Closing summary
It’s 3.30am in the Gaza Strip and Tel Aviv and we’re about to pause this live coverage. A new blog can be found here. All our reporting on the Israel-Gaza war and wider Middle East crisis can be seen here. A recap of the latest key developments follows. Thanks for reading.
A total of 23,968 Palestinians have been killed and another 60,582 injured by Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said on Sunday. In the past 24 hours, 125 Palestinians were killed and 265 were injured, the ministry added.
Three gunmen who crossed into Israel from Lebanon and two Israelis were killed in clashes and a strike along the frontier between the two countries on Sunday, the army and medics said. Five soldiers were wounded in the firefight with the gunmen, the Israeli military said. Earlier, an Israeli man was pronounced dead and a woman, who the local municipality said was his mother, died later after a missile strike in the Israeli border community of Kfar Yuval that reportedly wounded multiple Israelis.
The US has denied Houthi reports that it carried out new attacks in Yemen that hit the port city of Hodeidah on Sunday. Speaking to Agence France-Presse on condition of anonymity, a US defence official said: “No US or coalition strike occurred today.”
Arab-Israeli legislator Ahmad Tibi said on social media that three of his relatives, including a 10-year-old boy, had been killed in a strike on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
Hamas has aired video footage showing three Israeli hostages it is holding in Gaza in which they urged Israel’s government to stop its offensive against the militant group and bring about their release, as both sides marked the 100th day of the war. The undated 37-second video of the three captives – aged 26, 53 and 38 – aired on Sunday ended with the chyron: “Tomorrow we will inform you of their fate.”
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said Israel had “failed” in Gaza and would be forced to negotiate. He made the remarks in a televised address on Sunday.
Bangladesh has voiced its support for South Africa in its genocide case against Israel at the international court of justice. Bangladesh “welcomes the opportunity to file a declaration of intervention in the proceedings in due course”, its ministry of foreign affairs said. Namibia, meanwhile, rejected what it called Germany’s support of the “genocidal intent of the racist Israeli state against innocent civilians in Gaza”. The Namibian presidency pointed to Germany’s “inability to draw lessons from its horrific history”, citing the 20th century’s first genocide – the Herero-Namaqua genocide perpetrated by German forces on Namibian soil from 1904-08.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has called the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by Israel’s attacks across the strip – which have displaced nearly 2 million Palestinians – one of the world’s “most complex and challenging” operations. The UNRWA said on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday: “The massive destruction, displacement, hunger & loss of last 100 days are staining our shared humanity.”
The World Health Organisation and its partners have visited al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza and Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said on X that both hospitals required “sustained support and protection to remain operational” and that they were “vital lifelines for patients and thousands of displaced people in Gaza”.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has set up shelter tents for 315 displaced Palestinian families in the Mawasi Rafah area near the Egyptian border.
An Israeli footballer who displayed a message referring to the Israel-Gaza war during a match in Turkey has been arrested, according to reports in Turkish media. Earlier on Sunday, the country’s justice minister announced an investigation into Sagiv Jehezkel for suspected “incitement to hate” after his club, Antalyaspor, sacked him over the matter. Jehezkel scored a goal for his team and then displayed a message reading “100 days. 07/10” on a bandage on his wrist.
Updated
China is calling for a larger-scale, more authoritative and effective international peace conference over the Israel-Hamas war and a concrete timetable to implement a two-state solution, its foreign minister has said.
Wang Yi made the comments to reporters after talks with the Egyptian foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, in Cairo on the war, according to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry late on Sunday.
Reuters also reports that separately, Wang also held talks with the secretary general of the League of Arab States and the two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on the conflict, reaching several points on helping to solve the crisis.
Wang, China’s top diplomat, is currently travelling through Egypt, Tunisia, Togo and the Ivory Coast until Thursday.
After talks with his Egyptian counterpart, Wang said the conflict in Gaza was continuing to escalate and “is causing massive casualties among innocent civilians, leading to serious humanitarian disasters and accelerating the spread of negative spillover effects”, according to the Chinese foreign ministry statement.
He said China had decided to provide a third tranche of emergency humanitarian assistance.
Wang also said the international community should listen carefully to the legitimate concerns of countries in the region, “and the future governance of Gaza should be an important step towards the two-state solution”.
Updated
An Israeli footballer who displayed a message referring to the Israel-Gaza war during a match in Turkey has been arrested, according to reports in Turkish media.
Earlier on Sunday, the country’s justice minister announced an investigation into Sagiv Jehezkel over the incident for suspected “incitement to hate”, after his club, Antalyaspor, sacked him over the matter.
After scoring a goal for his team against Trabsonspor, Jehezkel revealed a message which read “100 days. 07/10” on a bandage on his left wrist.
The message was a reference to the Hamas’s 7 October attack and the number of days that more than 130 Israeli hostages have been held in Gaza.
See the full report here:
Three militants and two Israelis killed in clashes near Lebanon border, says Israel
Three gunmen who crossed into Israel from Lebanon and two Israelis were killed in clashes and a strike along the frontier between the two countries on Sunday, the army and medics said.
