A Palestinian TV channel says five of its journalists have been killed in an Israeli strike in the central Gaza Strip.
They were in a Quds Today van parked outside al-Awda hospital, where the wife of one of the journalists was about to give birth, in the central Nuseirat refugee camp. BLACK SEO LINKS, BACKLINKS, SOFTWARE FOR MASS BACKLINKING – TELEGRAM @SEO_LINKK
The channel posted a video of what it said was the burning vehicle with “press” signage on the back doors.
The Israeli Air Force said it had attacked “in a targeted manner and with intelligence guidance” a vehicle with members of armed group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) inside. It added that measures had been taken to minimise civilian casualties.
The BBC has not been able to verify claims made by either side.
Quds Today is affiliated with the PIJ group that took part in the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. The unprecedented attack triggered the war in Gaza.
In a separate development, five people were reported killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza City on Wednesday.
The Palestinian Wafa news agency, and the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, also said a further 20 people were injured in the city’s al-Zeitoun neighbourhood.
The Israeli military has not commented on the reported bombing.
Meanwhile the father of a two-week-old Palestinian girl has told the BBC how his baby daughter froze to death in a tent in Gaza – the third child in a week to die in similar conditions.
Mahmoud Ismail Al-Faseeh said he woke up in the severe cold to find his daughter, Sila, suffering convulsions. She was rushed to hospital but died from hypothermia, the head of paediatrics at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis told the Associated Press news agency.
The family was sheltering in al-Mawasi area on Gaza’s coast, a strip of land designated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as a humanitarian zone but which has been hit by air strikes.
Ahmed al-Farra, the head of paediatrics, said two other babies – one three days old and the other a month old – had been brought in over the past 48 hours after dying from hypothermia.
Hopes of progress towards a ceasefire in recent days have begun to recede, with Hamas and Israel blaming each other.
Hamas accused the Israeli government of imposing “new conditions” that it said were delaying the agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the group was reneging on understandings that had already been reached about a possible ceasefire.
The latest statements mark a notable change of tone on both sides following optimistic signals.
The Israeli military launched air strikes and a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip in response to last year’s Hamas attack. About 1,200 people were killed in the attack and another 251 taken back to Gaza as hostages.
More than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, Gaza’s health ministry says. Almost two million people – 90% of the population – have been displaced, according to the UN.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia made a “conscious choice” by launching a major overnight attack on his country’s energy infrastructure on Christmas Day.
Ukraine’s air force said it had detected 184 missiles and drones, but many were shot down or missed their targets.
It said there were casualties from the strikes but gave no figures.
Moscow confirmed the attack and claimed that its goal had been achieved.
The attack led to power cuts across the country, including in the capital Kyiv, where some residents sheltered in metro stations.
Russia’s defence confirmed its forces had carried out a “massive strike” on “critical” energy facilities in Ukraine.
It added that the strike had been a success and all targets were hit.
This was the 13th major attack on Ukraine’s energy sector this year, the country’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said.
Responding to the latest Russian strikes, US President Joe Biden said: “The purpose of this outrageous attack was to cut off the Ukrainian people’s access to heat and electricity during winter and to jeopardise the safety of its grid.”
Biden – who will be succeeded by Donald Trump on 20 January – also asked the US defence department to continue delivering weapons to Ukraine.
In September, President Zelensky said 80% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure had been destroyed by Russian bombs. BLACK SEO LINKS, BACKLINKS, SOFTWARE FOR MASS BACKLINKING – TELEGRAM @SEO_LINKK
Responding to Wednesday’s attacks, Zelensky said the timing had been a “conscious choice”.
He called them “inhumane” and said work was being done to restore power as soon as possible.
“Russian evil will not break Ukraine and will not distort Christmas”, he added.
This is the second time Ukraine has celebrated Christmas Day on 25 December. It traditionally followed the Julian calendar, like Russia, where Christmas falls on 7 January.
Still, a sizeable number of Orthodox believers in the country will be celebrating Christmas as before.
In the north-eastern city of Kharkiv – Ukraine’s second largest – the attack left half a million people without water, electricity or heating in bitterly cold temperatures, the regional head said.
Ukrainians across the country woke up to the sound of air raid alarms, and were told to shelter as the attacks unfolded in the morning.
