Gaza

Deadly attack comes as Gaza government media office says Israel violated ceasefire 875 times since it began in October.

Israeli forces have killed at least two Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as Israel continues to violate a ceasefire agreement and block desperately needed humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged coastal enclave.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Monday that two people were killed after Israeli troops opened fire in the Shujayea neighbourhood of eastern Gaza City.

Their deaths bring the total number of Palestinians reported killed in Gaza over the past 24 hours to at least 12, including eight whose bodies were recovered from the rubble in the territory.

The Gaza City attack is the latest in hundreds of Israeli violations of a United States-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which came into effect on October 10.

Gaza’s Government Media Office on Monday condemned Israel’s “serious and systematic violations” of the truce, noting that the Israeli authorities had breached the ceasefire 875 times since it came into force.

That includes continued Israeli air and artillery attacks, unlawful demolitions of Palestinian homes and other civilian infrastructure, and at least 265 incidents of Israeli troops shooting Palestinian civilians, the office said in a statement.

At least 411 Palestinians have been killed and 1,112 others wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the ceasefire began, it added.

Worsening shelter conditions

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian families displaced by Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza continue to grapple with a lack of humanitarian supplies, including adequate food, medicine and shelter.

As the occupying power in Gaza, Israel has an obligation under international law to provide for the needs of Palestinians there.

But the United Nations and other humanitarian groups say it has systematically failed to allow unimpeded deliveries of aid into Gaza.

The situation has been worsened by a series of winter storms that have pummelled the Strip in recent weeks, with rights groups saying Israel’s refusal to allow tents, blankets and other supplies into Gaza is part of its genocidal policy and threatening Palestinian lives.

On Monday, the Gaza Government Media Office said that only 17,819 trucks entered the territory out of the 43,800 that were supposed to be allowed in since the ceasefire came into effect in October.

That amounts to an average of just 244 trucks per day – far below the 600 trucks that Israel agreed to allow into Gaza daily under the ceasefire agreement, the office said.

On Monday, a spokesperson for UN chief Antonio Guterres reiterated the call “for the lifting of all restrictions of the entry of aid into Gaza, including shelter material”.

“Over the past 24 hours, and despite the ceasefire, we have continued to receive reports of air strikes, shelling and gunfire in all five governorates of Gaza. This has resulted in reported casualties and disruptions to humanitarian operations,” Stephane Dujarric said.

He said that the UN’s humanitarian partners are working to address the significant shelter needs, particularly for displaced families living in unsafe conditions.

“Our partners continue to work to improve access to dignified shelter for approximately 1.3 million people in Gaza in the past week, about 3,500 families affected by storms are living in flood prone areas,” he said.

Dujarric said that aid deliveries have included tents, bedding sets, mattresses and blankets, as well as winter clothing for children, but the needs remain overwhelming.

The appeals come a day after the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said that a lack of drugs and other healthcare supplies was making it difficult to provide care to patients.

Nearly all of Gaza’s hospitals and healthcare facilities were attacked during Israel’s two-year bombardment of the territory, damaging at least 125 facilities, including 34 hospitals.

The Israeli army has killed at least 70,937 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, and injured 171,192 others since its genocidal war began in October 2023.

The Great Omari Mosque is one of Gaza City’s most significant landmarks, with origins dating back more than 2,000 years. It was destroyed in an Israeli strike in December 2023. Hatem Haniya, the mosque’s administrator, reflects on its history and its deep significance to the people of Gaza.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health has appealed for increased drug, medical consumables and laboratory supplies, warning of severe shortages after more than two years of Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza and a crippling blockade.

The ministry said on Sunday that the shortages were making it difficult to provide diagnostic and treatment services.

Doctors in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory have long warned that they are struggling to save lives because Israel is not allowing the most essential medical supplies in. During Israel’s genocidal war, which has spanned more than two years, nearly all of Gaza’s hospitals and healthcare facilities were attacked, with at least 125 health facilities damaged, including 34 hospitals.

“The number of items completely out of stock on the essential medicines list has reached 321, representing a 52 percent shortage,” the Health Ministry said in a statement.

“The number of items completely out of stock on the medical consumables list has reached 710, representing a 71 percent shortage. The shortage rate for laboratory tests and blood bank supplies has reached 59 percent,” it added.

The most critical drug shortages are in emergency services, particularly life-saving intravenous solutions, intravenous antibiotics, and pain killers, the ministry said.

The shortage in emergency and intensive care services is potentially depriving 200,000 patients of emergency care, 100,000 patients of surgical services, and 700 patients of intensive care, it added.

The ministry cited additional shortages in kidney, oncology, open-heart surgery, and orthopedic supplies, among others.

“Given these alarming figures, and with the continued reduction by the occupation of the number of medical trucks entering Gaza to less than 30 percent of the monthly need, and with the insufficient quantity of supplies available, the Ministry of Health urgently appeals to all relevant parties to fully assume their responsibilities in implementing emergency interventions,” it said.

Despite a United States-backed ceasefire that took effect on October 10, Israel continues to violate its agreement with Hamas by failing to allow in the agreed quantities of medical aid trucks, deepening what the Gaza Health Ministry has described as a critical and ongoing health emergency.

Amid the shortages of medical supplies, 1,500 children are awaiting the opening of border crossings to travel and receive treatment outside Gaza.

