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Palestinians, displaced by Israeli attacks, struggle to survive in makeshift tents in Gaza City, Gaza on December 15, 2025. [Khames Alrefi – Anadolu Agency]
The United Nations has said that around 55,000 Palestinian families have been affected by recent rains and storms in the Gaza Strip, with damage to their property belongings and shelters.
The statement was made by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, during a press briefing at UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday.
Haq said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that “nearly 55,000 families have been affected so far by the most recent rains across Gaza, with their belongings and shelters damaged or destroyed in the storm.”
He also noted that the storms and heavy rain damaged dozens of child-friendly spaces in Gaza, leading to the suspension of child protection activities. This disruption has affected around 30,000 children across the territory.
Haq warned that ongoing Israeli restrictions continue to obstruct humanitarian organisations from expanding their response more quickly in Gaza.
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Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAOrcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
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Red Ribbons campaign by the Palestinian Forum in Britain in support of Dr Hussam Abu Safiyyah and Palestinian detainees
The Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB) has announced the launch of a new solidarity campaign calling for the release of Dr Hossam Abu Safiya and all Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli occupation prisons. The campaign will take the form of a calm, symbolic action titled the “Red Ribbons Campaign”, to be held on Saturday 20 December at Oxford Circus in central London, at 1:00 pm.
The Forum explained that the event is neither a demonstration nor a protest march, but a silent, peaceful act of solidarity. Participants will hang red ribbons and display specially designed posters carrying clear demands for freedom and justice, conveying a humanitarian message to British and international public opinion about the suffering of Palestinian prisoners.
The Forum invited participants to bring red ribbons if possible, stressing that presence alone is a statement, and that quiet, symbolic solidarity can be more powerful than slogans, particularly amid ongoing attempts to criminalise or restrict pro-Palestine advocacy in the British public sphere.
The red ribbon: a global symbol for the prisoners’ cause
In a clarifying statement, the Palestinian Forum in Britain emphasised that the campaign aims to establish the red ribbon as a global symbol for raising awareness of the Palestinian prisoners’ cause, and to highlight their situation as hostages of the occupation—especially in light of what it described as an “unprecedented escalation in policies of arrest, isolation, starvation and enforced disappearance”.
The Forum noted that the choice of red reflects danger, urgency and the ongoing human bleeding inside prisons, serving as an open call to the global conscience not to normalise silence in the face of these violations.
Shocking figures on the reality of prisoners as of December 2025
The campaign draws on documentation by Palestinian prisoners’ rights institutions and figures released by the Israeli Prison Service up to December 2025, which reveal a stark and brutal reality:
The total number of prisoners and detainees in Israeli occupation prisons stands at approximately 9,300, the majority of whom are detainees and administrative prisoners, excluding those held in Israeli army camps.
The number of sentenced prisoners has reached 1,254.
There are 51 female prisoners, including two children.
Around 350 child prisoners are being held in Ofer and Megiddo prisons.
The number of administrative detainees has reached 3,350.
Some 1,220 detainees are classified as “unlawful combatants”—a figure that does not include all Gaza detainees held in army camps, and which also includes Arab detainees from Lebanon and Syria.
The Forum stressed that these figures point to a system of mass detention based on the denial of the most basic legal and human rights, constituting a clear violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.
An open call for solidarity
The Palestinian Forum in Britain concluded its statement by calling on all people of conscience in Britain to take part in the Red Ribbons Campaign, affirming that the prisoners’ cause—foremost among them Dr Hossam Abu Safiya—is not solely a Palestinian issue, but one of justice and human dignity that deserves to remain at the heart of public discourse, regardless of mounting attempts at marginalisation or exclusion.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAOrcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The United States Capitol building is seen in Washington D.C., United States, on December 9, 2025. [Celal Güneş – Anadolu Agency]
A growing share of Republican voters in the United States believe that Washington should end its decades-long programme of taxpayer-funded military aid to Israel, a new poll reveals. The figures are much higher among Democrat voters where the decline in support for Israel is unprecedented.