The Israeli military said troops patrolling a contested border area “identified a terrorist cell who crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory and fired at the forces” overnight, Agence France-Presse reports.
Three gunmen who clashed with troops were shot dead, the army said, revising an earlier statement that said four militants had been killed.
The army said five soldiers were wounded in the firefight.
A group calling itself Kataeb Al-Ezz Al-Islamiya later said the fighters were from its ranks, Lebanese media reported.
The group said the assault was in response to the killing of Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Aruri in a suburb of Beirut on 2 January. A US defence official has told AFP that Israel carried out the strike that killed Aruri.
Later on Sunday, the Israeli military said warplanes struck Hezbollah positions following a missile strike on a house in the border community of Kfar Yuval that wounded multiple Israelis.
The Magen David Adom emergency service said an Israeli man was pronounced dead after the missile strike in Kfar Yuval and a 70-year-old woman was in a serious condition.
The local municipality said later that the woman had died and the man who had died was her son.
Since the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip erupted on 7 October, the Israel-Lebanon border has seen near-daily exchanges of fire between Iran-backed Hezbollah militants and Israeli forces.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech on Sunday that the Israelis had “failed” to achieve any of their goals in Gaza.
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Hamas airs video of three hostages
Hamas has aired video footage showing three Israeli hostages it is holding in Gaza in which they urged Israel’s government to stop its offensive against the militant group and bring about their release, as both sides marked the 100th day of the war.
The undated 37-second video of the three captives – aged 26, 53 and 38 – aired on Sunday ended with the chyron: “Tomorrow we will inform you of their fate.”
Reuters reports that Hamas said earlier on Sunday it had lost contact with some hostages as Israeli forces shelled Gaza, noting that they might have been killed in the process. At the outset of the war, it also threatened to execute hostages in retaliation for Israeli military strikes.
Israeli officials have generally declined to respond to Hamas’s public messaging on the hostages, casting it as psychological warfare. Hagar Mizrahi, a forensic official with Israel’s ministry of health, told local television on 31 December that autopsies of slain hostages who had been recovered found causes of death inconsistent with Hamas’s account they had died in airstrikes.
Israel has made clear it is aware of the risks to hostages from its offensive and says is taking precautions. Its operation was being adapted “in accordance with the threats and the hostages who are in the field”, military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on Sunday.
Of about 240 people seized by Hamas in its 7 October killing spree that sparked the war, about half were released in a November truce. Israel says 132 remain in Gaza and that 25 of them have died in captivity.
This is Adam Fulton picking up our live coverage. Stay with us for all the latest developments
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Summary
Here is where things stand:
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has set up shelter tents for 315 Palestinian families displaced by Israeli attacks on Gaza in the Mawasi Rafah area near the Egyptian border. Since 7 October, Israeli forces have forcibly displaced nearly 2 million Palestinians across Gaza, leaving many stranded in the southern tip of Gaza amid severe shortages of food, water, medical supplies and fuel.
Bangladesh has voiced its support for South Africa in its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. In a statement released on Sunday, Bangladesh’s ministry of foreign affairs said that Bangladesh “welcomes the opportunity to file a declaration of intervention in the proceedings in due course”.
The US has denied Houthi reports that it carried out new attacks in Yemen on Sunday. Speaking to Agence France-Presse on condition of anonymity, a US defense official said: “No US or coalition strike occurred today.” The official’s statements come in response to Houthi media reporting that US and UK airstrikes hit Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said that Israel has “failed” in Gaza and will be forced to negotiate, Agence France-Presse reports. In a televised address on Sunday, Nasrallah said: “What has the enemy achieved in 100 days, other than killing? … It has failed in achieving its declared, half-declared and implicit objectives … If this path continues … the enemy government will have no other choice but to accept the conditions of the resistance in Gaza, thereby putting an end to the aggression against Gaza and entering into negotiations.”
Namibia has rejected Germany’s support of the “genocidal intent of the racist Israeli state against innocent civilians in Gaza”. In a statement released over the weekend, the Namibian presidency pointed to Germany’s “inability to draw lessons from its horrific history”, citing the 20th century’s first genocide – the Herero-Namaqua genocide perpetrated by German forces on Namibian soil from 1904 to 1908 which killed between 24,000 to 100,000 Hereros and 10,000 Nama.
UNRWA has called the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by Israel’s attacks across the strip – which have killed nearly 24,000 Palestinians and displacing nearly 2 million more Palestinians – one of the world’s “most complex and challenging” operations. In a tweet on Sunday following 100 days of Israel’s war on Gaza, the UNRWA said: “The massive destruction, displacement, hunger & loss of last 100 days are staining our shared humanity.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners have visited al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza and Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. In a post on Twitter/X, WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said that both hospitals are “vital lifelines for patients and thousands of displaced people in Gaza” and that they require “sustained support and protection to remain operational”.
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Tensions in the Red Sea are simmering as all sides, including the US, Yemen’s Houthis and Hezbollah, warn of possible further attacks.
