'At least 100' killed in Israeli airstrikes across Gaza amid timid Western calls for 'sustainable ceasefire'

This live blog is now wrapping up. Thanks to all for following. The New Arab will be back at 7am GMT with live coverage of events in Gaza.

Joseph Tawadros is currently more than 15 hours into a 24-hour musical prayer vigil for Gaza at Kings College Chapel in London.

Tawadros is live-streaming his solo oud performance, which is free and open to the public.

Speaking to Al Jazeera before he began, Tawadros said he would hold “thoughts of courageous people” in Gaza as he played.

“The people of Gaza who are mostly children [are] living in constant fear, that the building they’re seeking refuge in – a church, a mosque, a hospital, a school, a family home – could perish at any moment,” he said.

“Can you imagine the anxiety of that uncertainty?”

He says he wants the performance, which is also raising funds for the Amos Trust’s Christmas Appeal for Gaza, to show that “even though many of us may feel helpless, we just cannot give up”.

Several journalists in Gaza were killed despite “clearly carrying” press insignia and press equipment, Jody Ginsberg, president of the Committee to Protect Journalist, said in an interview with the National Public Radio (NPR).

Ginsberg said that those involved in what appears to be “targeted” killings should be held responsible and accountable.

“And that means us being able to investigate those deaths and particularly see if any of those deaths involved the killing – the deliberate killing or targeting of journalists,” she said.

“Journalists are civilians, and civilians should not be targeted in war.”

So far, the CPJ has recorded at least 68 journalists and media workers killed since the conflict broke out on October 7. That includes 61 Palestinians, 4 Israelis, and 3 Lebanese.

Among those killed in recent days was Samer Abudaqa, a cameraman with Al Jazeera.

Number of journalists killed in Gaza since Oct. 7 attacks called unprecedented loss

🎙️@jodieginsberg spoke this morning with @NPRMichel on @WNYC @NPR. Listen below ⬇️https://t.co/5Y3eVMHZte

— Committee to Protect Journalists (@pressfreedom) December 19, 2023

British foreign minister David Cameron will travel to Jordan and Egypt this week to push for a sustainable ceasefire and further humanitarian pauses in Gaza, the foreign office said on Wednesday.

Cameron, on his second visit to the region, will travel with Britain's Minister of State for the Middle East Tariq Ahmad and "progress efforts to secure the release of all hostages, step up aid to Gaza and end Hamas rocket attacks and threats against Israel."

In Jordan, Cameron will meet his counterpart Ayman Safadi and in Egypt, he will travel to Al Arish, near the Egypt-Gaza border, to see the impact of UK aid being sent to Gaza.

International calls for Israel to release imprisoned artists from Freedom Theatre in Jenin have continued, with another protest held in New York City.

On December 13th, Israeli forces raided the theatre company and arrested Director Mustafa Sheta and acting teacher Jamal Abu Joas in their homes.

Established in 1987, Freedom Theatre provides artistic programs for children in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, despite regular Israeli raids.

NYC demonstration in support of @freedom_theatre, calling for the release of detained artists: “release mustafa, release jamal, free them all!” “Palestinians have the right to create art, the right to tell their stories, the right to return home” pic.twitter.com/9mZ2hyyvYY

— Sophie Hurwitz (@sophiehurwitz) December 19, 2023

According to the Red Crescent, the two injured victims were hit when Israeli forces fired live ammunition as they carried out another overnight raid in the northern town of Asira in Nablus.

The injured have been transferred to a hospital for treatment, it added.

Meanwhile, three people were arrested by Israeli authorities during a raid on their homes in occupied East Jerusalem, according to the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Authority.

Al Jazeera shared the following video of the teen being shot in Asira;

لحظة إصابة شاب برصاص الاحتلال خلال اقتحامه بلدة عصيرة الشمالية#حرب_غزة #فيديو pic.twitter.com/ff1MWG5qst

— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) December 19, 2023

Activists, wearing clothes resembling blue press vests worn by Palestinian journalists, have staged a “die in” protest outside the Melbourne offices of one of Australia’s largest news organisations.

