காலநிலை அறிவிப்பு 08.01.2026 கலாநிதி நா.பிரதீபராஜா

 08.01.2026 வியாழக்கிழமை மாலை 5.30 மணி

BIG BREAKING

வங்காள விரிகுடாவில் இலங்கைக்கு தென் கிழக்கே பொத்துவிலில் இருந்து 236 கி.மீ. தென்கிழக்கு திசையில் காணப்படும் ஆழ்ந்த காற்றழுத்த தாழ்வு மண்டலம் தொடர்ச்சியாக வலுப்பெற்று வருகின்றது.

இது தொடர்ச்சியாக மேற்கு வடமேற்கு திசை நோக்கி நகர்ந்து வருகின்றது.

ஆரம்பத்தில் மாதிரிகளிடையே அதன் நகர்வுப் பாதை தொடர்பில் ஒருமித்த கருத்து காணப்பட்டது.

ஆனால் தற்போது மாதிரிகள் இரண்டு வகையான நகர்வுப்பாதைகளைக் காட்டுகின்றது.

நகர்வு 1. ஏற்கனவே இருந்தது போன்று இலங்கையின் கிழக்கு கரையை அண்மித்து பின் வடக்கு திசை நோக்கி நகர்ந்து, அதன் பின்னர் எதிர்வரும் 10.01.2026 மாலை அன்று மன்னார் வளைகுடா கடற்பகுதிக்குள் பிரவேசித்தல்.

நகர்வு 2. இலங்கையின் கிழக்கு மாகாணத்தின் மட்டக்களப்புக்கும் அம்பாந்தோட்டைக்கும் இடையில் நிலப்பகுதிக்குள் எதிர்வரும் 09.01.2026 அன்று இரவு அல்லது 10.01.2026 அன்று அதிகாலை பிரவேசித்தல்.

நகர்வு 1 இன் ஊடாக பயணித்தால் வடக்கு மாகாணம் நான் முன்னரே குறிப்பிட்டபடி எதிர்வரும் 12.01.2026 வரை மிக மிக கனமழையைப் பெறும்( 04 நாள் திரட்டிய மழை வீழ்ச்சி 600 மி.மீ. இனை விட அதிகம்).

நகர்வு 2 இன் ஊடாக பயணித்தால் வடக்கு மாகாணம் கனமான(200 மி.மீ. திரட்டிய மழை வீழ்ச்சியைப் பெறும்). ஆனால் கிழக்கு மாகாணம் எதிர்வரும் 13.01.2026 வரை ( 05 நாட்கள்) 350 மி.மீ.இனை விட கூடுதலான திரட்டிய மழைவீழ்ச்சியைப் பெறும்.

நகர்வு 2 இன் படி இந்த ஆழ்ந்த காற்றழுத்த தாழ்வு மண்டலம் நகர்ந்தால் மத்திய மாகாணம் ஊவா மாகாணம் என்பன 300 மி.மீ. இனை விட கூடுதலாக திரட்டிய மழை வீழ்ச்சியைப் பெறும்.

ஆனால் நகர்வு ஒன்றினை விட நகர்வு 2 இலங்கைக்கு குறிப்பாக கிழக்கு, ஊவா, மத்திய சப்ரகமுவா, வட மத்திய, வடமேல் மற்றும் தென் மாகாணங்களுக்கு மீளவும் பாதிப்பை ஏற்படுத்தும்.

நகர்வு 2 இன் மையப் பகுதியாக மத்திய, ஊவா மற்றும் சப்ரகமுவா மாகாணங்கள் அமையும் என்பதனால் மேற்குறிப்பிட்ட மாகாணங்களில் குறிப்பாக கண்டி, மாத்தளை, நுவரெலியா, பதுளை, கேகாலை, குருநாகல் மாவட்டங்களில் நிலச்சரிவு நிகழவுகளுக்கான அதி கூடிய வாய்ப்புக்கள் உள்ளன.

ஆனால் இந்த நிகழ்வின் நகர்வு பற்றிய இறுதி முடிவை நாளை காலையே(09.01.2026) தீர்மானிக்க முடியும்.

அன்புக்குரிய மலையக உறவுகளே.... நகர்வு 2 உறுதியானால் மீளவும் மலையகத்தின் பல பகுதிகள் நிலச்சரிவு அபாயத்தை எதிர்கொள்ளும். ஆகவே இது தொடர்பாக மிக மிக முன்னெச்சரிக்கையாகவும் விழிப்பாகவும் இருக்க வேண்டும்.

