Israel’s war on Gaza updates: Israeli attacks kill 24 in a day

Thank you for joining us for updates on Israel’s war on Gaza.

For updates on Israel’s bombing of Lebanon, go here.

You can read press freedom groups’ criticisms of Israel’s targeting of Palestinian journalists here.

And you can find all of our latest coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza here.

• While Israel has focused its attacks on Lebanon, killing more than 490 people today, Gaza has not been spared. The enclave’s Health Ministry says 24 Palestinians have been killed and 60 wounded in Israeli attacks during the latest 24-hour reporting period.
• They include the killing of a mother and four of her children in an attack on Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
• Gaza’s Government Media Office calls on the international community to pressure Israel to stop targeting buildings sheltering displaced people “and to stop the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip”.
• Criticism of Israel’s forced closure of Al Jazeera’s bureau in Ramallah in the West Bank continues with Amnesty International calling it a “shameless attack” on freedom of speech.

The Palestinian state news agency, Wafa, reports that Israeli forces have fired live bullets and tear gas during a raid on ad-Dhahiriya, south of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank.

The injuries were a result of the tear gas fired, according to Wafa.

The lens is now in Palestinians’ hands, capturing their reality at the heart of occupation and war.

Their powerful images are exposing the horrors of conflict and leading people to turn to new media sources for information and redefine narratives.

Al Jazeera’s The Take hears how a new film distribution company run by Palestinians is empowering a new generation.

The incident went viral in the past week after videos emerged of Israeli Jewish students celebrating the 13-year-old girl’s suspension, which the school said was to protect the student.

According to Israeli media reports, the girl had participated in a class discussion on the events of October 7, and had raised the plight of children in Gaza.

“There are hungry children in Gaza, there are children without a home,” she is reported to have said at the school in Beersheba, before being attacked by other students. The school, however, decided to suspend the Palestinian girl, despite the attacks and anti-Palestinian chanting from other students.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the girl’s father said her teacher did not attempt to calm the situation.

“It is ridiculous that during a discussion initiated by the school, in which children were asked to express their opinions, a child gets attacked for saying something,” a lawyer, Shahada Ibn Bari, was quoted as saying by Channel 12. The outlet reported that Palestinian students were afraid to attend school because of the incident.

Israel is intensifying its crackdown on media coverage of its war on Gaza and other assaults.

The Al Jazeera Media Network has again been targeted, this time in the occupied West Bank, where its offices have been closed down and its operations suspended for 45 days.

A media law means action can be taken against foreign journalists accused of harming Israel’s security.

And it is not just the foreign press that is complaining. Even Israeli media are under scrutiny, and their coverage of the war has to go through military censors. So how far will Israel go in restricting press freedom?

Watch the latest episode of Inside Story below:

A reminder that for the latest news on Israel’s bombing of Lebanon, you can follow our live page here.

US President Joe Biden made the comments as he welcomed Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (also known as MBZ).

He added that the two leaders would also discuss ways to de-escalate tension between Israel and Lebanon. Israel has killed more than 270 Lebanese in bombings today.

MBZ is also set to meet Vice President Kamala Harris in the first visit by a president from the United Arab Emirates to the US.

“The Israeli authorities’ shutdown of Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah is another shameless attack on the right to freedom of expression and a crushing blow for press freedom,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“Amid escalating violations of international law, including through military operations in the occupied West Bank and relentless unlawful attacks in the occupied Gaza Strip with the real risk of genocide, access for journalists to shed light on ongoing events is crucial,” Morayef added in a statement.

“The shutdown of Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah is a brazen attempt by the Israeli government to limit reporting on their violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.”

Morayef further called for Israeli authorities to “immediately revoke the order to shut down [the] Al Jazeera bureau” and end the “harassment, intimidation and obstruction of journalists and other media workers in the occupied Palestinian Territory”.

The UN secretary-general’s spokesman says Israel’s raid and closure of Al Jazeera’s bureau in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank is a “reflection” of a trend of hampering journalists both regionally and globally.

“Look, we’re extremely concerned about what we’ve seen,” he said during a daily briefing. “We are extremely supportive of press freedom here, and I think particularly in conflict zones, we need the eyes and ears of media, of international media, of national media to get a sense of what’s going on.”

