Updates: Trump threatens ‘hell’ for Gaza as Israeli strikes kill 5 children

Thank you for joining our live coverage.

You can read about the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA) chief’s warning that the Gaza aid effort is at a “breaking point”, here.

You can watch how Israeli settlers have carried out a series of arson attacks across the occupied West Bank, here.

Finally, you can read about how Israel has extended the closure of Al Jazeera’s office in the occupied West Bank, here.

We are about to wrap up this live page. Before we go, here’s recap of the latest developments:

• Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that two Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli strike on the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
• They are also reporting that five Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli raid on a house in the Zeitoun neighbourhood, south of Gaza City.
• Wafa reports that a child was killed when Israel carried out a strike on a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians in al-Mawasi, adjacent to Khan Younis.
• Earlier, an Israeli attack on a displacement camp in the same location killed four children.
• Wafa reports that an Israeli military aircraft bombed a house on the old Gaza Street in Jabalia al-Balad, in the north of the Gaza Strip, killing at least eight people.
• At a news conference in Palm Beach, Florida, US President-elect Donald Trump said if the captives are not back by the time he gets into office, “all hell will break out in the Middle East”.

In its latest war update, the Israeli military said it targeted Palestinian fighters earlier this evening, who had taken part in the October 7 attacks, in the area of Khan Younis.

In its update, the Israeli military did not say if it had killed anyone in the strikes but claimed that “prior to the strikes, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians”.

Earlier this evening, our colleagues reported that four children had been killed in an Israeli bombardment of a tent camp in the so-called “safe zone” of al-Mawasi in the Khan Younis area of the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa also reported that a child was killed when Israel carried out a strike on a tent camp in the same area.

Jeremy Corbyn, a British MP and former leader of the UK Labour Party, has posted a video on X in which he addresses parliament, saying that “Israel’s ability to destroy life in Gaza and kill 45,000 people and destroy medical facilities is only possible because of the supply of weapons, principally from the United States”.

“Can you be very clear? Is Britain going to continue supplying weapons, including parts for jet planes and the use of RAF Akrotiri [airbase in Cyprus] as a route for weapons to go to Israel that are destroying life in Gaza?” he asked.

You can see the response in the video below:

Why won’t the government answer my questions about the role of British air bases and planes in Israel’s destruction of Gaza? pic.twitter.com/fzPtzaYpna

— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) January 7, 2025

Officials with both the outgoing Biden and incoming Trump administrations say Israel-Hamas negotiations are on the verge of a deal.

Trump, meanwhile, said that “hell will break out” if a captive release agreement is not reached by the time he enters office.

Watch below to see what the incoming US president said:

Scenes posted on Instagram by Palestinian activists are showing a fire engulfing vehicles in the al-Manara neighbourhood of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

The attack killed two people, according to a Gaza Civil Defence spokesperson.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hassan eslayeh (@hassanasalih)

Translation: #Urgent Martyrs and wounded as a result of an Israeli bombardment targeting a vehicle in the al-Manara neighbourhood, southeast of Gaza City, Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

The Wafa news agency has published numerous accounts of army raids into West Bank and Jerusalem communities currently in progress.

As we’ve been reporting, a huge manhunt is under way in the occupied West Bank after a shooting incident yesterday killed three Israelis.

Here is a roundup of what is happening tonight:

Israeli forces stormed the town of Hizma, northeast of Jerusalem, firing tear gas at people’s homes and detaining a young man briefly before releasing him.

A raid is ongoing in the occupied West Bank towns of Kafr Jamal and the suburb of Artah, south of Tulkarem. A number of young men have been detained in Kfar Jamal.

Israeli forces detained five young men at a military checkpoint near the centre of Hebron.

Clashes have erupted between Israeli forces and locals in the towns of Beita and Sebastia in the Nablus governorate. In both locations, Wafa reports, Israeli forces have fired live ammunition as well as sound grenades and tear gas. No injuries have so far been reported.

Israeli forces have raided the town of Beit Rima, northwest of Ramallah. No clashes or arrests have been reported.

Adnan Hussain, a British MP, posted a video on X of the moment he asked the UK government if it would change its position on Israel’s war on Gaza, given Israel’s actions in the enclave are “genocidal in nature”.

“The scale of destruction in northern Gaza is now being described as much worse than the destruction in the aftermath of Hiroshima,” he said.

“Will this government now change its form of the former position and identify that Israel’s actions in Gaza are indeed genocidal in nature, and what actions will be taken, given the grave nature of these facts?” he asked.

