Summary
As the time approaches 3pm in Tel Aviv, Israel, here’s a roundup of today’s news in the Middle East.
A UN report has said Israel’s attacks on hospitals in and around Gaza have led the area’s healthcare system to the brink of “total collapse”. The UN Human Rights Office says its report raises concerns about how much Israel is complying with international law.
Meanwhile The head of Unrwa – the UN agency for aid in Gaza – Philippe Lazzarini says “horrors continue unabated” 15 months since the war broke out between Israel and Gaza, triggered by the Hamas terror attack.
More than 250 members of United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (Unrwa) had been killed since the start of the conflict, and more than two-thirds of Unrwa buildings have been damaged or destroyed, he said.
The president of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Ola Awad, said the Gaza Strip’s economy crumbled this year during the continued Israeli operations in the territory.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reported: “By the end of 2024, estimates indicate that the unprecedented sharp contraction in the GDP in the Gaza Strip will continue by more than 82%, accompanied by an increase in the unemployment rate to 80%.”
The Palestinian Civil Defence agency said it has received hundreds of distress calls from displaced people whose tents and shelters have been flooded by rainwater after heavy rain.
Palestinian health authorities say 45 people have been evacuated from the Gaza Strip for general hospital treatment in the United Arab Emirates. They include a 10-year-old boy suffering from kidney failure.
French aircraft have bombed Islamic State positions in Syria, the country’s defence minister Sebastien Lecornu has announced. The strikes are the first on Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
Syria’s new rulers have confirmed the appointment of Murhaf Abu Qasra as defence minister in the new interim government, according to a statement released on Tuesday.
The new Syrian government has reportedly appointed former foreign fighters to its armed forces, Reuters has reported.
The new figures include Uyghurs, a Jordanian and a Turk as Damascus tries to shape a patchwork of rebel groups into a professional military, two Syrian sources told the news agency.
Israel has warned Yemen’s Houthi rebels that they face the same “miserable fate” as Hamas and Hezbollah if they continue with rocket attacks.
Gaza's healthcare system on brink of 'total collapse', says UN report
A UN report has said Israel’s attacks on hospitals in and around Gaza have led the area’s healthcare system to the brink of “total collapse”.
The report by the UN Human Rights Office, titled Attacks on hospitals during the escalation of hostilities in Gaza, examines attacks between October 2023 and June 2024 and said successive attacks raise “serious concerns” about the extent to which Israel is complying with international law.
It says there had been 136 strikes on 27 hospitals and 12 other medical facilities, leading to “significant” casualties among doctors, nurses, medics and other civilians.
It warns that under international law, the “deliberate” destruction of healthcare facilities may constitute a war crime.
The UN high commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said it had led to hospitals becoming a “death trap”.
He said: “As if the relentless bombing and the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza were not enough, the one sanctuary where Palestinians should have felt safe in fact became a death trap. The protection of hospitals during warfare is paramount and must be respected by all sides, at all times.
“This report graphically details the destruction of the healthcare system in Gaza, and the extent of killing of patients, staff, and other civilians in these attacks in blatant disregard for international humanitarian and human rights law.”
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France bombs Islamic State targets in Syria
French aircraft have bombed Islamic State positions in Syria, the country’s defence minister Sebastien Lecornu has announced.
The strikes are the first on Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
“Our armed forces remain engaged in battling terrorism in the Levant,” Lecornu posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, while on a New Year visit to French UN peacekeepers in Lebanon.
“On Sunday, French air assets carried out targeted strikes against Daesh on Syrian soil,” he added, using the Arabic name for IS.
The defence ministry told AFP that France’s Rafale fighter jets and US-made Reaper drones “dropped a total of seven bombs on two military targets belonging to Daesh in central Syria”.
France has belonged to the Inherent Resolve international coalition against IS since 2014 for Iraq and 2015 for Syria.
French troops involved in the operations are based in the region, including in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
As Assad’s fall to a shock offensive by Syrian rebels led by a radical Sunni group rapidly reshapes the country, observers fear space could be left for IS to regather its strength.
The group has survived in both Iraq and Syria despite the destruction of its so-called caliphate that lasted from 2014-19.
Washington said in mid-December that it had doubled American troop numbers fighting jihadists in Syria, to about 2,000.
Its Central Command – responsible for the Middle East – said it wanted to ensure that IS “does not seek to take advantage of the current situation to reconstitute in central Syria”.
Gaza Strip's economy collapsed in 2024 amid Israeli bombardment, says Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
The president of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Ola Awad, said the Gaza Strip’s economy crumbled this year during the continued Israeli operations in the territory.
According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Awad said there had also been a sharp decline in the productivity in the West Bank.
Wafa reported: “By the end of 2024, estimates indicate that the unprecedented sharp contraction in the GDP in the Gaza Strip will continue by more than 82%, accompanied by an increase in the unemployment rate to 80%.”
The West Bank’s economy shrunk by more than 19%, with unemployment now standing at more than 35%.
Among the sectors affected were external trade, construction and industry.
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Palestinian health authorities say 45 people have been evacuated from the Gaza Strip for hospital treatment in the United Arab Emirates.