இந்த ஆழ்ந்த காற்றழுத்த தாழ்வு மண்டலம் தொடர்பான விபரங்கள் தொடர்ச்சியாக இற்றைப்படுத்தப்படும்.

- நாகமுத்து பிரதீபராஜா -

2026.01.08 බ්‍රහස්පතින්දා සවස 5.30

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පොතුවිල් සිට කිලෝමීටර් 236 ක් ගිනිකොන දෙසින් බෙංගාල බොක්කෙහි පිහිටා ඇති ගැඹුරු පීඩන අවපාතයක් අඛණ්ඩව ශක්තිමත් වෙමින් පවතී.

එය බටහිර-වයඹ දෙසට අඛණ්ඩව ගමන් කරමින් පවතී.

මුලදී, එහි චලන මාර්ගය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ආකෘති අතර එකඟතාවයක් තිබුණි.

නමුත් දැන් ආකෘති චලන මාර්ග වර්ග දෙකක් පෙන්වයි.

චලනය 1. පෙර පරිදිම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ නැගෙනහිර වෙරළට ළඟා වී පසුව උතුර දෙසට ගමන් කර, පසුව 2026.01.10 දින සවස මන්නාරම් බොක්ක මුහුදු ප්‍රදේශයට ඇතුළු වීම.

චලනය 2. 2026.01.09 දින රාත්‍රියේ හෝ 2026.01.10 දින අලුයම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ නැගෙනහිර පළාතේ මඩකලපුව සහ හම්බන්තොට අතර ගොඩබිම් ප්‍රදේශයට ඇතුළු වීම.

එය 1 වන චලනය හරහා ගමන් කළහොත්, 2026.01.12 වන දින දක්වා උතුරු පළාතට ඉතා තද වැසි (දින 04 කින් මිලිමීටර් 600 කට වඩා සමුච්චිත වර්ෂාපතනය) ලැබෙනු ඇත.

2 වන චලනය හරහා ගමන් කළහොත්, උතුරු පළාතට අධික වර්ෂාපතනයක් (මිලිමීටර් 200 ක සමුච්චිත වර්ෂාපතනයක්) ලැබෙනු ඇත. නමුත් නැගෙනහිර පළාතට 2026.01.13 වන දින දක්වා දින 05 ක් තුළ මිලිමීටර් 350 කට වඩා සමුච්චිත වර්ෂාපතනයක් ලැබෙනු ඇත.

මෙම ගැඹුරු අවපාතය 2 වන චලනයට අනුව ගමන් කළහොත්, මධ්‍යම පළාතට සහ ඌව පළාතට මිලිමීටර් 300 ක සමුච්චිත වර්ෂාපතනයක් ලැබෙනු ඇත. මෙයට වඩා වැඩි සමුච්චිත වර්ෂාපතනයක් ලැබෙනු ඇත.

නමුත් 1 වන චලනය මෙන් නොව, 2 වන චලනය නැවතත් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට, විශේෂයෙන් නැගෙනහිර, ඌව, මධ්‍යම සබරගමුව, උතුරු මැද, වයඹ සහ දකුණු පළාත්වලට බලපානු ඇත.

2 වන චලනයේ මධ්‍යම කොටස මධ්‍යම, ඌව සහ සබරගමුව පළාත් වන බැවින්, ඉහත සඳහන් පළාත්වල, විශේෂයෙන් මහනුවර, මාතලේ, නුවරඑළිය, බදුල්ල, කෑගල්ල සහ කුරුණෑගල දිස්ත්‍රික්කවල නායයෑම් ඇතිවීමේ ඉහළ සම්භාවිතාවක් පවතී.

නමුත් මෙම සිදුවීමේ චලනය පිළිබඳ අවසන් තීරණය හෙට උදෑසන (2026.01.09) තීරණය කළ හැකිය.

ආදරණීය කඳුකර ඥාතීන්.... 2 වන චලනය තහවුරු වුවහොත්, කඳුකරයේ බොහෝ ප්‍රදේශ නැවතත් නායයෑම් අවදානමට මුහුණ දෙනු ඇත. එබැවින්, මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඉතා ප්‍රවේශම් සහගත සහ අවදියෙන් සිටිය යුතුය.

මෙම ගැඹුරු අවපාතය පිළිබඳ විස්තර අඛණ්ඩව යාවත්කාලීන කෙරේ.

