In the West Bank, Israeli forces bomb Tulkarm, killing 4 Palestinians riding in a vehicle and injuring 3 bystanders. Israeli forces also shoot and kill 2 Palestinians, including an 80-year-old woman, and injure another during a raid in Balata refugee camp. Elsewhere, Israeli forces issue a punitive demolition notice for a home in Rafat and take measurements for 3 punitive demolitions in Aqabah. Israeli forces also arrest 14 Palestinians during late-night raids in and around Nablus, Ramallah, Jenin, Hebron, and Tulkarm. In Gaza, Israeli forces bomb Gaza City, Rafah, Shati’ refugee camp, Jabalia refugee camp, and Maghazi, killing at least 32 people, including 15 people in 2 attacks on the Dar al-Arqam and Shaaban al-Rayes schools in Gaza City. In Syria, Israeli forces seize a Syrian military base in Maariyah and prevent Syrian farmers from working their land near the base. (AJ, AJ, AJ, AP, AP, HA, REU, REU, UNOCHA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA 12/19)
More than 45,129 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, including at least 17,500 children and 11,487 women, and around 107,338 have been injured since 10/7/2023. At least 11,000 people are missing in rubble. 823 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 10/7/2023, including 170 children. More than 6,500 people have been injured. Israel reports that 1,139 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed and 5,400 have been injured in Israel since 10/7/2023, including Israeli soldiers. In addition, 386 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 2,485 injured in Gaza since the ground invasion began on 10/27/2023. Over 1.93 million Palestinians, nearly 85% of the population of Gaza, have been displaced since 10/7/2023. There has been a complete electricity blackout in Gaza since 10/12/2023 due to the Israeli blockade. 87% of all housing units in Gaza have been destroyed or severely damaged since 10/7/2023. (AJ, HA, WAFA 12/19)
PA president Mahmoud Abbas addresses the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation summit in Cairo, saying full Palestinian membership of the UN is the key to regional stability. Turkish president Recep Tayyib Erdogan calls for an arms embargo on Israel. Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian calls on Muslim countries to unite to end Israel’s attacks on Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. Abbas meets with Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto and Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on the sidelines of the summit. (AJ, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA 12/19)
Haaretz reports that the Israeli Security Cabinet has ordered the increase of security coordination between the Israeli military and the PA security forces and that the cabinet will consider transferring defensive weaponry to the PA. The decisions are reportedly linked to the PA’s fight against resistance groups in Jenin. (HA 12/19)
The UN General Assembly votes to request an ICJ advisory opinion on Israel’s obligation to facilitate aid to Palestinians and its obligation to allow UNRWA to operate in Palestinian territories. The resolution is adopted with 137 votes in favor, 10 against, and 22 abstentions. (AJ, AP, AP, HA, REU, WAFA 12/19)
Doctors Without Borders releases a report titled “Gaza: Life in a death trap”, saying that there are “clear signs of ethnic cleansing as Palestinian life is being wiped off the area” in northern Gaza. The organization also writes that its observations in Gaza are consistent with what other organization have found: “that genocide is taking place in Gaza.” (AJ, WAFA 12/19; AJ 12/20)
Human Rights Watch releases the report “Extermination and Acts of Genocide: Israel Deliberately Depriving Palestinians in Gaza of Water.” The report says that Palestinians in Gaza only have between 2 and 9 liters of water a day because Israel deliberately is depriving Gaza of water. (AJ, AJ, AP, AP, HA, HRW, REU, WAFA 12/19)
Israeli ministers, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, as well as MKs and settler leaders visit a hilltop near northern Gaza to discuss the resettlement of Gaza. (HA 12/20)
9 Palestinian Americans sue the U.S. government for failing to rescue them or their family members trapped in Gaza during Israel’s war. The lawsuit accuses the State Department of discriminating against Americans of Palestinian origin by abandoning them in a war zone while it would evacuate other Americans in similar settings. (REU 12/19)
U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken says in an interview with MSNBC that he hopes the incoming Trump administration will continue the Biden administration’s work on normalizing ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia. (AJ, HA 12/19)
Irish prime minister Simon Harris says at a European Council meeting in Brussels that he wants the EU to address its double standards in relation to supporting international law in Ukraine but not in Gaza. (AJ 12/20)
The Spanish parties Sumar, Podemos, the Republican Left of Catalonia, the Basque EH Bildu, and the Galician Nationalist Bloc urge the government to enforce a full military embargo on Israel and place political and economic sanctions on it. (AJ 12/19)