According to the survey, 42 per cent of Republican respondents oppose renewing the current Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which allocates $38 billion in US-funded weapons to Israel over ten years. By contrast, only 35 per cent support renewing the deal. The opposition is most pronounced among younger Republicans: 53 per cent of those aged 18 to 44 say US aid to Israel should end.
The poll, which surveyed 1,287 Republican voters in mid-November, arrives as the Biden administration considers whether to renew or renegotiate the existing US–Israel defence agreement, set to expire in 2028. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly seeks to extend the next MoU to 20 years—double the typical duration—but the findings suggest such a move would face even greater resistance. Among Republicans over 45, 40 per cent oppose a longer-term deal.
While the numbers may not yet signal a full-scale departure from pro-Israel orthodoxy among Republican voters, they do indicate mounting discomfort with the financial and political costs of the alliance. Though 51 per cent of Republicans support selling weapons to Israel, support declines sharply—to 38 per cent—when those weapons are paid for by US taxpayers.
Media consumption habits also appear to influence attitudes: 53 per cent of Fox News viewers support taxpayer-funded military aid to Israel, compared with just 23 per cent of non-Fox viewers. Among the latter, 41 per cent explicitly oppose additional aid.
Despite deepening fractures within the Republican base, the poll reveals near-consensus on at least one issue: 59 per cent support independent US investigations into the killings of American civilians by Israeli forces or settlers. Only 15 per cent oppose such investigations.
Yet US policy remains largely unmoved. Successive administrations have continued to provide billions in military assistance to Israel, despite rising public scepticism. Critics argue this policy inertia is the result of the disproportionate influence wielded by pro-Israel lobbying organisations, which shield Israel from public scrutiny and democratic accountability.
These critics contend that, even as polls reflect surging opposition—particularly among younger Americans—Washington’s position remains firmly aligned with Israeli interests, undermining the stated US commitment to human rights and international law.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAOrcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Israeli troops search Palestinians who attempted to enter the camp to retrieve their belongings as Israeli army continues its attacks on the Nur Shams Camp in the city of Tulkarem in the West Bank on December 17, 2025. [Issam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency]
At least 40 Palestinians were rounded up by the Israeli army in military raids across the occupied West Bank, a prisoners’ rights group said Wednesday, Anadolu Agency reports.
A child and former prisoners were among the detainees in the raids that targeted the cities of Salfit, Jenin, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Nablus, Tulkarem, and Hebron, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a statement.
Israeli forces stormed several houses, carried out abusive acts targeting Palestinians, and vandalized their properties during the raids, the statement said.
Witnesses told Anadolu that special Israeli forces, backed by military reinforcements, stormed the eastern neighborhood of Jenin city at dawn and turned a house into a military outpost.
Following the raid, the Palestinian Education Ministry suspended schools in Jenin to maintain the safety of students.
According to Palestinian figures, nearly 21,000 people have been detained by the Israeli army in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
In the central West Bank, illegal Israeli settlers burned two vehicles belonging to Palestinians in Ramallah and painted racist slogans on the walls of homes, local sources told Anadolu.
The Israeli army has escalated its attacks in the occupied West Bank since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023.
Israeli forces and illegal settlers have killed at least 1,097 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, injured nearly 11,000, and detained around 21,000 since October 2023, according to Palestinian figures.
In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAOrcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem on July 24, 2023. [Noam Moskowitz – Knesset – Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images]
Hamas described on Tuesday evening the approval by the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee of a plan to ban essential services to UNRWA offices as a “serious escalation”.
In a statement, the movement said, “The approval by the so-called Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee of a plan to cut essential services, including water and electricity, to UNRWA offices is a dangerous escalation. It is part of a systematic criminal campaign to undermine its humanitarian role for the Palestinian people.”
Hamas called on the international community, the United Nations, and its institutions “to take responsibility and put an end to the systematic targeting of UNRWA by Israel, and to force the occupation to reverse its illegal measures against the agency.”
The movement also urged support for UNRWA to continue “its humanitarian mission to serve and assist the refugees of our people, especially amid the unprecedented humanitarian disaster caused by the occupation in Gaza.”
Earlier on Monday, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee approved sending a bill to cut water and electricity supplies to a UNRWA offices for a vote.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAOrcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.