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Palestinians Report Israeli Strike on School Ahead of Diplomatic Talks

Palestinians react following a strike at a UN-run school sheltering displaced people, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas, in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip November 4, 2023. (Reuters)
Palestinians react following a strike at a UN-run school sheltering displaced people, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas, in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip November 4, 2023. (Reuters)
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Palestinians Report Israeli Strike on School Ahead of Diplomatic Talks

Palestinians react following a strike at a UN-run school sheltering displaced people, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas, in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip November 4, 2023. (Reuters)
Palestinians react following a strike at a UN-run school sheltering displaced people, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas, in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip November 4, 2023. (Reuters)

Palestinians reported a deadly Israeli strike on a Gaza City area school serving as a shelter on Saturday, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to hear Arab demands for a ceasefire in a meeting in Jordan.

Witnesses said an Israeli strike hit Al-Fakhoura school in Jabalia refugee camp, killing and wounding many of the evacuees who had taken shelter there. At least 15 people died and dozens more were wounded, Mohammad Abu Selmeyah, the head of al-Shifa Hospital, said of the school incident.

Reuters pictures of the aftermath showed broken furniture and other belongings lying on the ground, patches of blood and people crying.

"People were preparing breakfast, when suddenly bombing started. I found my two girls, one of them was martyred and her head was hit, the second was wounded in her leg... the other girl as well was wounded with shrapnel," one man said in video footage obtained by Reuters.

The ministry of health in Gaza said another Israeli missile strike killed two women at the door of the Nasser Children Hospital. Several more people were injured, it said.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on either reported strike and Reuters was not immediately able to verify any more details.

Hours earlier, Gaza health officials had said 15 people were killed in an Israeli air strike on an ambulance on Friday evening that was part of a convoy carrying injured Palestinians at Gaza's biggest hospital, al-Shifa.

Israel's military said it had identified and hit an ambulance "being used by a Hamas terrorist cell" and that a number of Hamas fighters were killed.

The Palestinian health ministry challenged Israel to provide proof that the ambulance was carrying militants. Israel said it intended to release additional information.

Israel's ground forces encircled Gaza City on Thursday after stepping up a bombing campaign it says aims at wiping out Hamas, after the militant group killed 1,400 people and took more than 240 hostage in an Oct. 7 assault in southern Israel.

Israel last month ordered all civilians to leave the northern part of the Gaza Strip, including Gaza City, and head to the south of the enclave, which it has also continued to bomb.

Israel has accused Hamas of hiding among civilians throughout the enclave and concealing command centers and tunnel entrances in al-Shifa, something Hamas and the hospital denies.

Gaza's living conditions, already dire before the fighting, have deteriorated further. Food is scarce, residents have resorted to drinking salty water, medical services are collapsing and Gaza health officials say more than 9,250 Palestinians have been killed.

Israel's military began widespread ground operations a week ago and in its latest update it said a combined tank and combat engineering unit carried out a "pinpoint raid" in the southern Gaza Strip "to map out buildings and neutralize explosives".

The UN humanitarian office OCHA estimates that nearly 1.5 million of Gaza's 2.3 million people are internally displaced.

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati emphasized the urgency of a ceasefire in Gaza when he met Blinken in Amman on Saturday, Lebanon state news agency said.

Blinken, in turn, emphasized his efforts to halt military operations for humanitarian reasons and to address the issue of prisoners.

On Saturday Blinken is also due to meet the Saudi, Qatari, Emirati and Egyptian foreign ministers, as well as Palestinian representatives in Amman, the Jordanian foreign ministry said.

The Arab leaders will stress the "Arab stance calling for an immediate ceasefire, delivering humanitarian aid and ways of ending the dangerous deterioration that threatens the security of the region", the ministry said in a statement.

Washington has maintained robust military and political support for Israel, while calling on its ally to take steps to avoid civilian deaths and address Gaza's humanitarian crisis.

Israel says no pause unless hostages are freed

Hamas has prepared for a protracted war in Gaza and believes it can hold up Israel's advance long enough to force its arch enemy to agree to a ceasefire, two sources close to the organization's leadership said.

The group is also seeking a tangible concession, such as the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli hostages, the sources said.