- නාගමුතු ප්‍රදීපරාජා -

Facebook NP

Maduro in court- U.S. kidnapped Me

Maduro, making first court appearance, says U.S. ‘kidnapped’ him

As the deposed Venezuelan president and his wife, Cilia Flores, grapple with the U.S. legal system, his former vice president consolidates power. 

Law enforcement officials move deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, out of a helicopter as they head to an initial court appearance Monday in New York. (Adam Gray/Reuters)

By Shayna Jacobs, Tim Craig and Mark Berman  WP 05-01-2026

NEW YORK — Deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro made his first court appearance Monday in New York and said he was “kidnapped” by the U.S. government, assailing the Trump administration for capturing him and portraying himself as his country’s rightful leader.

The brief court proceedings in downtown Manhattan offered the first public opportunity for Maduro to speak since he and his wife, Cilia Flores, were seized by U.S. forces Saturday in Caracas. The night time raid, which followed months of escalating U.S. pressure on Maduro, set off shock waves across the globe, provoked confusion in Venezuela about that nation’s leadership and prompted fears that President Donald Trump could act on threats he has made to other countries, including Cuba, Colombia and Canada.

For Maduro and Flores, Monday’s hearing was the first step in what is likely to be a drawn-out legal process, one that Maduro’s attorney expects will be “voluminous and complicated.”

An indictment unsealed after their capture alleged that Maduro “sits atop a corrupt, illegitimate government that, for decades, has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking.” The indictment said Maduro has “remained in power despite losses in recent elections,” and accused him, his wife and others in their inner circle of amassing wealth and power while carrying out “a relentless campaign of cocaine trafficking.Follow

Maduro faces four counts, including narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy and gun charges. His wife is charged with cocaine importation conspiracy and related weapons charges. Both entered pleas of not guilty.

The hearing, lasting just over 35 minutes, combined the familiar routine of an initial court appearance with the extraordinary sight of Maduro, who only days earlier had been a strongman wielding power over an entire nation, seated at a defense table, clad in jailhouse garb and following instructions from a judge.

Maduro used the hearing to protest his presence in an American courtroom.

“My name is President Nicolás Maduro Moros,” he said, according to interpreters who translated his remarks from Spanish to English in court. “I am president of the Republic of Venezuela. I am here kidnapped since January 3rd, Saturday. I was captured at my home in Caracas, Venezuela.”

U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, overseeing the hearing, cut him short.

“There will be a time and a place to go into all of this,” said the 92-year-old jurist, who was nominated to the bench by President Bill Clinton in 1998.

Hellerstein pledged that he would work to ensure Maduro and Flores receive “a fair trial and fair proceedings.” The judge also read Maduro his rights, including his right to counsel and to remain silent.

“I did not know of these rights,” Maduro responded, according to the interpreters. “Your honor is informing me of them now.”

As Maduro declared his innocence in New York, his former No. 2 in Venezuela — Delcy Rodríguez, who had been the country’s vice president — was moving to consolidate power there.

Rodríguez, 56, viewed by some U.S. officials and analysts as more pragmatic than Maduro, was officially sworn in Monday as acting president at the National Assembly in Caracas. She initially denounced Maduro’s capture, but on Sunday struck a more conciliatory tone toward the Trump administration, calling for “peaceful coexistence.”

After being sworn in Monday, Rodríguez again rebuked the Trump administration’s actions, portraying Maduro’s capture as an illegitimate act.

“I come with sorrow for the suffering inflicted upon the Venezuelan people by an illegitimate military aggression against our homeland,” she said. “I come with sorrow for the kidnapping of two heroes” held hostage in the United States, she said.

In New York, Maduro also portrayed his arrest as improper, referring to himself during Monday’s hearing as “the constitutional president of my country” and “a decent man.”

As he was being escorted from the courtroom, a self-described former political prisoner in Venezuela began heckling him. The man, who later identified himself as Pedro Rojas, 33, stood and called Maduro an illegitimate president. Maduro could be heard calling himself a prisoner of war in response.

The hearing began more placidly, with Maduro greeting attendees in the courtroom by repeating “Happy New Year” in English multiple times as he was escorted to his seat at the defense table. He and Flores were given headphones to hear translations of the proceedings, and they spoke in Spanish when prompted.

