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Israel is suffocating support for Palestinians: Norwegian Refugee Council

Israel is suffocating support for Palestinians: Norwegian Refugee Council
By Lyndal Rowlands, Zaheena Rasheed, Virginia Pietromarchi, Umut Uras, Alice Speri and Farah Najjar
Published On 2 Dec 2024

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2 Dec 2024 - 23:55
 (23:55 GMT)

Thank you for joining us

For more about the 33 captives Hamas said have been killed in Gaza throughout Israel’s assault on the enclave, read this.

There are no “humanitarian zones” or “evacuation orders” in Gaza, writes Othman Moqbel. For more on his view, read this.

 

2 Dec 2024 - 23:40
 (23:40 GMT)

Here’s what happened today

We will be closing this live page soon. Here is a recap of today’s developments:

  • At least nine people have been killed in renewed Israeli strikes on parts of southern Lebanon, the Health Ministry said.
  • Israel delivered a promised “harsh response” against Hezbollah after the Lebanese group fired “defensive” warning shots at an Israeli military site in the occupied Shebaa Farms area, which it said were in response to multiple ceasefire violations by Israel.
  • Israeli forces have continued to bombard the besieged Gaza Strip, killing several people in northern, central and southern Gaza, while issuing new forced evacuation orders for parts of Khan Younis.
  • Gaza’s Government Media Office said 3,700 people have been killed or missing since Israel’s siege and attacks on northern Gaza started 60 days ago.
  • Hamas has said in a video statement that 33 captives held by the group in Gaza have been killed since the start of Israel’s nearly 14-month-old war “because of the stubbornness of the war criminal”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and “his ongoing aggression”.
2 Dec 2024 - 23:20
 (23:20 GMT)

Qatar, Australia officials meet on Gaza aid

Qatar’s Minister of State for International Cooperation Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al Misnad met with Australia’s Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Tim Watts on the sidelines of the Cairo ministerial conference to enhance the humanitarian response on Gaza, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.

“During the meeting, they discussed cooperation relations between the two countries, as well as the developments in the Gaza Strip, the occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, and regional developments,” the ministry said in a statement.

2 Dec 2024 - 23:05
 (23:05 GMT)

WATCH: Families mourn Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon as ceasefire with Israel faces challenges

More than 200 bodies were temporarily buried near Tyre due to intense Israeli bombardment, which prevented burials in villages.

Despite a US-brokered ceasefire largely holding, there is still concern and insecurity. The Lebanese Army has begun deploying to dismantle Hezbollah’s infrastructure, a task that remains unfulfilled since 2006.

While the ceasefire is under test, Israel continues targeting what it calls “threats” in border areas. There is mistrust between both sides, particularly among Hezbollah supporters, despite hopes for peace.

Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr reports from the southern city of Tyre.

2 Dec 2024 - 22:50
 (22:50 GMT)

Israel, Lebanon tell US they are committed to ceasefire: Report

Both Israeli and Lebanese officials told their US counterparts that they remain committed to the US-brokered ceasefire agreement and want it to continue, despite the recent escalation on the border and reciprocal accusations of ceasefire violations.

The comments, reported by the news site Axios and attributed to sources with knowledge of the issue, come as the truce agreement was pushed to the brink and US officials grow concerned about its durability after Israel killed eleven people in southern Lebanon and Hezbollah attacked an Israeli military base.

Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer met with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan at the White House on Monday and told him that Israel also spoke to Lebanese and Israeli officials who stressed their commitment to the ceasefire.

US special envoy Amos Hochstein told the officials that the ceasefire monitoring mechanism established under the agreement should be notified of violations so that it can address them.

2 Dec 2024 - 22:35
 (22:35 GMT)

Eight children injured in Gaza arrive in US for treatment

By Phil Lavelle

Reporting from Chicago, US

They landed just over an hour ago. They are not through yet. There’s a bit of a logistical challenge because, remember, some of these children can’t walk, so they are having to get wheelchairs and they are having to bring them through.

There’s a big crowd who have assembled here – people waving flags, people with balloons.

This is quite an overwhelming, intimidating process for these children, eight children everywhere from 2 years old to 17 years old, who have been through the most harrowing, heartbreaking experiences.

