EXPLAINER
An unparalleled raid has broken out in Ramallah as Gaza continues to be hit – here are the latest updates.
Here’s how things stand on Thursday, December 28, 2023:
Latest developments
- A large fire broke out in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah after an Israeli strike targeted tents with displaced people in the Tal az-Zohour neighbourhood.
- Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut reports that Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that additional reinforcements have been sent into the outskirts of Khan Younis, the south of the Palestinian territory.
Raids in the West Bank
- Raids continue all over the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith and Imran Khan reported, adding that the raids hit the centre of Ramallah on Wednesday night which is the administrative headquarters of the Palestinian Authority.
- It is not usual for raids to hit the city centre. Fierce clashes have been reported at al-Manara Square in the centre of Ramallah.
- An Israeli soldier has been reported injured in this raid. One Palestinian has been reported killed while 15 have been reported injured in the Ramallah raid.
- According to Palestinian figures, an average of 42 raids have been happening across the occupied West Bank since October 7.
- Al Jazeera’s Khan reported that there are unconfirmed reports that money exchange stores are a target of raids in Ramallah.
- Palestinian journalist Salman al-Khatib was shot in the thigh while covering the violence in Ramallah.
- Israeli forces’ live bullets injured a 17-year-old Palestinian and two young men in their 20s in the town of Bani Naim, east of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, Wafa reported.
- Hasan Brijiyeh, from the separation wall and settlements’ committee in Bethlehem, told Wafa that Israeli colonists poured acid from a drone on a family’s tent in the east of Bethlehem on Wednesday.
- The family of nine living in the Rashaydeh locality survived this acid attack by escaping their tent.
Human impact and fighting
- Local sources have reported at least seven civilians, mostly women and children, were killed late on Wednesday in Israeli shelling on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
- Another house was shelled in the az-Zawayda area while occupation jets also raided Khan Younis and Rafah, Wafa added.
- The UN reports that 22 Israeli soldiers were killed over Tuesday and Wednesday in Gaza, bringing the total number of Israeli forces killed in the Palestinian territory to 162 since the outbreak of violence.
Diplomacy
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler, drawing parallels between the Gaza war and the genocide in Nazi Germany, on Wednesday.
- In response, Netanyahu pointed fingers at Turkey’s alleged rights abuses.
- French President Emmanuel Macron urged Netanyahu to work towards a durable ceasefire.
- As hunger and disease continue to ravage Gaza, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the recent UN Security Council resolution needs to be turned into a reality in a post on X on Thursday.
Day after day, the needs of #Gaza’s war-ravaged people grow. Peril, ill-health, hunger, thirst, lack of shelter—these should not be the norm for millions of people. But sadly, they are.@WHO and our partners have undertaken additional missions in northern and southern Gaza to… https://t.co/nFcTylnGQ0 pic.twitter.com/pf1nHqoC9n
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) December 27, 2023
