Here’s how things stand on Friday, January 5, 2024:
Latest updates:
- Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant has introduced a “day after” plan for Gaza.
- Under the plan, civil affairs of Gaza would be handed to unnamed local “Palestinian players”, and Israel would retain the ability to carry out military activities.
- Former Hamas political bureau leader Khaled Mashal said on Thursday that Israel wants “to export its crisis abroad” through the assassination of Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri.
- Thousands gathered in Beirut for the funeral of al-Arouri.
- An Israeli war cabinet meeting on post-war Gaza reportedly turned into a shouting match between the chief of the staff of the army, Herzi Halevi, and far-right ministers over a probe in the military’s failures that allowed Hamas to enter Israel on October 7.
Human impact and fighting:
- United Nations agency OCHA reported that Israeli attacks in Gaza killed 125 Palestinians and injured 318 between Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, citing Gaza’s health ministry.
- They add to the 22,438 Palestinians killed and 57,614 injured between October 7 and January 3.
- Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital received 155 dead and 357 wounded following Israeli attacks on two refugee camps in December, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) said on Thursday.
- In a news conference, Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said 136 captives remain on the Gaza strip, including three civilians who were initially reported missing.
- Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting that six people have been killed in an attack on a home in Rafah, which was previously declared a safe zone in Gaza.
- Israeli gunboats are targeting Gaza’s coastal areas amid increased clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters near Maghazi and Bureij refugee camps.
Diplomacy:
- Oman released a statement on Thursday, condemning the Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir for pushing for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza.
- The United Arab Emirates also issued a statement on Thursday condemning Israeli calls for the displacement of the residents of Gaza and demanded an end to the war in the Palestinian enclave.
- UN human rights chief Volker Turk also condemned the calls in a post on X on Thursday.
- “85 percent of people in Gaza are already internally displaced. They have the right to return to their homes,” said Turk’s post.
Very disturbed by high-level Israeli officials' statements on plans to transfer civilians from #Gaza to third countries. 85 percent of people in Gaza are already internally displaced. They have the right to return to their homes. Int'l law prohibits forcible transfer of protected… pic.twitter.com/LMFxa9ur9N
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) January 4, 2024
West Bank raids and settler violence:
- In Hebron, the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army raided a commemoration ceremony for al-Arouri. They dispersed the gathering using live bullets and tear gas canisters on Thursday.
- A Palestinian man endured fractures and bruises following settler attacks in Bethlehem on Thursday, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
- Israeli forces arrested a young boy herding sheep in Bethlehem, confiscating 60 sheep from him on Thursday, Wafa reported.
- Coordinator of the Popular and National Committees to Resist the Wall and Settlements, Ratib al-Jabour told Wafa that the Israeli occupation forces have begun constructing settlers-only roads on citizens’ lands in Hebron’s Masafer Yatta.
- In Beit Rima, northwest of Ramallah, 17-year-old Palestinian high school student Osaid Tariq Anis al-Rimawi was killed and at least seven more were injured on Thursday night.
- Israeli forces have withdrawn from the Balata camp, east of Nablus after an hours-long raid that left two Palestinians injured.
