This blog is now closing. You can read our full report on the Middle East crisis here and all our coverage of the Israel-Gaza war here.
Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz has confirmed that Israel was behind the killing of Hezbollah commander Wissam Hassan al Tawil, as already announced by the militant group.
“Regarding the elimination in southern Lebanon, we took responsibility for it. It’s part of the war - we hit Hezbollah terrorists, infrastructures, and systems they placed in order to deter Israel,” Katz said according to Israeli news site Ynet.
The Pentagon has said it is not currently planning to withdraw its roughly 2,500 troops from Iraq, despite Baghdad’s announcement last week it would begin the process of removing the US-led military coalition from the country, Reuters reports.
“Right now, I’m not aware of any plans [for withdrawal]. We continue to remain very focused on the defeat Isis mission,” air force Major Gen Patrick Ryder told a news briefing, using an acronym for Islamic State. He added that US forces are in Iraq at the invitation of its government.
Ryder said he was also unaware of any notification by Baghdad to the Department of Defense about a decision to remove US troops, and referred reporters to the US state department for any diplomatic discussions on the matter.
Prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s office announced on Friday the moves to evict US forces following a US drone strike in Baghdad that was condemned by the government. The Pentagon said the strike killed a militia leader responsible for recent attacks on US personnel.
Sudani’s office released a statement saying a committee would be formed to “put arrangements to end the presence of the international coalition forces in Iraq permanently.”
“We stress our firm position in ending the existence of the international coalition after the justifications for its existence have ended,” Sudani was quoted as saying in the statement.
This is Helen Livingstone taking over from my colleague Léonie Chao-Fong.
Summary of the day so far
At least 23,084 Palestinians have been killed and 58,926 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, according to the latest figures by the Gaza health ministry on Monday. The ministry, which is run by Hamas, said 249 Palestinians were killed and 510 were wounded in the previous 24 hours.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has landed in Israel for potentially difficult meetings with Israeli leaders and officials who have repeatedly proved resistant to pressure from Washington over their conduct of the war against Hamas. At a press conference in Qatar, Blinken said Palestinians “must not be pressed to leave Gaza”. Israeli leaders plan to tell the secretary of state that the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza is contingent on progress on a deal to release the remaining Israeli hostages in the territory, according to a report.
The UN rights office has said it is “very concerned” by the number of journalists killed in the war in Gaza, a day after two Al Jazeera reporters were killed in an alleged Israeli strike on their car. The killing of journalists “must be thoroughly, independently investigated to ensure strict compliance with international law, and violations prosecuted”, the UN office said on Monday. Meanwhile, Israel’s supreme court has rejected a request from international media organisations to allow journalists to report in Gaza.
The only hospital remaining in central Gaza is on the verge of shutting down amid intense fighting that has engulfed the area, a UN spokesperson has said. Medics, patients and displaced people have been fleeing from Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, according to witnesses. The Israeli military has dropped leaflets designating areas surrounding Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah as a “red zone”, the International Rescue Committee said.
Three Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli forces in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm, the Palestinian health ministry said on Monday.
Joe Biden’s speech at Mother Emanuel church in Charleston, South Carolina, was interrupted by pro-Palestine activists, who called for a ceasefire in Gaza. As the protest dissipated, Biden said: “I have been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza and using all that I can to do that.”
Israel has killed a senior military commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, Wissam Hassan al Tawil, in an air strike in southern Lebanon approximately 6km from the border. It comes amid warnings from Lebanese security sources that the assassination could lead to a further escalation in the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Shia armed movement.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it has killed a Hamas operative who it claimed was responsible for rockets attacks against Israel from Syria. Hassan Hakashah was killed by Israeli forces in Beit Jinn in Syria, the IDF said in a statement on Monday.
Israel is carrying out an unprecedented wave of deadly strikes in Syria targeting cargo trucks, infrastructure and people involved in Iran’s weapons lifeline to its proxies in the region, sources have told Reuters. The sources said Israel had shifted strategies following the 7 October attack by Hamas fighters into Israeli territory and the ensuing Israeli bombing campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement has released video footage it claimed showed an Israeli hostage taken during the 7 October attacks. The hostage has been named by Israeli media as Elad Katzir, 47, from Nir Oz kibbutz.
UN experts have demanded accountability for sexual violence allegedly carried out by Hamas militants against Israeli civilians during the 7 October attacks, saying that mounting evidence of rapes and genital mutilation point to possible crimes against humanity. Israeli authorities have opened an investigation into possible sexual crimes during the most deadly attack on Israel in its history.
Updated
Israeli leaders plan to tell the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, that the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza is contingent on progress on a deal to release the remaining Israeli hostages in the territory, according to a report.
As we reported earlier, Blinken has landed in Tel Aviv ahead of potentially difficult meetings with Israeli leaders and officials on Tuesday.
During their meetings, Israeli leaders will say they will only consider allowing Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza if there is progress on the effort to return the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza, the Times of Israel said a Walla news report said.
On his fourth trip to the Middle East in three months, Blinken will try to convince Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to begin serious negotiations on postwar governance in Gaza, to do more to protect civilians in Gaza, and to allow more aid into the territory.
Updated
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they have located a cluster of weapons factories and tunnels used by Hamas militants in Gaza to manufacture rockets.
IDF forces took a group of reporters on Monday to visit a site in Bureij in the central Gaza Strip which they said housed the largest weapons production site so far found in the territory.
It said that in addition to long-range missiles, the underground workshops produced copies or adaptations of standard munitions such as mortar shells and were connected through underground shafts to a tunnel network used to transport the weapons to fighting units throughout the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported.
An IDF spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, said the factory had been built around Salah al-Din Road, a major north-south route also used to transport humanitarian aid. He said Israeli troops “found, dismantled and are now destroying these facilities”.
Updated
Israel’s supreme court has rejected a request from international media organisations to allow journalists to report in Gaza.
The Foreign Press Association, which represents dozens of media organisations operating in Israel and the Palestinian territories, filed a petition last month to order Israeli authorities to allow journalists to enter.