The Guardian’s Dan Sabbagh reports:
Tensions remained high in the Middle East on Sunday as western leaders, the Houthis and their allies all warned of possible further action in the aftermath of Friday’s US-UK bombing of rebel-held areas in Yemen.
As initial briefings from the US suggested that only about a quarter of the Houthis’ missile and drone attack capability had been destroyed, reports emerged of two boats trying to threaten a merchant ship in the southern Red Sea.
A Houthi spokesperson said on Sunday that the group’s attacks on merchant shipping travelling the busy waterway south of the Suez Canal would continue “because they are at war with Israel.” Hussain al-Bukhaiti said that if the US and UK continued to bomb Yemen, Houthi forces would attack western warships “maybe using hundreds of drones and missiles,” which would represent a significant escalation. Not all the ships targeted since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October have had Israeli links.
The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, told the BBC the west was “prepared to back our words with actions” should Houthi attacks continue, while the US and UK warships remained on high alert in the region.
The leader of Hezbollah, a Houthi ally, said all ships in the southern Red Sea were now in danger. Hassan Nasrallah said the US bombing on Friday “will harm the security of all maritime navigation” because “the sea has become a theatre of fighting, missiles, drones and warships.”
Read the full story here:
Updated
Bangladesh has voiced its support for South Africa in its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
In a statement released on Sunday, Bangladesh’s ministry of foreign affairs said that Bangladesh “welcomes the opportunity to file a declaration of intervention in the proceedings in due course”.
“Bangladesh calls on all states to respect their obligations under the Genocide Convention to prevent and punish the crime of genocide,” it added.
#Bangladesh 🇧🇩 stands in support of South Africa 🇿🇦 in its case against #Israel before #ICJ under 1948 #Genocide Convention; welcomes the opportunity to file a declaration of intervention in the proceedings in due course.
— Bangladesh@UN (@BangladeshUN1) January 14, 2024
Full press statement👇#StopGazaGenocide #NeverAgain pic.twitter.com/spKO6G86Fz
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The Palestine Red Crescent Society has set up shelter tents for 315 Palestinian families displaced by Israeli attacks on Gaza in the Mawasi Rafah area near the Egyptian border.
⭕️The PRCS National Disaster Response Team set up shelter tents today for 315 displaced families without housing in 📍the Mawasi Rafah area near the Egyptian border. #Gaza#Humantarians pic.twitter.com/mPXkmLfMHi
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) January 14, 2024
Since 7 October, Israeli forces have forcibly displaced nearly 2 million Palestinians across Gaza, leaving many stranded in the southern tip of Gaza amid severe shortages of food, water, medical supplies and fuel.
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South Africa's ICJ legal team welcomed back to Johannesburg airport with cheers and praise
South Africa’s legal team, which presented its case of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) earlier this week, has been welcomed with cheers and praise at Johannesburg airport following their return from The Hague.
Videos posted online showed crowds of supporters gathering at OR Tambo international airport over the weekend to welcome the legal team, with many waving South African and Palestinian flags. Other supporters held signs that read: “Not all heroes wear capes” while chanting “Free, free Palestine!”
South Africa's legal team in the genocide case against Israel at the ICJ has arrived back at OR Tambo International airport.#Newzroom405 pic.twitter.com/wtS7IN56Lj
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) January 14, 2024
Speaking to reporters, Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, a legal scholar and one of the lawyers on South Africa’s team, said:
“The struggle continues. This is an episode in a long struggle … It is about 75 years of occupation … This week marked an important episode, but it did not mark the culmination. It marked a very crucial turning point in having the world look at the issue through a legal lens, but the overall struggle itself will continue beyond this … We have been very humbled that we have been able to contribute a very small part to an otherwise long and courageous struggle of the Palestinian people.”
[WATCH] Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi says South Africa's appearance before the #InternationalCourtofJustice marks a crucial turning point in having the world look at the Israel and Palestine issue through the legal lens. pic.twitter.com/XNNkWB04W7
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) January 14, 2024
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Here are some images coming through the newswires of pro-Palestine rallies held around the world over the weekend, in which demonstrators called for a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israeli forces have killed nearly 24,000 Palestinians since 7 October:
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US denies Houthi reports that it carried out new strikes on Yemen on Sunday
The US has denied Houthi reports that it carried out new attacks in Yemen on Sunday.
Speaking to Agence France-Presse on condition of anonymity, a US defense official said: “No US or coalition strike occurred today.”
The official’s statements come in response to Houthi media reporting that US and UK airstrikes hit Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah.
Agence France-Presse reports the Houthi’s Ansar Allah news website saying that “airstrikes from the American-British aggression hit Hodeidah”. The website is reported to have cited a security source saying that the strikes targeted the Jabal Jada area in Hodeidah’s al-Luhaya district.
Earlier this week, the US and UK launched airstrikes on Houthis in Yemen following the group’s attacks on shipping in the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
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Thousands attended a 24-hour rally in Tel Aviv to mark 100 days of Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza and to call for the release of hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza, where nearly 24,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces.