The protest was held outside the offices of the The Age newspaper, which is owned by the Nine Network.

A recent report by the Islamophobia Register Australia found that 9News – also a part of the Nine Network – was one of five major Australian media outlets with ‘unbalanced’ reporting on the Gaza conflict that also failed to use ‘humanising language’ when reporting on Palestinians.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 68 journalists and media workers have been killed since October 7, primarily by Israeli air strikes in Gaza.

Protestors dressed in ‘Press’ costumes representing the 70+ journalists killed in the Israel-Palestine conflict having a ‘die in’ out the front of the Nine/The Age building this morning. pic.twitter.com/wF7UYOnQEO

— Miki Perkins (@perkinsmiki) December 19, 2023

In the latest cross-border fighting, Israel said it intercepted six launches near the Yiftah area. In a separate incident, two Israeli soldiers were wounded by fire in the Malkia area.

In response, the military said it struck a Hezbollah position in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah said earlier today that three of its fighters were killed in attacks in the border area.

In a video posted on Instagram, a visibly shaken young boy was is seen wailing as he wals over to his mother, who is lying in a stretcher, after sustaining an injury from another Israeli strike.

According to the video posted by Gaza-based photographer Amr Tabash, the unnamed woman was injured after Israel targeted a house belonging to the al-Qadra family in al-Amal neighbourhood, west of Khan Younis.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Amr Tabash (@amr.tabash)

Vanessa Frazier, the permanent representative of Malta to the United Nations, has said the denial of humanitarian access to civilians “may amount to a crime against humanity and a war crime”.

Frazier, who recently travelled to the Rafah Crossing as part of a UN Security Council delegation, made the comments in response to a video of another delegation of European Union representatives to the border.

In the video, Member of the European Parliament for Dublin, Barry Andrews, says: “I have no doubt that Israel has made the strategic decision to deliberately frustrate the international humanitarian effort.”

Malta is one of several Security Council members currently pushing for a ceasefire, as negotiations over a potential new resolution continue.

Denial of humanitarian access to civilians, including children, and attacks against humanitarian workers are prohibited under the 4th Geneva Convention and its Additional Protocols and may amount to a crime against humanity and a war crime. https://t.co/3G6OphKJe2

— Vanessa Frazier 🧡 (@_VanessaFrazier) December 19, 2023

Several distress calls from families stuck in their homes in Gaza City have been shared on WhatsApp, revealing bloody details of the Israeli army’s actions.

One call came from the Anan family who are stuck in their building opposite the Jalaa Tower site.

“Please Abu Ali, I just talked to my sister and she said Israeli soldiers entered their building and shot dead all the men,” one man says in an audio message.

“My mother, sisters and uncle’s wife are all injured… One of them has an amputated hand. Please, Abu Ali, we need an ambulance, the Red Cross, anyone! They just want to leave the building they’re in and they can’t get out."

It should be emphasized again and again that Israel is executing people in their homes. The harrowing testimonies are boundless on social media, but they are falling on deaf ears. https://t.co/6TCgZ5gTO9

— Marwa Fatafta مروة فطافطة (@marwasf) December 19, 2023

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh is set to visit Egypt on Wednesday for talks on a ceasefire in Gaza and a prisoner exchange with Israel, a source close to the Palestinian group said.

Haniyeh, based in Qatar, will head a "high-level" Hamas delegation to Egypt, where he is due to hold talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel and others, the source told AFP on Tuesday.

The discussions will be "on stopping the aggression and the war to prepare an agreement for the release of prisoners (and) the end of the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip," the source said on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorised to talk about the visit.

Under a week-long truce deal last month that Qatar helped negotiate, backed by Egypt and the United States, 80 Israeli hostages were freed in exchange for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

Read the full report here. 

“The international coalition that America announced under the pretext of protecting maritime navigation in the Red Sea is an alliance to protect the Israeli entity and to protect Israeli ships. It is an integral part of the aggression against the Palestinian people, Gaza, and the Arab and Islamic nations,” the Houthis politburo said in a statement.

“It aims to encourage the Zionist entity to continue its brutal crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza. This coalition contradicts international law and does not protect maritime navigation, but rather threatens it and seeks to militarize the Red Sea for the benefit of the Israeli entity,” it added.

“Yemen’s armed forces don’t represent any threat to any country, we only target Israeli ships or ships heading toward Israeli ports. We affirm our steadfast position in supporting the Palestinian people until Israel’s aggression ends, and siege on the Gaza strip is lifted."

A UN Security Council vote on a resolution calling for a pause in Israel's war on Gaza was postponed again Tuesday, as members wrangled over wording while aid efforts in the Gaza Strip neared collapse.

Three diplomatic sources said the vote on the text, the latest version of which calls for the "suspension" of hostilities, had been pushed to Wednesday.

Members of the council are grappling to find common ground on the resolution, a vote on which was pushed back several times throughout the day, according to diplomatic sources, after being postponed Monday.

Israel, backed by its ally Washington, a veto-wielding permanent Security Council member, has opposed the use of the term "ceasefire."

That has proved to be one of the sticking points for the divided body as diplomats wrangle over whether to call for a "pause" or a "truce," or to qualify any ceasefire as "humanitarian."

The current struggle comes after an impasse earlier this month, when the United States, despite unprecedented pressure from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, blocked the adoption of a Security Council resolution on the war.

It had called for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire" in the Gaza Strip, where Israel continues its deadly strikes.

Last week, the General Assembly adopted the same nonbinding resolution by 153 votes to 10, with 23 abstentions, out of 193 member states.

Bolstered by that overwhelming support, Arab countries announced the new attempt at the Security Council.

A draft text prepared by the UAE, obtained by AFP on Sunday, called for "an urgent and lasting cessation of hostilities to allow unimpeded access of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip."

But according to diplomatic sources, a new, modified text is now on the table, in an attempt to salvage a compromise.

It is less direct, calling for "the urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and for urgent steps towards a sustainable cessation of hostilities."

The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad on Tuesday released video footage it claimed showed two hostages alive in its custody in Gaza.

In the video, two men appear one after the other asking for increasing pressure on the Israeli authorities to ensure their release.

The Israeli prime minister has said during a meeting with representatives of the families of the remaining captives held in Gaza that he will “spare no effort on the matter and the demand is to bring them all”.

The meeting comes as anger is growing in Israel over the failure of the government to continue negotiations to bring the captives home, especially after the Israeli army revealed several days ago that it accidentally shot to death three captives during its ground operations who were waving white flags of surrender.

Earlier, Israeli President Isaac Herzog signalled the country’s readiness for another humanitarian pause in Gaza.

The US, EU, NATO and several other countries have signed the statement, as the Yemeni group continues its attacks on what it says are Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea.

“The undersigned further encourage all states to refrain from facilitation or encouragement of the Houthis. There is no justification for these attacks, which affect many countries beyond the flags these ships sail under,” the signatories to the statement said.

The news comes as the US has announced an international coalition to safeguard commercial shipping in the waterway, which is vital to global trade.

Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra says in a statement that about 100 people were killed in “successive massacres that affected all areas of the Gaza Strip,” in which hundreds more were injured.

Egypt and the United States have agreed to work by all means to prevent displacement of Palestinians from their lands, the Egyptian foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

The ministry added that Egypt had urged the U.S. to support the U.N. resolution on humanitarian aid for Gaza.

An Israeli attack on Deir el-Balah killed 13 people and wounded dozens, Al Jazeera reports.

The home, which belongs to the Abu Aisha family in central Gaza, is located in the Bishara neighbourhood. Deir el-Balah has come under repeated Israeli assaults throughout the war.

A study by the Geneva-based human rights Euro-Mediterranean Monitor says that 71 percent of the Gaza Strip’s population is undergoing extreme hunger.