Prior to 7 October, reporters with an Israeli-issued press card could enter Gaza and apply for an additional reporting permit from Hamas, which governs the territory.
In its ruling, the Israeli court said that while it recognises the right of freedom of the press, the current wartime circumstances justify the restrictions.
It said journalists inside Gaza could endanger soldiers by reporting about troop positions, AP reported. It said journalists could continue to enter Gaza under Israeli military escort.
Updated
Blinken arrives in Israel
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has arrived in Tel Aviv ahead of talks with Israeli officials on Tuesday.
Blinken landed in Israel after meeting with the leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia as part of his fourth Middle East tour since the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October.
Before leaving Al Ula after meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Blinken said:
We agreed to work together and coordinate our efforts to help Gaza stabilise and recover ... and to work toward long term peace and security and stability.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s 11pm in Gaza City, Tel Aviv and Beirut. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
At least 23,084 Palestinians have been killed and 58,926 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, according to the latest figures by the Gaza health ministry on Monday. The ministry, which is run by Hamas, said 249 Palestinians were killed and 510 were wounded in the previous 24 hours.
The UN rights office has said it is “very concerned” by the number of journalists killed in the war in Gaza, a day after two Al Jazeera reporters were killed in an alleged Israeli strike on their car. The killing of journalists “must be thoroughly, independently investigated to ensure strict compliance with international law, and violations prosecuted”, the UN office said on Monday.
The only hospital remaining in central Gaza is on the verge of shutting down amid intense fighting that has engulfed the area, a UN spokesperson has said. Medics, patients and displaced people have been fleeing from Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, according to witnesses. The Israeli military has dropped leaflets designating areas surrounding Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah as a “red zone”, the International Rescue Committee said.
Three Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli forces in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm, the Palestinian health ministry said on Monday.
Joe Biden’s speech at Mother Emanuel church in Charleston, South Carolina, was interrupted by pro-Palestine activists, who called for a ceasefire in Gaza. As the protest dissipated, Biden said: “I have been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza and using all that I can to do that.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it had been compelled to cancel a mission to bring medical supplies to northern Gaza on Sunday after failing to receive security guarantees. It was the fourth time the WHO had had to call off a planned mission to bring urgently needed medical supplies to Al-Awda Hospital and the central drug store in northern Gaza since 26 December, it said.
Israel has killed a senior military commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, Wissam Hassan al Tawil, in an air strike in southern Lebanon around 6km from the border. It comes amid warnings from Lebanese security sources that the assassination could lead to a further escalation in the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Shia armed movement.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it has killed a Hamas operative who it claimed was responsible for rockets attacks against Israel from Syria. Hassan Hakashah was killed by Israeli forces in Beit Jinn in Syria, the IDF said in a statement on Monday.
Israel is carrying out an unprecedented wave of deadly strikes in Syria targeting cargo trucks, infrastructure and people involved in Iran’s weapons lifeline to its proxies in the region, sources have told Reuters. The sources said Israel had shifted strategies following the 7 October attack by Hamas fighters into Israeli territory and the ensuing Israeli bombing campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said Palestinians “must not be pressed to leave Gaza” at a press conference in Qatar. Blinken is on his fourth tour of the Middle East since the 7 October attacks by Hamas. He is due to head to Israel on Tuesday, where he said he would tell Israeli officials that it is imperative they do more to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement has released video footage it claimed showed an Israeli hostage taken during the 7 October attacks. The hostage has been named by Israeli media as Elad Katzir, 47, from Nir Oz kibbutz.
UN experts have demanded accountability for sexual violence allegedly carried out by Hamas militants against Israeli civilians during the 7 October attacks, saying that mounting evidence of rapes and genital mutilation point to possible crimes against humanity. Israeli authorities have opened an investigation into possible sexual crimes during the most deadly attack on Israel in its history.
Pope Francis has said that “indiscriminately striking” civilians is a war crime because it violates international humanitarian law in his yearly address to diplomats. Commenting on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, Francis called for a “ceasefire on every front, including Lebanon”.
Updated
More than 325 people were arrested during a pro-Palestinian protest that disrupted the Monday morning rush hour in New York City, police said.
Demonstrators gathered at the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge and the Holland Tunnel, locking themselves together using zip ties and cement-filled tyres, AP reported.
Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, has told his French counterpart that it is “unacceptable” to allow the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to push the area to a wider regional war, Reuters is reporting.
This is a breaking news snap and we’ll bring you more details as they emerge.
Safadi told France’s Catherine Colonna that the threat of the war in Gaza spreading is increasing “by the day”.
Updated
Three Palestinians shot dead by Israeli forces in West Bank, says health ministry
Three Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli forces in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm, the Palestinian health ministry said on Monday.
The West Bank had already experienced the highest levels of unrest in decades during the 18 months preceding the 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel by Hamas gunmen but confrontations have risen sharply as Israeli forces have launched an invasion of Gaza, Reuters reports.
Updated
The only hospital remaining in central Gaza is on the verge of shutting down amid intense fighting that has engulfed the area, a UN spokesperson has said.
As we reported earlier, aid groups have been forced to withdraw from Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah in recent days, spreading panic among people sheltering there. The Israeli military has dropped leaflets designating areas surrounding the hospital as a “red zone”, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said.
Al-Aqsa is “the single remaining hospital in the middle area of Gaza”, where a “major offensive is under way”, Gemma Connell, a spokesperson for the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) told the BBC.
The situation in the hospital is dire. We have just a single doctor who is working in the emergency room. You have only two surgeons left responding to hundreds of needs in that hospital. You have so many casualties coming in every single hour who are in desperate need of life-saving support.
World Health Organization (WHO) staff who visited the medical facility on Sunday saw “sickening scenes of people of all ages being treated on blood-streaked floors and in chaotic corridors”, the WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in a statement.
Updated
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, have released a joint statement saying that the war will continue “for many more months”, according to Netanyahu’s office.
A statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office, reported by the Times of Israel, says:
The war is not close to ending, neither in Gaza nor in the north. It will continue for many more months.