The Guardian’s Jason Burke reports:
Israelis have marked 100 days of war with a 100-minute pause in the working day and rallies to call for the return of hostages held in Gaza, but little relief from the anxiety that has gripped the country since Hamas launched its 7 October attacks.
Many Israelis remain deeply shaken by the incursion, in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 240 taken hostage.
Israel is “in the middle of a terrible dream, and I want to wake up from this terrible dream and create a new Israel”, Arnon Bar-David, the leader of the Histadrut confederation of trade unions, told a mass meeting in Tel Aviv. “We will rebuild everything they have tried to destroy.”
Normal life is returning to the streets of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other cities, but many shops and restaurants are still shut and hundreds of thousands of reservists mobilised.
Read the full story here:
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Yemen’s Houthis said US aircraft were observed flying close to Yemeni airspace and coastal areas on Sunday, Reuters reports.
According to Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam, the activity by “enemy” aircraft is a blatant violation of national sovereignty.
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Hezbollah chief says Israel "failed" in Gaza and will be forced to negotiate
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said that Israel has “failed” in Gaza and will be forced to negotiate, Agence France-Presse reports.
In a televised address on Sunday, Nasrallah said:
What has the enemy achieved in 100 days, other than killing? … It has not achieved any real victory or semblance of victory. It has failed in achieving its declared, half-declared and implicit objectives.
The leader of the Iran-backed group added:
If this path continues, be it in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Yemen or Iraq, the enemy government will have no other choice but to accept the conditions of the resistance in Gaza, thereby putting an end to the aggression against Gaza and entering into negotiations.
He also denounced US and UK airstrikes on Yemen that were launched in response to Houthis’ attacks on shipping – which Houthis declared are in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and against Israel. Nasrallah said:
What the Americans did in the Red Sea will harm the security of all maritime navigation.
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Namibia rejects 'Germany's support of genoicidal intent' of Israel, citing Germany's genocide history
Namibia has rejected Germany’s support of the “genocidal intent of the racist Israeli state against innocent civilians in Gaza”.
In a statement released over the weekend, the Namibian presidency pointed to Germany’s “inability to draw lessons from its horrific history”, citing the 20th century’s first genocide – the Herero-Namaqua genocide perpetrated by German forces on Namibian soil from 1904 to 1908 which killed between 24,000 to 100,000 Hereros and 10,000 Nama.
The statement said:
The German government is yet to fully atone for the genocide it committed on Namibian soil. Therefore, in light of Germany’s inability to draw lessons from its horrific history, president Hage Geingob expresses deep concern with the shocking decision communicated by … Germany yesterday, 12 January 2024, in which it rejected the morally upright indictment brought forward by South Africa before the International Court of Justice that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza …
Germany cannot morally express commitment to the United Nations Convention against genocide, including atonement for the genocide in Namibia, whilst supporting the equivalent of a holocaust and genocide in Gaza. Various international organizations, such as Human Rights Watch have chillingly concluded that Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza.
Namibia rejects Germany’s Support of the Genocidal Intent of the Racist Israeli State against Innocent Civilians in Gaza
— Namibian Presidency (@NamPresidency) January 13, 2024
On Namibian soil, #Germany committed the first genocide of the 20th century in 1904-1908, in which tens of thousands of innocent Namibians died in the most… pic.twitter.com/ZxwWxLv8yt
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UNRWA: Gaza's humanitarian crisis 'one of the most complex and challenging in the world'
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has called the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by Israel’s attacks across the strip – which have killed nearly 24,000 Palestinians and displacing nearly 2 million more Palestinians – one of the world’s “most complex and challenging” operations.
In a tweet on Sunday following 100 days of Israel’s war on Gaza, the UNRWA said:
The massive destruction, displacement, hunger & loss of last 100 days are staining our shared humanity.
The massive destruction, displacement, hunger & loss of last 100 days are staining our shared humanity
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) January 14, 2024
The humanitarian operation has become one of the most complex & challenging in the world
Due to tight siege on #GazaStrip, aid delivered is not nearly enough to meet the needs pic.twitter.com/5MQn3yNe9I
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The World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners have visited al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza and Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
In a post on Twitter/X, WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said that both hospitals are “vital lifelines for patients and thousands of displaced people in Gaza” and that they require “sustained support and protection to remain operational”.
Ghebreyesus said:
At al-Aqsa hospital, WHO learned that patients have been fleeing out of fear, and that the number of medical staff is a fraction of what it once was. At Nasser, WHO witnessed a shortage of hospital beds, with 700 patients on the premises along with around 7000 internally displaced people.
His statements come as Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked hospitals and ambulances across the Gaza strip, leaving nearly 2 million surviving Palestinians struggling to access medical care and supplies.
Yesterday, @WHO and partners visited Al-Aqsa Hospital in the middle area, and Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, vital lifelines for patients and thousands of displaced people in #Gaza.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) January 14, 2024
These facilities require sustained support and protection to remain operational. The… pic.twitter.com/ZQlkSj3OYZ
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Diplomats are warning that Israel is risking serious escalation by killing Hezbollah leaders.
