Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
Israel reportedly killed at least 50 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip in airstrikes on Sunday.
‘Dead bodies, blood and body parts all over’ Gaza school bombed by Israel
An Israeli air attack on the Musa bin Nusair School in the Daraj neighborhood to the east of Gaza City killed at least eight Palestinians Sunday.
Mohammed Khaled, a displaced Palestinian, said the attack happened as people were sleeping.
“All Palestinians at this school are displaced civilians who lost their homes to Israeli aggression,” he added.
Um Aref Ahel, another displaced Palestinian, said: “We came out to see the scale of destruction, with dead bodies, blood and body parts all over the place. Israeli warplanes fired three missiles on this school. The explosion was huge and frightening to us and to our children.
“We appeal to the whole world to bring this war to an end.”
Israel targeting hospital fuel tanks amid forced displacement orders, chief medic says
Israel ordered the closure and evacuation on Sunday of one of the last hospitals still partly functioning in a besieged area on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip, forcing medics to search for a way to bring hundreds of patients and staff to safety.
The head of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, Husam Abu Safiya, told Reuters via text message that obeying the order to shut down was “next to impossible” because there were not enough ambulances to get patients out.
“We currently have nearly 400 civilians inside the hospital, including babies in the neonatal unit, whose lives depend on oxygen and incubators. We cannot evacuate these patients safely without assistance, equipment, and time,” Abu Safiya said.
“We are sending this message under heavy bombardment and direct targeting of the fuel tanks, which if hit will cause a large explosion and mass casualties of the civilians inside,” he said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment on Abu Safiya’s remarks. It said that on Friday it had sent fuel and food to the hospital and helped evacuate more than 100 patients and caregivers to other Gaza hospitals, some in coordination with the Red Cross, for their own safety.
Three civilians in the vicinity of the hospital were reportedly killed.
Medical sources said that Israeli forces targeted the hospital with bombs, artillery shells and sniper fire, and that the women’s, maternity and neonatal wards came under attack, causing extensive damage.
Israeli attack on Mawasi “safe zone” kills at least 7; Israeli military claims it was targeting a Hamas fighter
Graphic footage verified by Al Jazeera has emerged showing the aftermath of Israel’s latest attack on the al-Mawasi “safe zone.”
It shows large fires which have burned away the material of several tents, leaving only their metal frames and a large dark plume of smoke rising into the night sky.
People can be seen desperately trying to save those trapped in the fires, screaming, and trying to put out the fire.
At least 7 people were killed.
Israel’s military claimed the attack was an “intelligence-based strike” targeting a Hamas fighter.
Israel has previously designated al-Mawasi a humanitarian safe zone, telling Palestinians fleeing bombing elsewhere in the Strip that they would be safe there.
The tent camp has been targeted by the Israeli military several times before.
The biggest attack occurred on July 13, when 90 people were killed and at least 300 wounded. At the time, Israel said the attack intended to target two senior Hamas commanders, a claim Hamas dismissed.
Oxfam: Only 12 trucks distributed food and water in northern Gaza in two and a half months
The NGO Oxfam has announced that only 12 humanitarian aid trucks distributed food and water in northern Gaza in two and a half months, sounding the alarm yet again about the deteriorating situation in the besieged Strip.
Oxfam said in a statement that “deliberate delays and systematic obstruction by the Israeli army have resulted in only 12 trucks being able to deliver aid to starving Palestinian civilians,” including deliveries, “out of the few 34 trucks loaded with food and water that were allowed into the northern Gaza governorate in the past two and a half months.”
It pointed out that “in the case of three of them, as soon as food and water were distributed to the school where residents had taken refuge, it was subsequently evacuated and bombed a few hours later.”
‘Cruelty’: Pope doubles down on condemnation of Israeli attacks on Gaza
For the second time in as many days, Pope Francis has denounced the “cruelty” of the Israeli attacks on Gaza.
“And with pain I think of Gaza, of so much cruelty, of the children being machine-gunned, of the bombings of schools and hospitals. What cruelty,” he said after his weekly Angelus prayer.