Updated
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it has killed a Hamas operative who it claimed was responsible for rockets attacks against Israel from Syria.
Hassan Hakashah was killed by Israeli forces in Beit Jinn in Syria, the IDF said in a statement.
It said he was a “central figure responsible for rockets fired by Hamas from Syrian territory toward Israel in recent weeks”, adding:
We will not allow terrorism from Syrian territory and hold Syria responsible for all activity emanating from its territory.
Updated
Biden speech interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters
Joe Biden has been interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters while delivering remarks at the Mother Emmanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Protesters demanded the US president call for a halt to Israel’s invasion of Gaza, shouting “ceasefire now”. The crowd attempted to drown out their calls by chanting “four more years”.
“I understand their passion,” Biden said, as security removed the protesters from the church, adding:
I‘ve been quietly working, quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce significantly and get out of Gaza.
Updated
The UK’s Labour party has reiterated calls for the government “to do everything it can to work for a sustained ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip.
Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, said there had been no “let-up to the intolerable suffering” of Palestinians in Gaza and the Israeli hostages still being held.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Lammy accused Israel of using “devastating tactics that have seen far too many innocent civilians killed, with unacceptable blocks on essential aid”. He added:
Nowhere safe for civilians, a growing humanitarian catastrophe and now warnings of a deadly famine.
He said the “dire” situation in Gaza must not continue, adding that the need for a sustained ceasefire is clear:
We need a humanitarian truce now and not a short pause, but as the first step to what will stop the killing of innocents, provide urgent humanitarian relief, ward off famine, free hostages and provide the space for a sustainable ceasefire, so fighting does not restart.
Updated
Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, visited a village in the occupied West Bank on Monday along with a team from the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.
In a social media post, the group said Baerbock saw the impact of “state-backed settler violence on Palestinians” in the West Bank.
The German minister also spoke to Palestinian land owners who described “the harm they have endured for decades as settlements were built on their land and, most recently, being removed from their homes and land by the Israeli army, under the guise of the Gaza war”, the group said.
• This post was amended on 8 January 2024 to remove the referenced social media post from B’Tselem, which mistakenly showed a link to an Annalena Baerbock parody account; we had also inadvertently featured an embedded image from that account earlier.
Updated
UN says it is ‘very concerned by high death toll’ of journalists in Gaza
The UN rights office has said it is “very concerned” by the number of journalists killed in the war in Gaza, a day after two Al Jazeera reporters were killed in an alleged Israeli strike on their car.
Hamza Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria were killed while on assignment for Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based media network said in a statement. A third freelancer, Hazem Rajab, was wounded.
Dahdouh was the eldest son of Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Gaza, Wael Dahdouh, whose wife, two other children and a grandson were killed by an Israeli strike in October.
“Very concerned by high death toll of media workers in Gaza,” the UN rights office posted to social media, adding:
Killings of all journalists, including Hamza Wael Dahdouh and Mustafa Abu Thuria in reported IDF strike on car must be thoroughly, independently investigated to ensure strict compliance with international law, and violations prosecuted.
At least 79 journalists and media workers have been killed since the war began, according to figures by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Very concerned by high death toll of media workers in #Gaza. Killings of all journalists, incl Hamza Al-Dahdouh & Mustafa Abu Thurayya in reported IDF strike on car, must be thoroughly, independently investigated to ensure strict compliance w/ intl law, & violations prosecuted
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) January 8, 2024
Updated
Palestinian Islamic Jihad releases video of Israeli hostage held in Gaza
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement has released video footage it claimed showed an Israeli hostage taken during the 7 October attacks.
The hostage has been named by Israeli media as Elad Katzir, 47, from Nir Oz kibbutz.
Katzir is one of around 75 people kidnapped from Nir Oz by Palestinian militants during the attacks, according to the kibbutz near border with the Gaza Strip.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images we have received over the newswires from Gaza and Israel.
Sirens have sounded in Tel Aviv and other cities in central Israel today, sending residents running for shelter.
There were no immediate reports of injuries, Reuters reported.
Summary of the day so far
It’s 6pm in Gaza City, Tel Aviv and Beirut. Here’s a recap of today’s developments:
At least 23,084 Palestinians have been killed and 58,926 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, according to the latest figures by the Gaza health ministry on Monday. The ministry, which is run by Hamas, said 249 Palestinians were killed and 510 were wounded in the previous 24 hours.
Medics, patients and displaced people are fleeing from the main hospital in central Gaza, as the fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants draws closer, according to witnesses. The Israeli military has dropped leaflets designating areas surrounding Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah as a “red zone”, the International Rescue Committee said. An employee at Al-Aqsa hospital said the facility has been struck multiple times in recent days.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it had been compelled to cancel a mission to bring medical supplies to northern Gaza on Sunday after failing to receive security guarantees. It was the fourth time the WHO had had to call off a planned mission to bring urgently needed medical supplies to Al-Awda Hospital and the central drug store in northern Gaza since 26 December, it said.
Israel has killed a senior military commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, Wissam Hassan al Tawil, in an air strike in southern Lebanon around six kilometres from the border. It comes amid warnings from Lebanese security sources that the assassination could lead to a further escalation in the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Shia armed movement.
Israel is carrying out an unprecedented wave of deadly strikes in Syria targeting cargo trucks, infrastructure and people involved in Iran’s weapons lifeline to its proxies in the region, sources have told Reuters. The sources said Israel had shifted strategies following the 7 October attack by Hamas fighters into Israeli territory and the ensuing Israeli bombing campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said Palestinians “must not be pressed to leave Gaza” at a press conference in Qatar. Blinken is on his fourth tour of the Middle East since the 7 October attacks by Hamas. He is due to head to Israel on Tuesday, where he said he would tell Israeli officials that it is imperative they do more to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza.
Al Jazeera has accused Israel of a “targeted killing” after two of its Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip were killed in an Israeli strike on their car. Hamza Wael Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria were killed while they were “on their way to carry out their duty” for the channel in the Gaza Strip, the network said. The health ministry in Gaza also confirmed the deaths and blamed an Israeli strike.