Maduro spent much of the session taking diligent handwritten notes. He initially wrote on a copy of his indictment, remarking at one point that he had seen it for the first time at the courthouse. He later made notations on a yellow legal pad that he asked to take with him to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn where he is being held.

Attorneys for Maduro and Flores consented, for now, to pretrial detention, although they could ask for bail later. Both defendants need medical care in custody, their attorneys said, asking Hellerstein to ensure they would receive proper medical care.

Maduro, 63, has “some health and medical issues that will require attention,” said his lawyer, Barry Pollack. An attorney for Flores, 69, said she was injured during her capture and asked the judge to authorize an X-ray and physical to determine the extent of her injuries, including whether her ribs were fractured or bruised. Bandages could be seen on Flores’s forehead.

Hellerstein directed prosecutors and the defense to arrange for treatment for both defendants.

During a discussion about pretrial scheduling, Pollack said the case would involve “a voluminous and complicated legal process.”

“There are issues here about the legality of his military abduction,” Pollack told Hellerstein. The attorney said legal filings would focus on “privileges and immunities” Maduro is entitled to as head of a sovereign state.

Kyle Wirshba, an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said his office would begin giving evidence to the defense once both parties agree on an order sealing this material from outside observers.

The next hearing is scheduled for March 17.

The raid to capture Maduro, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday involved about 200 U.S. troops, sparked new waves of unease and uncertainty in Venezuela, with residents unsure what would come next.

Much of the leftist power structure that rules Venezuela appeared to be publicly backing Rodríguez, including Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López, widely seen as controlling the military, and Nicolás Maduro Guerra, Maduro’s son and an influential national lawmaker. Guerra is also charged in the indictment but remains in Venezuela.

Venezuela’s national, state and municipal police forces have been ordered to immediately search for and arrest anyone “involved in promoting or supporting the armed attack by the United States of America” under a decree that places the country under a “state of external commotion.” The decree, which took effect Saturday but was published in full Monday, grants the government sweeping emergency powers.

There were also reports on social media of new checkpoints set up in the capital by masked members of the military as well as pro-government militias on motorcycles. Venezuela’s National Press Workers Union said at least 14 journalists had been detained.

The Trump administration has offered mixed signals on what top U.S. officials think lies ahead for Venezuela. After Maduro’s capture, Trump announced that the U.S. would “run” Venezuela, saying: “We’ll run it properly. We’ll run it professionally.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, though, has taken a different tack, suggesting in television interviews that the U.S. was “running policy” rather than the country itself.

“This was not an invasion,” he said on NBC. “This was not an extended military operation. This was a very precise operation that involved a couple of hours of action.”

Berman reported from Washington. Tara Copp, Dan Lamothe and María Luisa Paúl in Washington, Ana Herrero in Caracas and Anthony Faiola in Rome contributed to this report.

Washington plans to put oil at the heart of Venezuela’s future

Washington plans to put oil at the heart of Venezuela’s future 

Trump administration bets on US energy companies reversing the fall in crude output under Maduro 

An oil tanker is docked close to the El Palito refinery in Puerto Cabello © Jesus Vargas/Getty Images

FT JANUARY 3 2026 

US energy companies will return to Venezuela with “billions of dollars” to invest, said Donald Trump, as he put oil at the heart of his plan for regime change in the resource-rich country.  The president said on Saturday that American drillers — most of which abandoned Venezuela decades ago — would rebuild its oil sector and extract “a tremendous amount of wealth”. “We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country,” Trump said.  His comments came hours after Washington launched strikes on Caracas and captured President Nicolás Maduro — an audacious move made all the more startling by the US leader’s plain signal that oil was a motive. Other US-backed interventions that deposed leaders in oil-rich states, such as those in Libya, Iraq and Iran, led to years of instability in those countries. 