Zaher Al Waheidi, the head of the Information Unit at Gaza’s Health Ministry, said on Sunday that 1,200 patients, including 155 children, have died after being unable to be evacuated from Gaza for medical treatment.

Palestinian detainees released

Meanwhile, six Palestinian detainees released from Israeli detention arrived at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah on Sunday for medical treatment, according to medical sources. A correspondent for the Anadolu news agency said the men were transferred via the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Rights groups say Israel had detained the men without clear legal procedures. The ICRC says it has not been granted access to Palestinians held in Israeli detention since October 2023, warning that international humanitarian law requires humane treatment and family contact.

The releases are part of sporadic Israeli actions involving Gaza detainees held for months. Many former prisoners report malnutrition and injuries from abuse.

About 1,700 detainees were released in October under the ceasefire deal, but more than 10,000 Palestinians – including women and children – remain in Israeli prisons, where rights groups report widespread abuse, starvation and medical neglect.

Elsewhere in the enclave, Gaza’s Civil Defence said it rescued five people, including a child and two women, who were trapped under the collapsed roof of their house in Sheikh Radwan, northwest of Gaza City.

The roof collapse killed four people, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Interior and National Security.

At least 18 people have been killed due to the collapse of 46 buildings in Gaza since the ceasefire came into effect, according to the ministry.

More than 70,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed, and more than 171,000 others have been wounded in attacks in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 2023.

From a Russian air strike in Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine to demonstrations calling for the removal of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement from Minnesota, here is a look at the week in photos.

‘The scale of needs is so huge.’ As Gaza’s displaced Palestinians suffer from winter storms after surviving two years of genocidal war, UNICEF’s Jonathan Crickx explains how many clothes, blankets and tents are needed to save children from dying.

One more Palestinian killed by Israeli army in Gaza while two Palestinians, including a child, are shot dead in occupied West Bank.

Dec. 19 (UPI) — An international hunger watchdog group said that while Gaza is no longer in famine conditions since the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, it’s still food-insecure and many people still go hungry.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a United Nations-backed group, released a report Friday that said on X that at least 1.6 million people are still facing high levels of acute food insecurity.

It said that acute malnutrition is still critical in Gaza City and is serious in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis with nearly 101,000 children under 5 likely to suffer acute malnutrition through mid-October 2026 throughout Gaza.

Israel’s foreign ministry called the IPC report “deliberately distorted” and “doesn’t reflect the reality in the Gaza Strip,” the BBC reported.

Between “600 and 800 aid trucks enter the Gaza Strip every day, 70 percent of them carrying food — nearly five times more than what the IPC itself said was required for the Strip,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Since the cease-fire, humanitarian agencies have been better able to get aid into Gaza, easing the famine that caused widespread hunger and malnutrition in the area during fighting, when Israel blocked aid from the Palestinians.

“Over the next 12 months, across the entire Gaza Strip, nearly 101,000 children aged 6-59 months are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition and require treatment, with more than 31,000 severe cases,” the report said. “During the same period, 37,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women will also face acute malnutrition and require treatment.”

UNWRA, the U.N. agency for Palestine, supported the report from the IPC.

“The latest report from the IPC info underscores how fragile the gains have been since the cease-fire began in October,” UNWRA said in a statement. “While Gaza Governorate is no longer classified as being in famine, 1.6 million people still face high levels of acute food insecurity. To end this catastrophe, supplies must be let in at scale and humanitarians allowed to do their job.”

The talks between the four countries lauded the first stage of the truce, including expanded humanitarian assistance, return of captives, force withdrawals and reduction in hostilities.

The United States, Egypt, Qatar and Turkiye have urged the parties to the Gaza ceasefire to honour their commitments and show restraint, the chief US envoy says after talks in the US city of Miami.

Senior officials from the four mediator countries met Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, on Friday to review the first phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which took effect on October 10, according to a joint statement released on Saturday.

The meeting was held against the backdrop of ongoing Israeli attacks on the enclave. The Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza said that six people were killed on Friday when an Israeli strike hit a school housing displaced people, raising the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the deal took effect to about 400.

“We reaffirm our full commitment to the entirety of the President’s [Trump’s] 20-point peace plan and call on all parties to uphold their obligations, exercise restraint, and cooperate with monitoring arrangements,” Witkoff said in a statement posted on X.

First phase of truce

Saturday’s statement cited progress yielded in the first stage of the peace agreement, including expanded humanitarian assistance, the return of captives’ bodies, partial force withdrawals and a reduction in hostilities.

It called for “the near-term establishment and operationalisation” of a transitional administration, which is due to happen in the second phase of the agreement, and said that consultations would continue in the coming weeks over its implementation.

Under the truce deal’s terms, Israel is supposed to withdraw from its positions in Gaza, an interim authority is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas, and an international stabilisation force is to be deployed.

On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed hope that countries would contribute troops for the stabilisation force, but also urged the disarmament of Hamas, warning the process would unravel unless that happened.

Hamas statement

A meeting was also held between Hamas’s chief negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin in Istanbul on Saturday.

In a statement from Hamas after the meeting, the group said it was committed to abiding by the ceasefire agreement, despite Israeli violations.

“The delegation stressed the urgent need to halt these continuous violations,” the statement added.