UN experts have demanded accountability for sexual violence allegedly carried out by Hamas militants against Israeli civilians during the 7 October attacks, saying that mounting evidence of rapes and genital mutilation point to possible crimes against humanity. Israeli authorities have opened an investigation into possible sexual crimes during the most deadly attack on Israel in its history.
Pope Francis has said that “indiscriminately striking” civilians is a war crime because it violates international humanitarian law in his yearly address to diplomats. Commenting on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, Francis called for a “ceasefire on every front, including Lebanon”.
Updated
UN experts on Monday demanded accountability for sexual violence allegedly carried out by Hamas militants against Israeli civilians during the 7 October attacks, saying that mounting evidence of rapes and genital mutilation point to possible crimes against humanity, Reuters reports.
Israeli authorities have opened an investigation into possible sexual crimes during the most deadly attack on Israel in its history. Hamas denies the abuses.
“The growing body of evidence about reported sexual violence is particularly harrowing,” two U.N.-appointed independent experts said in a statement on Monday.
These acts constitute gross violations of international law, amounting to war crimes which, given the number of victims and the extensive premeditation and planning of the attacks, may also qualify as crimes against humanity.
“Each and every victim deserves to be recognised, regardless of their ethnicity, religion or sex, and our role is to be their voice,” they added.
Israel has previously criticised the global body for not doing enough to address the issue as part of a bid to get greater recognition for the alleged crimes.
The two experts on torture and on executions – Alice Jill Edwards and Morris Tidball-Binz – have raised the issue with Hamas authorities, they said.
They have also written to Israel’s government and called for cooperation with their investigators.
Wissam Hassan al Tawil’s death follows the assassination by Israel last week in Beirut of Saleh al-Arouri, a killing which has escalated already febrile tensions between Hezbollah and Israel.
Hezbollah’s general secretary Hassan Nasrallah had already vowed that his movement was bound to retaliate for Arouri’s death, with the group describing a barrage of missiles targeting Israel on Saturday as “their first response.”
Typically Hezbollah supplies scant details over the circumstances and rank of fighters who are killed but in this case described Tawil as a commander.
However Lebanese security sources described Tawil as having played a key role in leading the Radwan forces operations in southern Lebanon.
Underlining his seniority, Hezbollah circulated pictures of Tawil with Hezbollah leaders including Nasrallah and Imad Mughniyeh, the group’s military commander who was killed in Syria in 2008.
Another photo showed him sitting next to the late leader of the Iranian Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, who killed by a US drone strike in Baghdad four years ago.
A security source, quoted by Reuters, described Tawil’s death as “a very painful strike” while another suggested his killing would inevitably lead to more escalation.
So far some 130 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in three months of fighting with Israel that began on 8 October, a day after the Hamas attack.
Israel has killed a senior military commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force in an air strike in southern Lebanon amid warnings from Lebanese security sources that the assassination could lead to a further escalation in the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Shia armed movement.
The commander in the secretive force, which operates on the border, was identified by Hezbollah as Wissam Hassan al Tawil, who was killed in a strike on an SUV he was driving in the area around 6 kilometres from the border.
Hezbollah said Tawil had died “on the road to Jerusalem” - the phrase used by the Shiite Muslim movement for fighters killed by Israel.
Tawil is the most senior Hezbollah figure to have been killed in three months of escalating border exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel, since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel triggered all-out war in Gaza and lower-intensity fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
Updated
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, discussed efforts to prevent the Gaza conflict from spreading during a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in Saudi Arabia on Monday, state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
Updated
Sri Lanka’s navy said on Monday it was joining a US-led maritime taskforce to protect international shipping against attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the AFP reports.
“We will be joining ‘Operation Prosperity Guardian’ led by the US navy,” naval spokesperson Gayan Wickramasuriya said, with the deployment of a patrol vessel crewed by more than 100 people.
Updated
Israel carrying out deadly strikes in Syria, military sources say
Israel is carrying out an unprecedented wave of deadly strikes in Syria targeting cargo trucks, infrastructure and people involved in Iran’s weapons lifeline to its proxies in the region, six sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The sources, including a Syrian military intelligence officer and a commander in the regional alliance backing Damascus, said Israel had shifted strategies following the 7 October attack by Hamas fighters into Israeli territory and the ensuing Israeli bombing campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon.
Although Israel has struck Iran-linked targets in Syria for years, including areas where Lebanese armed group Hezbollah has been active, it is now unleashing deadlier, more frequent air raids against Iranian arms transfers and air defence systems in Syria, the sources said.
The commander in the regional alliance and two additional sources familiar with Hezbollah’s thinking said Israel had abandoned the unspoken “rules of the game” that previously characterised its strikes in Syria, and seemed “no longer cautious” about inflicting heavy casualties on Hezbollah there.
“They used to fire warning shots – they’d hit near the truck, our guys would get out of the truck, and then they’d hit the truck,” the commander said, describing Israeli raids on arms transfers handled by Hezbollah before 7 October.
“Now that’s over. Israel is now unleashing deadlier, more frequent air raids against Iranian arms transfers and air defence systems in Syria. They bomb everyone directly. They bomb to kill.”
The intensified air campaign has killed 19 Hezbollah members in Syria in three months – more than twice the rest of 2023 combined, according to a Reuters count. More than 130 Hezbollah fighters have also been killed by Israeli shelling of southern Lebanon in the same period.
The Israeli military did not respond to questions from Reuters about its escalating campaign. A senior Israeli official, briefing journalists on condition of anonymity, said Hezbollah had initiated this round of fighting with attacks on 8 October and that Israel’s strategy was one of retaliation.
Updated
Jordan’s King Abdullah said on Monday that Israel had created a whole generation of orphans by a “brutal” war in Gaza where he said more than 30,000 people, mostly women and children, had been killed or were missing as a result of the conflict, Reuters reports.
