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Here are the major developments of the day:

The Israeli army has confirmed it was responsible for a strike on a shelter for displaced Palestinians that killed at least six people, but said it was firing on “suspects”. Gruesome videos from the scene showed terrified civilians carrying several wounded people away.

Top UN agencies warned that hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza could quickly slide back into famine if Israel does not allow in enough aid.

US State Secretary Marco Rubio has said Hamas must no longer pose a threat to Israel when asked whether the group can undergo partial disarmament and hold onto its light weapons.

The United Nations has condemned Washington for imposing sanctions on two more International Criminal Court judges over their investigation of Israel.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the Houthis’ detention of another 10 UN personnel in ⁠Yemen, taking the total to ​69.

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Sven Lilienström, founder of the Faces of Democracy initiative, spoke via Zoom with Ukrainian human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk (42) about the humanitarian crisis in eastern Ukraine, the red lines in peace negotiations, and whether a world led predominantly by women would be a better one.

Ms. Matviichuk, democracy is facing a crisis of credibility and trust. How would you personally speak up for democracy? And what do democracy and democratic values mean to you?

Let me explain this with something concrete, because when we speak about values, it is very difficult to talk about abstract things.

Twelve years ago, millions of people in Ukraine raised their voices against the corrupt and authoritarian Russian-backed government. They demonstrated peacefully for the chance to build a country with a European future. In response, the authoritarian government launched large-scale and systematic persecutions.

It was tough. At that time, I was the coordinator of the civil initiative Euromaidan SOS. Every day we provided support to hundreds of people throughout the country who had been beaten, arrested, tortured, or charged with fabricated criminal cases.

When journalists or sociologists asked these people why and for what they were fighting, they used the language of values to explain it. Ordinary people have no detailed knowledge of how the European Union functions, what the mandate of the European Parliament is, or what the role of the Council of Ministers is. But they used the language of values to say: we are peacefully fighting for a chance to build a country where everyone’s rights are protected, where the government is accountable, the judiciary is independent, and the police do not beat students who are peacefully demonstrating.

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When 10-year-old Bayan Al-Ankah was fatally shot in the head by the Israeli military while in a displaced persons camp in Gaza last week, according to her family, she became one of several hundred Palestinians killed during a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. Mediators Qatar and Egypt worry that the truce is threatened by near-daily Israeli attacks in Gaza.

The continued viability of the U.S.-backed ceasefire in Gaza hinges on two crucial next steps: the deployment of an international force in Gaza and the disarmament of Hamas.

But countries involved in this key phase of the ceasefire are still debating fundamental details about how to proceed — and the U.S. goal of having international forces in Gaza by early 2026 faces challenges.

A U.S. State Department document this month obtained by NPR lays out the Trump administration's vision for the international troops: to be "supporting the demilitarization of Gaza, dismantling terrorist infrastructure" and "decommissioning weapons used by terrorists."

But many countries say they will refuse to send troops to confront Hamas over its weapons.

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U.S. envoys arrived in Berlin Sunday morning for another round of talks intended to secure a deal to end the war in Ukraine.

U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner were spotted in downtown Berlin by a photographer for German news agency dpa.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian, U.S. and European officials will hold a series of meetings in Berlin in the coming days.

"Most importantly, I will be meeting with envoys of President Trump, and there will also be meetings with our European partners, with many leaders, concerning the foundation of peace — a political agreement to end the war," Zelenskyy said in an address to the nation late Saturday.

Washington has tried for months to navigate the demands of each side as Trump presses for a swift end to Russia's war and grows increasingly exasperated by delays. The search for possible compromises has run into major obstacles, including control of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces, and security guarantees for Ukraine.

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At least 11 people were killed and dozens more were wounded in a shooting at Sydney's popular Bondi Beach on Dec. 14 that targeted Australia's Jewish community, police and officials said.

New South Wales police said two suspects had been taken into custody, one of whom later died. The other suspect was in a critical condition. The attack, on the first day of Hanukkah, was declared a terrorist incident.

Authorities and local media reports citing eyewitnesses said the shooting began while about 1,000 people were attending a Hanukkah-related party on the beach. Australia has experienced a string of antisemitic attacks on synagogues and sites since the war in Gaza began in 2023.

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Israel on Saturday said it killed a top Hamas commander in Gaza after an explosive device detonated and wounded two soldiers in the territory’s south.

Hamas in a statement did not confirm the death of Raed Saad. It said a civilian vehicle had been struck outside Gaza City and asserted it was a violation of the ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10.

Saad served as the Hamas official in charge of manufacturing and previously led the militant group’s operations division. The Israeli statement described him as one of the architects of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war, and said that he had been “engaged in rebuilding the terrorist organization” in a violation of the ceasefire.

The Israeli strike west of Gaza City killed four people, according to an Associated Press journalist who saw their bodies arrive at Shifa Hospital. Another three were wounded, according to Al-Awda hospital.

Israel and Hamas have repeatedly accused each other of truce violations.

Israeli airstrikes and shootings in Gaza have killed at least 386 Palestinians since the ceasefire took hold, according to Palestinian health officials. Israel has said recent strikes are in retaliation for militant attacks against its soldiers, and that troops have fired on Palestinians who approached the “Yellow Line” between the Israeli-controlled majority of Gaza and the rest of the territory.

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