The study, which included 1,200 people, found that 98 percent of respondents say they eat insufficient amounts of food, while 64 percent of the participants admitted to eating grass, fruits, and expired materials to satiate their hunger.

Seventy-one per cent of Gaza’s population experiences extreme hunger, Euro-Med Monitor study says https://t.co/ryt3LZR1yq pic.twitter.com/QAuJKtMjPq

— Euro-Med Monitor (@EuroMedHR) December 19, 2023

An Israeli raid has targeted a house west of the southern city of Khan Younis, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens more, according to Al Jazeera.

The house belonged to the Hamdan family, where more than 100 displaced people were taking shelter.

“Until now, 12 people have arrived at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, but dozens more remain under the rubble,” he said, adding that he saw torn limbs at the hospital

Liberian President George Weah has intervened to reverse his country's vote against a U.N. resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the West African nation's information ministry said on Tuesday.

Liberia was the only African state and one of only ten countries of the 193-member U.N. General Assembly to reject the United Nation's Dec. 12 call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Hamas militants that was backed by 153 countries.

The ministry said the Liberian diplomats responsible for voting did so without the backing of Weah, who as president has the final say over Liberia's foreign policy.

Weah "has always stood on the side of peace across the world," it said in a statement.

The Liberian foreign ministry has requested the U.N. General Assembly reverse its 'NO' vote and register a new vote in favour of the Gaza ceasefire.

Before the U.N. vote took place, Weah wrote to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in November asking him to "exercise ... restraint and consideration for civilians who are the real victims of the ongoing crisis," the information ministry said.

The United States is working with countries on the United Nations Security Council to resolve outstanding issues related to a draft resolution demanding that Israel and Hamas allow aid access to the Gaza Strip and set up U.N. monitoring of the humanitarian assistance delivered, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a briefing, Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Washington would welcome a resolution that fully supports addressing the humanitarian needs of the people in Gaza but the details of the text matter.

Israeli forces have taken control of al-Awda Hospital after besieging it for 12 days, according to MSF.

Males 16 years old and above were taken outside, stripped, bound and interrogated – six MSF staff among them. After the interrogations, most were sent back into the hospital and told not to move.

“Al-Awda Hospital still has dozens of patients inside, 14 of whom are children. The hospital is now out of essentials like general anaesthetic and oxygen,” the group said.

After the interrogations, most of them were sent back into the hospital and told not to move.

Al-Awda hospital still has dozens of patients inside, 14 of whom are children. The hospital is now out of essentials like general anaesthetic and oxygen...

— MSF International (@MSF) December 19, 2023

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned that military operations in Khan Younis - southern Gaza's largest city - will spread to other parts of the territory.

He said operations will also widen in the northern enclave's tunnels.

Heavy civilian casualties are the cost of Israel's intense campaign to destroy Hamas in Gaza and the militants' urban warfare strategy, Israeli military officials said, in the face of global alarm at the staggering toll from the bombing.

Speaking with reporters at the Palmachim Air Force Base, 45 km from Gaza on Monday, two officials said Israel acknowledged that the cost in civilian lives of each strike was "balanced" against an evaluation of the military advantage.

One of the officials, a legal advisor to the Israeli army, said hospitals can become a legitimate military target when they are being used by combatants. Hamas denies operating from civilian infrastructure like hospitals or schools.

Egypt and the United States have agreed to work by all means to prevent displacement of Palestinians from their lands, the Egyptian foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

The ministry added that Egypt had urged the US to support the UN resolution on humanitarian aid for Gaza.

Hamas' armed wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, said it fired missiles at northern Israel from southern Lebanon, targeting military barracks at the Qiryat Shemona airfield.

It said the attack, which involved 12 rockets, came in response to Israel massacring civilians in Gaza.

A video shared online showed the moment some of the rockets were intercepted.

لحظة سقوط صاروخ في كريات شمونة، أطلق من جنوب #لبنان pic.twitter.com/vARWuI1rqN

— التلفزيون العربي (@AlarabyTV) December 19, 2023

Israel's steps to allow aid into Gaza are "far short of what is needed," senior United Nations official Tor Wennesland said on Tuesday.

