Morning update

Here are the latest updates from Israel's war on Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank:

• Israeli forces stepped up their operations across Gaza overnight. An Al Jazeera correspondent reported that military helicopters unleashed heavy gunfire along the eastern sector inside the so-called “yellow line” in Khan Younis.

•  Palestinian media outlets said Israeli warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes targeting eastern districts of Gaza City, marking a sharp escalation in the enclave’s ongoing violence.

• Axios reports that Donald Trump is preparing to move into “phase two” of the Gaza peace process ahead of Christmas. US officials say a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected before the end of the month to discuss the next stage of the agreement

• Hamas said that militia leader Yasser Abu Shabab -  accused of working with Israeli forces and who was reported to be killed - has met the “inevitable fate” of a collaborator. The group accused him of committing “criminal acts” that violated national and social norms.

• Yemen’s Houthi rebels freed 11 crew members on Wednesday held since a July attack that sank the cargo ship Eternity C, according to the Associated Press. Oman took custody of the mariners, who are now en route home, though images released by the Houthis showed only 10 of the crew.

• A US federal judge said she was “struggling” to understand why Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish PhD student and pro-Palestinian activist, remains barred from Tufts nearly seven months after her release from US immigration detention. The judge questioned whether Ice acted arbitrarily by removing her from the federal student database after she co-wrote an opinion piece critical of the university’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza.