As Israeli aggression in Gaza, Lebanon, and Post-Assad Syria deepens human suffering and regional instability, and amid growing international calls for ceasefires and de-escalation, Ahram Online covered the latest developments in the Middle East as they unfolded on Tuesday, 24 December.
21:30 The Palestinian health ministry reported that an ongoing raid by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank has resulted in eight fatalities, including two women.
The ministry said seven were killed in the Tulkarem refugee camp and one in the nearby Nur Shams camp after the military launched a sweeping raid early on Tuesday.
20:30 Christians gathered at the Church of the Nativity in the holy city of Bethlehem on Tuesday to mark a solemn Christmas overshadowed by war as Pope Francis led mass in the Vatican.
19:30: Syria's new leaders announced Tuesday that they had agreed with the country's rebel groups to dissolve and integrate them under the defence ministry.
17:45 Yemen's Houthi rebels on Tuesday said they fired a "ballistic missile" at central Israel after the Israeli military said it intercepted a "projectile".
The Iran-backed rebels, who have targeted Israel as well as key maritime routes, last week fired two missiles that caused damage and more than a dozen injuries in the commercial hub of Tel Aviv.
On Tuesday, the Houthis said in a statement that they had targeted a military site "of the Israeli enemy in the occupied area of Yaffa with a hypersonic ballistic missile", using the Arabic name for Jaffa, part of Tel Aviv.
The Israeli military earlier said it had intercepted "a projectile that was launched from Yemen" after air raid sirens sounded in the centre and south of Israel.
It said the projectile "was intercepted prior to crossing into Israeli territory".
Israel's emergency medical service reported no injuries.
17:00 Turkish Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu announced on Tuesday that Turkey plans to initiate negotiations with Syria to delineate maritime borders.
"Of course an authority must first be established there... It will be on our agenda for sure, but it's hard to say that it's on today's agenda," Uraloglu added.
The move comes as part of Ankara's broader efforts to normalize relations with Damascus after the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
16:10 Two people were killed and four others injured in an initial toll from a car explosion in the northern Syrian city of Manbij on Tuesday, local sources reported.
On Monday, The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced that they had advanced within 15 kilometres of Manbij's city centre and shifted from defensive to offensive operations in the surrounding countryside.
In a statement to Al Arabiya, SDF officials confirmed ongoing coordination with the political administration in Damascus as part of broader efforts to secure the region.
Manbij is a strategic city in northern Syria, located in the Aleppo Governorate near the Turkish border.
15:46 At least seven Palestinians, including two civil defence workers, were killed by the Israeli army on Tuesday in Gaza City.
Mahmoud Bassal, spokesperson for the civil defence agency, told the German Press Agency (DPA) that the Israeli occupation army targeted the civil defence headquarters in Gaza City, killing four people in this strike.
"Among the victims were two security personnel, a father and his son, who were present in the civil defense building in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood in eastern Gaza City," Bassal said.
14:44 The Al-Quds Brigades announced a successful ambush of an Israeli infantry force in the Al-Azba area west of Beit Hanoun on Sunday evening. According to the group, resistance fighters had booby-trapped a house with multiple anti-personnel bombs, targeting 12 soldiers who had taken refuge inside.
Al-Quds Brigades said that they also detonated an Israeli military vehicle.
14:17 A Dutch court has convicted five men for their part in last month's violence in Amsterdam after a football match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The Amsterdam district court found them guilty of a range of crimes, from kicking fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv in the street to inciting violence in chat groups.
The heaviest sentence imposed was six months in prison for a man for reported public violence against several people.
The prosecutor said the beatings had "little to do with football" but added that "in this case, there was no evidence of … a terrorist intent and the violence was not motivated by anti-Semitic sentiment," AFP reported.
Violence flared in Amsterdam on 7 November evening after the Europa League when Maccabi Tel Aviv fans started chanting racist slurs against Arabs and Palestinians and climbing on a building to tear down a Palestinian flag on display.
"Let the Israeli army win to F**k the Arabs!" they chanted.
"There are no schools in Gaza because there are no children left."
Social media users noted that the videos of the genocidal diatribe were captured before the clashes started.
Elsewhere, Israeli fans chanted "F**K Palestine."
14:10 Qatar called for the quick removal of sanctions on Syria.
"We call for intensified efforts to expedite the lifting of international sanctions on Syria," foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari told a regular briefing.
"Qatar's position is clear," Ansari said. "It's necessary to lift the sanctions quickly, given that what led to these sanctions is no longer there and that what led to these sanctions were the crimes of the former regime."