On Saturday, the pope had referenced the bombardment of children and said: “This is cruelty. This is not war. I wanted to say this because it touches the heart.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry responded by accusing Francis of double standards.
![The pope spoke as Israel continues to bomb schools [Getty]](https://israelpalestinenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/9-14-b-300x169.jpg)
Patriarch Pizzaballa visits Gaza Christians
The leader of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, has been allowed a rare visit to Gaza for Christmas by the Israeli military, which continued to fly its drones overhead during the visit, and continued its deadly attacks throughout the day.
Dozens of worshippers gathered in the Holy Family Church in Gaza City as Pizzaballa and other clergy celebrated mass. A twinkling Christmas tree was decorated with golden ornaments.
“I want to say, to tell you, that all the world, not only the Christian world, all the world is with you, so the war will finish and we will rebuild,” the cardinal said, urging Palestinians in Gaza to never be afraid.
On Tuesday he will go to Bethlehem for the celebration of Christmas Mass at St Catherine’s.
As Israeli army violates Lebanon ceasefire yet again, Israeli defense minister vows to ‘crush Hezbollah’s head’ if it violates ceasefire
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed on 22 December that Tel Aviv would “crush” Hezbollah’s “head” if the Lebanese resistance group violates the ceasefire, coming during a visit to an Israeli army position in southern Lebanon.
“We defanged the snake, and if Hezbollah does not withdraw beyond the Litani [River] and tries to violate the ceasefire, we will crush its head,” Katz said during the visit, according to a statement from his office.
“We will not allow Hezbollah operatives to return to the southern villages and reestablish the terror infrastructure that will pose a threat to the northern communities. We will ensure the removal of the threat and the restoration of security to allow the residents of the north to return safely to their homes,” he added.
Also on Sunday, the Israeli army blew up several homes in southern Lebanon, in the latest violation of a cease-fire agreement, Lebanese media said.
The structures were detonated in the town of Hanin in Bint Jbeil district, the state news agency NNA reported.
“Several towns in Bint Jbeil district are facing an Israeli demolition campaign since the start of the cease-fire,” the broadcaster said.
Lebanese authorities have reported at least 286 Israeli violations, including the death of at least 30 people and the injury of 37 others, since the cease-fire agreement came into force on Nov. 27.
‘No concern for Palestinian suffering’: Ex-official slams US’s Gaza policy
Mike Casey says he has never seen anything like it.
In fact, the former State Department official – who served as a deputy political counsellor at the US Office of Palestinian Affairs – described his experience as a diplomat in Jerusalem as a humiliation.
“It’s frankly embarrassing … to see just the way we give in to the demands of the Israeli government and continue to support what the Israeli government is doing even though we know it’s wrong,” Casey told Al Jazeera.
“And I’ve not seen that in any other country that I’ve served in.”
Recently, Casey reflected on how, as one of only two people in the entire US government explicitly focused on Gaza, he became an unwilling chronicler of a humanitarian catastrophe.
“I got so tired of writing about dead kids,” he said. “Just constantly having to prove to Washington that these children actually died and then watching nothing happen.”
Casey’s work function included documenting the humanitarian and political landscape through classified cables, research and reporting. But his disillusionment wasn’t sudden.
It was a slow accumulation of bureaucratic betrayals – each report dismissed, each humanitarian concern bulldozed by political expediency (continue reading here).
MORE NEWS:
IMEMC Daily Reports.
Middle East Eye: How Clarissa Ward’s ‘staged’ Syria report exposes CNN’s bias yet again
Breaking | Israeli occupation forces bomb the tents of displaced people in the so-called “safe zone” in southern Gaza. pic.twitter.com/RcpNhNZFwM
— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) December 22, 2024
“Piles of rubbish are higher than me. They’re between people’s tents and among the shelters”
With the war raging across the #Gaza Strip, @UNWateridge says people have been living in misery for 14 months.
