Live

Middle East live updates: Israeli strikes kill 150 in Gaza as peace talks resume

Israeli and Hamas representatives will resume ceasefire talks in Qatar.

Last Updated: January 4, 2025, 12:19 PM EST

Rebel forces in Syria are building a transitional government after toppling the regime of President Bashar Assad in a lightning-quick advance across the country.

The Israel Defense Forces continues its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza, particularly in the north of the strip around several Palestinian hospitals. A latest round of peace talks to end the 15-month-old war is set to resume in Qatar.

Meanwhile, the November ceasefire in Lebanon is holding despite ongoing Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets, which Israeli officials say are responses to ceasefire violations by the Iranian-backed militant group.

Tensions remain high between Israel and Iran after tit-for-tat long-range strikes in recent months and threats of further military action from both sides. The IDF and the Yemeni Houthis also continue to exchange attacks.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing.
Dec 30, 2024, 4:24 AM EST

Gaza hospitals become ‘battlegrounds,’ WHO chief says

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said early Monday that Gaza's beleaguered hospitals "have once again become battlegrounds and the health system is under severe threat."

Ambulances transport wounded Palestinians from the Kamal Adwan Hospital to the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, on Dec. 28, 2024.
Omar Al-qattaa/AFP via Getty Images

Ghebreyesus said the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north Gaza town of Beit Lahia "is out of service," following an Israeli raid which itself came after several weeks of encirclement and bombardment.

Israeli forces raided the compound on Friday, forcibly evacuating all remaining patients and staff. The Israel Defense Forces said it detained 240 alleged militants, among them hospital director Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya. The IDF said the hospital was a "command center" for Hamas "military operations" in the surrounding area.

Ghebreyesus said Safiya's "whereabouts are unknown. We call for his immediate release."

Kamal Adwan patients were transferred to the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia, both of which have also reported repeated Israeli attacks. The latter "is itself out of function," Ghebreyesus said.

"Seven patients along with 15 caregivers and health workers remain at the severely damaged Indonesian Hospital, which has no ability to provide care," he added.

Four patients were detained by the IDF during their transfer out of Kamal Adwan Hospital, the WHO chief said.

Two other facilities -- the Al-Ahli Hospital and Al-Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital in Gaza City -- were also attacked and sustained damage on Monday, Ghebreyesus said.

"We repeat: stop attacks on hospitals," he wrote. "People in Gaza need access to health care. Humanitarians need access to provide health aid. Ceasefire!"

Dec 29, 2024, 2:27 PM EST

Family of Gaza hospital director asks international community to help find him

The family of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Gaza Strip, is pleading with the international community to help learn his whereabouts, alleging he was detained by Israeli forces during a recent raid on the medical facility.

The family posted a message on Abu Safiya's official Instagram page, on which the doctor had been posting updates about the hospital's functioning, pleading, "We do not know the fate of our father."

"We appeal to every compassionate individual and all international organizations and institutions to take action," said the family, asking the international community to apply media pressure and make appeals to "help us push for his swift release from captivity."

The message said Abu Safiya is still recovering from injuries he suffered a month ago while working at the hospital.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement released on Saturday that Abu Safiya is suspected of being a Hamas terrorist and is being held in Gaza.

Abu Safiya had not been arrested in previous IDF raids of the hospital.

-ABC News' Camilla Alcini and Nadine Shubailat

Dec 28, 2024, 11:57 AM EST

IDF issues statement on Kamal Adwan Hospital raid

The IDF released a statement outlining their operations in and around Kamal Adwan Hospital in the last few days.

The Israel Defense Forces said the hospital was a "command center" for Hamas "military operations in Jabaliya," although the statement and attached media do not provide corroborating evidence of this.

The statement says the IDF faced heavy fighting in areas near the hospital, and says the IDF detained 240 terrorists, including the director of the hospital, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, whom it says is is "suspected of being a Hamas terrorist operative.”

Wounded Palestinians evacuated from Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, after Israeli forces raided the medical facility, arrive at Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Dec. 28, 2024.
Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters

Abu Safiya was one of the only male staff members at the hospital not detained during the IDF's raid of the hospital in October, and he would have helped coordinate numerous resupply and patient evacuations with Israel over the last several months.

Kamal Adwan is the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza and is operating at a limited capacity due to a lack of medical supplies and the repeated attacks on the hospital.

-ABC News’ Victoria Beaule

Related Topics