In the West Bank, a Palestinian man succumbed to injuries sustained from Israeli forces on 11/14 in Tulkarm. Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians living in a Bedouin community east of Bethlehem throwing acid at their tents, causing damage. Israeli settlers also attacked Palestinian shepherds in the northern part of the Jordan Valley. Israeli forces killed 6 Palestinians, including a child, and seriously injured 4 others, using a drone strike during a raid in Nur Shams refugee camp. Israeli forces also shelled a house, opened fire at vehicles, and prevented ambulances from reaching the injured. Elsewhere, Israeli forces shot and injured 3 Palestinians in Bani Na’im, including a child, and assaulted a child in Hebron. Israeli forces also demolished a home in al-Juwaya near Yatta, displacing 7 people. 12 Palestinians were arrested in and around Bethlehem, Ramallah, and Tulkarm. In East Jerusalem, Israeli settlers placed a dead donkey’s head among graves at the Bab al-Rahma cemetery. Israeli settlers also toured the Haram al-Sharif compound. In Gaza, telecommunications were partially restored in the south. Israeli forces bombed Jabalia refugee camp, al-Bureij refugee camp, Gaza City, Maghazi, Khan Yunis, and Rafah, killing at least 195 people, including 31 people outside of al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis and 6 sheltering in an UNRWA school in Maghazi. Israeli snipers killed 6 Palestinians in Gaza City. 3 Israeli soldiers were killed in combat. In Lebanon, Israeli forces killed 3 people in an airstrike on Bint Jbeil, including a Lebanese Australian man and his wife. Hezbollah-fired projectiles damaged a school and a home in Kiryat Shmona. (AJ, AJ, AJ, HA, HA, HA, NYT, UNOCHA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA 12/27; HA, WAFA 12/28; AJ 12/29)
More than 21,110 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, including at least 8,800 children and 6,300 women, and around 55,243 have been injured since 10/7. At least 7,000 people were missing in rubble, including 1,700 children. 305 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 10/7, including 79 children. More than 3,800 people have been injured. Israel reported that 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed and 5,400 have been injured since 10/7. 162 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 898 injured in Gaza since the ground invasion began on 10/27. Over 1.93 million Palestinians, nearly 85% of the population of Gaza, have been displaced since 10/7. There has been a complete electricity blackout in Gaza since 10/12 due to the Israeli blockade. As of 12/23, at least 65,000 housing units had been destroyed and 290,000 had been damaged in Israeli airstrikes since 10/7, constituting over 60% of all housing units. The Gaza media office said that Israeli airstrikes have killed 3,111 medics and medical staff, 40 civil defense staff, and more than 100 journalists and destroyed 92 schools and universities, 115 mosques, and 3 churches. 110 trucks carrying aid entered Gaza via the Rafah crossing. (AJ, UNOCHA, UNOCHA, WAFA 12/27; UNOCHA 12/28)
Palestinian journalist Hossam Shabat said Israel had threatened to bomb his home if he did not delete all of his reporting on social media since 10/6, and later bombed his home when he refused to leave and delete his reporting. (AJ 12/27)
The PA Finance Ministry announced that public servants would only receive 65% of their salaries for November because of Israel withholding the PA’s tax revenue. Last month public servants received 50% of their salaries while being promised that the remainder would be paid in full once the financial crisis is over. (WAFA 12/27)
French president Emmanuel Macron spoke with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling on Israel to work toward a “durable ceasefire.” (AJ, HA 12/27; HA 12/28)
Israeli MK and former defense and foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israel should seize the buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, and “dig in,” which he believed will lead to the displacement of 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza who would flee to Egypt. War cabinet member Benny Gantz said Israel’s war on Gaza would continue and expand. Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen said countries that are interested in taking Palestinian refugees from Gaza should send his office an email. (AJ, HA 12/27)
Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said he will replace Israel Prison Service chief commissioner Katy Perry because she has been too lenient with Hamas prisoners, saying “terrorists deserve harsh treatment.” Perry was replaced by Ben-Gvir’s military secretary Kobi Yaakovi on 12/28. (HA 12/26; AJ, HA 12/27; AJ, HA, HA 12/28)
Jordanian king Abdullah II and Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi reiterated their position that they will not accept the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank. (AJ, HA 12/27)
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that there was no difference between Prime Minister Netanyahu’s actions in Gaza and those of Adolf Hitler. Foreign Minister Cohen said in response that the Israeli ambassador would not return to Turkey while Erdoğan is president. (AJ, AJ, HA, HA, NYT 12/27)
The Wall Street Journal reported that Egypt had received proposals for ceasefire negotiations from Israel and Hamas. The Journal reported that the main issue between Israel and Hamas was Hamas insisting on being part of the future government in Gaza. (AJ 12/27)