“The delegation also reviewed the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip with the onset of winter, emphasising the critical priority of urgently bringing in tents, caravans, and heavy equipment to save our people from death by cold and drowning, given the destruction of infrastructure and homes.”

Winter storms have been worsening the conditions for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in Gaza, as aid agencies warn that Israeli restrictions are preventing lifesaving assistance from reaching people across the besieged enclave.

Bodies recovered, Israeli strikes continue

On Saturday, an Israeli air strike targeted two people in northern Gaza, according to a statement from the military, which alleged that they “posed an immediate threat” to Israeli troops after crossing the so-called yellow line, which separates areas under Israeli army control from those where Palestinians are permitted to move.

No details were yet available on whether the two people were killed or injured.

Gaza’s Civil Defence on Saturday also said it recovered the bodies of 94 Palestinians from the rubble in the enclave.

The bodies were retrieved in central Gaza City and transferred to the forensic department at Al-Shifa Medical Complex to arrange their burial in the Martyrs’ Cemetery in the central city of Deir el-Balah, according to a statement from the Civil Defence.

Thousands of Palestinians are believed to still be buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza.

The Israeli army has killed more than 70,700 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, and injured more than 171,000 others since it began its genocidal war on the enclave in October 2023.

Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, has warned that babies and children in the Gaza Strip are dying from harsh winter weather, calling on Israel to ease its aid blockade as the military continues to violate the ceasefire and press on with its genocidal war.

Citing the death of a 29-day-old premature baby, Said Asad Abedin, from severe hypothermia in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, MSF said on Friday that winter storms “combined with the already dire living conditions [are] increasing health risks”.

The death toll from extreme weather stood at 13 as of Thursday, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. Another two-week-old baby, Mohammed Khalil Abu al-Khair, froze to death without access to proper shelter or clothing earlier this week.

Ahmed al-Farra, head of the maternity paediatric department at Nasser Medical Complex, said in a video update that “hypothermia is very dangerous” for babies. “If nothing is offered for these families in the tents, for warming, for mobile homes, for caravans, unfortunately, we will see more and more” deaths, al-Farra said.

Children are “losing their lives because they lack the most basic items for survival,” Bilal Abu Saada, a nursing team supervisor at Nasser Hospital, told MSF. “Babies are arriving to the hospital cold, with near-death vital signs.”

In addition to the growing number of deaths, MSF said its staff has recorded high rates of respiratory infections that it expects to increase throughout the winter, posing a particular danger to children under five.

“As Gaza is battered by heavy rains and storms, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians continue to struggle in flooded and broken makeshift tents,” the organisation added. “MSF calls on Israeli authorities to urgently allow a massive scale up of aid into the Strip.”

No letup in Israeli attacks

Palestinian news agency Wafa, meanwhile, reported that Israeli forces demolished buildings, carried out artillery shelling and shot guns in areas east of Gaza City on Saturday morning, with more gunfire reported east of Khan Younis.

On Friday, an Israeli strike on a shelter for displaced Palestinians killed at least six people. The Israeli military claimed to be firing on “suspects”.

Graphic videos from the scene showed body parts and terrified civilians trying to carry wounded people out of danger.

Military vehicles also descended upon the town of az-Zawiya, located west of Salfit in the occupied West Bank, where forces severely beat and injured a number of citizens and stormed homes, the agency said.

‘I can still hear his tiny cries’

Heavy rain, high winds and freezing temperatures have battered Gaza in recent weeks, flooding or blowing away more than 53,000 tents that have served as makeshift shelters for displaced Palestinians.

With huge swaths of buildings and infrastructure destroyed, streets are quick to flood and sewage overflows. Displaced families have sought refuge in the shells of partially fallen-down buildings despite the risk of collapse, with 13 buildings caving in across Gaza last week.

The winter weather and Israel’s blocking of vital aid and mobile homes for shelter have proven deadly for children and babies.

Late in the evening of December 13, Eman Abu al-Khair, a 34-year-old displaced Palestinian living in al-Mawasi west of Khan Younis, found her sleeping baby Mohammed “cold as ice”, his hands and feet frozen and “his face stiff and yellowish”, she told Al Jazeera.

She and her husband couldn’t find transportation to get to hospital, and intense rain made it impossible to make the trek by foot.

After rushing Mohammed by animal-drawn cart to Red Crescent Hospital in Khan Younis at dawn, he was admitted to intensive care with a blue face and convulsions. He died two days later.

“I can still hear his tiny cries in my ears,” Eman said. “I sleep and drift off, unable to believe that his crying and waking me at night will never happen again.”

Mohammed “had no medical problems,” she added. “His tiny body simply couldn’t withstand the extreme cold inside the tents.”

Since the October 10 ceasefire took effect, Israel has continued to block the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip despite calls from a host of United Nations agencies, international organisations and other states for it to stop.

The UN has said that Israel has prevented tents and blankets from reaching Palestinians, even as an estimated 55,000 families have seen their belongings and shelters damaged or destroyed in the storm.

Dozens of child-friendly spaces have also been damaged, affecting 30,000 children, according to the UN.

Natasha Hall, a senior advocate for Refugees International, told Al Jazeera that aid is entering Gaza in a “trickle” in part due to its opaque list of “controlled dual-use items” that has included nappies, bandages, tools, tents and other essentials.

“It’s unclear how those could be used as weapons or any kind of dual use,” Hall said.

