Updates: 2 Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces in West Bank raid

This live page is now closed.

If you want to know about how an Israeli settler attack on an occupied West Bank mosque has drawn international condemnation, go here.

You can also read the harrowing story told by a Palestinian girl in Gaza who was found alive in a morgue after an Israeli attack here.

Find out more about how an Italian journalist stands by his decision to ask a question related to Israel that got him fired here.

And for all of our coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza, check out this page.

We will be closing this live page shortly but before we do, here’s a look at the day’s top developments:

• Israeli forces have shot and killed two Palestinian children in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.
• Israel has carried out air raids on Beit Lahiya, eastern areas of Gaza City and the southern city of Khan Younis, where artillery shelling has also been reported.
• More than 900,000 displaced Palestinians and thousands of tents are at risk of flooding in southern Gaza as a severe weather system approaches, authorities have warned.
• Israel has confirmed that the body of a deceased Israeli captive has been received via the Red Cross.
• In the West Bank, Israeli settlers torched and vandalised the Hajja Hamida Mosque in Salfit amid continuing attacks on Palestinians, as Israeli forces launched widespread raids and mass arrests across the territory.
• An Israeli aerial attack targeting a vehicle in the southern Lebanese town of Toul has injured one person.

The Palestinian Authority has confirmed earlier reports that Israeli soldiers killed two 15-year-olds in the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli army said the incident took place near Karmei Zur.

No more details were provided by the Israeli army or the Palestinian authorities.

A spokesperson for Gaza’s civil defence has described the ongoing failure to recover bodies trapped under destroyed homes as “a stain on the conscience of humanity”, saying families continue to beg rescue teams to retrieve their loved ones more than two years after Israeli bombardments.

Mahmoud Basal shared a recent message from a resident pleading for help to recover more than 60 relatives who have remained under the rubble of a home since December 2023.

“I read the message and feel the words choking me,” he wrote.

“Two years have passed and the bodies of innocent people are still buried beneath the debris, with no ability to reach them,” he said, adding that entire families have been left without graves, farewells and closure.

More than 10,000 Palestinians remain buried under the rubble in Gaza, according to the National Committee for Missing Persons, which has described the enclave as “the world’s largest mass grave”.

Israel has continued to prevent the entry of adequate equipment and machinery necessary for their recovery.

More than 900,000 displaced Palestinians are at risk of flooding in southern Gaza as a severe weather system approaches, amid worsening humanitarian conditions and widespread destruction from Israel’s two-year war, municipal authorities have warned.

The approaching storm “is dangerous and threatens to flood thousands of tents along the coastline and damage large areas inside the city”, Saeb Lakkan, a spokesman for the Khan Younis Municipality, said, citing collapsed sewage networks and rainwater retention ponds filled to levels that pose a threat to residents.

The Palestinian Meteorological Department has warned of possible flash floods on Friday and Saturday in valleys and low-lying areas.

“Israeli attacks destroyed roughly 210,000 metres of roads, 300,000 metres of water pipelines and 120,000 metres of sewage lines, leaving the city almost completely paralysed,” Lakkan added.

Officials in South Africa say 150 Palestinians who were left in limbo following a 24-hour ordeal after leaving Gaza to find safety have now been allowed into the country or transit to other destinations.

The group arrived in Johannesburg by plane and was left stranded on the tarmac for nine hours after officials refused to let them get off, as they did not have exit stamps from Israel on their passports.

South African social worker Nigel Branken, who was at OR Tambo international airport in Johannesburg, said the Palestinians were effectively trafficked out of Gaza, by what he said is “clearly an Israeli-linked operation”.

He said the Palestinians were made to leave everything when leaving Gaza before being put on an unmarked plane and flown to Namibia. He said they were then flown to South Africa.

Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) have condemned the killing of two Palestinian children near an illegal settlement outside of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, calling it part of a wider escalation of Israeli violence across the occupied West Bank.

Hamas said Israel’s “fascist” policy of targeting youths and children amounts to a “heinous crime” carried out by a government of “killing and terror”. It said the shootings will not intimidate Palestinians but will instead strengthen their resolve.

The PFLP also described the killings as a “new crime added to Israel’s ongoing record”, saying they form part of an organised campaign aimed at entrenching settler expansion. It warned that settler groups, backed by the Israeli army, are acting with impunity.