"The delivery of humanitarian aid in the [Gaza] Strip continues to face nearly insurmountable challenges," said Wennesland, the organization's special coordinator for the Middle East peace process.

"Amid displacement at an unimaginable scale and active hostilities, the humanitarian response system is on the brink. Limited steps by Israel...are positive, but fall far short of what is needed to address the human catastrophe on the ground."

At least 132 Israeli soldiers have died since Israel's ground invasion of Gaza began, Alaraby TV has reported.

The death toll rose after multiple soldiers were announced killed in combat on Tuesday.

One of the last remaining hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip stopped operating on Tuesday after being stormed by the Israeli army, its director said.

Fadel Naim told AFP Israeli troops had attacked the Al-Ahli hospital and arrested doctors, medical staff and patients, destroying part of the building's grounds.

Israel's attack has "put the hospital out of action", he said. "We can't receive any patients or injured."

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron on Tuesday urged Israel to take a "much more surgical, clinical and targeted approach" in dealing with Hamas.

"In terms of what we're asking Israel to do, is to recognise that they have to minimise civilian casualties, they have to obey international humanitarian law at all times, and they have to proceed in their campaign against Hamas bearing those two things in mind," he told reporters in Rome after meeting his Italian counterpart.

A number of Palestinian men rounded up and detained by the Israeli army earlier this month in Gaza have died, Haaretz reported on Tuesday.

The Israeli newspaper said "several" detainees have died at the Sde Teiman base near the city of Beersheva in southern Israel.

The detainees held at this facility are "blindfolded and handcuffed for most of the day and the lights are on at the facility throughout the night," the report said.

The Israeli army said Tuesday it is investigating the deaths but did not provide details regarding how many detainees had died or the circumstances of their deaths.

Among the detainees is journalist Diaa Al-Kahlout, a correspondent for The New Arab's Arabic-language sister publication, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

He was abducted by the Israeli army in Beit Lahia on 7 December with dozens of other men.

According to eyewitnesses, Diaa Al-Kahlout was taken along with his brothers, relatives, and other civilians from the market street in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza.

"The reported number of healthcare workers killed in ten weeks of Israel’s assault on Gaza has exceeded the total number killed in all countries in conflict globally in any single year since 2016," Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) said Tuesday.

Since Israel’s military assault began on 7 October, at least 300 healthcare workers have been reported killed, according to the UN. This is more than the total number of health worker deaths recorded across all countries in conflict last year, and in any single year since 2016.

Read the full statement here.

The Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem filed a petition on Tuesday with the Israeli Supreme Court requesting immediate access for international media to the Gaza Strip.

Several Israeli and international reporters have entered Gaza embedded with the Israeli military, but the association called this "limited access" and said it did not allow "access to areas where soldiers are not present".

The FPA, which it says represents some 370 journalists from around 130 media outlets, said it had submitted multiple requests to the government to gain access but had not received a response.

Hamas rejects holding negotiations over exchanging prisoners during the war on Gaza, but is open to any initiative to end it, a senior official from the Palestinian movement said in a statement on Tuesday.

"We affirm our position of categorically rejecting to hold any form of negotiations over prisoners exchange under the continuing Israeli genocidal war," Basem Naem said.

"We are, however, open to any initiative that contributes to ending the aggression on our people and opening the crossings to bring in aid and provide relief to the Palestinian people," he added.

The Israeli army said Tuesday it had demolished the family home of a Palestinian man accused of killing two Israelis at a car wash in the occupied West Bank.

Police arrested Osama Bani Fadl in November after a months-long hunt, accusing him of killing Shay Silas Nigrekar and Aviad Nir in the Palestinian town of Huwara in August.

On Tuesday the Israeli army released footage of troops demolishing Bani Fadl's apartment during the night in the town of Aqraba.