Qatar's call came a day after a high-level delegation visited Damascus. On Sunday, the Qatari embassy reopened, ending a 13-year rift between the two countries.
13:52 The UN organization assisting in investigating the most serious crimes in Syria said Monday the country's new authorities were "very receptive" to its request for cooperation during a just-concluded visit to Damascus, and it is preparing to deploy.
The visit led by Robert Petit, head of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for Syria, was the first since the organization was established by the UN General Assembly in 2016. It was created to assist in evidence-gathering and prosecution of individuals responsible for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity since Syria's civil war began in 2011.
Petit highlighted the urgency of preserving documents and other evidence before they are lost.
Since the rebel overthrow of Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad and the rebel opening of prisons and detention facilities, there have been rising demands from Syrians for the prosecution of those responsible for atrocities and killings while he was in power.
"The fall of the Assad rule is a significant opportunity for us to fulfill our mandate on the ground," Petit said. "Time is running out. There is a small window of opportunity to secure these sites and the material they hold."
13:44 Syria's new authorities announced they had agreed with the country's rebel groups on their dissolution and integration into the regular defence forces.
"A meeting of the heads of the groups" with new Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa "ended in an agreement on the dissolution of all the groups and their integration under the supervision of the Ministry of Defence. "
13:29 Israel has killed at least 45,338 Palestinians, the vast majority of children and women, and injured 107,764 others since it started its genocidal war on Gaza in October last year.
In its latest toll, the Health Ministry said hospitals in the besieged Palestinian territory received a total of 21 bodies and 51 wounded people during the last 24 hours.
13:00 As more evidence of Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza emerges Israeli soldiers have shared harrowing testimonies, offering a chilling account of the violence they have carried out. Published by Haaretz, these firsthand accounts shed light on the atrocities of Israeli forces, with some soldiers remorselessly describing their actions.
One account details a shocking incident: "A new commander came to us. We went out with him on the first patrol at six in the morning. He stops. There's not a soul in the streets, just a little 4-year-old boy playing in the sand in his yard. The commander suddenly starts running, grabs the boy, and breaks his arm at the elbow and his leg here. Stepped on his stomach three times and left. We all stood there with our mouths open, looking at him in shock... I asked the commander: 'What's your story?' He told me: 'These kids need to be killed from the day they are born. When a commander does that, it becomes legit.'"
Other soldiers who carried out such atrocities revealed a deep sense of moral injury. One described the experience: "I felt like, like, like a Nazi... it looked exactly like we were actually the Nazis and they were the Jews."
The testimonies also reveal a disturbing sense of ideological violence that fueled the brutality. Some soldiers expressed belief in Jewish supremacy and showed complete disregard for Arab lives.
One soldier recounted a murder: "An Arab just walked down the street, about 25 years old, didn't throw a stone, nothing. Bang, a bullet in the stomach. Shot him in the stomach, and he was dying on the sidewalk, and we drove away indifferently."
Another soldier described another cold-blooded murder: "X shot an Arab four times in the back and got away with a self-defense claim. Four bullets in the back from a distance of ten meters... cold-blooded murder. We did things like that every day."
12:20 Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, 14,500 children have been killed, the UNRWA said, with UNICEF estimating that one child is killed every hour. "These are not just numbers, but lives cut short," the UN agency for Palestinian refugees added.
"Killing children cannot be justified. Those who survive are scarred physically and emotionally. Deprived of learning, boys & girls in Gaza sift through the rubble."
"The clock is ticking for these children," the relief agency added.
"They are losing their lives, their futures & mostly their hope."
"All wars have rules. All of those rules have been broken," Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of UNRWA, said earlier.
"Attacks on schools and hospitals have been commonplace. The world must not become numb."
11:48 At least one Palestinian has been killed in an Israeli drone attack north of Gaza's southern city of Rafah.
The Palestinian Information Centre said a quadcopter drone targeted a group of people in the area.
Earlier, the Israeli artillery shelling east of Deir El-Balah city also killed at least one Palestinian and injured several others.
11:19 Israeli forces have conducted a large-scale raid in the Tulkarm refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, killing at least one Palestinian and causing extensive damage across the area.
According to WAFA news agency, the raid took place early on Tuesday, when Fathi Saeed Odeh Salem, a young man from the camp, was shot dead by Israeli snipers in the Al-Hadaideh neighbourhood.
A large military force, supported by bulldozers and drones, stormed the camp and imposed a tight siege on the area as snipers took positions on surrounding buildings.
The ongoing assault has caused severe damage to the camp's infrastructure, with bulldozers demolishing homes, shops, and facilities.