They left the European hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis early on Tuesday, Associated Press reports, and travelled through the Kerem Shalom Crossing into Israel.
The patients are accompanied by over 100 of their relatives, according to the hospital.
Among them was a 10-year-old boy, Abdullah Abu Yousef, suffering from kidney failure. The child was accompanied by his sister after the Israeli authorities rejected his mother’s application to join him. Israel says it screens escorts for security.
“The boy is sick,” said his mother, Abeer Abu Yousef. “He requires hemodialysis three to four days a week.”
The Health Ministry says several thousand Palestinians in Gaza need medical treatment abroad.
Israel has controlled all entry and exit points since capturing the southern city of Rafah in May.
Israel’s offensive, launched after Hamas’ attack in October 2023 has gutted the territory’s health care system and forced most of its hospitals to close.
Those that remain open are only partially functioning.
Syria’s new rulers have confirmed the appointment of Murhaf Abu Qasra as defence minister in the new interim government, according to a statement released on Tuesday.
Reuters had initially reported the appointment of Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, on 21 December after speaking to an official source.
'Horrors continue unabated' in Gaza 15 months after conflict started, says head of Unrwa
The head of the UN aid agency for Gaza said “horrors continue unabated” 15 months since the war broke out between Israel and Gaza, triggered by the Hamas terror attack.
Philippe Lazzarini said more than 250 members of United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (Unrwa) had been killed since the start of the conflict, and that more than two-thirds of Unrwa buildings have been damaged or destroyed.
Lazzarini, in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, said at least 20 Unrwa staff are in Israeli prisons. Those who have been released have reported “mistreatment, humiliation and torture”, he said.
He added: “I reiterate my call for independent investigations into the systematic disregard for the protection of humanitarian workers, premises and operations. This cannot become the new standard and impunity cannot become the new norm.”
He called for the release of all detained humanitarian staff, and hostages, and for Israel to facilitate humanitarian access and lift the “siege” on Gaza.
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The Palestinian Civil Defence agency said it has received hundreds of distress calls from displaced people whose tents and shelters have been flooded by rainwater after heavy rain.
“Our crews can only evacuate citizens from their damaged shelters to other places that are mostly unsuitable to shelter, and they remain in the open – under the rain and bitter cold,” it said on Telegram, Al Jazeera reports.
“We appeal to people of conscience to rush to save these families and help them move to suitable shelters that protect them from rainwater,” it added.
The statement added that displaced people in the refugee camps in central Gaza City, al-Mawasi, Khan Younis, Rafah and western Deir el-Balah, in particular, need help.
UN agencies estimate that some 1.6 million people in Gaza are living in makeshift shelters that do not protect them from the cold of winter, with nearly half a million in flood-prone areas.
On Monday Reuters reported a baby had died in a tent amid freezing temperatures and heavy rain. His brother was being treated in intensive care.
The new Syrian government has reportedly appointed former foreign fighters to its armed forces, Reuters has reported.
The new figures include Uyghurs, a Jordanian and a Turk as Damascus tries to shape a patchwork of rebel groups into a professional military, two Syrian sources told the news agency.
The move to give official roles, including senior ones, to jihadists may alarm some foreign governments and Syrian citizens fearful about the new Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) administration’s intentions, despite its pledges not to export Islamic revolution and to rule with tolerance towards Syria’s large minority groups.
Syria’s new rulers, drawn mainly from HTS, have indicated that foreign fighters and their families may be given Syrian citizenship and be allowed to stay in the country because of their contributions to the fight against Assad.
A Syrian government spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment on the thinking behind the appointments.
The sources said that out of a total of almost 50 military roles announced by the Defence Ministry on Sunday, at least six had gone to foreigners.
Reuters and the Guardian have not been able to independently verify the nationalities of the individuals appointed.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, the HTS-leader-turned de facto ruler of Syria, has purged dozens of foreign jihadi fighters as part of a campaign to Syrianise and moderate his group.
In remarks broadcast on Sunday, Sharaa said the new Syria “cannot be run by the mentality of groups and militias”
Israeli ambassador to the UN tells Houthis 'Israel will defend its people' after recent attacks
Israel has warned Yemen’s Houthi rebels that they face the same “miserable fate” as Hamas and Hezbollah if they continue with rocket attacks.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said the Iran-backed group would be targeted by Israeli military after recent attacks by the Houthis on Israel.
Hours after the warning by Danon, Israel’s military said it had intercepted a missile fired from Yemen, as air raid alarms were sounded.
The Houthis targeted Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv and a power station south of Jerusalem using a hypersonic ballistic missile and a Zulfiqar ballistic missile, respectively, the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Saree said.
Danon told the United Nations: “To the Houthis, perhaps you have not been paying attention to what has happened to the Middle East over the past year.
“Well, allow me to remind you what has happened to Hamas, to Hezbollah, to Assad, to all those who have attempted to destroy us. Let this be your final warning. This is not a threat. It is a promise. You will share the same miserable fate,” Danon said.
Before the meeting, Danon told reporters: “Israel will defend its people. If 2,000 kilometres is not enough to separate our children from the terror, let me assure you, it will not be enough to protect their terror from our strengths.”
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