Venezuela is home to the world’s largest oil reserves. China has been its biggest customer for years, with Russia as a crucial oil partner. Now, according to the US president, Venezuela’s upstream will be an asset for development by American Big Oil. Washington’s latest move will reverberate globally, said analysts. “If we really go in and do some things that are kind of extraordinary: seizures, nationalisations, letting US companies go in and use it as a coercive tool to extract massive rents from the new government — that . . . really would be a game-changer for how the rest of the world views the United States — and US oil companies,” said Jason Bordoff, founding director of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. Venezuela holds over 300bn barrels of proven oil reserves, even more than Saudi Arabia. It was once a crucial supplier to US Gulf refineries set up to handle the molasses-like heavy oil extracted from the Orinoco region. But widespread corruption, American sanctions and mismanagement sent production sharply lower in recent decades, to just over 900,000 barrels a day — less than a tenth of the US’s own output. Foreign investors fled as Caracas sought more control of its economy’s commanding heights. Trump said the revenues reaped by a revived oil industry would support a new regime in Venezuela — and compensate the Big Oil investors “that were taken advantage of”. Oil industry veterans and their advisers struck a more cautious tone. “American companies, of course, would be tantalised by the opportunity to return to a neighbour with the world’s largest oil reserves,” said Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy and a former adviser to George W Bush. “However — there’s a big however — there is history and there is uncertainty and we think they are going to look very carefully before they leap.” Chevron, the only US oil company with a presence in Venezuela, said it would continue to operate in “full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations” but has not commented on expansion plans.  “Chevron remains focused on the safety and wellbeing of our employees, as well as the integrity of our assets,” said a spokesperson. 

The US oil major is well placed to move quickly in Venezuela, where it operates under a special licence from the Trump administration and employs about 3,000 people with its joint venture partners. “The silver bullet for investment for the time being is Chevron because they are already there,” said Ali Moshiri, a former Chevron executive who is currently raising funds to invest in Venezuela’s oil sector. “They have the infrastructure and the people while other companies don’t.” Others were doubtful that investors would rush to the country given decades of instability and the scale of the investment needed in Venezuela’s unconventional heavy oil sector. “The capital we are talking about is massive. Just to maintain production at current levels to 2040 would require about $65bn and northward of $100bn just to get Venezuelan production back to 2mn barrels per day,” said Schreiner Parker, an analyst at energy consultancy Rystad. “This is not something American companies will be running towards just hours after an intervention.” 

Exxon Mobil, the largest US oil company, was among several western groups whose assets were expropriated by Venezuela’s former populist President Hugo Chávez in 2007. It was awarded $1.6bn by an international arbitration panel in 2014 over the nationalisation of its Cerro Negro Project in the Orinoco oil belt.  Last year a World Bank arbitration tribunal dismissed Venezuela’s request to annul a $8.37bn arbitration award to ConocoPhillips over the expropriation of its Hamaca, Petrozuata and Corocoro projects. 

Exxon and Conoco are still seeking payment of most of the compensation awards — a fight that Trump has used to justify his removal of Maduro with repeated references to “stolen oil”. The companies did not respond to requests for comment. 

International oil traders will react to Trump’s move when crude markets open on Sunday — but abundant global supplies have helped free the president’s hands. International benchmark Brent settled just above $60 a barrel on Friday, down from over $120 after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Any disruption to supplies out of Venezuela, which Trump said on Saturday remained under embargo, could push prices higher. But it would take much longer for any extra oil production to be brought on line and volumes could be modest. Analysts said with hefty investment Venezuelan output could potentially double to over 2mn b/d in the coming decade — still less than half Texas’s oil production. “We remain wary of declaring mission accomplished for the Venezuelan oil sector given the decades long decline and still believe that it will be a long road back,” said Helima Croft, a former CIA analyst now at RBC Capital Markets. 

Data visualisation by Clara Murray

`மனிதாபிமான மீன்பிடி` 11 இந்திய மீனவர் கைது!

உள்ளூர் வடகடலில் 

சட்டவிரோத மீன்பிடியில் ஈடுபட்ட இந்திய மீன்பிடிப் படகுடன் 11 இந்திய மீனவர் கடற்படையினரால் கைது.

இலங்கைக் கடற்படை இணைய தளம் 01-01-2026

இலங்கை கடற்படை, 2025 ஜனவரி 01 அன்று இரவு யாழ்ப்பாணம் காரைநகர் கோவிலான் பகுதிக்கு அருகில் உள்ள இலங்கை கடற்பரப்பில் நடத்திய சிறப்பு தேடுதல் நடவடிக்கையின் போது, உள்ளூர் கடற்பரப்பில் சட்டவிரோத மீன்பிடி நடவடிக்கைகளில் ஈடுபட்டிருந்த ஒரு (01) இந்திய மீன்பிடி படகுடன் பதினொரு (11) இந்திய மீனவர்களை கடற்படையினர் கைப்பற்றினர்.