A shell company with Israeli ties exploited Palestinians desperate to flee the ongoing war in Gaza, charging them large sums of money to covertly exit the country in what may be an official plan to ethnically cleanse the territory.

In an exclusive digital investigation, Al Jazeera probed last month’s mystery flight that spirited 153 passengers from Gaza to South Africa, unearthing figures working for Al-Majd Europe, an unregistered front organisation that falsely claimed to be working for humanitarian aims.

The Palestinians arrived at OR Tambo International Airport, which serves the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria, on November 13. Refused entry by border police as they did not have departure stamps from Israel on their passports, they were stuck on the aircraft for 12 hours before being allowed to disembark.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa admitted the passengers “out of compassion”, but said at the time that his government, which has long been a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause, would investigate as it seemed that they had been “flushed out” of the Gaza Strip.

Forced evacuations

Israeli officials have previously openly stated that they support what they have termed the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza, in what effectively would be their forced evacuation.

In March 2025, Israel’s security cabinet set up a controversial bureau to get Palestinians to leave Gaza voluntarily, which was headed by former deputy director of the Ministry of Defence, Yaakov Blitstein. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said at the time that 40 percent of Gaza residents were “interested in emigrating”.

The previous month, Al-Majd Europe set up its online presence with a new website stating that it focused on relief efforts in Muslim countries, specifically “for Gazans wishing to exit Gaza”, with claims that it had organised mobile health clinics in the enclave and trips for Palestinian doctors abroad that Al Jazeera later discovered to be false.

A passenger from the November flight to South Africa, whose identity was kept hidden for his own protection, said he contacted the organisation after finding the link online, which promised not only a way out of Gaza, but safety and medical treatment for injuries. “Initially, it said it was free. Then they asked for $1,400 [per person]. Then the price went up to $2,500,” he said.

Testimonies gathered by Al Jazeera showed that payments requested varied from $1,000-2,000 per person, with strict criteria for signing up. Only families would be accepted on condition that they kept their departure secret, with details on flight departures only released a few hours before takeoff.

Passengers say they were told to arrive at the Karem Abu Salem crossing (called Kerem Shalom in Israel) in southern Gaza. When they arrived, their personal belongings were confiscated, and they were put on buses to Ramon Airport, near the Israeli city of Eilat, apparently by Israeli authorities.

Nigel Branken, a South African social worker who helped tho Palestinians on the plane, previously told Al Jazeera that there were “very clearly … marks of Israel involved in this operation to take people … to displace them”.

Evacuees told Al Jazeera they were not informed of their final destination until moments before boarding. They were then escorted onto a flight registered to a brand new airline called FLYYO without exit stamps in their travel documents.

Al Jazeera discovered that FLYYO has organised a number of similar flights, all taking off from Israeli airports, headed to Romania, Indonesia, South Africa, Kenya and other destinations.

False identity

Further scrutiny of Al-Majd Europe, which said it was a “humanitarian foundation established in 2010 in Germany”, with a head office located in Sheikh Jarrah, a neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem, later revealed its identity to be a sham.

Al Jazeera found no company registered by that name on any German or European database. The supposed address does not appear in official Jerusalem records, with the location on Google Maps corresponding to a hospital and a cafe.

While digging into the flights, Al Jazeera found two faces linked to the organisation – both Palestinians. The first was Muayad Hisham Saidam, which the organisation lists as its humanitarian projects manager in Gaza.

A search of Saidam’s name reveals that in May 2024, his wife created a public page to ask for donations to help her family leave Gaza. A year later, Saidam posted an image of himself boarding a plane chartered by Fly Lili, another Romanian airline, announcing that he was departing Gaza.

Using the angle of his shadow, time of the flight and the location of the plane on the Ramon Airport runway, Al Jazeera discovered Saidam was likely on a flight on May 27, 2025, which left Israel for Budapest, with 57 Palestinian passengers from Gaza.

It appears that Saidam’s identity is real, and that his family was likely evacuated to Indonesia. But his connection to Al-Majd Europe is unclear.

The second public face of the organisation belongs to a man named only as Adnan, though he appears to have no digital footprint.

On November 13, the day of the Johannesburg flight, a page containing a number of partner companies was deleted from Al-Majd’s website. Using open-source intelligence techniques, Al Jazeera recovered the page, which showed a number of well-known groups that Al-Majd claimed to have been working with, including the International Red Cross.

One name stood out: Talent Globus – a recruitment company established in Estonia in 2024, with a fund containing only $350. Its website lists four employees, including Director Tom Lind, a businessman with Israeli and Estonian citizenship.

Lind’s name has been linked to a number of other companies where he’s listed either as a founder or director – all without official registration or physical addresses.

Lind’s name appeared in reports by Israeli newspaper Haaretz as one of the coordinators of the flights of Palestinians leaving Ramon Airport.

In May 2025, Lind posted on his LinkedIn page that he had left Talent Globus, and was instead focused on “humanitarian efforts to support Palestinians”. He said that, alongside a network of individuals and groups, he had assisted with the evacuation of a “substantial number” of people from Gaza.

Photos of the other three employees of Talent Globus from its website – James Thompson, Maria Rodriguez, David Chen – all turned out to be stock images.

And much like those employees, it appears as though Al-Majd itself is a fake humanitarian group, leading to the question of what those behind the organisation are trying to hide.