In remarks at the Kigali genocide memorial in Rwanda, where the monarch spoke of “unspeakable crimes” during that African conflict, Abdullah said a lesson to be drawn was that Israel’s “indiscriminate aggression” in Gaza would never guarantee its security. His remarks were carried on state media following a statement by the royal palace.
Updated
The Times of Israel is reporting that drone infiltration warnings have sounded for the second time in the past hour in northern Israel, close to Lebanon.
Hezbollah commander killed by Israel in Lebanon identified as Wissam al-Tawil
Associated Press has more detail on the Hezbollah commander who Israel appears to have killed in a strike inside Lebanon earlier today. [See 11.21 GMT]
Monday’s strike on a car killed a commander in a secretive Hezbollah force that operates along southern Lebanon, according to a Lebanese security official who spoke on condition of anonymity according to regulations. Hezbollah identified the slain fighter as Wissam al-Tawil without providing further details.
A Hezbollah rocket barrage hit a sensitive air traffic base in northern Israel on Saturday in one of the biggest attacks in three months of low-intensity fighting across the UN-drawn blue line that separates Lebanon and Israel. The militant group said was an “initial response” to the killing of Hamas’ deputy political leader Saleh Arouri in Beirut last week.
Al Jazeera notes that Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, warned Israel in two televised addresses last week not to launch a full-scale war against it.
Updated
Kaamil Ahmed and Ruth Michaelson report that fixers with alleged links to Egyptian intelligence are making a fortune in “fees” from people hoping to exit through the Rafah crossing:
Very few Palestinians have been able to leave Gaza through the Rafah border crossing but those trying to get their names on the list of people permitted to exit daily say they are being asked to pay large “coordination fees” by a network of brokers and couriers with alleged links to the Egyptian intelligence services.
One Palestinian man in the US said he paid $9,000 three weeks ago to get his wife and children on the list. The family have been sheltering in schools since the 7 October attacks. On the day of travel, he was told his children’s names were not listed and he would have to pay an extra $3,000. He said the brokers were “trying to trade in the blood of Gazans”.
“It’s very frustrating and saddening,” he said. “They are trying to exploit people who are suffering, who are trying to get out of the hell in Gaza.” His family have yet to leave.
Egypt, a key regional player in negotiations on Gaza, has long resisted opening the Rafah crossing, fearing that millions of people would flee into the neighbouring Sinai peninsula. Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has said a mass influx of refugees from Gaza would set a precedent for displacing Palestinians from the West Bank into Jordan.
A network of brokers, based in Cairo, helping Palestinians leave Gaza has operated around the Rafah border for years. But prices have surged since the start of the war, from $500 for each person.
The Guardian has spoken to a number of people who have been told they would have to pay between $5,000 and $10,000 each to leave the strip, with some launching crowdfunding campaigns to raise the money. Others were told they could leave sooner if they paid more.
Read more of Kaamil Ahmed and Ruth Michaelson’s report here: Palestinians desperate to flee Gaza pay thousands in bribes to ‘brokers’
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Gaza and Israel.
Palestinian death toll from Israeli strikes on Gaza rises to over 23,000 – ministry
A total of 23,084 Palestinians have been killed and 58,926 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement.
The ministry, which is run by Hamas, said 249 Palestinians were killed and 510 were wounded in the previous 24 hours, Reuters reports.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, will not stand in the way of further deliveries of Eurofighter jets to Saudi Arabia, a government spokesperson said on Monday, echoing comments made by foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, Reuters reports.
Baerbock told reporters during a trip to Israel on Sunday: “We do not see the German government opposing British considerations for more Eurofighters for Saudi Arabia.”
Asked at a government press conference about Scholz’s position on the issue, the government spokesperson said: “The chancellor shares this assessment.”
Updated
Israeli strike on Lebanon kills senior commander in elite Hezbollah unit, security sources say
An Israeli strike on south Lebanon on Monday killed a senior commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, three security sources told Reuters.
“This is a very painful strike,” one of the security sources said. Hezbollah has lost more than 130 fighters in Israeli shelling on southern Lebanon since cross-border bombardment began in the aftermath of the 7 October Hamas attack.
Updated
Summary of the day so far ...
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said Palestinians “must not be pressed to leave Gaza” at a press conference in Qatar. Blinken is on his fourth tour of the Middle East since the 7 October attacks by Hamas. On Tuesday, he is due to head to Israel where he will hold talks.
Al Jazeera has accused Israel of a “targeted killing” after two of its Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip were killed in an Israeli strike on their car. Hamza Wael Al-Dahdouhof Al Jazeera and Mustafa Thuria, a video freelancer for AFP, died while travelling in a car, the health ministry and medics confirmed.
The Israeli military says it has completed its mission to destroy Hamas’s infrastructure in northern Gaza and has scaled back its military operations there as the offensive moves south, In recent weeks, Israel had already been scaling back its military assault in northern Gaza and pressing its offensive in the territory’s south, Associated Press reports.
The Qatari foreign ministry has released a statement following Antony Blinken’s meeting with Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, on Sunday. In the statement, the Qatari foreign ministry said that Blinken and Thani discussed ways to pressure for a ceasefire, lift restrictions imposed on humanitarian aid and discussed negotiations to release prisoners and the latest regional developments.
Some bakeries in Gaza have resumed functioning after over 50 days of closures due to shortages in fuel and electricity as a result of Israel’s deadly attacks across the strip. The World Food Programme announced the resumption of bakery functions in Gaza on Sunday, adding that it is providing wheat flour, salt, sugar and yeast so bakeries can start making bread again.
Beirut’s airport screens were hacked on Sunday with messages that showed anti-Hezbollah messages, Agence France-Presse reports Lebanon’s state news agency saying. According to Lebanese media reports, the messages urged Hezbollah to not “drag the country into war”. Another message said: “You’re going to blow up our airport by bringing in weapons. Let the airport be freed from the grip of the [Hezbollah] statelet,” AFP reports.