The Israeli occupation forces blow up the home of the prisoner Osama Bani Fadel in Aqraba village, near Nablus. 19.12.23

الاحتلال يفجر منزل عائلة الأسير أسامة بني فضل في بلدة عقربا جنوب شرق نابلس. pic.twitter.com/2ysBF2YyNi

— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) December 19, 2023

The conflict in Gaza is a "moral failure" of the international community, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross told journalists on Tuesday, urging all parties to reach a new deal to halt the fighting.

"I have been speaking of moral failure because every day this continues is a day more where the international community hasn't proven capable of ending such high levels of suffering and this will have an impact on generations not only in Gaza," ICRC president Mirjana Spoljaric told journalists in Geneva following trips to Gaza and Israel.

"There's nothing without an agreement by the two sides, so we urge them to keep negotiating and to keep facilitating the space that we need in order to operationalise the releases (of hostages and detainees)."

Israel has destroyed much of one of Gaza's most important archaeological sites, London-based independent research agency Forensic Architecture said Tuesday.

In a series of tweets on X, the agency said the site, near Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, consists of several excavations which suggest extensive remains throughout the area. It said most of it has been destroyed by the Israeli ground invasion.

The present destruction of the site by the IOF has unfolded in three stages: (1) airstrikes, (2) surface-level demolition, and now (3) the installation of water pumps ostensibly to flood underground tunnels. pic.twitter.com/jaqypxxSve

— Forensic Architecture (@ForensicArchi) December 19, 2023

Israeli President Isaac Herzog signalled Israel's readiness to enter another foreign-mediated Gaza truce in order to recover hostages held by Hamas and enable more aid to reach the besieged Palestinian enclave.

"Israel is ready for another humanitarian pause and additional humanitarian aid in order to enable the release of hostages," Herzog, whose public role is largely ceremonial, told a gathering of ambassadors, according to his office.

"And the responsibility lies fully with [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar and (other) Hamas leadership," he said.

Hamas' armed wing said Tuesday it was engaged in armed clashes with a special Israeli force of 12 soldiers in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood.

It said it used machine guns and anti-personnel missiles.

The armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, Al-Quds Brigade, said its fighters targeted Israeli soldiers on the front lines east of Khan Younis with a missile barrage and heavy-calibre mortal shells.

It said the attacks resulted in casualties among the troops after Israeli helicopters intervened to rescue them.

The Israeli army conducted violent airstrikes on Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Videos shared online showed large plumes of smoke billowing from the city.

الاحتلال يقصف خانيونس قبل قليل pic.twitter.com/W0PsFJRMUz

— Yasser (@Yasser_Gaza) December 19, 2023

Gaza's health ministry said 413 patients wounded from Israeli bombardment had so far received treatment outside of Gaza, while 5,000 others still need to leave the enclave for hospitalisation.

Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group continued trading fire on Tuesday.

Hezbollah fired rockets and drones into Israel, announcing that more of its fighters had died. The Israeli military struck south Lebanon border towns and villages with airstrikes and artillery.

Gaza's health ministry has raised the death toll from Israel's bombardment since Oct 7 to 19,667, with more than 52,500 injured.

Hamas' armed wing published a video which it said was of missiles being fired at Israeli settlements, "dedicated to the souls of the martyrs of the West Bank."

Israeli forces and settlers have killed over 300 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since October 7.

كتائب القسام تنشر مشاهد لإطلاق رشقة صاروخية تجاه المستوطنات الإسرائيلية pic.twitter.com/dAam7baKWI

— التلفزيون العربي (@AlarabyTV) December 19, 2023

Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said 71% of Gaza's civilians are experiencing severe levels of hunger, 98% were not eating enough, and 64% were eating grass and expired products.

Israeli forces have arrested six people who work at Al-Awda hospital, including the hospital's director Ahmad Mhanna, a health ministry spokesperson told Alaraby TV.

Eighty from the hospital's medical staff, including 40 nurses, are also being held, the spokesperson said.

