EXPLANER
Gaza hospitals are running out of supplies and capacity for those injured in Israeli attacks – here’s the latest.
Here’s how things go on Friday, December 29, 2023:
Latest updates and human impact
- The Gaza Health Ministry announced on Telegram that 20 patients will be allowed to travel out of the besieged enclave to receive emergency treatment in Egypt, passing through the Rafah crossing on Friday morning.
- An Israeli strike hit a residential building near the Kuwaiti hospital in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. At least 20 Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed, a nearby Tel Aviv Tribune team found.
- Marwan al-Hams, director of Abu Youssef Al Najjar Hospital in Rafah, said those injured in the attack needed to be urgently evacuated from the country for treatment. He called for more aid and fuel to be allowed inside Gaza.
- Meanwhile, in northern Gaza, an Israeli military airstrike hit a group of civilians in the town of Beit Hanoon on Thursday, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.
- So far, 30 people have been reported killed in Israeli attacks in the Nuseirat and Maghazi refugee camps in central Gaza, Tel Aviv Tribune correspondent Hani Mahmoud reported.
- The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has warned that there is not enough aid in the besieged Gaza Strip, leaving 40 percent of its population “threatened with famine” while Israel obstructs the flow of a large part of the population. needed help in the besieged enclave.
- The Mizan news agency, affiliated with the Iranian judiciary, said on Friday that Iran had executed four “saboteurs” linked to the Israeli intelligence service Mossad.
- The Israeli military has concluded an investigation into the killing of three Israeli captives, saying the incident was preventable but that no disciplinary action would be taken against its soldiers because it was not malicious.
Diplomacy
- A Hamas delegation will travel to Cairo on Friday to discuss Egypt’s ceasefire plan. However, a meeting of the Israeli war cabinet planned to discuss scenarios for the “aftermath” of the end of the war was canceled, despite the objections of far-right ministers.
- The US military announced on Friday that it had shot down a drone and an anti-ship ballistic missile in the southern Red Sea, fired on Thursday by the Houthis. He added that this was the 22nd attempted attack by the Houthis since October 19.
- Irish Deputy Prime Minister Michael Martin told reporters on Friday that tougher measures should be taken against settlers in the West Bank.
Raids in the West Bank
- Palestinian Mohammad Sayel al-Jundi, 38, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers on Thursday evening at the Nafaq military checkpoint, west of Bethlehem, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency.
- One person was injured after Israeli forces fired live ammunition during a raid in the town of Kafr Aqab, north of occupied East Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
- Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur for human rights, pointed out that Israel killed 500 Palestinians in 2023 in the West Bank, where Hamas is not present.
Under the pretext of “eradicating Hamas”, the ISR has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7. Yet, as of 2023, ISR has also killed 500 Palestinians in the West Bank, where Hamas has no military presence (including 79 children after October 7).
Why don’t Palestinian lives matter?— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur, TPO (@FranceskAlbs) December 28, 2023