Hamas official Izzat El Reshiq on Saturday urged Arab leaders and people to pressure Israel and the US administration by cutting diplomatic ties, expelling ambassadors and leveraging oil and economic interests to support the people in the Gaza Strip.

Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday and called for a humanitarian pause in fighting that he said would facilitate work to release hostages, allow aid into Gaza but not prevent Israel from defending itself.

In a televised address, Netanyahu rejected the idea of a pause unless hostages were freed.

A senior Biden administration official said on Friday the US had "indirect engagement" aimed at freeing the hostages.

Explaining why it was taking "so long" to get foreign nationals out, the official said Hamas initially conditioned the release of foreigners on wounded Palestinians being able to exit as well, but one-third of the Palestinians on the list turned out to be Hamas members.

While Blinken was in Israel, the leader of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group warned the United States that if Israel did not stop its assault on Gaza, the conflict could widen into a regional war.

Hassan Nasrallah, in his first speech since the Israel-Hamas conflict erupted, also threatened the US, hinting his paramilitary group was ready to confront American warships in the Mediterranean.

A heavily armed ally of Hamas, Hezbollah has been engaging Israeli forces on the Lebanon-Israel border in the biggest flare-up since it fought a war with Israel in 2006.

Other Iran-aligned groups have entered the fray since Oct. 7, with Iran-backed Shiite groups firing on US forces in Iraq and Syria, and Yemen's Houthis launching drones at Israel.

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Arab World

Israel Begins Demolishing 25 Residential Buildings in West Bank Camp

An Israeli army excavator demolishes buildings during a military operation in Nur Shams refugee camp, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, 31 December 2025. (EPA)
An Israeli army excavator demolishes buildings during a military operation in Nur Shams refugee camp, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, 31 December 2025. (EPA)
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Israel Begins Demolishing 25 Residential Buildings in West Bank Camp

An Israeli army excavator demolishes buildings during a military operation in Nur Shams refugee camp, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, 31 December 2025. (EPA)
An Israeli army excavator demolishes buildings during a military operation in Nur Shams refugee camp, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, 31 December 2025. (EPA)

Israeli bulldozers began demolishing 25 buildings housing Palestinians in a refugee camp on Wednesday, in what the military said was an effort to root out armed groups in northern areas of the occupied West Bank.

The buildings, home to some 100 families, are in the Nur Shams camp, a frequent site of clashes between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli forces.

Israeli military bulldozers and cranes tore through the structures early Wednesday, sending thick plumes of dust into the air, an AFP journalist reported. Many residents watched from a distance.

The military said the demolitions were part of an operation against gunmen.

"Following ongoing counterterrorism activity by Israeli security forces in the area of Nur Shams in northern Samaria, the commander of the Central Command, Major General Avi Bluth, ordered the demolition of several structures due to a clear and necessary operational need," the military told AFP in a statement.

"Areas in northern Samaria have become a significant center of terrorist activity, operating from within densely populated civilian areas."

Earlier this year, the military launched an operation it said was aimed at dismantling Palestinian armed groups from camps in northern West Bank -- including Nur Shams, Tulkarem and Jenin.

"Even a year after the beginning of military operations in the area, forces continue to locate ammunition, weapons, and explosive devices used by terrorist organizations, which endanger soldiers and impair operational freedom of action," the military said on Wednesday.

Earlier in December, AFP reported residents of the targeted buildings retrieving their belongings, with many saying they had nowhere to go.

The demolitions form part of a broader Israeli strategy aimed at easing access for military vehicles within the densely built refugee camps of the West Bank.

Israel has occupied the Palestinian territory since 1967.

Nur Shams, along with other refugee camps in the West Bank, was established after the creation of Israel in 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced from their homes in what is now Israel.

With time, the camps they established inside the West Bank became dense neighborhoods not under their adjacent cities' authority. Residents pass on their refugee status from one generation to the next.

Many residents believe Israel is seeking to destroy the idea of the camps themselves, turning them into regular neighborhoods of the cities they flank, in order to eliminate the refugee issue.