Publicly, Israel has seemed to back down from its plan to encourage “voluntary emigration”. But Al Jazeera’s investigation poses more questions – is Al-Majd part of a bigger plan, a way to quietly empty Gaza of its inhabitants, one secret flight at a time?

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio weighed in on Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas peace efforts and defended the Trump administration’s increasing military pressure on Venezuela during a rare, end-of-year news conference Friday.

In a freewheeling meeting with reporters running more than two hours, Rubio also defended President Trump’s radical overhaul in foreign assistance and detailed the administration’s work to reach a humanitarian ceasefire in Sudan in time for the new year.

Rubio’s appearance in the State Department briefing room comes as key meetings on Gaza and Russia-Ukraine are set to be held in Miami on Friday and Saturday after a tumultuous year in U.S. foreign policy. Rubio has assumed the additional role of national security advisor and emerged as a staunch defender of Trump’s “America First” priorities on issues ranging from visa restrictions to a shakeup of the State Department bureaucracy.

The news conference is taking place just hours before Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff meets with senior officials from Egypt, Turkey and Qatar to discuss the next phase of the Republican president’s Gaza ceasefire plan, progress on which has moved slowly since it was announced in October.

Witkoff and other U.S. officials, including Trump son-in-law and informal advisor Jared Kushner, have been pushing to get the Gaza plan implemented by setting up a “Board of Peace” that will oversee the territory after two years of war and create an international stabilization force that would police the area.

On Saturday, Witkoff, Kushner and Rubio, who will be at his home in Florida for the holidays, are to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s adviser Kirill Dmitriev in Miami to go over the latest iteration of a U.S.-proposed plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

Rubio said there would be no peace deal unless both Ukraine and Russia can agree to the terms, making it impossible for the U.S. to force a deal on anyone. Instead, the U.S. is trying to “figure out if we can nudge both sides to a common place.”

“We understand that you’re not going to have a deal unless both sides have to give, and both sides have to get,” Rubio said. “Both sides will have to make concessions if you’re going to have a deal. You may not have a deal. We may not have a deal. It’s unfortunate.”

The U.S. proposal has been through numerous versions with Trump seesawing back and forth between offering support and encouragement for Ukraine and then seemingly sympathizing with Putin’s hard-line stances by pushing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to agree to territorial concessions. Kyiv has rejected that concession in return for security guarantees intended to protect Ukraine from future Russian incursions.

On Venezuela, Rubio has been a leading proponent of military operations against suspected drug-running vessels that have been targeted by the Pentagon in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean since early September. The Trump administration’s actions have ramped up pressure on leftist Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has been charged with narco-terrorism in the U.S.

In an interview with NBC News on Friday, Trump would not rule out a war with Venezuela. But Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have publicly maintained that the current operations are directed at “narco-terrorists” trying to smuggle deadly drugs into the United States. Maduro has insisted the real purpose of the U.S. military operations is to force him from office.

Rubio sidestepped a direct question about whether the U.S. wants “regime change in 2026” in the South American country.

“We have a regime that’s illegitimate, that cooperates with Iran, that cooperates with Hezbollah, that cooperates with narco-trafficking and narco-terrorist organizations,” Rubio said, “including not just protecting their shipments and allowing them to operate with impunity, but also allows some of them to control territory.”

Rubio defended Trump’s prerogatives on Venezuela and said the administration believes “nothing has happened that requires us to notify Congress or get congressional approval or cross the threshold into war.” He added, “We have very strong legal opinions.”

Trump has spoken of wanting to be remembered as a “peacemaker,” but ceasefires his administration helped craft are already in trouble due to renewed military action between Cambodia and Thailand in Asia and Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa. Rubio, however, said those deals helped create a list of commitments that can now be used to bring both sides back to peace.

“Those commitments today are not being kept,” Rubio said of the Thailand-Cambodia conflict, which now threatens to reignite following Thai airstrikes. ”The work now is to bring them back to the table.”

Rubio’s news conference comes just two days after the Trump administration announced a massive $11-billion package of arms sales to Taiwan, a move that infuriated Beijing, which has vowed to retake the island by force if necessary.

Trump has veered between conciliatory and aggressive messages to China since returning to the Oval Office in January, hitting Chinese imports with major tariffs but at the same time offering to ease commercial pressure on Beijing in conversations with China’s President Xi Jinping. The Trump administration, though, has consistently decried China’s increasingly aggressive posture toward Taiwan and its smaller neighbors in disputes over the South China Sea.

Since taking over the State Department, Rubio has moved swiftly to implement Trump’s “America First” agenda, helping dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development and reducing the size of the diplomatic corps through a significant reorganization. Previous administrations have distributed billions of dollars in foreign assistance over the last five decades through USAID.

Critics have said the decision to eliminate USAID and slash foreign aid spending has cost lives overseas, although Rubio and others have denied this, pointing to ongoing disaster relief operations in the Philippines, the Caribbean and elsewhere, along with new global health compacts being signed with countries that previously had programs run by USAID.

“We have a limited amount of money that can be dedicated to foreign aid and humanitarian assistance,” Rubio said. “And that has to be applied in a way that furthers our national interest.”

Lee and Klepper write for the Associated Press. AP writer Bill Barrow contributed to this report.

