Updates: Israel kills Palestinian civilians in Gaza as it bombs Lebanon

To learn more about the killing of anti-Hamas gang leader Yasser Abu Shabab in Gaza, read this.

For more on ongoing Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank, see here.

And read more about nations boycotting Eurovision 2026 over Israel’s inclusion.

This live page will soon close. Here are the day’s main developments:

• Yasser Abu Shabab, who gained notoriety in Gaza as the leader of a gang accused of collaboration with Israel and the theft of humanitarian aid, was killed under circumstances that remain unclear.
• Hamas said Abu Shabab met the “inevitable fate” of those who betray their people and their territory.
• Israel carried out air strikes across Gaza, killing at least six people – including children and women – and wounding 16 others as it continues to violate the October 10 US-brokered ceasefire.
• The Israeli military attacked four towns in southern Lebanon as President Joseph Aoun announced a second round of civilian talks with Israel will take place on December 19 to prevent “a second war”.
• The singing tournament Eurovision said it will not hold a vote on whether to ban Israel from participating because of its genocide in Gaza, leading a number of nations to refuse participation.
• A 12-year-old Palestinian boy was shot in the head during an Israeli army raid on the city of Qalqilya, the occupied West Bank, in the latest military violence there.

Israel burned a Palestinian family to death in their tent while bombing a displacement camp and a nearby hospital in southern Gaza.

The victims included a father and his two children, aged eight and 10.

Israel has violated its ceasefire deal with Hamas at least 591 times in the 55 days since it took effect, resulting in the deaths of at least 366 people.

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The Foreign Press Association has released a statement expressing opposition to a decision by the Israeli Supreme Court delaying a ruling on press access to Gaza.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has barred foreign journalists from reporting inside the Strip as its military routinely targeted and killed Palestinian journalists there.

“This is an urgent appeal. Continuously preventing coverage – every minute, every hour, every day – seriously undermines the ability of international media to carry out their mission, and infringes on the fundamental rights of billions of users,” the association said in a statement.

Palestinians with a range of disabilities came together in Gaza to mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities earlier this week as campaigners called for better recognition of people living with disabilities.

See more in our report from Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, below.

The UN’s child rights agency (UNICEF) says one million Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip “have endured daily horrors simply trying to survive”.

“Every child in Gaza has experienced loss – of family and friends, of their homes and schools, and of the lives they once knew,” the group said in a statement.

UNICEF said it’s working to offer psychosocial and mental health support for children affected by Israel’s two-year military onslaught, “to help ease the long-term psychological and physical toll” that the violence has had on families.

Every child in the Gaza Strip has been exposed to violence, disrupting their sense of safety, stability and childhood.

Through play-based activities, individual counselling and group sessions, UNICEF’s mental health and psychosocial services help ease the devastating impact that…

— UNICEF (@UNICEF) December 4, 2025

The Palestinian group says the killing of Yasser Abu Shabab in Gaza is “the inevitable fate of all who betray their people and homeland and are content to be tools in the hands of the [Israeli] occupation”.

As we reported, Abu Shabab led an armed group said to have received Israel’s support as part of an effort to weaken Hamas. His so-called Popular Forces were also accused of looting humanitarian aid during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“The criminal acts perpetrated by the so-called Yasser Abu Shabab and his gang represent a blatant departure from the national and social consensus,” Hamas said in a statement on Telegram.

“We affirm the occupation, which failed to protect its own agents, will be unable to protect any of its lackeys, and the fate of all who tamper with the security of their people and serve their enemy is to fall into the dustbin of history, losing all respect and standing in their society.”

Syria’s state-run SANA news agency reports the Israeli military fired several artillery shells into its southern Quneitra region, as well as the western countryside of Deraa.

Citing a reporter in Quneitra, the news agency said Israeli forces attacked the outskirts of Kuwaya, a town in western Deraa, and Tal Ahmar Sharqi in Quneitra.

The Israeli army also set up a checkpoint on a road connecting two villages in Quneitra, the news report said.

Israel has carried out a series of deadly bombings as well as frequent army incursions into Syrian territory since the fall of longtime President Bashar al-Assad last December.

Yasser Abu Shabab, a Bedouin tribal leader based in Israeli-held Rafah in southern Gaza, led the most prominent of several small anti-Hamas groups that emerged during Israel’s genocidal war that began more than two years ago.

• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged in June that Israel armed anti-Hamas clans, though Israel has announced few other details of the policy since then.
• Abu Shabab’s group has continued to operate from areas of Gaza controlled by Israeli forces since Hamas and Israel reached a US-backed ceasefire in October.
• Rafah has been the scene of some of the worst violence during the ceasefire. Residents reported gunbattles there on Wednesday, and Israel said four of its soldiers were wounded. The Israeli military said on Thursday its forces killed some 40 Hamas fighters trapped in tunnels below Rafah.
• On November 18, Abu Shabab’s group posted a video showing dozens of fighters receiving orders from his deputy to launch a security sweep to “clear Rafah of terror” – an apparent reference to Hamas fighters holed up there.
• After his killing, the Popular Forces militia pledged to continue Abu Shabab’s path and to “fight terrorism” in Gaza.
  

  

News that Eurovision would not hold a vote on whether to ban Israel was met with gratitude from Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who thanked “all our friends who stood up for Israel’s right to continue to contribute and compete at Eurovision”.

“I am pleased that Israel will once again participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, and I hope that the competition will remain one that champions culture, music, friendship between nations, and cross-border cultural understanding,” Herzog said on X.

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar also welcomed the announcement as he slammed countries choosing to boycott the event next year.

“I welcome the decision of the European Broadcasting Union. I am ashamed of those countries that chose to boycott a music competition like Eurovision because of Israel’s participation. The disgrace is upon them,” Saar said on X.

This contest is very widely watched around the world, one of the most-watched televised events anywhere.

Israel’s entry last year came in at number two in this singing contest. There was a huge controversy around the way votes were cast for Israel’s entry and indications that the Israeli government promoted its entrant and tried to encourage Europeans to vote for that contestant.

We saw a lot of countries very unhappy about that. We had a meeting today in Geneva where many members of the European Broadcasting Union – EBU, which organises Eurovision – met to try and decide whether they should try to tighten the rules around voting.

Many of them went into that meeting saying that was not going to be enough, however. Since that meeting has broken up today, there has not been a public vote around Israel’s participation.

Nonetheless, countries such as the Netherlands, Spain, Slovenia and Ireland – having threatened that they would no longer take part in the contest if Israel was allowed to – have indeed followed through on that.

Slovenia is the latest European country to refuse to take part in Eurovision in 2026 after the competition declined to hold a vote on whether to ban Israel.

“Our message is we will not participate … if Israel is there – on behalf of the 20,000 children who died in Gaza,” said RTV Slovenia Board Chairwoman Natalija Gorscak.

Earlier, Ireland’s public broadcaster RTE said it will boycott next year’s Eurovision Song Contest after organisers of the massive music event approved Israel’s participation despite calls for its exclusion.

“Ireland’s participation remains unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there, which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk,” RTW said.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reports at least two Palestinians have been wounded in Israeli military raids near Bethlehem:

• A Palestinian man, Jihad Zawahra, 37, was assaulted by Israeli soldiers who stopped the rubbish collection truck he was driving in the village of al-Maniya. Zawahra suffered injuries and was taken to hospital for treatment.
• A teenager was shot in the foot by Israeli soldiers who stormed the town of Tuqu, prompting confrontations with local residents. The army fired live ammunition, tear gas, and concussion grenades to disperse the protesters.

Palestinians across the occupied West Bank have faced an intensified wave of Israeli military and settler violence in the shadow of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Check it out below.

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office says a team of Israeli negotiators travelled to the Egyptian capital today to discuss the release of the final Israeli captive’s remains from Gaza.

The body of Ran Guili, an Israeli police officer, is believed to still be in the Palestinian enclave.

The Israeli delegation in Cairo was led by Gal Hirsch – Israel’s hostages and missing persons coordinator – and included representatives from the Israeli military and the Shin Bet and Mossad security agencies, according to the statement from Netanyahu’s office.

Once the Gaza ceasefire’s first phase is finished with the return of all living and deceased captives, the second phase is supposed to begin with its military’s full withdrawal. Israel, however, still refuses to discuss the second phase until the last body is returned.

A lack of progress is not surprising. Analysts point out the previous truce collapsed in March before the second phase had even begun as Israel launched major military strikes.