Updates: Dozens killed Israel steps up attacks across Gaza, Lebanon

Yemen’s Houthi group claims to have carried out a military operation targeting two “sensitive military targets” in Israel’s Yaffa area, south of Tel Aviv, with two ballistic missiles.

“The operation has successfully achieved its objectives,” read a statement published on Yemen’s state news agency Saba.

It said the attacks took place “simultaneously” with Israeli air raids on civilian infrastructure in Sanaa and the port city of Hodeidah.

“The Israeli aggression will not deter Yemen and the Yemenis from performing their religious and moral duty in responding to its massacres in the Gaza Strip,” it said.

The Israeli army said its strikes, which killed at least nine people in Yemen earlier today, were carried out after the armed group fired one missile which was intercepted.

You can read our exclusive investigation into European Union research funds linked to the Israeli military here.

Read more on how the cold festive season affects families in Gaza here.

This live page will be closing soon. Here’s a recap of the day’s major developments:

• At least three civilians were killed in Israeli air strikes near Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
• Israel has once again blocked the UN from reaching northern Gaza, the spokesperson for the UN chief said.
• Israeli news outlet Haaretz, citing Palestinian sources close to the matter, says Gaza ceasefire mediators are urging Israel to agree to the release of high-profile Palestinian prisoners in the agreement’s next stages.
• Palestinian Authority forces have continued to exchange fire with Palestinian fighters in the Jenin refugee camp.
• Sources tell Al Jazeera that a Palestinian man has died of his wounds after being shot by Israeli forces in the town of Qusra, south of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank.
• The Israeli army says a settler group entered southern Lebanon earlier this month after initially suggesting they had set up camp near the border.

Abdullah Habib, a doctor at the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in northern Gaza, was killed by an Israeli air strike targeting the Daraj neighbourhood.

Earlier, at least four people were killed by an Israeli raid on a house near the al-Tabin School in the Daraj neighbourhood.

استشهاد الحكيم عبد الله حبيب، أحد الكوادر الصحية في مستشفى المعمداني، جراء غارة إسرائيلية استهدفت حي الدرج في غزة. pic.twitter.com/1Vt3nq9ctI

— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) December 18, 2024

Translation: The martyrdom of Dr Abdullah Habib, one of the health cadres at the Baptist [al-Ahli] Hospital, as a result of an Israeli air strike targeting Daraj neighbourhood in Gaza.

In northern Gaza, at least 14 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in overnight Israeli attacks on two homes, our colleagues on the ground are reporting.

In Jabalia, 10 people were killed during an Israeli raid on a house. Four people were also killed in a raid on another house near al-Tabin School in the Daraj neighbourhood.

The international community has long viewed illegal Israeli settlements as a violation of international law and a hindrance to Palestinian statehood.

Now the Israeli army has acknowledged that a settler group entered southern Lebanon earlier this month, Israeli media are reporting, after initially suggesting they had set up camp near the border.

The Times of Israel reported citing the military, “The civilians did indeed cross the Blue Line by several metres, and after being identified by [Israeli] troops, they were dispersed.”

It added that entering Lebanese territory harms the military’s ability to “operate in the area and fulfil its mission”.

Israel’s Army Radio quoted the military as saying, “This is a serious incident that is being investigated.”

A reminder that in 438 days of genocide in Gaza, Israel has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 100,000.

It has repeatedly targeted every part of the Gaza Strip.

In the north, Israeli forces have again attacked the barely functioning Kamal Adwan Hospital. The hospital director says dozens of people were wounded in Israel’s latest strikes.

The ICU caught fire, forcing it to go out of service.

At least eight Palestinians were killed when a home sheltering displaced people was hit just outside the hospital.

Northern Gaza has been under Israeli siege for more than two months. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been subjected to unrelenting bombing.

International organisations have been urging Israel to end its blockade and allow aid deliveries to the area.

As we have been reporting, Israeli forces are raiding the village of Marda north of Salfit in the occupied West Bank.

They searched several homes and assaulted Palestinians. They also forced shop owners to close their stores and restricted people’s movement, the Wafa news agency reported.

The forces also briefly detained several young men in the centre of the village, subjected them to field interrogation and severely assaulted some of them.

There has been a surge in Israeli military operations and violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank since the war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023. Nearly 800 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank.

Palestinian Envoy to the UN Riyad Mansour urged members of the Security Council to end Israel’s actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

“Over a year ago, and from this same chamber, we called for a ceasefire that would allow Palestinian and Israeli families to be reunited in life, not death,” Mansour said, adding that since the chamber disagreed on a ceasefire, the General Assembly should take control under the “Uniting for Peace” framework.

During his address, Mansour commented on Amnesty International’s findings of genocide in Gaza and denounced Israel’s attacks on Ireland.

“Israel continues genocide, starves and forcibly displaces people, colonises and annexes land. But it is Ireland which has crossed every red line for denouncing these crimes, for insisting on respect for international law and for human rights. You must be kidding,” he said.

“This is a time to show resolve, to be guided by moral clarity and to lead by example.”

Israeli media is reporting that Netanyahu is expected to meet his top security officials on Thursday to discuss the latest developments in a possible Gaza ceasefire deal.

According to the Israeli news outlet Channel 12, Netanyahu will hold his high-level meeting with Defence Minister Israel Katz and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer.

At the same time, Channel 12 quoted senior Israeli officials as saying it was possible to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza within days and implement it within a few weeks.

Israel has once again blocked the UN from reaching northern Gaza, spokesperson for the UN chief said.

“Yet again, the Israeli authorities denied a request from the United Nations to reach the besieged parts of the north today, [including] Beit Hanoon, Beit Lahiya and east of Jabalia,” said Stephane Dujarric.

“Yesterday, we underscored how the vast majority of our efforts to reach north Gaza governate since the Israeli siege began 10 weeks ago have been blocked. Most requests are denied outright.”

The humanitarian situation in Gaza’s north continues to be catastrophic, with the Israeli military blocking most aid, and where there has been a heavy siege and blockade for more than 70 days.

The Israeli army’s chief of the General Staff, Herzi Halevi, was in Rafah, southern Gaza, and said that troops were “dismantling Hamas and targeting its infrastructure”.

“We are exerting pressure on Hamas daily, driving it into greater distress, to ensure the return of the 100 hostages – hopefully alive – and for those who are not, to provide them a proper burial in Israel. Our goal is also to return Israeli residents to their homes,” Halevi said.

He added that Israeli communities near Gaza were “coming back to life”, and residents were returning with a “much stronger security framework” following the October 7 attack.

The brother of an Israeli man held captive in Gaza criticised the UN Security Council for inaction and urged it to “send a resonating message that terror will never prevail”.

“Your silence is deafening, your inaction is suffocating. For every day this council fails to act, the message to the world is clear – that some lives are worth saving and others are not,” Michael Levy said.

“I refuse to accept a world where my brother’s life can be used as a bargaining chip and be forgotten.”

Levy’s brother Or was taken captive and Or’s wife was killed when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

Levy was the first relative of captives to brief the 15-member Security Council, which has met dozens of times during Israel’s war in Gaza over the past 14 months.

Israeli news outlet Haaretz, citing Palestinian sources close to the matter, is reporting that Gaza ceasefire mediators are urging Israel to agree to the release of high-profile Palestinian prisoners in the agreement’s next stages.

Earlier, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that as negotiations move closer to securing a deal, the current obstacles are the names of captives and prisoners who will be released in the first phase.