“If there’s no coverage, the suffering of people often goes forgotten.”

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, says 45 percent of all humanitarian movements in Gaza this month were “denied or impeded” by Israeli authorities.

“Movements had [been] particularly restricted between the south and the north as it requires crossing through Israeli checkpoints,” he said during a daily briefing. “There, 87 percent of movements have been denied or impeded. Only 5 percent have been facilitated, and the rest were cancelled.”

“Once again, we want to underscore that humanitarian operations in Gaza must be fully facilitated and we must have unimpeded access for our humanitarian goods,” he added.

Al Jazeera journalists Samer Abudaqa and Wael Dahdouh were reporting at the Farhana school in Khan Younis when Israel struck from the air on December 15.

Dahdouh took shrapnel to his upper arm but was able to apply pressure to the wound and escape to a nearby hospital for help.

But Abudaqa was unable to move, and despite repeated calls, medical aid wasn’t able to reach him.

Abudaqa is one of at least 130 journalists and media workers, based on Reporters Without Border’s count, killed by Israel in Gaza since October 7.

Read our full story here.

Here’s a recap of recent developments:

• Top UN officials demand “an end to the appalling human suffering and humanitarian catastrophe” in the Gaza Strip nearly one year into Israel’s war on Gaza.
• Gaza’s Government Media Office calls on the international community to pressure Israel to stop targeting buildings sheltering displaced people “and to stop the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip”.
• A speech in Liverpool by UK finance minister Rachel Reeves was interrupted by a pro-Palestinian protester shouting: “We are still selling arms to Israel. I thought we were voting for change, Rachel.”
• The National Press Club in the US says the raiding and closing of Al Jazeera’s bureau in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank “is an aggressive, military action that should be reversed immediately”.
• The death toll in Israeli attacks across Lebanon today has risen to 274, the Health Ministry announces. Follow our live coverage of the Israel-Lebanon conflict here.

• Joyce Msuya, acting emergency relief coordinator and undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs
• Sofia Sprechmann Sineiro, secretary-general of CARE International
• Qu Dongyu, director general of the Food and Agriculture Organization
• Amy E Pope, director general of the International Organization for Migration
• Tom Hart, president and chief executive officer of InterAction
• Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, chief executive officer of Mercy Corps
• Volker Turk, high commissioner for human rights
• Paula Gaviria Betancur, special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons
• Achim Steiner, administrator, of the UN Development Programme
• Janti Soeripto, president and chief executive officer of Save the Children US
• Anaclaudia Rossbach, executive director of the Human Settlement Programme
• Filippo Grandi, high commissioner for refugees
• Natalia Kanem, executive director of the UN Population Fund
• Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF
• Sima Bahous, undersecretary-general and executive director of UN Women
• Cindy McCain, executive director of the World Food Programme
• Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization

As we reported earlier, UN agencies have issued a statement calling for the “atrocities” in Gaza to end.

“We urgently call for a sustained, immediate and unconditional ceasefire. This is the only way to end the suffering of civilians and save lives,” said the statement signed by the heads of 16 agencies. “All hostages and all those arbitrarily detained must be released immediately and unconditionally.”

The statement also called on Israel to grant aid workers access to Gaza.

“Humanitarians must have safe and unimpeded access to those in need. We cannot do our jobs in the face of overwhelming need and ongoing violence,” it said, calling again on world leaders to “wield their influence” to ensure international law is followed.

“The protection of civilians is a bedrock principle for the global community and in all countries’ interest,” the statement said. “Allowing the abhorrent, downward spiral caused by this war in the Occupied Palestinian Territory to continue will have unimaginable, global consequences.”

The Israeli military says it has struck about 800 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley since this morning.

“Among the targets struck were buildings where Hezbollah hid rockets, missiles, launchers, UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] and additional terrorist infrastructure,” the military said in a statement.

The US says it is concerned by the Israeli army’s raid and shutdown of Al Jazeera’s office in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

“This action is inconsistent with US support for freedom of the press in the West Bank and all over the world,” a State Department spokesperson said, adding that the US is still gathering information about the Israeli operation on Sunday.