“How many more ways do we need to show how inhumane the situation is?” pic.twitter.com/fA46WT4w5T
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 22, 2024
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – DECEMBER 22, 2024:
Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – December 22, 2024: at least 46,084* – 45,317 in Gaza; in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers and/or settlers have killed at least 825 Palestinians (~170 of them children).
Thousands of those killed in Gaza have yet to be identified, and an estimated 11,000 more are still buried under rubble.
According to a report in the Lancet, by multiplying the reported deaths by five, it is possible to reach a conservative estimate of total deaths (including indirect causes like starvation and lack of medicine). Using the latest figure from AFP (45,317), it is reasonable to estimate at least 226,585 total deaths in Gaza since October 7th, 2023.
According to a recent report by the UN Human Rights Office of identified fatalities in Gaza, about 44% were children. It is reasonable to estimate that 19,939 of known direct deaths and 99,697 of the total deaths are children.
Since Israel launched an extermination campaign in northern Gaza in early October, over 4,000 Palestinians have been killed or are missing and another 12,000 wounded.
Palestinian injuries from October 7, 2023 – December 22, 2024: at least 114,213 (including at least 107,713 in Gaza and 6,500 in the West Bank, including 830 children). [It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – December 22, 2024: ~1,595 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 417*** military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza (updated: Dec 17); 39 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel) and~10,000 injured.
NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries of Israelis on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.
ADDITIONAL STATISTICS: Since October 7th, 2023:
- At least 49 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (at least 30 from Gaza).
- At least 43 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition (at least 37 of them children)**.
- About 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are currently displaced.
- About 345,000 Gazans are currently experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.
*The Ministry’s figures have been contested by the Israeli authorities, although they have been accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services, the UN, and WHO. These data are supported by independent analyses, comparing changes in the number of deaths of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff with those reported by the Ministry, which found claims of data fabrication implausible.
Previously, IAK did not include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile was being disputed. However, given that much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, Israel had previously bombed the hospital and has attacked many others, Israel is prohibiting outside experts from investigating the scene, and since the UN and other agencies are including the deaths from the attack in their cumulative totals, if Americans knew is now also doing so.
**Euro-Med Monitor reports that Gaza’s elderly are dying at an alarmingly high rate. The majority die at home and are buried either close to their residences or in makeshift graves dispersed across the Strip. There are currently more than 140 such cemeteries. Additionally, according to Euromed, thousands have died from starvation, malnourishment, and inadequate medical care; these are considered indirect victims as they were not registered in hospitals.
***The figure does not include the reportedly 59 Israeli soldiers – nearly 17% of the total Israeli military deaths – killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents.
† For most of the conflict, women and children accounted for about 70% of deaths in Gaza, with children making up a little over 40% of those killed, according to official statistics.
Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.
- Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated)
- The BBC can’t be trusted to report on the war in Gaza
- We now have the proof that Meta is censoring Palestinian content
- WATCH: The Israeli Hit List – Iran Remains
- 16 years in prison, Holy Land Five member Mufid Abdulqader has been released
- Neocons Try Again in Syria
- ‘How many dead Palestinians are enough?’ The unbearable prescience of the late poet Refaat Alareer
- Israel Gives Biden His Marching Orders
- How Private Israeli Security Firms Are Killing Free Speech On College Campuses
- Free speech crises loom with crackdown on Israel criticism
- Wikipedia’s entry on Alison Weir is rife with falsehoods and bias
- Israel Expands Invasion of Syria, Launching Massive Airstrikes After Assad’s Fall
- Five Days on a Media Junket in Israel: Lies, Half-Truths, and Conspiracy Nonsense
- Will Senate vote signal a wider shift away from Israel?
- NY Times killed investigation of Israeli hooligans in Amsterdam, internal email revealed
- The Case Against Joe Biden for Complicity in Genocide
- My thoughts on why two FBI agents suddenly appeared at my home
- Trump’s new cabinet is great news for Israel
- ‘Text Me You Haven’t Died’ – My Sister was the 166th Doctor to Be Murdered in Gaza
- Why more than 500 scholars think Israel should be unseated from the UN
- Leaked documents reveal US intel cutout’s Iranian counter-revolution plans