Arab World

UN Makes First Visit to Sudan’s El-Fasher Since Its Fall, Finding Dire Conditions

Sudanese displaced from the Heglig area in western Sudan wait to receive humanitarian aid at the Abu al-Naga displacement Camp in the in Gedaref State, some 420km east of the capital Khartoum on December 30, 2025.(AFP)
Sudanese displaced from the Heglig area in western Sudan wait to receive humanitarian aid at the Abu al-Naga displacement Camp in the in Gedaref State, some 420km east of the capital Khartoum on December 30, 2025.(AFP)
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UN Makes First Visit to Sudan’s El-Fasher Since Its Fall, Finding Dire Conditions

Sudanese displaced from the Heglig area in western Sudan wait to receive humanitarian aid at the Abu al-Naga displacement Camp in the in Gedaref State, some 420km east of the capital Khartoum on December 30, 2025.(AFP)
Sudanese displaced from the Heglig area in western Sudan wait to receive humanitarian aid at the Abu al-Naga displacement Camp in the in Gedaref State, some 420km east of the capital Khartoum on December 30, 2025.(AFP)

A UN humanitarian team visited el-Fasher in Sudan’s Darfur region for the first time since a paramilitary force overran the city in October, carrying out a rampage that is believed to have killed hundreds of people and sent most of the population fleeing.

The hours-long visit gave the UN its first glimpse into the city, which remains under control of the Rapid Support Forces. The team found hundreds of people still living there, lacking adequate access to food, medical supplies and proper shelter, the UN said Wednesday.

“It was a tense mission because we’re going into what we don’t know ... into a massive crime scene,” Denise Brown, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, said of Friday’s visit.

For the past two months, el-Fasher has been nearly entirely cut off from the outside world, leaving aid groups unsure over how many people remained there and their situation. The death toll from the RSF takeover, which came after a more than a year-long siege, remains unknown.

Survivors among the more than 100,000 people who fled el-Fasher reported RSF fighters gunning down civilians in homes and in the streets, leaving the city littered with bodies. Satellite photos have since appeared to show RSF disposing of bodies in mass graves or by burning them.

Brown said “a lot of cleaning up" appeared to have taken place in the city over the past two months. The UN team visited the Saudi Hospital, where RSF fighters reportedly killed 460 patients and their companions during the takeover.

“The building is there, it’s clearly been cleaned up,” Brown said of the hospital. “But that doesn’t mean by any stretch of the imagination that this story has been wiped clean because the people who fled, fled with that story.”

El-Fasher lacks shelters and supplies

El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, had been the last stronghold of the Sudanese military in the Darfur region until the RSF seized it. The RSF and the military have been at war since 2023 in a conflict that has seen multiple atrocities and pushed Sudan into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

The UN team visiting el-Fasher focused on identifying safe routes for humanitarian workers and conducted only an initial assessment on the situation on the ground, with more teams expected to enter, Brown said.

“Villages around el-Fasher appeared to be completely abandoned. We still believe that people are being detained and that there are people who are injured who need to be medically evacuated,” said Brown, citing the initial U.N. findings.

The exact number of people still living in the city is hard to determine, but Brown said they’re in the hundreds and they lack supplies, social services, some medications, education and enough food.

They are living in deserted buildings and in shelters they erected using plastic sheets, blankets and other items grabbed from their destroyed homes. Those places lack visible toilets and access to clean drinking water.

The first charity kitchen to operate since the city’s fall opened Tuesday in a school-turned- shelter, according to the Nyala branch of the local aid initiative Emergency Response Rooms (ERR). The charity kitchen will be operated by ERR Nyala, serving daily meals, food baskets, and shelter supplies. More community kitchens are expected to open across 16 displacement centers, sheltering at least 100 people.

The UN team found a small open market operating while they were in the city, selling limited local produce such as tomatoes and onions. Other food items were either unavailable or expensive, with the price of one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of rice reaching as high as $100, Brown said.

‘Paralyzed’ health care system

Mohamed Elsheikh, spokesperson for the Sudan Doctors Network, told The Associated Press Wednesday that medical facilities and hospitals in el-Fasher are not operating in full capacity.

“El-Fasher has no sign of life, the healthcare system there is completely paralyzed. Hospitals barely have access to any medical aid or supplies,” he added.

Brown described the situation in el-Fasher as part of a “pattern of atrocities” in this war that is likely to continue in different areas.

The United States has accused the RSF of committing genocide in Darfur during the war, and rights groups said the paramilitaries committed war crimes during the siege and takeover of el-Fasher, as well as in the capture of other cities in Darfur. The military has also been accused of rights violations.