Nine people are confirmed to have died in the occupied West Bank, as more details emerge about an Israeli drone strike in Jenin. Seven Palestinians were targeted in an airstrike by the Israeli army in Jenin refugee camp and an Israeli police officer was killed during an operation, the Israeli army said. An Israeli civilian was also shot dead in another incident north of Ramallah, the army said.
A Hezbollah rocket barrage on Saturday night damaged a strategic airbase in northern Israel, the country’s military confirmed. The Israeli Defense Forces declined to comment on the extent of the damage at Mt Meron airbase, which is less than 10km (6.21 miles) from the border with Lebanon.
UNRWA’s Gaza deputy director Scott Anderson gave an update on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza as a result of Israel’s deadly attacks which have killed nearly 23,000 Palestinians while leaving nearly 2 million survivors internally displaced. Speaking to CNN, Anderson said: “The levels of hunger are quite severe in Gaza. From Rafah to the north, it gets worse, the farther north you go.”
Crew from Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the International Rescue Committee have been forced to withdraw from Gaza’s al-Aqsa hospital due to Israeli bombardment. In a statement released on Sunday, MAP said: “As a result of increasing Israeli military activity around the Al Aqsa hospital, the only functioning hospital in Gaza’s Middle Area, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC)’s Emergency Medical Team (EMT) has been forced to withdraw and cease activities.”
Israel has named its former supreme court president Aharon Barak as its addition to the international court of justice (ICJ) panel scheduled to hear a genocide allegation filed against it this week, an Israeli official said. Under the ICJ’s rules a state that does not have a judge of its nationality already on the bench can choose an ad hoc judge to sit in their case, Reuters reports.
Updated
Pope Frances calls for 'ceasefire on every front, including Lebanon'
Pope Francis, tackling conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine in his yearly address to diplomats, said on Monday that “indiscriminately striking” civilians is a war crime because it violates international humanitarian law, Reuters reports.
Francis, 87, made his comments in a 45-minute address to Vatican-accredited envoys that is sometimes called his “state of the world” speech.
Commenting on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, which has led to mass civilian casualties in Gaza and risks sparking wider violence in the region, Francis called for a “ceasefire on every front, including Lebanon”.
He condemned Hamas’ 7 October attack in southern Israel as an “atrocious” act of “terrorism and extremism”, and renewed a call for the immediate liberation of those still being held by militants in Gaza.
In remarks linking the two main conflicts in the world today, Francis said modern warfare often does not distinguish between military and civilian objectives.
There is no conflict that does not end up in some way “indiscriminately striking” the civilian population, he said.
“The events in Ukraine and Gaza are clear proof of this. We must not forget that grave violations of international humanitarian law are war crimes, and that it is not sufficient to point them out, but also necessary to prevent them.
“There is a need for greater effort on the part of the international community to defend and implement humanitarian law, which seems to be the only way to ensure the defence of human dignity in situations of warfare,” he said.
Israel’s military campaign in densely populated Gaza has so far killed 22,835 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials. Israel says 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’ Oct. 7 rampage and about 240 were taken hostage.
Francis also said the recent resurgence of antisemitism since the start of the Gaza war was a “scourge” that must be eliminated from society.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) received a report on Monday of two small craft approaching a merchant vessel approximately 50 nautical miles south-east of the Yemeni port of Mokha.
UKMTO added that no weapons were sighted and the vessel and its crew were reported to be safe.
UKMTO WARNING 004/JAN/2024
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) January 8, 2024
SUSPICIOUS APPROACHhttps://t.co/zHGNgQp1UB#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/q0E32fDFGi
Medics, patients and displaced people are fleeing from the main hospital in central Gaza as the fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants draws closer, witnesses said on Monday, the AP reports.
Doctors Without Borders and other aid groups withdrew from Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah in recent days, saying it is too dangerous. That spread panic among people sheltering there, causing many to join the hundreds of thousands who have fled to the south of the besieged territory.
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC)’s Emergency Medical Team (EMT) were also forced to withdraw and cease activities from the hospital. The Israeli military has dropped leaflets designating areas surrounding the hospital as a ‘red zone, the IRC said.
Tens of thousands of people have sought shelter in Gaza’s hospitals, which are also struggling to treat dozens of people wounded each day in Israeli strikes. Only 13 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are even partially functioning, according to the U.N. humanitarian office.
Omar al-Darawi, an employee at Al-Aqsa hospital, said the facility has been struck multiple times in recent days. He said thousands of people left after the aid groups pulled out, and that patients have been concentrated on one floor so the remaining doctors can tend to them more easily.
“We have large numbers of wounded who can’t move” he said. “They need special care, which is unavailable.”
World Health Organization staff who visited on Sunday saw “sickening scenes of people of all ages being treated on blood-streaked floors and in chaotic corridors,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the U.N. agency, said in a statement.
.@WHO has received troubling reports of increasing hostilities and ongoing evacuation orders near the vital Al-Aqsa Hospital in the Middle Area of #Gaza, which according to the facility’s director forced over 600 patients and most health workers to leave. Their locations are not… pic.twitter.com/Vzd9UWThNm
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) January 7, 2024
Israel has a duty to protect Palestinians in the West Bank, German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said in Ramallah on Monday.
Her comments came after the Palestinian health ministry said Israeli forces had killed six Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Israeli officials said an Israeli police officer was killed in the violence.
Updated
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, was holding more talks with leaders in the Middle East on Monday as part of a diplomatic push to stop the war in Gaza spreading further, Reuters reports.
Blinken met Abu Dhabi’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in the United Arab Emirates and was due later on Monday to hold talks in Saudi Arabia with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the oasis town of Al Ula before heading to Israel.
Blinken visited Jordan and Qatar on Sunday, and sought to reassure officials that the US opposes the displacement of Palestinians outside Gaza and instead wants Israel’s neighbours to play a role in the Strip’s future governance.
He is asking states to try to reduce tensions that have already sparked violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, and led to Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes.
Blinken has been joined by US special envoy for Yemen, Tim Lenderking, as Washington seeks to garner regional support for actions to counter the attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthis on commercial shipping.