The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont reports:
While Israel has long targeted members of Palestinian armed groups, as well as others in its sights – including key Iranian nuclear scientists – since the end of the highly destructive 2006 Lebanon war it has avoided targeting senior Hezbollah figures in intelligence-driven strikes.
That appeared to have changed with the killing of Wissam al-Tawil, a senior commander in the group’s elite Radwan force. Tawil, 58, was killed last Monday in a drone attack on his car in Khirbet Selm in southern Lebanon. A few days earlier, an Israeli strike on a Beirut suburb killed the No 2 in Hamas’s political bureau, Saleh al-Arouri.
A second Hezbollah commander, this time in its aerial forces, Ali Hussein Burji, was killed on the outskirts of Tawil’s funeral, also in a strike on a car. In the immediate aftermath, the Israeli foreign minister, Israel Katz, claimed responsibility in a television interview, saying: “This is part of our war. We strike on Hezbollah’s people.”
Although both sides have been firing across the Lebanon-Israel border, sometimes multiple times a day, observers have noted the targeted killings as a new departure in the conflict. “We had not seen anything like that before,” said one senior diplomat. “It definitely represents an uptick [in the conflict] and we need to see where it takes us, whether it is part of a pattern.”
Among concerns is that a new pattern of assassinations of Hezbollah figures could “stretch the elastic” of restraint to breaking point.
Read the full story here:
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US senator Bernie Sanders said that the US Congress has to “start moving to protect children in Palestine” and that Israel’s war on Gaza is “worse than what took place in Dresden over a two-year period”.
In an interview with CNN’s State of the Union, Sanders, who proposed a resolution last month to investigate the “humanitarian cataclysm … done with American bombs and money”, said:
What is going on in Gaza right now is a horrendous humanitarian catastrophe. We’re looking at 23,000 people who have been killed. Almost 60,000 have been wounded. And two-thirds of the people who have been killed are women and children. You’re looking at 70% of the housing units in Gaza that have been destroyed …
If I use the word Dresden, Germany, to you, you think about the horrific destruction during World War II of that city. What is going on in Gaza now in three months is worse than what took place in Dresden over a two-year period. This is a catastrophe …
Israel has a right to respond to this horrific terrorist attack from Hamas, but you do not have a right to go to war against an entire people, women and children. And the United States Congress has got to act, because a lot of this destruction is being done with military weapons supplied by the United States of America …
We have a horrific humanitarian catastrophe. We cannot turn our backs on it. Congress has got to start moving to protect children in Palestine.
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The Palestine Red Crescent Society resumed its emergency medical services in Gaza and the northern region after it temporarily halted rescue operations because of Israeli strikes on its EMS centres and ambulances that have killed several PRCS workers, theorganisation said on Sunday.
Sunday marks the 101st day of Israel’s war on Gaza since 7 October. In the last three months, Israeli forces have killed nearly 24,000 Palestinians, including emergency rescue workers, while leaving nearly 2 million people displaced across Gaza.
⭕️On the 101st day of the Israeli war on #Gaza, PRCS resumed its 101 Emergency medical services to #Gaza and the northern region after temporarily ceasing operations due to Israeli attacks on its EMS centers and ambulances. 🙏 We commend our dedicated volunteers and staff for… pic.twitter.com/amH2D7Orx1
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) January 14, 2024
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A guided missile launched from Lebanon killed a 76-year-old woman and her son in a village in northern Israel on Sunday, medical officials said.
An anti-tank missile fired at Kfar Yuval, an agricultural collective next to the Lebanese border, struck a house, killing the woman and her 40-year-old son, Israeli military and medical officials said (see earlier post at 13.04), Reuters reports.
A 74-year-old man was injured, a hospital official said, describing him as a member of the same family of farmers.
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In the northern Gaza Strip, health officials have said an Israeli airstrike killed a local journalist, according to Reuters.
This raised the number of journalists killed in the Israeli offensive to more than 100, according to the Gaza government media office.
China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, has called for an end to the attacks on civilian vessels in the Red Sea, though he did not mention the Iran-backed Houthi militia responsible for those attacks, Reuters reports.
Speaking at a press conference in Cairo after a meeting with Egypt’s president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, he said:
The situation in the Red Sea has escalated sharply recently and China is deeply concerned about this.
China calls for a halt to the harassment and attacks on civilian ships and for the maintenance of the smooth flow of global industrial and supply chains and the international trade order.
In a veiled criticism of the US and British airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, Wang said the UN security council did not authorise such action.
“The adding of fuel to the fire of tensions in the Red Sea should be avoided and an increase in the overall security risk of the region should be prevented,” he added, without naming the US and Britain.
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All maritime navigation in danger after US strikes on Yemen, Hezbollah warns
The Lebanese-based Iranian backed group, Hezbollah, has said the US was mistaken if it believed Yemen’s Houthis would stop confronting Israel in the Red Sea, warning that American actions there had endangered all maritime navigation.