Arab World

Israel to Ban 37 Aid Groups Operating in Gaza

Palestinians walk along streets past tent camps for displaced people in Gaza City, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians walk along streets past tent camps for displaced people in Gaza City, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP)
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Israel to Ban 37 Aid Groups Operating in Gaza

Palestinians walk along streets past tent camps for displaced people in Gaza City, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians walk along streets past tent camps for displaced people in Gaza City, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP)

Israel plans to ban 37 aid organizations from operating in Gaza from Thursday unless they hand over detailed information on their Palestinian staff, despite mounting criticism from the United Nations and the European Union. 

Several NGOs have told AFP the new rules will have a major impact on food and medical shipments to Gaza, and humanitarian groups warn there is already not enough aid to cover the devastated territory's needs. 

Israel's deadline for NGOs to provide the details expires at midnight on Wednesday. 

"They refuse to provide lists of their Palestinian employees because they know, just as we know, that some of them are involved in terrorism or linked to Hamas," spokesman for the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, Gilad Zwick, told AFP, naming 37 NGOs that had so far failed to meet the new requirements. 

"I highly doubt that what they haven't done for 10 months, they will suddenly do in less than 12 hours," Zwick said. "We certainly won't accept any cooperation that is just for show, simply to get an extension." 

For its part, Hamas, the armed Palestinian group which still controls part of Gaza, branded the Israeli decision "criminal behavior" and urged the United Nations and broader international community to condemn it. 

Israel says the new regulation aims to prevent bodies it accuses of supporting terrorism from operating in the Palestinian territories. 

A fragile ceasefire has been in place in Gaza since October, following a deadly war waged by Israel in response to Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023. 

On Tuesday, Israel specified that "acts of de-legitimizing Israel" or denial of events surrounding Hamas's October 7 attack would be "grounds for license withdrawal". 

Israel has singled out international medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), alleging that it had two employees who were members of Palestinian groups Islamic Jihad and Hamas. 

"We continue to seek reassurances and clarity over a concerning request to share a staff list, which may be in violation of Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law and of our humanitarian principles," MSF said, urging Israel to allow it to operate. 

"We will be exploring all possible avenues to alter the outcomes of this decision." 

Apart from MSF, some of the 37 NGOs to be hit with the ban are the Norwegian Refugee Council, World Vision International, CARE and Oxfam, according to the list given by Zwick. 

- 'Guarantee access' - 

On Wednesday, United Nations rights chief Volker Turk described Israel's decision as "outrageous", calling on states to urgently insist Israel shift course. 

"Such arbitrary suspensions make an already intolerable situation even worse for the people of Gaza," he said. 

The European Union warned that Israel's decision would block "life-saving" assistance from reaching Gazans. 

"The EU has been clear: the NGO registration law cannot be implemented in its current form," EU humanitarian chief Hadja Lahbib posted on X. 

UN Palestinian refugee agency chief Philippe Lazzarini said the move sets a "dangerous precedent". 

"Failing to push back against attempts to control the work of aid organizations will further undermine the basic humanitarian principles of neutrality, independence, impartiality and humanity underpinning aid work across the world," he said on X. 

UNRWA itself has faced the ire of Israeli authorities since last year, with Lazzarini declared persona non grata by Israel. 

Israel had accused UNRWA of providing cover for Hamas, claiming that some of the agency's employees took part in the October 7, 2023 attack. 

A series of investigations found some "neutrality-related issues" at UNRWA, the agency says, but insists Israel had not provided evidence for its headline allegation. 

On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of 10 countries, including France and the United Kingdom, had already urged Israel to "guarantee access" to aid in the Gaza Strip, where they said the humanitarian situation remains "catastrophic". 

In a territory with 2.2 million inhabitants, "1.3 million people still require urgent shelter support", the ministers of Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland said. 

While a deal for a ceasefire that started on October 10 stipulated the entry of 600 trucks per day, only 100 to 300 are carrying humanitarian aid, aid groups say. 

COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said last week that on average 4,200 aid trucks enter Gaza weekly, which corresponds to around 600 daily. 

Israel's ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg, Idit Rosenzweig-Abu, said that 104 aid organizations had filed for registration according to the new guidelines. 

Nine were rejected, while 37 did not complete the procedures, she said on X, insisting the registration process "intended to prevent the exploitation of aid by Hamas".