A two-year-old who had her legs amputated; two brothers who saw their sister die, who are here with their mother – one had to have his arm amputated. They had to leave their four-year-old brother behind and they are now here to begin this long process of recovery.

2 Dec 2024 - 22:20
 (22:20 GMT)
Houthi

Nine killed in Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon, Health Ministry says

At least five people have been killed in renewed Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon’s town of Haris, and two others were wounded, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said in a post on X.

It said four other people were killed, and one was wounded, in an attack on southern Lebanon’s Tallouseh village in the Nabatieh governorate.

Israel has resumed bombarding Lebanon after a fragile US-brokered ceasefire came into effect last week.

2 Dec 2024 - 22:05
 (22:05 GMT)

WATCH: Hezbollah fires at Israel, accusing it of ceasefire ‘violations’

Earlier, Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it fired “defensive” warning shots at the Israeli army, in response to ceasefire “violations” that killed and wounded civilians.

Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem and Nour Odeh recap the latest developments:

2 Dec 2024 - 21:50
 (21:50 GMT)

Israeli army issues new forced evacuation orders for parts of Khan Younis

Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee has issued forced evacuation orders for Palestinians in parts of southern Gaza’s Khan Younis.

In a post on X, he published the numbers of five blocks in the northern Khan Younis area, ordering people to leave “immediately”.

Earlier, the Israeli army said it intercepted a rocket that was launched towards it from the area.

2 Dec 2024 - 21:30
 (21:30 GMT)

Israeli military says struck Hezbollah fighters, equipment

Israel’s army says its fighter jets struck “dozens of Hezbollah fighters, [rocket] launchers, and infrastructure throughout Lebanon”.

In a statement on X, the army decried a strike by Hezbollah from earlier today in what it said was a violation of the ceasefire agreement, which came into effect last week on November 27. Hezbollah said it fired “defensive warning shots” at an Israeli military site in response to multiple violations by Israeli forces.

“The [Israeli army] is prepared to continue attacking as long as necessary,” it said.

The announcement comes as Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, promised a “harsh response” against Hezbollah.

2 Dec 2024 - 21:15
 (21:15 GMT)

Israeli military says it intercepted drone launched ‘from the east’

The Israeli military said in a post on X that it had intercepted a drone launched from the east.

“A Navy missile ship intercepted an unmanned aerial vehicle launched from the east a short time ago in the Red Sea,” the military said.

“The vessel was intercepted before crossing into Israel, according to policy, no alerts were activated.”

2 Dec 2024 - 21:00
 (21:00 GMT)

Palestinian man injured by Israeli gunfire in occupied West Bank

The 38-year-old man has sustained wounds to his knee when Israeli forces opened fire towards him near the separation wall, north of Tulkarem in the West Bank, Wafa reports.

It cited the Palestine Red Crescent as saying that the man has been moved to the government hospital in Tulkarem.

In 2002, Israel started constructing the wall, which slices through Palestinian communities and farmland. It was deemed illegal in an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice in 2004.

2 Dec 2024 - 20:45
 (20:45 GMT)

US Senator Sanders says Israel carrying out ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Gaza

US Senator Bernie Sanders says Netanyahu’s government is committing “war crimes” and “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza.

“You don’t fight terrorism by starving people & killing tens of thousands of civilians,” the 82-year-old leftist and two-time presidential candidate said in a post on X.

Sanders voiced his agreement with Moshe Yaalon, Netanyahu’s defence minister from 2013 to 2016, who on Sunday accused Israel of committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing in Gaza.

Yaalon told Israeli media that hardliners in Netanyahu’s far-right cabinet are looking to remove Palestinians from northern Gaza and re-establish settlements there.

2 Dec 2024 - 20:30
 (20:30 GMT)
Developing

Israel continues Lebanon attacks

Our correspondent reports more Israeli air strikes on Lebanese territory, including on Hawsh al-Sayyid Ali and Wadi al-Zein in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon.

There was also a raid reported near the town of Yater in southern Lebanon.

Israel has still not provided information on this round of attacks, which it announced earlier this evening.

Israeli officials had said a harsh response was incoming after Hezbollah fired what it said were “defensive” missiles at an Israeli army position in the disputed Shebaa Farms area.