அதன்படி, , 2025 ஜனவரி 01 அன்று இரவு, வடக்கு கடற்படை கட்டளைப் பிரிவு, யாழ்ப்பாணம் காரைநகர் கோவிலான் பகுதிக்கு அருகில் உள்ள உள்ளூர் கடல் எல்லைக்குள் நுழைந்து சட்டவிரோத மீன்பிடி நடவடிக்கைகளில் ஈடுபட்டிருந்த பல இந்திய மீன்பிடி படகுகளைக் கண்காணித்தது, மேலும் அந்த மீன்பிடி படகுகளை நாட்டின் கடல் எல்லையிலிருந்து அகற்ற வடக்கு கடற்படை கட்டளைப் பிரிவுடன் இணைக்கப்பட்ட கப்பல்களால் ஒரு சிறப்பு நடவடிக்கை மேற்கொள்ளப்பட்டது.

அந்த நேரத்தில், இலங்கை கடற்படை உள்ளூர் கடல் எல்லையில் சட்டவிரோத மீன்பிடி நடவடிக்கைகளில் தொடர்ந்து ஈடுபட்டிருந்த ஒரு (01) இந்திய மீன்பிடிப் படகில் சட்டப்பூர்வமாக ஏறி ஆய்வு செய்ததுடன், மேலும் எல்லைச் சட்டங்களை மீறி சட்டவிரோத மீன்பிடி நடவடிக்கைகளில் ஈடுபட்டிருந்த (01) இந்திய மீன்பிடி படகுடன் பதினொரு (11) இந்திய மீனவர்கள் கடற்படையினரால் கைப்பற்றப்பட்டனர்.

மேலும், இந்த நடவடிக்கையின் மூலம் கடற்படையினரால் கைப்பற்றப்பட்ட இந்திய மீன்பிடி படகு மற்றும் இந்திய மீனவர்கள் மேலதிக சட்ட நடவடிக்கைகளுக்காக மைலடி மீன்வள ஆய்வாளரிடம் ஒப்படைக்கப்பட்டனர். 

Israel suspended 37 aid organisations

 

View of humanitarian supplies for Gaza, with the logos of Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, and the World Health Organization, stored at Egyptian Red Crescent warehouses in the Egyptian border town of El Arish, Egypt, April 8, 2025 [Benoit Tessier/Pool via Reuters]

Recap of recent developments

• Dozens of international aid groups are at risk of deregistration, potentially forcing closures or restrictions on operating in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, if they ​do not comply with new criteria set by Israeli authorities.
• The United Kingdom, Canada, France and others say in a joint statement that the humanitarian situation ‍in Gaza has worsened ‍again and is of serious concern.
• US President Donald Trump says Hamas will have “hell to pay” if it fails to disarm in Gaza and insisted that Israel had “lived up” to the truce plan, as he presented a united front with Benjamin Netanyahu during the Israeli prime minister’s visit to Florida.
• Trump also says ​he ‍hopes to reach ‍phase two ⁠of the Gaza plan “very quickly”.
• Israel defends its formal recognition of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland, but several countries at the United Nations question whether the move aims to relocate Palestinians from Gaza or to establish military bases.

Israel’s ban on aid groups to have ‘horrific’, ‘immediate’ consequences on Gaza, doctor says

Dr James Smith, an emergency physician who has volunteered in Gaza, has pushed back against Israel’s claim that the newly suspended aid groups manage a small number of programmes as “misinformation”.

“A situation that is already horrific will be made even more horrific. The changes will be immediate, and they will be ruthless,” he said.

The move is “an extension of Israel’s longstanding strategy of titrating humanitarian access and humanitarian services as a core pillar of the occupation and of the genocide”, Smith said. “Israel wants to exert totalising control over all aspects of Palestinian life, not only in Gaza but throughout occupied Palestine.”

Which organisations are being suspended?

Israel says 37 organisations have failed to meet its new rules for aid groups working in the Gaza Strip, and are suspended starting January 1.

The most prominent organisations – which provide essential medical care, food and children’s services – include:

• Doctors Without Borders
• Norwegian Refugee Council
• International Rescue Committee
• Caritas
• Oxfam
• ActionAid
• Action Against Hunger
• CARE

‘Where is the ceasefire?’

Batoul Abu Shawish, 20, lost her entire family in an Israeli strike that targeted their home in Nuseirat during the ceasefire in November 2025 [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

The only survivor

Sanaa’s husband was one of the more than 71,250 Palestinians killed by Israel during the war.

Twenty-year-old Batoul Abu Shawish can count her father, mother, two brothers and two sisters – her whole immediate family – among that number.