Describing US and British strikes on Yemen as an act of stupidity, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the Houthis would continue targeting ships belonging to Israel and going to its ports, Reuters reports.
He was quoted as saying:
The more dangerous thing is what the Americans did in the Red Sea will harm all maritime navigation, even the ships that are not going to Palestine, even the ships which are not Israeli, even the ships that have nothing to do with the matter, because the sea has become a theatre of fighting, missiles, drones and war ships. Security has been disrupted.
Hezbollah, founded in the early 1980s in Lebanon, has popular support among Lebanon’s large Shia population, is deeply involved in Lebanon’s politics and has substantial economic interests.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organisation said it received a report on Sunday of an approach involving two small craft 23 nautical miles (43 kilometers) northwest of the Eritrean Red Sea port of Assab.
“The two small boats approached and hailed a merchant vessel attempting to get them to change course,” UKMTO said in an advisory.
“Merchant vessel maintained course, post reassurance from authorities. The two small boats have now left vicinity. Vessel and crew are safe,” it added.
UKMTO ADVISORY 001/JAN/2024 UPDATE 001https://t.co/lJYidPgcjT#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/O6krj6TKmY
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) January 14, 2024
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Pro-Palestinian activists protested at the gates of RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus on Sunday, angry that the British base was used as a launch for strikes against the Houthi militia in Yemen, Reuters reports.
The protests come after a series of missile strikes by the US and the UKagainst Houthi rebels, who have been targeting international shipping in the Red Sea.
RAF Akrotiri was used as a staging point for Typhoon fighter jets involved in the operation.
Several hundred protesters chanted “Out with the Bases of Death” at the entrance the baae, one of two that Britain retains in Cyprus, a former colony.
The iron gates to the heavily guarded compound, which sits on a peninsula on Cyprus’s southernmost tip, were reportedly locked with dozens of police present.
“We are here because we condemn the complicity of the UK government and using Cypriot land for their agenda to support Israel in their onslaught of Gaza,” said Natalia Olivia, of the Cyprus-based United for Palestine organisation.
Another activist, Nicos Panayiotou, called the use of the British bases a disgrace. “They are using Cypriot land to do something every Cypriot is condemning,” he said.
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The Israeli army have arrested 5,875 Palestinians, including 355 children and 200 women, in the occupied West Bank during the 100 days of the war, Al Jazeera cited a statement from the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society as saying.
Man killed and woman badly wounded by antitank missile in northern Israel, says Israeli ambulance service
A man was killed and a woman badly wounded by an antitank missile that hit in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon on Sunday, the Israeli ambulance service has said.
Israel’s military said a missile hit a house, causing casualties and that its forces were striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
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On a visit to Egypt, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, has urged the establishment of a Palestinian state and a ceasefire in Gaza, AFP reports.
At a joint press conference in Cairo, Wang and his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, also called for “an international summit for peace” to find a “lasting solution to the Palestinian cause”.
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Summary of the day so far...
A total of 23,968 Palestinians have been killed and a further 60,582 injured by Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said on Sunday. In the past 24 hours, 125 Palestinians were killed and 265 were injured, the ministry added.
Arab-Israeli lawmaker Ahmad Tibi said on social media that three of his relatives, including a 10-year-old boy, had been killed in a strike on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
Britain could strike Houthi targets in Yemen again if the rebel group continues to attack ships in the Red Sea, the UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, suggested in an article for the Sunday Telegraph. “We will work with allies. We will always defend the freedom of navigation. And, crucially, we will be prepared to back words with actions,” he said. In an interview with Sky News on Sunday morning, the former Conservative prime minister said the lights were “absolutely flashing red” on the global dashboard, adding that it was hard to think of a time when there had been so much danger and volatility in the world.
The clock is “ticking fast towards famine” in Gaza, the head of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees said. Without directly blaming Israel or Hamas for what he said was a “man-made disaster”, Philippe Lazzarini, the boss of UNRWA, said in a statement late on Saturday that the crisis had been “compounded by dehumanising language and the use of food, water and fuel as instruments of war”.
Israel will pursue its war against Hamas until victory and will not be stopped by anyone, including the world court, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a defiant speech on Saturday, as the fighting in Gaza approached the 100-day mark.
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Egypt and China are closely following developments in the Red Sea, focusing on the priority of ensuring the safety and security of navigation, they said in a joint statement on Sunday.
The two countries expressed concern about the expansion of the conflict in the region, stressing the importance of uniting efforts to stop attacks on Gaza, the statement added, according to Reuters.
On Friday, Turkey claimed the US and UK were intent on turning the Red Sea into a bloodbath, as countries across the Middle East and Europe voiced fears that American-British strikes against Yemen may destabilise the region and lead to a wider escalation.
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Here is the video of the UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, warning that the “lights are absolutely flashing red” on the global dashboard (see earlier post at 09.05 for his full comments):
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In the UK, Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, has watered down promises to introduce a law giving MPs a vote before military intervention and to stop selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, PA Media reports.
