Israel-Palestine live: Deadly Israeli attacks across Gaza as West Bank raids continue

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Dear MEE readers, 

As 2023 comes to an end, Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip continues on. 

Since 7 October, Israeli attacks have resulted in 28,822 Palestinians killed and missing, including 9,100 children, according to the official government media office in Gaza. 

The office said Israel has committed at least 1,825 "massacres" during the past 85 days.

At least 56,451 people have been wounded and most of the population - 1.8 million people - have been displaced, according to the office. 

Reports were unclear on Sunday whether Tony Blair had met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz to go over the possibility of the former British leader taking charge of where Palestinian refugees from Gaza could be relocated. 

While Israel’s Channel 12 news reported the meeting, journalist Barak Ravid, in a post to X, said that Blair's office had denied the reports. 

Meanwhile, far right Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich told Israel's Army Radio that there will be an exodus of Palestinians and instead Israelis "will live in the Gaza Strip".

Other Sunday updates include: 

• Israel withdrew five army brigades from the Gaza Strip, amounting to thousands of soldiers, Israel's army radio reported. 

• A salvo of long-range missiles were fired towards Israeli cities just after midnight. More than 20 missiles were fired towards Tel Aviv, 10 of which were intercepted, according to Israeli news sites.

• A former Palestinian Authority minister was killed on Sunday in an Israeli strike on his home in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced.

• Civil Defence crews in Gaza held a funeral to mourn the killing of one of their team members.

• Israeli forces "neutralised" an alleged attacker that injured two Israeli security guards near the Mishor Adumim settlement in occupied East Jerusalem.

A salvo of long-range missiles have been fired towards Israeli cities.

More than 20 missiles were fired towards Tel Aviv, 10 of which were intercepted, according to Israeli news sites.

A piece of a missile hit the Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot, however no casualties were reported. 

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) saw a 310 percent increase in violation against its medical teams in the first six months of 2023, compared to the same period last year. 

The PRCS recorded 193 violations during the first half of the year, which accounts for more violations than that recorded in all of 2022. 

Since 7 October, the group recorded an "unprecedented" 315 violations against their teams in the occupied West Bank alone. 

It did not yet release a similar record of violations in the Gaza Strip. 

"We have not been able to count or document the violations against our teams in the Gaza Strip, but the killing of the team members and the targeting of these ambulances are known," PRCS said in a statement.

"We also recorded violations related to the use of Palestinian Red Crescent crews as human shields. The Israeli occupation authorities deliberately left ambulance crews in dangerous areas, preventing them from advancing to transport the sick and wounded, and also preventing them from withdrawing from the place."

Israeli forces "neutralised" an attacker that injured two Israeli security guards near the Mishor Adumim settlement in occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli media has reported.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said the two guards sustained "mild" injuries from a knife.

Former British prime minister Tony Blair is reportedly being tapped as the head of an Israeli initiative seeking to encourage other countries to take in Palestinians fleeing Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip. 

Israel’s Channel 12 news, without citing a source, has reported that Blair recently met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz to go over the possibility of the former British leader taking charge of where Palestinian refugees from Gaza could be relocated. 

The Israeli government has not made official comments regarding post-war refugee efforts. 

Most of the Palestinian population in Gaza - 1.8 million people - have been displaced since Israel began its bombardment three months ago. 

Read More: Tony Blair reportedly tapped to relocate Palestinian refugees from Gaza

Israeli attacks have resulted in 28,822 people killed and missing, including 9,100 children, the government media office in the Gaza Strip has reported. 

The office said Israel has committed at least 1,825 "massacres" during the past 85 days.

At least 56,451 people have been wounded and most of the population - 1.8 million people - have been displaced, according to the office. 

Israel has withdrawn five army brigades from the Gaza Strip, Israel's army radio reported. 

According to Israeli media, the brigades that were tasked with training soldiers have been sent to carry out their pre-war activities, while reservists are being released to help support Israel’s economy.

The brigades that have been removed include the 460th Armored Brigade, the 261st Brigade, the 828th Brigade, the 14th Reserve Armored Brigade and the 551st Reserve Paratroopers Brigade. 

The demobilisation is reportedly due to a decrease in rocket fire from the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, which according to the Israeli army has decreased from 75 rockets a day to 14. 

Still, the Israeli government has made clear its plans to continue its bombardment of the Gaza Strip for the next several months. 