Blinken said in Qatar on Sunday that the attacks had disrupted or diverted nearly 20% of global shipping and would make goods including food and fuel more expensive.
Blinken is set to end the day in Israel, where he will meet officials on Tuesday.
He said on Sunday he would raise with Israeli officials the importance of protecting civilians in the Gaza conflict and repeated Washington’s objection to comments from right-wing members of Israel’s ruling coalition calling for the resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza.
Updated
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it had been compelled to cancel a mission to bring medical supplies to northern Gaza on Sunday after failing to receive security guarantees, Reuters reports.
It was the fourth time WHO had had to call off a planned mission to bring urgently needed medical supplies to Al-Awda Hospital and the central drug store in northern Gaza since 26 December it said.
“It has now been 12 days since we were last able to reach northern Gaza,” the WHO office in the occupied Palestinian territories wrote on the X social media platform.
“Heavy bombardment, movement restrictions, and interrupted communications are making it nearly impossible to deliver medical supplies regularly and safely across Gaza, particularly in the north.”
The delivery planned on Sunday, WHO said, had been designed to sustain the operations of five hospitals in the northern part of the enclave.
WHO’s director-general,Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he was “shocked by the scale of health needs and devastation in northern Gaza.”
“Further delays will lead to more death and suffering for far too many people,” he wrote on X.
Shocked by the scale of health needs and devastation in Northern Gaza.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) January 7, 2024
Urgent, safe and unhindered access to the region is needed to deliver humanitarian aid.
Further delays will lead to more death and suffering for far too many people.#CeasefireNow. https://t.co/9uYTWZLxEc
Updated
A British-Palestinian doctor who worked in hospitals in Gaza while Israeli forces bombarded the city has told the APF that he hopes that testimony he has given to UK police will lead to prosecutions for war crimes.
Ghassan Abu Sitta, a plastic surgeon specialising in conflict injuries, spent 43 days volunteering in Gaza, mostly at the al-Ahli and Shifa hospitals in the north.
The 54-year-old has already testified to the Met, the UK’s biggest police force, about the injuries he saw and the kinds of weapons used, as part of evidence being gathered for an international criminal court probe into alleged war crimes committed by both sides.
He is due to travel to The Hague this week to meet ICC investigators.
Abu Sitta said the intensity of the war was the greatest of the numerous conflicts he has worked in, including others in Gaza, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and south Lebanon.
“It’s the difference between a flood and a tsunami – the whole scale is completely different,” he told AFP during an interview in London on Sunday.
Abu Sitta is adamant that he treated burn wounds caused by white phosphorus. Its use as a chemical weapon is prohibited under international law, but it is allowed for illuminating battlefields and as a smokescreen.
“It has a very distinctive injury,” he said.
“The phosphorus continues to burn until the very deepest part of the body, until you reach bone.”
The Met says it is obliged to gather evidence for an ICC probe into alleged war crimes committed by both sides.
Abu Sitta says he told officers about what he witnessed, including the use of white phosphorus and attacks on civilians.
Al Jazeera accuses Israel of 'targeted killing' of two Palestinian journalists
Al Jazeera has accused Israel of a “targeted killing” after two of its Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip were killed in an Israeli strike on their car.
Hamza Wael Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria, who also worked as a video stringer for AFP and other news organisations, were killed while they were “on their way to carry out their duty” for the channel in the Gaza Strip, the network said.
A third freelance journalist travelling with them, Hazem Rajab, was seriously injured.
Al Jazeera said in a statement it “strongly condemns the Israeli occupation forces’ targeting of the Palestinian journalists’ car”, accusing Israel of “targeting” journalists and “violating the principles of freedom of the press”.
The health ministry in Gaza also confirmed the deaths and blamed an Israeli strike.
The Guardian’s Chris McGreal has taken a closer look at the domestic reaction in South Africa after it launched legal action against Israel accusing the country of genocide.
Israel has denounced South Africa’s legal action at the international court of justice accusing Israel of genocide and war crimes in Gaza as amounting to support for Hamas.
Israel called the charge that it was intentionally killing thousands of Palestinian civilians – which the ICJ is expected to start hearing on Thursday – a “blood libel”. Jewish organisations in South Africa accused the ruling African National Congress of siding with terrorism and antisemitism.
But South Africa’s lawsuit seeking a halt to the Israeli assault on Gaza in response to the Hamas cross-border attack in October comes after years of deteriorating relations rooted in the ANC’s decades-long support for the Palestinian cause and the legacy of Israel’s close military alliance with the apartheid regime during some of the most oppressive years of white rule.
The Guardian’s Archie Bland is taking a closer look at the figures coming out of the Israel-Gaza war for First Edition.
Gaza’s ministry of health says that at least 22,835 Palestinians had been killed by yesterday, with another 58,416 reportedly injured. That figure does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but an estimated 70% are women and children. 7,000 more are reportedly missing and most are likely dead.
Israel’s final count for Hamas’s 7 October massacre is 1,139: 685 Israeli civilians, 373 members of the security forces, and 71 foreigners. Deaths in Israel since then bring the total to about 1,200. 36 of the victims were children. The Israeli military says that 174 soldiers have been killed in Gaza, and 1,023 injured.
Read more of his analysis here:
Germany is ready to allow sales of Eurofighter jets to Saudi Arabia, foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday.
Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain jointly build the jet and each can veto deals, Agence France-Presse reports.
Germany has blocked arms sales to Riyadh since the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. That includes blocking a deal for 48 Eurofighter jets signed by Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman in London.
“We do not see ourselves, as the German federal government, opposing British considerations on other Eurofighter (sales),” Baerbock told journalists on a trip to Israel, in which she highlighted the Saudi role in the Middle East security crisis since the Israel-Gaza war.
Germany’s foreign minister noted that Saudi Arabia and Israel had “not renounced their policy of normalisation” since war broke out. “The fact that Saudi Arabia is now intercepting missiles fired by the Houthis at Israel underlines this, and we are grateful for that,” AFP reports.
