LONDON, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Countries including Britain, Canada, Germany and others on Wednesday condemned the Israeli security cabinet's approval of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, saying they violated international law and risked fuelling instability.

"We call on Israel to reverse this decision, as well as the expansion of settlements," said a joint statement released by Britain, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain.

By Maayan Lubell

JERUSALEM, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Israel's parliament gave the initial go-ahead on Wednesday for a government-empowered inquiry into the surprise October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on southern Israel rather than the expected independent investigation demanded by families of the victims.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has resisted calls to establish a state commission to investigate Israel's failures in the run-up to its deadliest day and has taken no responsibility for the attack that sparked the two-year Gaza war.

Dec 24 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas on Wednesday of violating the Gaza ceasefire agreement after a military officer was wounded by an explosive device in Rafah and Israel vowed retaliation.

His office said in a statement that Hamas must fully uphold the October agreement, noting that it envisaged the militant group being removed from power in Gaza as well as demilitarisation and deradicalisation of the territory.

"Israel will respond accordingly," the statement added.

Scouts marched under a clear blue sky in Bethlehem on Wednesday, as the Palestinian city emerged from the shadow of the war in Gaza to celebrate its first festive Christmas in more than two years.

Throughout the Gaza war that began with Hamas's attack on Israel in October 2023, a sombre tone had marked Christmases in the biblical birthplace of Jesus Christ.

But on Wednesday, celebrations were in full swing again in the occupied West Bank city, as a fragile truce held in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people are facing the winter in makeshift tents.

ANKARA, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Wednesday met with Hamas political bureau officials in Ankara to discuss the ceasefire in Gaza and advancing the agreement to its second phase, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said.

The source said the Hamas officials told Fidan that they had fulfilled their requirements as part of the ceasefire deal, but that Israel's continued targeting of Gaza aimed to prevent the agreement from moving to the next phase.

Turkish authorities on Wednesday found the cockpit voice recorder and black box from a private jet that crashed killing the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides.

The Falcon 50 aircraft requested an emergency landing because of electrical failure minutes after it took off from the Turkish capital Ankara on Tuesday, but contact was lost, Turkish officials said. The plane was returning to Tripoli.

The wreckage was located by Turkish security personnel in the Haymana district near Ankara.

Christmas lights illuminate Damascus's Old City while government forces patrol its shadows as security fears haunt Syria's Christian community.

They recall the shooting and suicide attack in June at the Saint Elias church in the Syrian capital that killed 25 people and wounded dozens more.

"People are going home early, and are afraid," said Tala Shamoun, 26, a university student who was visiting a Christmas market with family and friends.

By Pesha Magid

DEIR DIBWAN, WEST BANK, Dec 24 (Reuters) - The Jewish settler outpost of Or Meir is small. A handful of prefabricated white shelters, it sits at the end of a short dirt track on a hill leading up from Road 60, a major route that dissects the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Over time, similar modest dwellings have turned into sprawling Israeli housing developments, part of a plan that members of Israel's cabinet acknowledge they have implemented to prevent the birth of a Palestinian state.

ANKARA, Dec 24 (Reuters) - A private jet carrying the chief of staff of Libya’s army reported an electrical failure and requested an emergency landing shortly before crashing near Ankara, Turkey’s head of communications said on Wednesday.

The Dassault Falcon 50 jet took off from Ankara’s Esenboga Airport at 1717 GMT on Tuesday en route to Tripoli and at 1733 GMT it informed air traffic control of an emergency caused by an electrical malfunction, Burhanettin Duran said in a statement.

By Renju Jose

SYDNEY, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Australia's most populous state on Wednesday passed sweeping new gun and anti-terror laws following the recent mass shooting on Bondi Beach, tightening firearm ownership, banning public display of terrorist symbols and strengthening police power to curb protests.

The New South Wales state parliament passed the terrorism and other legislation amendment bill early morning after the upper house approved the bill by 18 votes to eight.