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EXPLANER
Attacks continue in Nur Shams in the West Bank and safe areas may be targeted – here are the latest updates.
Here’s how things are going on Wednesday, December 27, 2023:
Latest updates
- Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi said the army would not refrain from operating in areas declared safe zones if “terrorist” activity was detected there.
- Around 80 bodies of Palestinians killed by the Israeli army were repatriated to the Gaza Strip on Tuesday via the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing. They were received by the Ministry of Health.
- The government media office in Gaza said the bodies were delivered “mutilated” and accused the Israelis of removing “vital organs”.
- Internet and telecommunications in Gaza have experienced interruptions and outages due to damaged infrastructure. It also compromised the delivery of life-saving assistance by first responders and humanitarian agencies.
- Palestine’s representative to the UN, Riyad Mansour, wrote to the president of the UN Security Council that Israeli attacks on Gaza have only intensified in the four days since the adoption of the latest UN resolution on increasing aid to Gaza.
In a letter to #UNSC, @Palestine_UN said #Israel mocks the Security Council, emphasizing that the occupying power has not only continued its violations, but has intensified them in the 4 days since the adoption of the resolution. 2720. “Israel remains intransigent, deepening this… pic.twitter.com/VxrI5tt1rj
– Rami Ayari (@Raminho) December 26, 2023
Human impact and fighting
- Between Saturday and Tuesday, 858 Palestinians were killed and 1,598 injured in Gaza, the enclave’s health ministry said.
- 241 people were killed and 382 injured in the past 24 hours, Gaza’s health ministry said.
- Yemeni Houthi attacks in the Red Sea intensified on Tuesday. The US military said it shot down 12 one-way attack drones, three anti-ship ballistic missiles and two land attack cruise missiles fired by the group in 10 hours.
Diplomacy
- On Tuesday, UN chief Antonio Guterres announced that Sigrid Kaag would be the main humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza.
- Kaag will oversee humanitarian aid shipments to the Gaza Strip, according to the recent UN resolution.
- Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel denounced Israel on Tuesday. “The genocide committed by the terrorist state of Israel in Gaza is a humiliation for all humanity,” he wrote on X.
- Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer reportedly met with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Washington, DC. The two discussed efforts to bring home the remaining prisoners held in Gaza by Hamas, a White House official told Reuters.
Travel to Gaza
- On Tuesday, Israel reiterated an evacuation order for an area covering about 15 percent of Deir el-Balah governorate in central Gaza, according to the UN agency OCHA.
- Instructions on the map ordered residents of the Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps, as well as northern Nuseirat, to move to the already overcrowded shelters in Deir el-Balah.
- The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, estimates that 85 percent of Gaza’s population has been internally displaced since the war began on October 7.
Raids in occupied West Bank
- Six Palestinians were reportedly killed in Israeli drone attacks in Nur Shams, in the town of Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank. The attacks continued into Wednesday, Tel Aviv Tribune’s Alan Fisher reported.
- Nighttime raids also continued in Tulkarem, the Nur Shams refugee camp and the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron.
- Among the Palestinians arrested Tuesday was activist Khalida Jarrar, a campaigner for imprisoned women. The independent Jadaliyya news agency said she was being held without charge.
- On Tuesday, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, including a 17-year-old child, in the Fawwar refugee camp. Two Palestinians were injured, OCHA reported.
