Humanitarian team leader describes ‘human chessboard’ in which thousands of people, already displaced many times, are on the run again amid widening Israeli strikes
- See all our coverage of the Israel-Gaza war
Welcome to our live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war on this 26 December. I’m Adam Fulton and here’s a snapshot of the latest developments at it turns 7.50am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv.
Many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have followed Israeli army evacuation orders and sought safety in designated areas only to find there is little space left in the densely populated territory, a UN humanitarian team leader in Gaza has said.
Israeli airstrikes killed more than 100 Palestinians overnight to Monday in Gaza, health officials in the Hamas-run territory said. Twenty-three were killed in Khan Younis, medics said, while the territory’s health ministry said at least 70 Palestinians were killed in an airstrike targeting Maghazi in central Gaza. Associated Press reported later that at least 106 were killed in the attack on the Maghazi refugee camp. Eight people were killed as Israeli planes and tanks carried out dozens of airstrikes on houses and roads in al-Bureij and al-Nuseirat, health officials said.
Hamas and the allied Islamic Jihad have rejected an Egyptian plan proposing that they give up power in the Gaza Strip in return for a permanent ceasefire, two Egyptian security sources told Reuters. Both groups, which have been holding separate talks with Egyptian mediators in Cairo, rejected offering any concessions beyond the possible release of more of the hostages seized on 7 October.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) says Israel “will pay” for killing one of its commanders, Iranian state TV reports. The Tasnim news agency and Reuters said earlier that an airstrike killed Sayyed Razi Mousavi outside Syria’s capital, Damascus. He was an IRGC member responsible for coordinating the military alliance between Syria and Iran. The IRGC described Mousavi as a brigadier general who was one of their oldest advisers in Syria. The Israeli military declined to comment on the reports.
Israeli strikes have killed 20,674 people and injured 54,536 in Gaza since 7 October, the territory’s health ministry said. It said on Monday that 250 Palestinians had been killed and 500 injured over the past 24 hours.
Continue reading…