When running to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as party leader in 2020, Starmer promised a “Prevention of Military Intervention Act” under commitments to prevent “more illegal wars”.
He said at the time that he would “pass legislation” to say “military action” could only be taken if a lawful case was made, there was a viable objective and consent from the House of Commons had been given.
But his swift backing of the RAF strikes in Yemen in a bombing raid with the US that the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, authorised without consulting parliament, raised questions about the pledge.
Starmer told BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme:
There’s no inconsistency here. There is obviously a huge distinction between an operation, the like of which we have seen in the last few days, and military action, a sustained campaign, military action usually involving troops on the ground.
He argued that his proposed change to give the Commons a say only related to sending in ground forces, adding that he stood by that “in principle, absolutely”.
The Labour leader insisted he still wanted to bring in the change but now hinted the alteration may not need to be in law.
“I want to codify that – it could be by a law, it could be by some other means,” he said, adding: “I’m not ruling out law.”
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Death toll in Gaza reaches 23,968, says health ministry
A total of 23,968 Palestinians have been killed and a further 60,582 injured by Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said on Sunday as the war reached its 100th day.
In the past 24 hours, 125 Palestinians were killed and 265 were injured, the ministry added.
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Relatives of Arab-Israeli lawmaker killed in Gaza
Arab-Israeli lawmaker Ahmad Tibi has said on social media that three of his relatives had been killed in a strike on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
The three people who were killed were named as: Dr Sahar Tibi, an education lecturer, Faisal Tibi, a computer science student and Ahmed Tibi, a 10-year-old boy.
“May Allah have mercy on them. We love life if we can find a way to it,” he wrote on X.
عليهم رحمة الله. نحب الحياة اذا ما استطعنا اليها سبيلاً
— Ahmad Tibi (@Ahmad_tibi) January 14, 2024
יהי זכרם ברוך.אנו נאהב את החיים אם נמצא דרך אליהם
We love life if we can find a way to it
Allah yerhamhom RIP https://t.co/aui5ZyjRu0
Tibi is the leader of the Arab nationalist party Ta’al, which advocates for the rights of Israel’s Arab minority.
Telecommunications have been partly restored in southern Gaza, an AFP reporter in Rafah said, after operator Paltel reported a complete outage on Friday.
Paltel said an Israeli strike killed two of its employees in Khan Younis while they were repairing the network.
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Israel’s budget deficit ceiling is expected to rise to 6.6% of gross domestic product in 2024 from 2.25%, according to an amended 2024 budget draft.
Ministers will begin debate on a revised budget later today that will include steep spending to finance the war, with a vote expected by Monday morning, Reuters reports.
Ahmed Bayram, a media and communications adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), which has operated in Gaza for the past 16 years, has spoken to Al Jazeera.
He said:
They’ve experienced loss, grief, displacement and of course fear. Their children cannot have a full night of sleep, fresh food, or clean water for 100 days now.
This very dark moment reminds us that Gaza has been made unlivable for military reasons and all civilians are paying the price. Sadly, we are saying the same thing repeatedly: ‘Stop the bloodshed now.’
The NRC says it operates across 40 countries with specialisms in food security, education, shelter, legal assistance, protection from violence, and water, sanitation and hygiene.
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David Cameron has denied that the UK’s strikes on the Houthis were an escalation.
Asked if the UK and US had escalated the situation by the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the UK’s foreign secretary said:
No. The escalation has been caused by the Houthis. I mean the point is since 19 November, you have had these 26 attacks.
There have been more of them, they have been getting worse, and you know, not acting is also a policy, it is a policy that doesn’t work.
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David Cameron: lights are 'flashing red' on the global dashboard
The “lights are absolutely flashing red” on the global dashboard, the UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, warned as he said it was hard to think of a time when there had been so much danger and volatility in the world.
Asked by Sky News if ministers had considered that the strikes on the Houthis could raise the likelihood of terrorist action in the UK, Cameron replied:
The threat level is set after careful consideration by the joint terrorist assessment centre and that is the right way of doing it, it is not in the power of politicians just to suddenly wake up one morning and change the threat level.
Our view is look, take a step back from this, it is hard to think of a time when there has been so much danger and insecurity and instability in the world.
The lights are absolutely flashing red as it were on the global dashboard and what we need at that time is strong leadership and a clear plan, that is what we have with the prime minister and the team in place.
And taking action, if you don’t act against the Houthis is the Red Sea, you are going to see more attacks, they are effectively terroristic attacks, you will see more of that.
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The UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, said he did not agree with Turkey’s president that US-UK strikes on the Houthis were disproportionate.
Asked about Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s criticism by Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, he said:
We don’t agree with what President Erdoğan has said. If you look at the action we have taken, it is actually backed by a very wide coalition of countries.
He is an important Nato ally but in this case we don’t agree. We see this as completely separate from the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Erdoğan said last week that the Houthis in Yemen were mounting a “successful defence” against the US and the UK after they launched air and missile strikes in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen in what they said was an effort to halt attacks on ships in the Red Sea. Turkey’s president said Britain was trying to turn the Red Sea into a “sea of blood”.
