Attacks continue in West Bank’s Nur Shams and safe zones might be targeted – here are the latest updates.

Latest updates

• Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi has said that the military would not refrain from operating in areas declared safe zones if “terrorist” activity is detected there.
• Around 80 bodies of Palestinians killed by the Israeli army were returned to the Gaza Strip on Tuesday through the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing. They were received by the Ministry of Health.
• The Government Media Office in Gaza said the bodies had been delivered “mutilated” and accused the Israelis of removing “vital organs from them”.
• Internet and telecommunications in Gaza have been experiencing halts and shutdowns due to damaged infrastructure. This has also jeopardised the provision of life-saving assistance by first responders and humanitarian agencies.
• Palestine’s representative to the UN, Riyad Mansour, wrote to the president of the UN Security Council that Israel’s attacks on Gaza have only intensified in the four days since the passage of the latest UN resolution on increasing aid in Gaza.

In letter to #UNSC, @Palestine_UN says #Israel is making a mockery of the Security Council, noting that the occupying power has not only continued its violations but has escalated them in the 4 days since the adoption of res. 2720. “Israel remains intransigent, deepening this… pic.twitter.com/VxrI5tt1rj

— Rami Ayari (@Raminho) December 26, 2023

Human impact and fighting

• Between Saturday and Tuesday, 858 Palestinians were killed and 1598 were injured in Gaza, said the enclave’s Health Ministry.
• 241 people have been killed and 382 have been injured in the past 24 hours, Gaza’s Health Ministry has said.
• Red Sea attacks by the Yemeni Houthis spiked on Tuesday. The US military said it shot down 12 one-way attack drones, three antiship ballistic missiles and two land attack cruise missiles fired by the group over 10 hours.

Diplomacy

• On Tuesday, UN chief Antonio Guterres announced that Sigrid Kaag will be the Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza.
• Kaag will oversee humanitarian aid consignments to the strip, according to the recent UN resolution.
• Cuban president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, denounced Israel on Tuesday. “The genocide committed by the terrorist state of Israel in Gaza is a humiliation for all humanity,” he wrote on X.
• Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer reportedly met with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Washington, DC. The pair discussed efforts to bring home the remaining captives held in Gaza by Hamas, a White House official told Reuters.

Displacement in Gaza

• On Tuesday, Israel reiterated an evacuation order for an area, covering around 15 percent of the Deir el-Balah governorate in central Gaza, according to UN agency OCHA.
• Instructions on the map ordered residents of the Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps, as well as north of Nuseirat, to move to the already overcrowded shelters in Deir el-Balah.
• The UN refugee agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, estimates that 85 percent of Gaza’s population has been internally displaced since the start of the war on October 7.

Raids in the occupied West Bank

• Six Palestinians have been reported killed during Israeli drone attacks in Nur Shams in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem. The attacks have continued into Wednesday, reported Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher.
• Overnight raids also continued in Tulkarem, the Nur Shams refugee camp and the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron.
• Among the Palestinians arrested on Tuesday was activist Khalida Jarrar who was an advocate for imprisoned women. Independent news organisation Jadaliyya said she was held without charges.
• On Tuesday, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, including a 17-year-old child at the Fawwar refugee camp. Two Palestinians were injured, OCHA reported.