The water network has been disrupted, and the area has experienced power outages. The violence has also led to confrontations, and loud explosions have been heard throughout the camp.
Simultaneously, Israeli forces stormed Nablus and the Balata refugee camp, injuring three Palestinians and detaining one.
The Red Crescent provided medical aid to the wounded despite facing obstacles from Israeli forces.
The UNRWA also announced that school activities in the area would be postponed due to safety concerns.
Israeli forces have arrested at least 15 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since yesterday evening, according to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner's Society.
The detainees include former prisoners and injured persons. Arrests have been made across multiple occupied governorates, including Nablus, Hebron, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Qalqilya, Tubas, Tulkarem, and Salfit.
10:57 More than 25,000 Syrians have returned home from Turkey since HTS rebels took power, Turkey's interior minister said.
"The number of people returning to Syria in the last 15 days has exceeded 25,000," Ali Yerlikaya told the official Anadolu news agency.
Turkey is home to nearly three million refugees who fled the civil war that broke out in 2011.
Yerlikaya said a migration office would be established in the Turkish embassy and consulate in Damascus and Aleppo to record the return of Syrians.
He said one person from each family will be allowed to enter and exit three times from 1 January to July 2025 under regulations to be drafted according to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's instructions.
Syrians returning to their country can take their belongings and cars with them.
Syrians who live in Turkey wait in a queue at the Cilvegozu crossborder gate before entering Syria at Reyhanli district in Hatay. AFP
10:54 The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is set to rule on Israel's obligations to facilitate humanitarian aid to Palestinians following a request from the UN General Assembly.
"The ICJ received a request for an advisory opinion on "the obligations of Israel, as an occupying Power and as a member of the UN Nations, in relation to the presence and activities of the UN, including its agencies and bodies, other international organizations and third States, in and in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including to ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population as well as of basic services and humanitarian and development assistance, for the benefit of the Palestinian civilian population, and in support of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination," the court said in a statement.
The request comes after Israel banned the UN's Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, and obstructed other humanitarian groups in Gaza.
In a vote, 137 countries backed the Norway-drafted resolution, with Israel, the US, and 10 others opposing it.
10:10 Iranian flights to Syria will remain suspended until late January, ISNA news agency quoted the head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, Hossein Pourfarzaneh, as saying. "To fly to a country, the destination country must grant entry and admission permits."
"Currently, flights to Syria will not be allowed until January 22, after the New Year holidays," he added.
It was not clear exactly when Iran suspended flights to Syria.
Thousands of Iranians have left Syria since the rebel group Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) takeover.
On Monday, Iran's foreign ministry said there was "no direct contact" with Syria's new ruling authority.
10:03 Israeli occupation forces carried out demolition and bulldozing operations in the towns of Hizma and Beit Hanina, located north of occupied Jerusalem.
Local sources reported that occupation bulldozers demolished the home of Jerusalemite Fares Salah Al-Din, which covered an area of approximately 200 square meters, along with another under-construction property belonging to Habis Ali.
In addition, olive trees and stone chains were bulldozed during the operation in Hizma.
Meanwhile, in Beit Hanina, Israeli occupation forces demolished a commercial store owned by Muhammad Al-Halhouli, citing the lack of a building permit as the reason for the destruction.
These demolitions are part of a broader pattern of Israeli occupation efforts to seize land and property in occupied Palestinian territories.
Israel has tortured Palestinians for decades, as widely documented by several UN agencies and NGOs; Francesca Albanese, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied, said.
"However, today torture is part of the intended destruction of the Palestinian people."
"Inflicting bodily or mental harm against members of the group as such, is a genocidal act," she added in a post on X.
10:00 Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in Christian areas of Damascus early today to protest the burning of a Christmas tree near Hama in central Syria, AFP journalists witnessed.
"We demand the rights of Christians," protesters chanted as they marched through the Syrian capital towards the headquarters of the Orthodox Patriarchate in the Bab Sharqi neighbourhood.
A demonstrator who gave his name as Georges told AFP he was protesting "injustice against Christians".
"If we're not allowed to live our Christian faith in our country, as we used to, then we don't belong here anymore," he said.
The protests erupted after a video spread on social media showing hooded fighters setting fire to a Christmas tree in the Christian-majority town of Suqaylabiyah, near Hama.
In another video posted to social media, a religious leader from Syria's group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) addressed residents, saying that those who torched the tree were "not Syrian" and promising they would be punished.
"The tree will be restored and lit up by tomorrow morning", he said.
09:30 The Israeli army had intercepted a projectile fired from Yemen after air raid sirens sounded in the centre and south of Israel.
"Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago, a projectile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory," the Israeli army said on Telegram.
"Rocket and missile sirens were sounded following the possibility of falling shrapnel from the interception."
Israeli warplanes struck ports and energy infrastructure in Yemen.
The Houthis said the Israeli strikes killed nine people.
09:25 The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza issued an urgent call for international protection of its hospitals as the Israeli occupation army intensifies attacks on healthcare facilities in northern Gaza.
The Israeli army has "directly targeted" the Indonesian Hospital, Kamal Adwan Hospital, and al-Awda Hospital in recent hours, the ministry said in a statement.
The Israeli army is "forcing the wounded and patients to evacuate the Indonesian Hospital," it added.
"The bombing is targeting all the departments of the Kamal Adwan Hospital (in northern Gaza) and its surroundings around the clock without stopping," the statement noted, adding that shrapnel from the attacks has scattered across the hospital yard, creating terrifying sounds and causing significant damage.
"We appeal to all international and UN institutions and concerned parties to urgently intervene to protect the health system in the Gaza Strip," it said.
A disturbing video has emerged showing robots in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan Hospital planting an explosive device.
The video, captured by a witness near the hospital, shows at least five robots in the area, one of which is seen leaving behind an explosive device. The witness, who provided the footage, described the extensive destruction around the hospital, consistent with reports of Israeli army use of such devices to blow up buildings nearby, Al Jazeera reported.
The destruction around Kamal Adwan Hospital has severely impacted movement, and the area's infrastructure has been reduced to rubble.
Many essential departments inside the hospital are now non-operational as medical staff and patients struggle to survive amidst ongoing aerial bombardment and gunfire by the quadcopters or fired by the military that is piercing through the walls, injuring many of the medical staff members and patients inside.
Footage from inside the hospital reveals terrified staff and patients huddling in the centre of the building, away from windows and balconies, as explosive devices and military gunfire target the surrounding areas.
Another video shows staff and patients huddling in one corridor of the hospital, in the centre of the building, away from the windows and balconies as explosive devices and Israeli military gunfire target the surrounding areas, the network added.
Meanwhile, reports confirm that Israeli occupation forces have also attacked al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia refugee camp, further escalating the already dire situation in northern Gaza.
At the Indonesian Hospital in nearby Beit Lahiya, Israeli forces are forcing patients to evacuate, compounding the humanitarian crisis.
The intensifying assaults on medical facilities further strained Gaza's already crumbling healthcare system, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis as Israel's genocide enters day 445.
At least a dozen more children in Gaza have been reportedly killed in recent airstrikes, including on so-called "safe zones", schools-turned-shelters, and hospitals attacked, the UNICEF said.
"This suffering needs to end. Every delay in action will cost more lives of children."
09:00 Tom Fletcher, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, issued a stark warning about the deepening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, describing it as the most perilous region for delivering aid, WAFA news agency reported.
"We deal with tough places to deliver humanitarian support. But Gaza is currently the most dangerous, in a year when more humanitarians have been killed than any on record," Fletcher said in a statement.
He warned that North Gaza has been under a near-total siege for over two months, raising fears of famine and a full-blown humanitarian disaster.
During a recent trip to the Middle East, where he met with humanitarian teams in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Fletcher reflected on the International Court of Justice's January 2024 provisional orders regarding applying the Genocide Convention in the Gaza Strip. "Less than a year later, the sustained intensity of violence means that there is nowhere that civilians in Gaza are safe. Schools, hospitals and civilian infrastructure have been reduced to rubble," he added.
"South Gaza is extremely overcrowded, creating horrific living conditions and even greater humanitarian needs as winter sets in. Across Gaza, Israeli airstrikes on densely populated areas continue, including on areas where Israeli forces have ordered people to move, causing destruction, displacement and death."
"As a result, despite the massive humanitarian needs, it has become almost impossible to deliver even a fraction of the aid that is so urgently required. The Israeli authorities continue to deny us meaningful access – over 100 requests to access North Gaza denied since 6 October," he noted.
"Meanwhile, in the West Bank, the situation continues to deteriorate, and the death toll is the highest we have recorded," maintained the UN relief chief.
"In the past year, Israeli military operations resulted in the destruction of essential infrastructure such as roads and water networks, especially in refugee camps from which families have been displaced. Rising settler violence and home demolitions have resulted in displacement and growing needs. Movement restrictions are impeding people's livelihoods and access to essential services – especially healthcare."
Fletcher called on the international community to uphold international humanitarian law, protect civilians, release captives, defend UNRWA's work, and break the cycle of violence.
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