Israeli forces have intensified the bombing of the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza and carried out field executions over the last week.

"The situation was horrific last week. I could not connect to the world outside or say how we are being killed. The Israeli army stationed its tanks in the Safatawi area; their target was Jabalia refugee camp. They stormed the camp from the Safatawi, Abu Sharakh, and the Nazla areas," Saleh, a 24-year-old eyewitness from Jabalia refugee camp, told Middle East Eye.

He added that 20 homes were destroyed with people still in them.

"Among the houses that were bombed is the house of my cousin, who is still under the rubble along with his family and the displaced families that were seeking refuge in his house. We are unable to retrieve their bodies at the moment due to the lack of heavy machinery needed to dig under the rubble. Our house was also bombed, and we have been digging to retrieve some clothes from under the rubble," he added.

According to Saleh, many people in the north of Gaza have gathered in the al-Nazla area, causing it to become overcrowded.

He also said that the Israeli military carried out on-site executions of civilians who remained in their homes.

"I witnessed the execution of six civilians. After the tanks retreated, we pulled their bodies and buried them immediately. We can't take bodies to hospital due to the intensity of the bombardment and many of them have already decomposed," Saleh added.

Civilians and health officials in Gaza have repeatedly stated that they believe the number of those killed are far higher than what is being published by the Ministry of Health, due to people being trapped under the rubble and a lack of access to healthcare facilities and hospitals. 

Saleh says that after 3pm, no one dares to leave their home due to the threat of being killed, and that no aid is reaching them.

Prices of goods, if they can find them, have skyrocketed, which has caused looting in some areas.

Reporting by Walaa Sabah

Former Public Diplomacy Minister Galit Distal Atbaryan said in an interview on Israel's Channel 13 News that rifts created in Israeli society over the past year, which she says she was part of, is one of the reasons behind the 7 October attack.

"I was among those people who caused the country to weaken. I created rifts, division and tension, and that tension resulted in weakness. This weakness in many ways led to the massacre," she said.

Distal Atbaryan resigned from her position on 13 October.

Amidst a lack of proper funeral services and with bombs raining down, Palestinians in Gaza City have created a makeshift cemetery in the vicinity of al-Shifa Hospital to bury their dead.  

As the death toll from Israeli bombardment continues to mount daily, more cemeteries are being quickly established in Gaza.

There are currently two cemeteries in the vicinity of Shifa, one close to the maternity ward and another towards the northwest of the building.

In some of the cemeteries, all of those buried there are known, while in others, bodies are disfigured due to Israeli bombing, making them unrecognisable.

Some bodies have been completely burnt or have decomposed, also making it unable to identify them.

Reporting and photos by Mohammed al-Hajjar.

A former Palestinian Authority minister was killed on Sunday in an Israeli strike on his home in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced.

Youssef Salama, the 68-year-old former minister of religious affairs in the Palestinian Authority, was killed in a strike on the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Wafa news agency and the ministry reported.

The far right Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich told Israel's Army Radio on Saturday that there will be an exodus of Palestinians "and we will live in the Gaza Strip".

"We will not allow a situation in which two million people live there. If there are 100,000 to 200,000 Arabs living in Gaza, the discussion about the day after will be completely different," he added.

"I'm for completely changing the reality in Gaza, having a conversation about settlements in the Gaza Strip… We'll need to rule there for a long time… If we want to be there militarily, we need to be there in a civilian fashion," he said. 
 

At least 16 Palestinians have been detained by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank in overnight raids, the Palestinian Prisoner's Society said in a statement on Sunday.

The raids took place across the occupied West Bank, including in Nablus and Hebron, the prisoner rights group said.

According to the group, the total number of arrests made by Israeli forces since 7 October  stands at 4,876.

Israeli forces shot a Palestinian man in the foot on Sunday while he was on his way to get flour in Gaza.

The 29-year-old, Abd al-Majid abu Hammad, told Middle East Eye that he was near a school when he felt immense pain in his foot.

"I was walking and then I suddenly found that I was shot in the foot and more bullets were coming towards my head. I dragged myself on the floor until people came to take me to an ambulance," he said.

"The ambulance came after 10 minutes, we had to go to them since they couldn't come to us," he added.

"It's enough now, we're tired. Find a solution. The war on Gaza must stop," he said.

Reporting by Ahmad Abu Aziz