“Saudi Arabia is a key contributor to Israel’s security, even these days, and is helping to stem the risk of a regional conflagration.”
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says 73 Palestinians were killed and 99 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza in the past 24 hours. The figures were given in a statement on Monday, says Reuters.
Israel’s offensive has so far killed 22,835 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials. In Israel, about 1,200 people were killed and 240 were taken hostage on 7 October, according to Israeli officials.
More than 100 hostages are still believed to be held by Hamas.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has posted on Telegram and X in the last hour that it “struck numerous Hezbollah targets in Lebanon” overnight.
The post says “IAF fighter jets struck a Hezbollah military compound in the area of Marwahin”. It also says a rocket launcher and infrastructure was hit in Ayta ash Shab.
Earlier, the IDF confirmed that a Hezbollah rocket barrage damaged a strategic airbase in northern Israel, on Saturday.
The IDF declined to comment on the extent of the damage at Mt Meron airbase, which is less than 10km (6.21 miles) from the border with Lebanon.
במהלך הלילה צה"ל תקף שורת מטרות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בלבנון.
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) January 8, 2024
מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו במהלך הלילה מתחם צבאי של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב הכפר מרווחין, וכן משגר רקטי ותשתית טרור במרחב הכפר עייתא א-שעב>> pic.twitter.com/6oCnAlWpsP
Updated
The US secretary of state Antony Blinken is continuing his fourth tour of the Middle East since the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
He’s due to visit the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Monday where he’ll speak with crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. He’ll then head to Israel where he’ll hold talks there on Tuesday.
Before leaving Doha in Qatar, Antony Blinken gave a news conference where he made several comments about the Israel-Gaza war including that:
Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow … They cannot, they must not be pressed to leave Gaza.
Some Israeli ministers have recently spoken in favour of “encouraging” Palestinians to leave and re-establishing Jewish settlements in the territory, although this is not official Israeli policy, Agence France-Presse reports.
Blinken also warned that the Israel-Gaza war could spread across the region without concerted peace efforts:
This is a moment of profound tension for the region. This is a conflict that could easily metastasise, causing even more insecurity and suffering.
The US secretary of state said he would tell Israeli officials that it is imperative they do more to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday:
The war must not be stopped until we achieve all the goals: the elimination of Hamas, the return of all our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel … I say this to both our enemies and our friends.
Welcome and opening summary
Hello and welcome to our Middle East crisis blog, covering the Israel-Gaza war and other events in the region. It’s currently 8:03am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. I’m Reged Ahmad and I’ll be with you for the next while.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is on his fourth tour of the Middle East since the 7 October attacks in Israel by Hamas. Speaking at a news conference after his meeting with Qatari prime minister sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, Blinken said “Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow,” and that “this is a conflict that could easily metastasise, causing even more insecurity and suffering”.
More on Blinken’s comments in a moment but first, here’s a summary of the latest developments:
The Israeli military says it has completed its mission to destroy Hamas’s infrastructure in northern Gaza and has scaled back its military operations there as the offensive moves south, In recent weeks, Israel had already been scaling back its military assault in northern Gaza and pressing its offensive in the territory’s south, Associated Press reports.
The Qatari foreign ministry has released a statement following US secretary of state Antony Blinken’s meeting with Qatari prime minister sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani on Sunday. In the statement, the Qatari foreign ministry said that Blinken and al-Thani discussed ways to pressure for a ceasefire, lift restrictions imposed on humanitarian aid and discussed negotiations to release prisoners and the latest regional developments.
Some bakeries in Gaza have resumed functioning after over 50 days of closures due to shortages in fuel and electricity as a result of Israel’s deadly attacks across the strip. The World Food Programme announced the resumption of bakery functions in Gaza on Sunday, adding that it is providing wheat flour, salt, sugar and yeast so bakeries can start making bread again.
Beirut’s airport screens were hacked on Sunday with messages that showed anti-Hezbollah messages, Agence France-Presse reports Lebanon’s state news agency saying. According to Lebanese media reports, the messages urged Hezbollah to not “drag the country into war”. Another message said: “You’re going to blow up our airport by bringing in weapons. Let the airport be freed from the grip of the [Hezbollah] statelet,” AFP reports.
Nine people are confirmed to have died in the occupied West Bank, as more details emerge about an Israeli drone strike in Jenin. Seven Palestinians were targeted in an airstrike by the Israeli army in Jenin refugee camp and an Israeli police officer was killed during an operation, the Israeli army said. An Israeli civilian was also shot dead in another incident north of Ramallah, the army said.
A Hezbollah rocket barrage on Saturday night damaged a strategic airbase in northern Israel, the country’s military confirmed. The Israeli Defense Forces declined to comment on the extent of the damage at Mt Meron airbase, which is less than 10km (6.21 miles) from the border with Lebanon.
Two journalists have been killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza . Hamza Wael Al-Dahdouhof Al Jazeera and Mustafa Thuria, a video freelancer for AFP, died while travelling in a car, the health ministry and medics confirmed.
UNRWA’s Gaza deputy director Scott Anderson gave an update on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza as a result of Israel’s deadly attacks which have killed nearly 23,000 Palestinians while leaving nearly 2 million survivors internally displaced. Speaking to CNN, Anderson said: “The levels of hunger are quite severe in Gaza. From Rafah to the north, it gets worse, the farther north you go.”
Crew from Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the International Rescue Committee have been forced to withdraw from Gaza’s al-Aqsa hospital due to Israeli bombardment. In a statement released on Sunday, MAP said: “As a result of increasing Israeli military activity around the Al Aqsa hospital, the only functioning hospital in Gaza’s Middle Area, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC)’s Emergency Medical Team (EMT) has been forced to withdraw and cease activities.”
Israel has named its former supreme court president Aharon Barak as its addition to the international court of justice (ICJ) panel scheduled to hear a genocide allegation filed against it this week, an Israeli official said. Under the ICJ’s rules a state that does not have a judge of its nationality already on the bench can choose an ad hoc judge to sit in their case, Reuters reports.
