement issued by the Pakistan Army's media wing in Rawalpindi on Saturday.
He also emphasised that the only long-term solution to the problem is a two-state solution.
07:00 GMT - Lebanon's Hezbollah targets Israeli military site with missile
Lebanese group Hezbollah has announced the targeting of an Israeli military site along the southern border of Lebanon.
The group said in a statement that it “targeted the Israeli military site of Birket Rishe off the Lebanese border with a guided missile.”
It added “the target was hit with full accuracy,” claiming that it caused “many casualties and injuries among the Israeli soldiers.”
06:24 GMT — Streets in Gaza become open-air gravesites
Families have turned to burying the bodies of their relatives killed in Israeli airstrikes in makeshift mass graves scattered throughout Gaza.
The burials in makeshift graves are due to the difficulty of reaching cemeteries because of the ongoing aggression.
Palestinians interviewed by Anadolu said the graves are intended to be temporary until a humanitarian ceasefire is declared or hostilities cease. At that point, the bodies will be moved to official cemeteries in cities.
The head of the Euro-Mediterranean Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdu, said his teams have documented “more than 120 makeshift mass graves in the governorates of Gaza for burying the victims of the ongoing Israeli war.”
05:00 GMT - Israeli police officers suspended
Israeli police have taken disciplinary action against two officers involved in the brutal assault on Mustafa Alkharouf, a photojournalist working for the Turkish Anadolu Agency.
According to Israeli media Channel 12, the officers have been suspended from "operational activity" following the incident. The assault occurred as Alkharouf was covering Friday prayers near the al Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.
Two Israeli Border Police officers attacked him, resulting in a violent altercation. The photojournalist was punched, thrown to the ground, and subjected to severe kicks to his head, leading to his hospitalisation.
In response to the incident, Israeli authorities have initiated the suspension of the officers involved.
03:30 GMT - Released Israeli hostages asks Netanyahu to stop attacks on Gaza
Hen Avigdori, whose daughter and husband were released in a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas, said Friday it was not possible to save Israeli hostages and requested that the Israeli premier stop attacks against Gaza, according to local media reports.
The Maariv newspaper published a letter sent to Netanyahu by Avigd ori after the Israeli army announced it had accidentally killed three hostages in Gaza.
Avigdori wrote that there was no time or military means to rescue the hostages. The Israeli army announced Friday it "mistakenly" killed three Israeli hostages during fighting in Gaza.
03:01 GMT - Any hostile move against Yemen will have consequences - Houthis
Any hostile move against Yemen will have dire consequences and great costs, Ali al Qahoum, a member of the Houthi group's Ansarullah politburo, has told Lebanon's Al Mayadeen TV.
"The Houthis will not abandon the Palestinian cause, regardless of any US, Israeli, or Western threats," he said, adding that operations against Israel will continue.
Yemen is ready with all defensive options to respond to any American, Israeli or Western hostile moves, he said.
For our live updates from Friday, December 15, click here.
