Infant

Eight-month-old among multiple Palestinians wounded in attacks across the occupied West Bank.

Five Israeli settlers have been arrested over their alleged involvement in an attack on a Palestinian home that wounded an eight-month-old baby in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the infant suffered “moderate injuries to the face and head” in the attack that took place late on Wednesday involving “a group of armed settlers” who were throwing stones at homes and property in the town of Sair, north of Hebron.

Israeli police on Thursday said five settlers were arrested after they received reports of “stones being thrown by Israeli civilians toward a Palestinian home”.

Israeli settlements and outposts are Jewish-only communities built on Palestinian land that are illegal under international law. They can range in size from a single dwelling to a collection of high rises. About 700,000 settlers live in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, according to the Israeli advocacy group Peace Now.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, a 17-year-old boy was shot and dozens of Palestinians suffered tear gas inhalation during an Israeli army raid in the town of Beit Furik, east of Nablus, Wafa reported.

The report added that “Israeli forces carried out a widespread incursion into the town, firing live bullets and tear gas canisters across its neighborhoods”.

Israeli forces also detained three Palestinians from Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, after settler attacks.

Also in Masafer Yatta, Israeli forces raided homes and tents belonging to residents, searched them and vandalised their contents before detaining one resident.

Another Palestinian man was wounded in a settler attack in the town of Deir Jarir, east of Ramallah.

Local sources said armed settlers attacked homes near the village entrance, resulting in minor injuries to a young man.

Winter cold ‘becomes lethal’ as Israel restricts entry of tents, blankets and other shelter supplies to ravaged enclave.

A Palestinian infant has frozen to death in the Gaza Strip, local authorities say, as Israel continues to restrict the entry of shelter supplies and other humanitarian aid to the enclave despite the harsh winter conditions there.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Tuesday that the two-week-old baby, Mohammed Khalil Abu al-Khair, died a day earlier after seeking treatment for severe hypothermia, brought on by the extreme cold gripping Gaza.

Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum noted that the child’s death comes as basic protections in Gaza have been “systematically dismantled” due to Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the territory.

“Families are living in tents on wet ground without heating, electricity or sufficient clothing,” Abu Azzoum said. “When food, fuel, shelter and aid are banned, cold absolutely becomes lethal.”

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.

A huge storm that recently hit the Strip killed at least 11 people as torrential rains and fierce winds flooded tents and caused damaged buildings to collapse.

“We try to dry the children’s clothes over the fire,” Umm Mohammed Assaliya, a displaced Palestinian mother, told Al Jazeera from Gaza City.

“There are no spare clothes for them. I am exhausted. The tent we were given cannot withstand winter conditions. We need blankets,” she said.

Humanitarian groups have urged Israel to allow unimpeded deliveries of aid to Gaza.

But the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which the UN says is best suited to distribute supplies in the territory, says the Israeli government has blocked it from bringing aid directly into Gaza.

“People have reportedly died due to the collapse of damaged buildings where families were sheltering. Children have reportedly died from exposure to the cold,” UNRWA said in a social media post on Tuesday.

“This must stop. Aid must be allowed in at scale, now.”

Hamas slams Israeli ceasefire violations

Meanwhile, Hamas has condemned Israel for its repeated violations of a ceasefire deal that came into effect in October.

At least 393 Palestinians have been killed and 1,074 others wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the first full day of the ceasefire on October 11, according to the latest figures from the enclave’s Health Ministry.

The Israeli military also killed a senior Hamas leader, Raed Saad, in a targeted attack on a vehicle in western Gaza City on Saturday, further straining the tenuous truce.

On Tuesday, Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad accused Israel of “manipulating” the text of the US-brokered agreement.

“We want to make it absolutely clear: the ceasefire agreement is straightforward, detailed, and unambiguous. However, it’s evident that the Israeli occupation has distorted the text, manipulating and violating every single article,” Hamad said.

“Since day one, Hamas has fully abided by the agreement and honoured its commitments. In contrast, Israel has deliberately committed several systematic and preplanned breaches.”