Responding to reports that Hamas may be willing to partially disarm, handing over heavy weaponry but keeping its small arms, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said peace will never happen if the group has the capability to “threaten or attack Israel.”

“This is what gives us purpose.” Coders and engineers in Gaza’s tech sector are fighting to finish projects and keep clients, dealing with little electricity, limited internet, and aging equipment.

US envoy Steve Witkoff to meet senior officials from Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye in Miami to discuss next phase of deal.

UN-backed food security experts have found improvements in nutrition and food supplies in Gaza since the ceasefire but say 100,000 people were still experiencing “catastrophic conditions” last month.

In August, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) found that half a million people – about a quarter of Gaza’s population – were living in areas suffering from famine.

Since a fragile ceasefire came into force in October, the UN and other humanitarian agencies have been able to increase food getting into Gaza.

Israel’s foreign ministry said the report was “deliberately distorted” and “doesn’t reflect the reality in the Gaza Strip”.

The latest IPC analysis suggests that a month ago, half a million Gazans were still facing emergency conditions and more than 100,000 were still under the highest level of food insecurity – IPC Phase 5 – experiencing “catastrophic conditions”.

It projects that number will continue to decrease but stressed the situation remains “highly fragile”.

IPC Phase 5 signifies the most extreme level of food insecurity , labelled “Famine” for an area or “Catastrophe” when referring to households. The report said no areas in Gaza were now classified as “in Famine”.

Israel rejected the original findings of famine by the IPC – which monitors and classifies global hunger crises – and has continued to criticise its methodology.

Cogat, the Israeli military body which controls Gaza’s crossings, said the number of trucks with food aid entering each week went beyond what the UN had determined it needed.

“The report relies on severe gaps in data collection and on sources that do not reflect the full scope of humanitarian assistance,” the body said in a statement.

The IPC said acute malnutrition was at critical levels in Gaza City and serious in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.

In the coming months the situation is expected to remain severe but the number of people facing the most severe conditions is predicted to fall to 1,900 by April, according to the report.

But it added that if there were renewed hostilities the entire Strip would be at risk of famine.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this month that the second phase of the US-brokered peace plan – which would see Israel withdraw troops further from Gaza and Hamas disarm – was close but key issues still needed to be resolved.

The IPC said key drivers of food insecurity included restricted humanitarian access, displacement of more than 730,000 people and the destruction of livelihoods – including more than 96% of crop land in Gaza being destroyed or inaccessible.

Israel imposed a total blockade on aid deliveries to Gaza at the start of March this year, which was eased in May, saying it wanted to put pressure on the armed group Hamas to release hostages remaining in Gaza at the time.

Ahead of this IPC report Cogat said the body had not engaged with the US or Israel and its methodology, “reinforcing a false narrative, driven in part by Hamas-sourced claims, while ignoring the actual humanitarian conditions on the ground”.

It also denied Israel was preventing winter and medical supplies from entering the territory and that there was a shortage of drinking water.

Unwra, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said while the report stated Gaza was no longer in famine, the situation remained “critical”.

“Overall living conditions in the Gaza Strip are still catastrophic, made worse by the winter weather,” it said in a statement, adding there must be “sustained, expanded, and consistent humanitarian and commercial access”.

In a territory where 81 percent of buildings lie damaged or destroyed, a small community of young Palestinians is fighting to preserve what remains of Gaza’s digital world.

Coders, repair technicians and freelance workers are labouring under impossible conditions to keep the besieged enclave connected to the outside world.

Against all odds, Gaza’s youths continue to adapt. They work offline, code in notebooks, store solar power whenever the sun is out, and wait for rare moments of connectivity to send their work to clients around the world.

In a war that has taken nearly everything, digital skills have become a form of survival – and resilience.

Many now also rely on online work to make a living. But even that fragile lifeline is now hanging by a thread after more than two years of Israel’s genocidal war.

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Israeli forces have “deliberately and systematically destroyed” the telecommunications infrastructure.

“We just always look for another way to get connected, always find another way,” said Shaima Abu Al Atta, a coder working from a displacement camp. “This is what actually gave us purpose because if we didn’t do this, we would just die surviving and not doing anything. We would die internally.”

Before the war erupted in October 2023, Gaza had a modest but vibrant tech scene. Innovation hubs hosted coding bootcamps, and hundreds of freelancers worked remotely for international clients. Much of that ecosystem now lies in ruins.

Shareef Naim, an engineer who led a technology hub, described what was lost. His building housed more than 12 programmers with contracts for companies outside Gaza, he said. “The team was very active,” Naim told Al Jazeera.

Today, the structure is destroyed, though some team members are still trying to work from tents and emergency shelters.

Computer technician A’aed Shamaly says, “The main challenge is electricity. Today, electricity is not available all the time, and if it is available, it is unstable,  and there will be a lot of cuts. Prices are also high.”

Electricity, when available at all, is unstable and prohibitively expensive, $12 per kilowatt compared with $1.50 for 10 kilowatts before the war, he said. “There are no spare parts,” he added, so technicians must scavenge components from broken equipment pulled from bombed buildings.

The scale of destruction is staggering. According to the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT), approximately 198,273 structures across Gaza have been damaged, with 123,464 completely destroyed. The telecommunications sector has been particularly hard hit.

