UNITED NATIONS/RAMALLAH/GAZA/JERUSALEM – UN humanitarians on Wednesday said that they remain deeply concerned about continued Israeli attacks affecting civilians and populated areas in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said its partners working on safety and security recorded multiple Israeli airstrikes, as well as shelling, demolition blasts, naval fire and shooting across all of Gaza's governorates, particularly west of the so-called Yellow Line, on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The office reiterated that civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times.
The United Nations and its partners continued to bring urgently needed supplies into Gaza to prepare for the approaching cold and rainy season, OCHA said.
On Tuesday, they brought in additional fuel, plastic tarpaulins, winter clothing, medicines and medical supplies. However, the limited supplies are insufficient to meet people's needs, said the office.
READ MORE: 7 Palestinians 'die in Israeli fire across Gaza'
According to OCHA's partners, underfunding and Israeli restrictions constrain deliveries.
In the occupied West Bank, raids on civil society groups raised protection concerns.
The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said that Israeli forces raided the premises of Palestinian civil society organizations and a medical complex in Ramallah on Tuesday, confiscating files and equipment and detaining people.
"Israeli authorities must immediately stop the crackdown on Palestinian civic space," OHCHR said in a post on social media platform X, adding that such raids and the detention of human rights defenders and protection workers have had a chilling effect on human rights work in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Israeli settlers torch mosque
Israeli settlers set fire to a mosque and attacked Palestinian farmers harvesting olives in several areas of the West Bank on Wednesday, according to Palestinian sources.
Palestinian security sources told Xinhua that settlers stormed the village of Mikhmas, east of Ramallah, after midnight and set fire to a mosque, a nearby olive tree, and a vehicle.
Rawhi Fattouh, head of the Palestinian National Council, condemned the arson attack, describing it as "a barbaric act and a dangerous escalation of settler terrorism."
In a statement, he said the Israeli government continues to support and protect settler groups, encouraging them to target Palestinians, their property and religious sites with impunity.
Separately, a joint statement issued Wednesday by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics and the Environmental Quality Authority warned that rangelands, covering approximately 2,111 square km in the West Bank, are facing increasing pressure from settlement expansion and restrictions on herders' access to their lands and water sources.
It added that settler violence and restrictions on access to grazing lands and water sources had displaced 118 Palestinian pastoral communities between 2023 and 2025.
Over 2,000 patients die awaiting evacuation from Gaza
A total of 2,027 patients in the Gaza Strip have died while awaiting treatment and medical evacuation, amid the continued closure of crossings and restrictions on the entry of medicines and medical supplies, a medical official said Wednesday.
Mohammed Abu Afash, director of medical relief in Gaza City, told the official Voice of Palestine radio that more than 21,000 patients require medical evacuation. No patients have left the enclave through the Rafah crossing in the past five days, he added.
Meanwhile, Gaza's health authorities said hospitals had received three bodies and 17 wounded people over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of casualties recorded since the October 2025 ceasefire to 1,501 dead and 5,323 wounded.
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In the daily report, the authorities said the cumulative death toll in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, had reached 74,392, with 175,440 people wounded.
Hamas commander killed
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Wednesday that it had killed a Hamas commander in an airstrike in Gaza City.
The commander, identified as Momen Ahmad Salameh Ay, allegedly held Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity in Gaza City and served as an aide to commanders of Hamas's Gaza Brigade.
According to the Israeli military, he had recently advanced attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians and attempted to restore Hamas's capabilities.
Ex-Shin Bet chief sues Netanyahu over Oct 7 blame
Ronen Bar, former chief of Israel's Shin Bet domestic security agency, on Wednesday filed a 3 million shekel (around $975,000) defamation lawsuit against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over allegations concerning responsibility for the failures to prevent the Hamas-led surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023.
In the lawsuit, Bar argued that Netanyahu made false accusations against him to evade responsibility for the Oct 7 events and place the blame exclusively on Bar, who served as Shin Bet chief between 2021 and 2025.
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Bar acknowledged the Shin Bet's share of responsibility for the attack, but accused Netanyahu of spreading a "blood libel" by claiming that Bar had advance knowledge of the Oct 7 attack but chose not to alert the relevant authorities and withheld the information.
Netanyahu and Bar had been in a standoff since early 2025 against the backdrop of a blame game over the failure to prevent the Oct 7 attack.
Netanyahu announced Bar's dismissal in March 2025, citing a loss of confidence in him, while Bar, in his response, reiterated his call for a state commission of inquiry to investigate "all relevant parties," including government policies and Netanyahu himself.
Colombia condemned for opening Jerusalem embassy
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday condemned Colombia's opening of its embassy in Jerusalem, describing the move as an infringement on the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people.
In a press statement, the ministry said all measures and decisions aimed at changing the legal and historical status of occupied Jerusalem are null and void, with no legal effect.
The ministry urged the Colombian government to abide by international law, respect UN resolutions and reverse the decision, saying that a just and comprehensive peace requires ending the Israeli occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
Colombia opened its embassy in Jerusalem earlier in the day. The opening ceremony was broadcast live by the Israeli Government Press Office and attended by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar and his Colombian counterpart, Omar Bula Escobar.
Colombia became the 10th country to establish its embassy in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem's status remains one of the central issues in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Israel considers the city its unified capital, while the Palestinians seek to establish the capital of their future independent state in East Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 war.