The response to his question was, “We have taken action both in relation to arms, …to aid, …to diplomatic pressure on the Israelis, and we will continue to do so. The situation in Gaza is intolerable, and we will continue to take steps to try and reduce the suffering”.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to deny that Israel's actions in Gaza are genocidal.

Today, I asked whether the government was now willing to change its position on this matter and acknowledge that the onslaught on Gaza is in fact genocidal in nature. pic.twitter.com/AfH39WvZKN

— Adnan Hussain MP (@AdnanHussainMP) January 7, 2025

Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, has reported on what it says are the contents of a document that forms the basis of negotiations with Hamas for a prisoner exchange deal. The plan, approved by the Israeli Security Cabinet in May, has not been made public until today, according to Kan.

The document’s stated goal is to secure the release of all Israelis held in the Gaza Strip – civilians and soldiers, alive or deceased – in exchange for an agreed number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

It also aims to achieve lasting calm, leading to a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the reconstruction of the enclave.

Israel would withdraw from the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza and dismantle all military installations there, according to the document. A mechanism would also be established to prevent the return of armed groups to northern Gaza.

Israel would also allow the entry of humanitarian aid, including fuel, to Gaza starting on the first day of the implementation of the deal, with a daily quota of 600 trucks, said the report.

It specifies that Hamas will release Israeli captives in phases during the humanitarian stage of the agreement. Israel has also demanded, based on recommendations from its negotiation team, a list of captives to be released in the first phase before the agreement takes effect.

Hamas has stood by its demand that Israel fully end its assault on Gaza under any deal to release the captives still held there. The group also said President-elect Donald Trump was rash to say there would be “hell to pay” unless the captives are freed by his January 20th inauguration.

Officials from Hamas and Israel have been holding talks with Qatari and Egyptian mediators in the most intensive effort for months to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.

The outgoing US administration has called for a final push for a deal before Joe Biden leaves office, and many in the region now view Trump’s inauguration as an unofficial deadline.

But with the clock ticking, both sides accuse the other of blocking a deal by adhering to conditions that torpedoed all previous peace efforts for more than a year.

This is something – trying to get a ceasefire for Israel’s war on Gaza and to release the captives – that has been eluding the current US administration for quite some time.

In fact, this is something that President Joe Biden had hoped would be part of his legacy. But, in the waning days of his administration, it is not something they have been able to achieve.

And so, one would argue that this is naïveté on the part of the incoming [Donald Trump] administration and the new Middle East negotiator [Steve Witkoff].

They believe that the man who wrote the book The Art of the Deal can strike a deal.

One has to look and see whether or not this is achievable. Donald Trump believes that he can get a deal. He is threatening that, if it’s not done, there will be consequences to be paid with punitive action.

US President-elect Donald Trump and Middle East envoy Steve Wittkoff hed a news conference in Florida, where they addressed some questions about the Gaza ceasefire talks.

Trump said if the captives are not back by the time he gets into office, “all hell will break out in the Middle East, and it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone”.

Watch below to hear their full comments:

Here are some of the main developments over the past day:

• The Palestinian news agency Wafa has reported that an Israeli military aircraft has bombed a house on the old Gaza Street in Jabalia al-Balad, in the north of the Gaza Strip, killing at least eight people.
• Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that four children have been killed in an Israeli bombardment of a tent camp in the so-called “safe zone” of al-Mawasi in the south of the Gaza Strip.
• President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, has said there has been “a lot of progress” when speaking about the Gaza ceasefire deal at a news conference held by Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, in the US.
• At the same conference, Trump said if the captives are not back by the time he gets into office, “all hell will break out in the Middle East”.

Mustafa Barghouti, the secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, spoke to Al Jazeera about the Palestinian Authority’s operations in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

“There is no justification for this escalation, and I think the last thing that Palestinians need is now a violent confrontation between Palestinians and Palestinians,” he said.

“We have a big number of political parties, civil society structures, human rights organisations that have interfered and is trying to mediate to end this situation” he said.

“All of those who are harmed are our sons, our people, whether they are on the authority side or they are on the resistance side”.

“This is happening while Israel is conducting hundreds of attacks on us … attacks by the Israeli army and attacks by … settlers”.

“If it continues, it will only serve the interest of the Israeli occupation,” he said.

Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, has reported that Israeli forces have arrested two Palestinian citizens from occupied East Jerusalem.

Local sources reported that Israeli forces arrested the two citizens, Maram and Hasniya Firawi, from the Old City of Jerusalem. The cause for the arrests was not disclosed.