Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
Israeli forces killed at least 30 Palestinians across Gaza on Sunday, including nine in an attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp and seven in an assault on al-Wafaa Hospital in northern Gaza City.
Mourning Jimmy Carter, a friend to Palestine
Many Palestinians and their allies are saddened by the loss of former president Jimmy Carter. He was ahead of his time in calling out Israel for being an apartheid state.
Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts,” including his leadership during the painstaking negotiations that ended decades of conflict between Egypt and Israel in 1978. In his acceptance speech, Carter warned against the invasion of Iraq.
In October 2023, the Carter Center issued a statement saying there was “no military solution” to the conflict between Hamas and Israel, and demanded a cease-fire.
Carter published the book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid in 2006, comparing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to apartheid in South Africa. The book was treated as controversial, but he vehemently defended its central argument.
“The word ‘apartheid’ is exactly accurate,” he told Democracy Now! “Palestinians can’t even ride on the same roads that Israelis have created in Palestinian territory… The Israelis completely dominate the life of the Palestinian people.”
NOTE: In the years since Jimmy Carter’s book came out, multiple human rights organizations have documented and reported on Israeli apartheid, including: Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Israeli human rights groups B’Tselem, and Yesh Din, the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, the International Court of Justice, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), and Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic.
RECOMMENDED READING: Jimmy Carter’s Palestine legacy
As another baby freezes to death, Gaza authorities warn of severe weather
In a statement, the Government Media Office says a “significant” cold front will be affecting the Gaza Strip in the coming hours and days. Heavy rain is also expected.
Earlier, a 20-day-old baby in Gaza died from severe cold, the fifth such fatality from hypothermia in six days in the Israeli-besieged Palestinian enclave.
“There is no electricity. The water is cold, and there is no gas, heating or food,” says Yahya al-Batran, the father of the infant. “My children are dying in front of my eyes, and nobody cares. Juma has died, and I fear that his [twin] brother Ali may follow.”
UPDATE: Juma’s twin brother Ali has also died, as of Monday morning.
The office stated that 110,000 out of 135,000 tents in Gaza are out of service after having “completely deteriorated”.
Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, says he has warned for months that “more than a million Palestinians lack shelter” for winter conditions.
“Now babies are freezing to death,” Rajagopal added, noting that this is another “achievement” of Israel’s so-called “most moral army in the world”.
Two days ago, a medical worker also died due to the severe weather.
Hypothermia is common among babies in Gaza
Ahmed Alfarra, a doctor at Al Tahreer Maternity Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, says he sees five to six cases of hypothermia in babies per day.
The doctor said he visited the tents where some of these infants are living.
“I visited the tents, and I saw the condition. It is miserable,” Alfarra told Al Jazeera.
“You know the tents. They are fragile. They are moving in the winds. Sometimes the water of the sea is coming inside the tents.”
Wood fires are the only way to stay warm if living in these tents, but their smoke can be harmful to newborns, the doctor said.
Babies, meanwhile, are most susceptible to hypothermia because they can’t move around enough to produce energy and because they have extra fat, he said.
Israeli air strike kills police station chief in Gaza City
The Ministry of Interior in Gaza says the Israeli military has “assassinated” the head of the Remal police station in Gaza City in the northern part of the enclave.
Colonel Talat Joda was killed on Saturday in an air strike while performing his duties in serving the citizens, the ministry said in a statement.
“The occupation’s deliberate targeting of police personnel aims to spread chaos in Palestinian society and deepen human suffering of citizens,” it said.
Israeli army arrests four Palestinian medical patients during hospital transfer: Gaza Health Ministry
In a statement on Telegram, Gaza’s health ministry says that out of 10 patients being transferred from the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya, north Gaza, to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, four have been arrested by the army.
It said that the UN’s World Health Organization facilitated the transfer, and that one of the patients is in critical condition.
‘Harrowing’ testimonies of Israeli forces using Palestinians as human shields, executing people with white flags, more
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor revealed that it received “harrowing” testimonies documenting serious crimes committed by the Israeli army against Palestinian civilians during its raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital and surrounding areas in the northern Gaza Strip.
The attack on the hospital forced the closure of the northern Gaza Strip’s last major medical facility.
“These crimes included deliberate killings, field executions, as well as sexual and physical assaults on women and girls from medical teams and displaced women in the area,” said the Geneva-based Monitor.
Based on the testimonies it collected, the monitor reported that “Israeli forces [committed] a series of horrific crimes during their assault on the hospital. These included detonating booby-trapped robots near several inhabited homes, causing their collapse and killing civilians inside.”
The crimes also included “Israeli soldiers executing civilians on the spot, some of whom were wounded, while others carried white flags,” according to the monitor.
It revealed that the army “detained dozens of women and girls, subjecting them to severe abuse amounting to sexual harassment, alongside degrading treatment that violated their human dignity. This included beating them and forcing them to remove their hijabs and clothing (continue reading here).
Another Palestinian detainee from Gaza dies in Israeli custody
Another Palestinian detainee from Gaza died in an Israeli hospital on Sunday, prisoners’ affairs groups said.
Ashraf Fakhri Abu Warda, 51, breathed his last at Soroka Medical Center in the southern city of Beersheba, two days after he was transferred from the Negev Desert Prison in southern Israel, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.
His family said that Abu Warda, who was detained by Israeli army forces in Gaza on Nov. 20, 2023, had no known health issues before his detention.
His death brought the number of Palestinians who died in Israeli custody since Oct. 7, 2023, to 50, according to Palestinian figures.
“This marks the highest death toll among Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody since 1967,” the statement added.