Sirens were hear in Tel Aviv and its suburbs, as well as Lod, Ramla, and the Ben Gurion airport after a massive barrage of rockets was fired from Gaza.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society has warned that Gaza could face an epidemic as around 350,000 people have contracted infectious diseases, after a breakdown of healthcare services in the enclave amid Israel's bombardment and siege. 

A vessel was approached by four small boats at the mouth of the Red Sea, 80 nautical miles northeast of Djibouti on Tuesday, according to a report posted by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).

In what the agency described as a reported "suspicious approach", the closest small boat paralleled the vessel’s course before breaking away, the agency said.

Between four and five people were on each small boat. There were no reported sighting of weapons, the UKMTO added.

France is to sanction certain extremist Israeli settlers, Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on Tuesday, denouncing "unacceptable" violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

France "has decided to take measures... against certain extremist Israeli settlers," Colonna said at a joint press conference with her British counterpart David Cameron after she travelled to Israel and the West Bank.

"I was able to see for myself the violence committed by certain of these extremist settlers. It's unacceptable."

UN officials voiced anger and disbelief on Tuesday about the situation in Gaza hospitals, where injured people do not have basic supplies and children recovering from amputations are being killed in the ongoing conflict.

"I'm furious that children who are recovering from amputations in hospitals are then killed in those hospitals," said James Elder, spokesperson for the UN children's agency, UNICEF.

He added that the Nasser Hospital, the largest operational hospital left in the enclave, had been shelled twice in the past 48 hours.

Margaret Harris, World Health Organization spokesperson, described the situation in Gaza hospitals as "beyond belief" and "unconscionable".

At least 30 people were killed Tuesday morning in an Israeli strike on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, including a journalist, Gaza's health ministry and government media office said.

The strike reportedly struck the house of Adel Zo'rob, killing him and several members of his family.

His death raises the number of journalists killed in the Gaza Strip since October 7 to 97.

عاجل | استشهاد الزميل الصحفي عادل زعرب جراء الاستهداف الأخير لمنزل عائلة زعرب في رفح pic.twitter.com/1VrFLhujuH

— القسطل الإخباري (@AlQastalps) December 19, 2023

After the deadly Israeli raid in Tubas on Monday which left four dead, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank reached 301 since October 7, and 509 since January.

Read more here.

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis will not change their stance on the Gaza war due to the establishment of a multinational naval alliance to safeguard shipping in the Red Sea, top Houthi negotiator Mohammed Abdulsalam told Reuters on Tuesday.

The naval alliance led by the United States was "essentially unnecessary", he said, adding that all the waters adjacent to Yemen were safe except for Israeli ships, or ships heading to Israel, because of the "unjust aggressive war on Palestine".

Israeli forces raided the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City overnight and into Tuesday, according to the church that operates it, destroying a wall at its front entrance and detaining most of its staff.

Don Binder, a pastor at St. George’s Anglican Cathedral in Jerusalem, which runs the hospital, said the raid left just two doctors, four nurses and two janitors to tend to over 100 seriously wounded patients, with no running water or electricity.

"It has been a great mercy for the many wounded in Gaza City that we were able to keep our Ahli Anglican Hospital open for so long," Binder wrote in a Facebook post late Monday. "That ended today."

He said an Israeli tank was parked on the rubble at the hospital's entrance, blocking anyone from entering or leaving.

Horror.

Urgent plea from Al-Ahly Anglican Hospital, Gaza City, now. pic.twitter.com/mQhOnryJ16

— Jalal #CeasefireNow (@JalalAK_jojo) December 18, 2023

At least 13 Palestinians were killed and 40 others wounded in an Israeli strike on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the health ministry in the enclave said.

#شاهد الا.حتلا.ل يرتكب مجزرة في مخيم #جباليا بعد قصف منزلين pic.twitter.com/bFCdGdjCc8

— قناة فلسطين اليوم (@Paltodaytv) December 19, 2023

The Israeli military has turned Al-Awda hospital in Gaza into a military barracks, the enclave's health ministry said Tuesday morning.

Al-Awda is one of the last functioning hospitals in the battered northern Gaza Strip.