Three Palestinians, including a 14-year-old child, have been injured after being shot by Israeli forces on Thursday in the town of al-Eizariya, southeast of occupied Jerusalem, Wafa news agency reports.

A Hamas official has said that the group is continuing efforts to hand over the bodies of Israeli captives despite “difficulties and obstacles”.

The group’s spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, told the Gaza-based Safa news agency that Hamas remains committed to completing the full captive-prisoner exchange process “as quickly as possible”.

Since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began on October 10, the remains of 25 captives have been returned to Israel. The return of the latest body means there are three more captives in Gaza that need to be recovered and handed over.

Israel has been releasing 15 Palestinian bodies for the remains of each captive as part of the agreement. The Gaza Health Ministry said the total number of remains received so far is 315.

Philippe Lazzarini has told the United Nations General Assembly that Gaza’s population remains devastated after two years of war, with a fragile ceasefire offering only limited relief.

He accused Israel of deliberately crippling UNRWA’s operations through legal restrictions, disinformation campaigns and blocked aid entry, citing recent findings by the UN Commission of Inquiry and rulings by the International Court of Justice obligating Israel to lift restrictions on the agency.

“Curtailing or ending UNRWA’s services will have grave consequences for the region,” said Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

The situation across Gaza remains deeply concerning. It’s started to get very cold at night, and soon we will start to see heavy rainfall.

The tents housing displaced people are not prepared to withstand these weather conditions as winter approaches.

Since the Israeli military has blocked the entry of mobile homes and better tents, people must rely on recycled materials. In addition, there are not enough blankets or fuel to help people stay warm.

At the same time, hospitals are also unprepared to deal with potential waves of patients suffering from infectious diseases.

British Muslim journalist and political commentator Sami Hamdi has been released after two weeks of being held in a US immigration detention centre.

In this episode of The Take, we hear from his wife, Soumaya Hamdi, about Sami’s pro-Palestine advocacy, her family’s ordeal, and what her husband’s arrest says about free speech under US President Donald Trump.

Palestinian workers in Gaza City have begun restoration efforts at the historic Pasha Palace Museum, a centuries-old fortress-turned-museum that has been severely damaged during Israel’s war on the enclave.

Workers used only their hands and buckets to remove sand, debris and broken stone from the site, stacking reusable stones in one pile and rubble in another, as an Israeli drone hovered overhead.

UNESCO has identified damage at more than 100 cultural heritage sites since October 2023, including the Pasha Palace, the Saint Hilarion Monastery and Gaza City’s Omari Mosque.

More than 900 Israeli settlers have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem under the protection of Israeli police today, according to local Palestinian news outlets.

Settlers are Israeli citizens living illegally on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Al-Aqsa has become a regular target of visits by right-wing Israeli politicians and settlers, who storm the compound and perform religious rituals under the protection of Israeli forces.

Under the decades-old status quo maintained by Israeli authorities, Jews and other non-Muslims are allowed to visit the compound during specified hours, but they are not permitted to pray there or display religious symbols.

Twelve-year-old Raghad al‑Assar lay unconscious in a Gaza City mortuary for eight hours after being declared dead following an Israeli attack on her home.

Medical personnel initially presumed her dead amid the chaos of the strike, only for signs of life to be detected later.

“We were sitting in our home like everyone else when suddenly bullets, planes and drones came down on us,” Raghad said of the attack that killed two of her sisters and left her with severe injuries and trauma.

Read more here.

“Do you believe Israel should repay for the reconstruction of Gaza?”

This is the question that cost Italian journalist Gabriele Nunziati his job after he asked it during a European Union press conference in October.

He told Al Jazeera he stands by it.

Watch the video below:

The Palestinian Civil Defence in Rafah in Gaza has warned of an imminent humanitarian disaster threatening tens of thousands of displaced people as winter storms are expected to hit the enclave in the coming days.

In a statement carried by the Gaza-based Safa news agency, the Civil Defence said displaced families are sheltering in worn-out tents and destroyed homes in the areas of al-Mawasi in Khan Younis, the outskirts of Rafah and along the coastal strip.

It said these families lack even the most basic protection from cold and rain, cautioning that severe humanitarian consequences are likely unless urgent measures are taken.