2 Dec 2024 - 20:15
 (20:15 GMT)

Seven people killed in Israeli attacks on central, northern Gaza

At least two Palestinians have been killed when Israeli forces targeted a “group of people” on Gaza City’s Jalaa Street, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reports, adding that several others have been wounded.

Earlier, two other people were killed when an Israeli air raid struck a market on Gaza City’s Omar al-Mukhtar Street, Wafa said, while an attack on the Sabra neighbourhood in the area killed two more people.

A child was also killed by Israeli artillery fire when Israeli forces targeted a school-turned-shelter in northern Gaza’s Jabalia, it added.

2 Dec 2024 - 20:00
 (20:00 GMT)

Hamas says 33 captives killed in Gaza since war started

Hamas says 33 captives held by the group in Gaza have been killed since the start of Israel’s nearly 14-month-old war there.

The group issued a video statement on Monday saying the captives were killed “because of the stubbornness of the war criminal” Netanyahu and “his ongoing aggression”.

Hamas’s video lists and dates the incidents in which the group said captives were killed. Most of them were air strikes. However, some were rescue attempts by the Israeli military gone wrong.

Hamas made the announcement as key mediators, including Egypt, Qatar and the United States, launch another effort to reach a ceasefire that would see the release of Israeli captives.

“By continuing your mad war, you may lose your captives forever,” the video concluded. “Do what needs to be done before it’s too late.”

2 Dec 2024 - 19:45
 (19:45 GMT)

Trump threatens ‘HELL’ if Israeli captives are not released

US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened unspecified harsh consequences for the Middle East and Hamas if captives taken from Israel and still held in Gaza are not released by the time he is inaugurated on January 20, 2025.

“Everybody is talking about the hostages who are being held so violently, inhumanely, and against the will of the entire World, in the Middle East – But it’s all talk, and no action!” Trump wrote.

Israel has killed more than 45,000 people in Gaza since Hamas fighters took the captives there more than a year ago.

2 Dec 2024 - 19:30
 (19:30 GMT)

State Department: US, France to look at ‘potential ceasefire violations’

The US will look into allegations of violations of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah as laid out under the terms it brokered.

“What we have seen since the ceasefire went into effect is that it has been broadly successful in stopping the fighting and getting us on a path where we are not seeing the daily loss of life that we had seen for two months prior,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters at a news briefing.

“Now with respect to violations or potential violations of the ceasefire, we set a mechanism up to look into this very question, where the United States along with France will engage with the Israeli military and will engage with the Lebanese military to look at potential violations.”

“We obviously anticipated that there might be violations because any time or nearly any time you have a ceasefire of this nature you have either claimed violations of the ceasefire, especially in the opening weeks, which are very fragile, or you have real violations.”

Earlier in the day, France accused Israel of violating the ceasefire more than 50 times.

2 Dec 2024 - 19:15
 (19:15 GMT)
Houthi

Israeli army says it is attacking targets in Lebanon

The army also says on X that it will provide more details on these attacks at a later time.

This comes after senior Israeli officials threatened to respond harshly to earlier Hezbollah missile fire on an army position in what the group described as “defensive” warning shots, accusing Israel of dozens of ceasefire violations that killed and wounded civilians.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Lebanon says attacks have so far hit the al-Rayhan Heights and the outskirts of the towns of Jbaa and Houmin al-Fawqa in southern Lebanon.

We will bring you more on this as events develop.

2 Dec 2024 - 19:00
 (19:00 GMT)

Israel promises to enforce ceasefire ‘with fire’

By Nour Odeh

Reporting from Amman, Jordan

Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank

The assessment in Israel is that this is a “grave violation”, as several senior officials have put it.

The Israeli prime minister has said that Israel “will respond harshly”. The chief of staff of the Israeli army, Herzi Halevi, has also said that Israel will respond, that the response will be powerful and that Israel already has a bank of targets that it can direct its fire towards.

Of course, that same senior official had already said that Israel would impose the ceasefire “with fire”, meaning that Israel from the start said that it would be the one “enforcing” the ceasefire and that it would be using that fire against Hezbollah wherever that group moves, whether in Lebanon or even beyond Lebanese territory.

For now, nobody is considering the ceasefire to be a foregone arrangement, but certainly, there is a lot of anticipation for what kind of harsh response Israel has in store.