Data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reveals that 64 percent of mobile phone towers were out of service as of early April 2025. In Rafah, coverage has collapsed to just 27 percent, down from near-universal access before the war.

During the war, connectivity watchdog NetBlocks documented repeated disruptions, including what it called a “near-total telecoms blackout” in January 2024 that lasted for days.

Israel has long restricted Gaza to outdated 2G mobile technology while allowing 4G in the occupied West Bank.

The telecommunications sector’s value has cratered from $13m in 2023 to just $1.5m in 2024, an 89 percent collapse. Estimated losses exceed half a billion dollars, while reconstruction is projected to cost at least $90m.

The consequences ripple across Gaza’s economy and society.

Remote work was a crucial income source in a territory where unemployment exceeded 79 percent even before October 2023. Now, erratic internet access has pushed many freelancers into joblessness just as Israeli-induced famine has sent food prices soaring.

The telecommunications collapse has also paralysed the banking system, preventing money transfers and leaving families unable to access cash. Healthcare has been disrupted, with the World Health Organization documenting deaths caused by the inability to contact emergency services in time.

Even during the fragile ceasefire that took effect in October 2025, Israel has blocked essential repair equipment from entering Gaza. The restrictions form part of what analysts describe as a deliberate strategy to maintain control over Palestinian digital infrastructure and suppress the flow of information to the outside world.

The future remains deeply uncertain, as efforts to push a fragile ceasefire forward appear to stall and Israel threatens the possibility of returning to full-scale war.

The United States Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, will hold talks in Miami, Florida, with senior officials from Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye as efforts continue to advance the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire, even as Israel repeatedly violates the truce on the ground.

A White House official told Al Jazeera Arabic on Friday that Witkoff is set to meet representatives from the three countries to discuss the future of the agreement aimed at halting Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Axios separately reported that the meeting, scheduled for later on Friday, will include Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.

At the same time, Israel’s public broadcaster, quoting an Israeli official, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding a restricted security consultation to examine the second phase of the ceasefire and potential scenarios.

That official warned that Israel could launch a new military campaign to disarm Hamas if US President Donald Trump were to disengage from the Gaza process, while acknowledging that such a move was unlikely because Trump wants to preserve calm in the enclave.

Despite Washington’s insistence that the ceasefire remains intact, Israeli attacks have continued almost uninterrupted, as it continues to renege on the terms of the first phase, as it blocks the free flow of desperately needed humanitarian aid into the besieged Palestinian territory.

According to an Al Jazeera analysis, Israeli forces carried out attacks on Gaza on 58 of the past 69 days of the truce, leaving only 11 days without reported deaths, injuries or violence.

In Washington, Trump said on Thursday that Netanyahu is likely to visit him in Florida during the Christmas holidays, as the US president presses for the launch of the agreement’s second phase.

“Yes, he will probably visit me in Florida. He wants to meet me. We haven’t formally arranged it yet, but he wants to meet me,” Trump told reporters.

Qatar and Egypt, who are mediating and guaranteeing the truce after a devastating two-year genocide in Gaza, have urged a transition to the second phase of the agreement. The plan includes a full Israeli military withdrawal and the deployment of an international stabilisation force (ISF).

Fragile truce, entrenched occupation

Qatar’s prime minister warned on Wednesday that daily Israeli breaches of the Gaza ceasefire are threatening the entire agreement, as he called for urgent progress towards the next phase of the deal to end Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Sheikh Mohammed made the appeal following talks with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, where he stressed that “delays and ceasefire violations endanger the entire process and place mediators in a difficult position”.

The ceasefire remains deeply unstable, and Palestinians and rights groups say it is a ceasefire only in name, amid Israeli violations and a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Since the truce took effect on October 10, 2025, Israel has repeatedly breached the agreement, killing hundreds of Palestinians.

Gaza’s Government Media Office says Israel committed at least 738 violations between October 10 and December 12, including air strikes, artillery fire and direct shootings.

Israeli forces shot at civilians 205 times, carried out 37 incursions beyond the so-called “yellow line”, bombed or shelled Gaza 358 times, demolished property on 138 occasions and detained 43 Palestinians, the office said.

Israel has also continued to block critical humanitarian aid while systematically destroying homes and infrastructure.

Against this backdrop, Israel Hayom quoted an Israeli security official as saying the so-called “yellow line” now marks Israel’s new border inside Gaza, adding that Israeli forces will not withdraw unless Hamas is disarmed. The official said the army is preparing to remain there indefinitely.

The newspaper also reported that Israeli military leaders are proposing continued control over half of Gaza, underscoring Israel’s apparent intent to entrench its occupation rather than implement a genuine ceasefire.

Compounding the misery in Gaza, a huge storm that recently hit the Strip has killed at least 13 people as torrential rains and fierce winds flooded tents and caused damaged buildings to collapse.

Israel’s two-year war has decimated more than 80 percent of the structures across Gaza, forcing hundreds of thousands of families to take refuge in flimsy tents or overcrowded makeshift shelters.

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In a healthcare system devastated by Israel’s genocidal war where medical supplies are few, doctors are turning to 3D printers powered by solar energy to treat some injuries in Gaza. Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary took a closer look.

In a national address, US President Donald Trump claimed the Gaza truce he helped broker brought peace to the Middle East “for the first time in 3,000 years.” Trump’s statement comes despite ongoing Israeli ceasefire violations and near-daily attacks on Gaza.