NOTE: Israel is currently holding over 10,000 Palestinian prisoners in inhumane conditions where many are systematically tortured – 345 of them are children, 89 are women, and over 3,400 are administrative detainees – being held without charge or trial.
Administrative detention is intended to be used only in “exceptional” circumstances, but Israel uses it widely. Read more here.
Gaza Gov’t Media Office releases key statistics on carnage of Israel’s war on Gaza
The Government Media Office has shared dozens of data points that highlight the devastating toll Israel has exacted on the Gaza Strip and its Palestinian inhabitants.
Here are just some of them:
- 1,413 Palestinian families wiped out with all family members – numbering 5,455 people – killed
- 17,818 children killed
- 238 newborns killed in Israeli attacks
- 853 infants killed
- 44 people dead of malnutrition and starvation
- Six people dead due to extreme cold in displacement tents, including five babies
- 12,287 women killed by Israeli attacks
- 1,068 medical staff killed
- 94 Civil Defense personnel killed by Israeli attacks
- 520 bodies retrieved from seven mass graves dug by the Israeli army inside hospitals
- 216 shelter and displacement centers targeted by Israel
- 35,060 children living without one or both parents
Ha’aretz: Israel won’t allow reopening of burned Kamal Adwan Hospital
The Israeli army said on Sunday that it will not allow the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza to resume operations, citing security concerns.
Two days ago, Israeli soldiers stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the last partially operating medical facilities in the Gaza Strip, torching large parts of the hospital and ordering hundreds of people to leave.
The military has claimed without providing evidence that Kamal Adwan Hospital, which it besieged and attacked for days before finally raiding and clearing it of patients and staff, was a “command center” for Hamas.
NOTE: “Security concerns” is Israel’s go-to explanation for its violence against Palestinians, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and Yemen. The so-called Jewish state (of which 20% of the population is non-Jewish) places itself above the law in any matter in which it feels “unsafe” – including (as is usually the case) when Israel’s own actions have incited anger.
Illegal Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, singing and dancing
A group of settlers have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound while dancing and performing Talmudic rituals as Jewish people continue to celebrate Hanukkah.
Multiple settlers filmed themselves as they made their way into the courtyards and performed rituals.
This comes two days after Israeli far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir tightened military presence around the area in order to enter the compound and perform prayers under armed guard. The office of the prime minister said after the latest provocative visit by Ben-Gvir that the status quo of the compound has not changed.
Israel continues destruction, ceasefire violations in Lebanon
The Lebanese army announced Saturday that Israeli forces advanced into the towns of Qantara and Taybeh in the Marjayoun district in southern Lebanon, where they set fire to homes.
The Israeli army committed 10 additional cease-fire violations with Lebanon on Saturday, bringing the total breaches since last month to 329, according to an Anadolu tally.
At least 32 people have been killed and 38 injured in Israeli attacks since the cease-fire took effect Nov. 27, according to an Anadolu tally based on Lebanese Health Ministry figures.
Under the terms of the cease-fire, Israel is required to withdraw its forces south of the Blue Line — a de facto border — in phases, while the Lebanese army is to deploy in southern Lebanon within 60 days.
Data from the Lebanese Health Ministry indicates that since Israel’s onslaught against Lebanon began Oct. 8, 2023, at least 4,063 victims have been killed, including women, children and health workers, while 16,663 others have been injured.
Florida rep. Hillary Cassel switches to Republican Party ‘for Israel’
Florida State Rep. Hillary Cassel announced on social media on Friday that she has left the Democratic Party to join the Republicans over the GOP’s strong support for Israel.
The move makes Cassel the second Florida Democrat this month to switch to the Republican Party, followed by Representative Susan Valdés from Tampa.
It comes after the lawmakers took part in a trip to Israel in June as part of the first-ever South Florida Legislators Mission to Israel, which was organized by the Jewish Federation lobby group.
“Today, I am announcing my decision to change my party affiliation from Democrat to Republican. This decision was not made lightly but comes from a deep sense of responsibility to my constituents and my commitment to the values that guide my service,” Cassel wrote in a public statement.
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Hospital reports successful prostate surgery for Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underwent successful surgery on Sunday to have his prostate removed, officials at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Centre said, a procedure that came as he manages multiple crises including the war in Gaza and his trial for alleged corruption. Netanyahu’s office also said that the prime minister is in good condition after a “successful” prostate surgery and that he is fully conscious.
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Jimmy Carter:
“The word ‘apartheid’ is exactly accurate…they are absolutely & totally separated…the Israelis completely dominate the life of the Palestinian people.”
“There are powerful political forces in America that prevent any objective analysis…”pic.twitter.com/58qIJBWcmy
— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) December 29, 2024
The last photo of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, detained after refusing to abandon his colleagues and patients.
In just one image, we see both the power of Palestinian humanity and the moral weakness of all those complicit in genocide.
End all arms sales to Israel, now. pic.twitter.com/zxDqgUt1S9
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) December 29, 2024
“Palestinians are guinea pigs to export oppressive weapons and technology globally.”
AJ+ spoke to journalist @antloewenstein about how the technology used against Palestinians is also suppressing and erasing communities worldwide. pic.twitter.com/wqNEW2OsnM
— AJ+ (@ajplus) December 29, 2024
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – DECEMBER 29, 2024:
Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – December 29, 2024: at least 46,377* – 45,541 in Gaza; in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers and/or settlers have killed at least 836 Palestinians (~172 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 (45,541), it is reasonable to estimate at least 227,705 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 20,038 of known direct deaths and 100,190 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 29, 2024: at least 114,689 (including at least 108,338 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 29, 2024: ~1,595 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 417*** (or 392) military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza (updated: Dec. 17); 43 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 50 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (at least 30 of them 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.
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