- Israeli forces bombed the so-called “humanitarian zone” of al-Mawasi in southern Gaza, killing at least 11 Palestinians, as rain, cold and a lack of food worsens the humanitarian crisis caused by 14 months of war.
- Israeli defence minister Israel Katz warns Hamas that if it does not stop attacks on his country and does not release captives held in Gaza, the group “will receive blows with a force not seen” in a long time.
- A Palestinian health official says a seventh infant has died of the cold in Gaza, taking the overall toll from hypothermia to eight, as displaced people reel from days of heavy rain that have flooded makeshift shelters across the territory.
- The Palestinian Authority (PA) has suspended Al Jazeera from broadcasting in the occupied West Bank, accusing the network of airing “misleading” material. Al Jazeera condemned the decision.
- Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 45,553 Palestinians and wounded 108,379 since October 7, 2023. At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks that day, and more than 200 were taken captive.
- Closing Al Jazeera in occupied West Bank ‘in line with Israeli action’Al Jazeera denounced the Palestinian Authority’s decision to close its office in the occupied West Bank.“Al Jazeera Media Network … considers this decision nothing but an attempt to dissuade the channel from covering the rapidly escalating events taking place in the occupied territories,” the Qatar-based network said in a statement.“And – unfortunately – such a decision comes in line with the previous action taken by the Israeli government, which closed Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah.”This decision comes following the “ongoing campaign of incitement and intimidation by parties associated with the Palestinian Authority against Al Jazeera’s journalists and correspondents”, it added.Read the full story here.
- Israeli settlers storm central town in the occupied West BankDozens of settlers, accompanied by Israeli forces, stormed the Palestinian town of Kifl Haris in the Salfit governorate.Local sources told the Wafa news agency the Israeli settlers entered the town last night to perform Talmudic rituals at Islamic shrines. During the incursion, settlers attacked residents’ homes and vehicles causing significant damage.Earlier, Israeli forces raided the town and shut the iron gate at its entrance, forcing shop owners to close their businesses and restricting residents’ movement for the settlers’ entry.
- Jewish settlers clash with Palestinians in the occupied West Bank [File: Nasser Ishtayeh/AP]
- Nearly 900 Israeli soldiers killed in war on GazaThe Israeli army published its first official death toll since the start of the war on October 7, 2023, announcing 891 officers and soldiers have been killed, the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reports.That’s the highest number of military members killed since the Yom Kippur war in 1973. During the 10 years before the current war, a total of 152 Israeli soldiers were killed, including during Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014, it said.Meanwhile, Israeli Army Radio reported 28 Israeli soldiers have committed suicide since the beginning of the war, including 16 reservists, the highest number in 13 years.
- Israeli soldiers on the ground in the Gaza Strip [File: Israeli Army via AFP]
- Gaza parents doing everything possible to warm childrenReporting from Deir el-Balah, central GazaIt’s a cold morning in Gaza as families are still caught in the grip of this harsh weather that continues to hit every makeshift tent camp across the Strip. Palestinians are having to endure freezing temperatures.Children are the most vulnerable; their small bodies are unable to withstand the deep chill. Many have been struggling to cope with respiratory illnesses and disease, including diarrhoea.Parents have been doing everything possible to shield their children, burning whatever they can find including wood, plastic sheets, and scraps of debris to give them some sort of heat.The makeshift tents they are living in are no longer usable. They’ve been made from plastic sheeting or torn fabric that provides little protection against the biting cold.
- Palestinians take shelter from the rain at a makeshift camp in southern Khan Younis [Bashar Taleb/AFP]
- Israeli defence minister: Conscription law a ‘historic turning point’Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz says a draft law to conscript ultra-Orthodox Jews into the army who had previously been exempt is not a “moral issue”.“The new conscription law, upon its completion, will bring about a historic turning point and the recruitment of tens of thousands of additional ultra-Orthodox members for significant service in the IDF [Israeli army] for the first time,” Katz wrote on X.“In contrast to the policy that was recently implemented, which failed and actually led to a decrease in the number of ultra-Orthodox members serving in the IDF.”Last year, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant issued thousands of enlistment summons to the ultra-Orthodox community, but it was met with mass protests.
- Israeli strike kills two near southern Gaza’s Khan YounisOur colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report that Israeli bombing of the town of Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis, has killed at least two people.Earlier, medical sources reported to Al Jazeera that 13 Palestinians have been killed since dawn in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, 11 in southern Khan Younis city.Israel’s air and ground war has killed more than 45,550 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It says women and children make up more than half the dead.
LIVE: Israel bombs al-Mawasi, killing 11, as flooding worsens Gaza crisis