Batoul comes into the new year wishing for only one thing: to be with her family.

Her heartbreaking loss came just a month before the end of the year, on November 22.

Despite the ceasefire, an Israeli bomb struck the home her family had fled to in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp.

“I was sitting with my two sisters. My brothers were in their room, my father had just returned from outside, and my mother was preparing food in the kitchen,” she recalled, eyes vacant, describing the day.

“In an instant, everything turned to darkness and thick dust. I didn’t realise what was happening around me, not even that it was bombing, due to the shock,” Batoul added, as she stood next to the ruins of her destroyed home.

She was trapped under the debris of the destroyed home for about an hour, unable to move, calling for help from anyone nearby.

“I couldn’t believe what was happening. I wished I were dead, unaware, trying to escape the thought of what had happened to my family,” Batoul said.

“I called for them one by one, and there was no sound. My mother, father, siblings, no one.”

After being rescued, she was found to have severe injuries to her hand and was immediately transferred to hospital.

“I was placed on a stretcher above extracted bodies, covered in sheets. I panicked and asked my uncle who was with me: ‘Who are these people?’ He said they were from the house next to ours,” she recalled.

As soon as Batoul arrived at the hospital, she was rushed into emergency surgery on her hand before she could learn about what had happened to her family.

 “I kept asking everyone, ‘Where is my mom? Where is my dad?’ They told me they were fine, just injured in other departments.”

“I didn’t believe them,” Batoul added, “but I was also afraid to call them liars.”

The following day, her uncles broke the news to Batoul that she had lost her mother and siblings. Her father, they told her, was still in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

“They gathered around me, and they were all crying. I understood on my own,” she said.

“I broke down, crying in disbelief, then said goodbye to them one by one before the funeral.”

Batoul’s father later succumbed to his injuries three days after the incident, leaving her alone to face her grief.

“I used to go to the ICU every day and whisper in my father’s ear, asking him to wake up again, for me and for himself, but he was completely unconscious,” Batoul said as she scrolled through photos of her father on her mobile phone.

“When he died, it felt as if the world had gone completely dark before my eyes.”

Batoul al-Shawish holds a photo on her phone showing her with her family, including her father, mother, and siblings Muhammad, Youssef, Tayma, and Habiba [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

‘Where is the ceasefire?’

Israel said that it conducted the strikes in Nuseirat in response to an alleged gunman crossing into Israel-held territory in Gaza, although it is unclear why civilian homes in Nuseirat were therefore targeted.

According to Gaza’s Government Media Office and the Ministry of Health, around 2,613 Palestinian families were completely wiped out during the war on the Gaza Strip up until the announcement of the ceasefire in October 2025.

Those families had all of their members killed, and their names erased from the civil registry.

The same figures indicate that approximately 5,943 families were left with only a single surviving member after the rest were killed, an agonising reflection of the scale of social and human loss caused by the war.

These figures may change as documentation continues and bodies are recovered from beneath the rubble.

For Batoul, her family was anything but ordinary; they were known for their deep bond and love for one another.

“My father was deeply attached to my mother and never hid his love for her in front of anyone, and that reflected on all of us.”

“My mother was my closest friend, and my siblings loved each other beyond words. Our home was full of pleasant surprises and warmth,” she added.

“Even during the war, we used to sit together, hold family gatherings, and help one another endure so much of what we were going through.”

The understandable grief that has overtaken Batoul leaves no room for wishes for a new year or talk of a near future, at least for now.

One question, however, weighs heavily on her: why was her peaceful family targeted, especially during a ceasefire?

“Where is the ceasefire they talk about? It’s just a lie,” she said.

“My family and I survived bombardment, two years of war. An apartment next to our home in eastern Nuseirat was hit, and we fled together to here. We lived through hunger, food shortages, and fear together. Then we thought we had survived, that the war was over.”

“But sadly, they’re gone, and they left me alone.”

Batoul holds onto one wish from the depths of her heart: to join her family as soon as possible.

At the same time, she carries an inner resignation that perhaps it is her fate to live this way, like so many others in Gaza who have lost their families.

“If life is written for me, I will try to fulfil my mother’s dream that I be outstanding in my field and generous to others,” said Batoul, a second-year university student studying multimedia, who is currently living with her uncle and his family.

“Life without family,” she said, “is living with an amputated heart, in darkness for the rest of your life, and there are so many like that now in Gaza.”