Winter storms are worsening conditions for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in Gaza, as aid agencies warn that Israeli restrictions are preventing lifesaving shelter assistance from reaching people across the besieged enclave.

The United Nations has said it has tents, blankets and other essential supplies ready to enter Gaza, but that Israeli authorities continue to block or restrict access through border crossings.

In Gaza City’s Shati refugee camp, the roof of a war-damaged family home collapsed during the storm, rescue workers said on Wednesday. Six Palestinians, including two children, were pulled alive from the rubble.

It comes after Gaza’s Ministry of Health said a two-week-old Palestinian infant froze to death, highlighting the risks faced by young and elderly people living in inadequate shelters.

A spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the storms had damaged or destroyed shelters and personal belongings across the territory.

“The disruption has affected approximately 30,000 children across Gaza. Urgent repairs are needed to ensure these activities can resume without delay,” Farhan Haq said.

The Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza added in a statement that “what we are experiencing now in the Gaza Strip is a true humanitarian catastrophe”.

Ceasefire talks and aid access

The worsening humanitarian situation comes as Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani held talks in Washington, DC, with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio on efforts to stabilise the tenuous ceasefire in Gaza.

According to Qatari officials, the talks focused on Qatar’s role as a mediator, the urgent need for aid to enter Gaza, and moving negotiations towards the second stage of a US-backed plan to end Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher, reporting from Washington, said Sheikh Mohammed stressed that humanitarian assistance must be allowed into Gaza “unconditionally”.

“He said aid has to be taken into Gaza unconditionally, clearly making reference to the fact that a number of aid agencies have said that Israel is blocking the access to aid for millions of people in Gaza,” Fisher said.

The Qatari prime minister also discussed the possibility of an international stabilisation force to be deployed in Gaza after the war, saying such a force should act impartially.

“There has been a lot of talk in the US over the past couple of weeks about how this force would work towards the disarmament of Hamas,” Fisher said.

Sheikh Mohammed also called for swift progress towards the second phase of the ceasefire agreement.

“He said that stage two of the ceasefire deal has to be moved to pretty quickly,” Fisher said, adding that US officials were hoping to announce early in the new year which countries would contribute troops to a stabilisation force.

Israeli attacks continue

Meanwhile, violence continued in Gaza despite the ceasefire, with at least 11 Palestinians wounded in Israeli attacks in central Gaza City, according to medical sources.

The Israeli army said it is investigating after a mortar shell fired near Gaza’s so-called yellow line “missed its target”.

Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza reported Israeli artillery shelling east of the southern city of Khan Younis. Medical sources said Israeli gunfire also wounded two people in the Tuffah neighbourhood of eastern Gaza City.

In the occupied West Bank, where Israeli military and settler attacks have escalated in recent days, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israeli troops shot and wounded a man in his 20s in the foot in Qalqilya. He was taken to hospital and is reported to be in stable condition.

Since October 2023, at least 70,668 Palestinians have been killed and 171,152 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities. In Israel, 1,139 people were killed during the Hamas-led October 7 attack, and more than 200 others were taken captive.

More than two months after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ended two years of intense fighting in Gaza, both sides claim the other has violated the agreement, and there is no progress on the more challenging steps that follow.

The ceasefire involves three main documents. The most comprehensive is a 20-point plan by former U. S. President Donald Trump, which proposes that Hamas disarm and cease its governing role in Gaza, accompanied by an Israeli withdrawal. Although a more limited agreement was made on October 9, it mainly focused on hostages, a halt to hostilities, partial Israeli withdrawal, and a boost in aid. This agreement was supported by a United Nations Security Council resolution that aimed to set up a transitional governing body and an international force in Gaza.

The results of the ceasefire have seen all surviving hostages returned and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners released. However, the return of deceased hostages has been slow. Aid distribution has become contentious, with Hamas claiming that fewer aid trucks are entering Gaza than promised. Aid organizations report a significant shortfall in necessary supplies, while Israel asserts it is fulfilling its commitments under the truce. The Rafah border crossing with Egypt remains closed, with Israel stating it will only open it once the last hostage’s body is returned. The living conditions in Gaza are dire, with many residents constructing makeshift shelters from debris, and a large number of children suffering from malnutrition, worsened by floods affecting temporary shelters and sanitation.

Some violence persists, as Palestinian militants have attacked Israeli forces, resulting in casualties on both sides. A proposed international stabilisation force intended to maintain order in Gaza is still undefined, with disagreements over its composition and tasks. Plans for a Palestinian governing body, independent of Hamas, have also not been clarified. The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank, is expected to implement reforms before taking a role in Gaza, but no details have been shared.

The possibility of lasting peace remains uncertain. Israel suggests military action may resume if Hamas does not disarm, yet a return to full-scale war does not seem imminent. Both Israelis and Palestinians are skeptical about the long-term success of the Trump plan and fear it may lead to a continued, unresolved conflict. Many Israelis are concerned about the potential for Hamas to rearm, while Palestinians worry about ongoing Israeli control and lack of resources for rebuilding Gaza.

Trust between Israelis and Palestinians is at a low point, with the two-state solution, considered vital for lasting peace, appearing increasingly distant. Despite international support for Palestinian statehood, Israeli leadership continues to reject this notion, raising doubts about future negotiations and outcomes.

With information from Reuters