Kyiv residents sheltered in metro stations, with one local telling Reuters news agency that she felt angry and frightened.
“Of course, I want to be at home and celebrate, but we had to shelter because it’s scary to stay at home,” Sofiia Lytvynenko said.
Another Kyiv resident, Oleksandra, said that despite the attack, “Christmas is not cancelled”.
She told Reuters that she planned to enjoy traditional Ukrainian food and drink with family and friends after it is safe to leave the shelter.
Ukraine’s state-owned power company, Ukrenergo, warned Ukrainians that power cuts could last until at least the end of the day.
It has imposed usage restrictions while it tries to restore service.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described the strikes as “Christmas terror”.
He said a Russian missile went through Moldovan and Romanian airspace “reminding that Russia threatens not only Ukraine”.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu condemned the strike and confirmed that a missile was detected in the country’s airspace.
Romania said it did not detect a missile in its airspace.
Elsewhere, four people were killed and five others injured by Ukrainian shelling in Russia’s Kursk region, according to the region’s acting governor.
Syria’s new rebel-led authorities say supporters of ousted President Bashar al-Assad have killed 14 interior ministry troops in an “ambush” in the west of the country.
They say 10 other troops were wounded in the fighting on Tuesday near the Mediterranean port of Tartous, a stronghold of Assad’s minority Alawite Muslim sect.
The clashes with pro-Assad loyalists are the first direct challenge to the authority of Syria’s de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa.
Assad’s presidency fell to rebel forces led by al-Sharaa’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) faction just over two weeks ago.
Security forces launched an operation in Tartous province on Thursday, according to state news agency Sana, in a bid to “restore security, stability and civil peace”.
Sana reported that the forces had “neutralised… a number of remnants of Assad’s militias” in the Tartous countryside, and that it was pursuing others.
Reports say the security forces had earlier been ambushed as they tried to arrest a former officer in connection to his role at the notorious Saydnaya prison, close to the capital, Damascus.
The UK-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said three “armed men”, which it did not identify, were also killed in the clashes.
The SOHR added that the security forces later brought in reinforcements.
In a separate development, the Syrian authorities imposed an overnight curfew in the central city of Homs, state media reported.
Reports say this followed unrest over a video purportedly showing an attack on an Alawite shrine.
The interior ministry said the footage was old, dating back to a rebel offensive on Aleppo in late November, and the violence was carried out by unknown groups.
The SOHR said one demonstrator was killed and five wounded in Homs.
The former rebels now in charge of Syria are grappling with the challenge of providing safety and stability across the country.
Syrians are looking to them to protect the rights of people from a variety of backgrounds as well as providing justice for those who lost relatives under the Assad dictatorship.
Demonstrations have also been reported in Alawite-dominated areas including the cities of Tartous and Latakia, and Assad’s hometown of Qardaha.
Alawites are an offshoot of Shia Islam to which many of the former regime’s political and military elite belonged, including Assad’s family.
The Alawite community is fearful of revenge, with members blamed for the torture and killing in Syria under Assad.
Former officers are refusing to hand over weapons and locals in some towns suggest they want to fight back, which appears to have been the case in Tartous.
There have been calls from Alawite religious leaders for a general amnesty for Alawites – but this is unlikely because of the many alleged war crimes conducted by its members.
Although al-Sharaa has bolstered security in Alawite towns and cities in an attempt to maintain order, if his forces do launch a campaign to arrest Assad loyalists, they risk further destabilising an already fragile country. BLACK SEO LINKS, BACKLINKS, SOFTWARE FOR MASS BACKLINKING – TELEGRAM @SEO_LINKK
Tens of thousands of people were tortured to death in prisons in Syria, and thousands of families are still waiting for answers and for justice.
Syrians are calling for those responsible to be held to account – the very thing that members of the Alawite are worried about.
The HTS-led lightning offensive that started from Syria’s north-east and spread across the country ended more than 50 years of rule by the Assads.
Assad and his family were forced to flee to Russia.
HTS has since promised to protect the rights and freedoms of many religious and ethnic minorities in Syria.
The group is designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN, the US, the EU, the UK and others.
On Tuesday, protests broke out in the country over the burning of a Christmas tree, prompting fresh calls for the new authorities to protect minorities.