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Israeli forces have killed at least nine Palestinian militants during operations in the Gaza Strip, the military said on Sunday.
The fighting, it said, took place in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, as well as areas farther north where Israel says it has dismantled much of Hamas’s military capabilities.
These claims are yet to be independently verified.
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UK ready to strike Houthis again if attacks in Red Sea continue, David Cameron suggests
Britain could strike Houthi targets in Yemen again if the rebel group continues to attack ships in the Red Sea, the UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, has indicated.
The former Conservative prime minister warned that the Iran-linked militants could force up prices in Britain if they are allowed to block the passage of container ships in the busy trade route.
The US hit another site in Yemen early on Saturday after the Houthis vowed revenge for the bombing raid carried out by the Americans and the RAF a day earlier.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Lord Cameron said the airstrikes “sent an unambiguous message” to the Houthis that “we are determined to put a stop” to their attacks in the Red Sea.
And he hinted that Britain could join the US in striking the Houthis again if they continued.
“We will work with allies. We will always defend the freedom of navigation. And, crucially, we will be prepared to back words with actions,” Cameron said.
The Houthis say they are attacking only Israeli-linked ships in an attempt to force Israel to lift the siege on Gaza, but the secretary general of the International Maritime Organization, Arsenio Dominguez, told the UN last week the Houthis were not confining their attacks to shipping linked to Israel.
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Israeli soldiers exchanged fire with militants attempting to cross from Lebanon into Israel and killed four of them, the Israeli military has said, according to Reuters.
The soldiers were on patrol in Har Dov around the disputed Shebaa Farms area, according to the military’s statement, when they spotted the four who opened fire at the force.
“During the exchanges of fire, IDF [Israel Defense Forces] forces conducted artillery and mortar fire toward the area,” the military said.
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Clock 'ticking fast towards famine' in Gaza, UN refugee agency boss warns
The clock is “ticking fast towards famine” in Gaza, the head of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees has said, as Israel’s war on the territory entered its 100th day on Sunday.
Without directly blaming Israel or Hamas for what he said was a “man-made disaster”, Philippe Lazzarini, the boss of UNRWA, said in a statement late Saturday the crisis had been “compounded by dehumanising language and the use of food, water and fuel as instruments of war”.
Israel shut off water supplies and blocked most food, fuel and medical aid to the territory after the deadly Hamas attack of 7 October.
At the same time it launched an unprecedented bombing and ground assault that has so far killed about 24,000 Palestinians and wounded tens of thousands more, the majority women and children. Thousands more Palestinians are believed to be buried under the rubble of bombed buildings.
“The massive death, destruction, displacement, hunger, loss, and grief of the last 100 days are staining our shared humanity,” Lazzarini said. People were now living in “inhumane conditions”, he said, and diseases were spreading as Gazans “live through the unlivable”. He continued:
The plight of children in Gaza is especially heartbreaking. An entire generation of children is traumatized and will take years to heal. Thousands have been killed, maimed, and orphaned. Hundreds of thousands are deprived of education. Their future is in jeopardy, with far-reaching and long-lasting consequences.
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Netanyahu suggests Israel would ignore court ruling ordering Gaza ceasefire
Israel will pursue its war against Hamas until victory and will not be stopped by anyone, including the world court, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said in a defiant speech on Saturday, as the fighting in Gaza approached the 100-day mark.
Netanyahu spoke after the international court of justice at The Hague held two days of hearings on South Africa’s allegations that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians, a charge Israel has rejected as libelous and hypocritical, the Associated Press reported.
South Africa asked the court to order Israel to halt its blistering air and ground offensive in an interim step.
“No one will stop us, not The Hague, not the axis of evil and not anyone else,” Netanyahu said in televised remarks on Saturday evening, referring to Iran and its allied militias.
The case before the world court is expected to go on for years, but a ruling on interim steps could come within weeks. Court rulings are binding but difficult to enforce. Netanyahu made clear that Israel would ignore orders to halt the fighting, potentially deepening its isolation.
Israel has been under growing international pressure to end the war, which has killed more than 23,000 Palestinians in Gaza and led to widespread suffering in the besieged enclave, but has so far been shielded by US diplomatic and military support.
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Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Middle East crisis with me, Helen Livingstone.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that “no one will stop” Israel in its war against Hamas, including the international court of justice in The Hague, where South Africa this week launched a case against Israel accusing it of genocide.
“It is possible and necessary to continue until victory and we will do it,” Netanyahu said at a televised press conference, saying most Hamas battalions in Gaza had been “eliminated”.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, meanwhile warned that the clock is “ticking fast towards famine” in the Gaza strip, to where Israel has blocked water supplies and the delivery of most food, fuel and medical aid amid its brutal assault.
“The massive death, destruction, displacement, hunger, loss, and grief of the last 100 days are staining our shared humanity,” the UNRWA boss said in a statement late Saturday, the eve of the 100th day of Israel’s war on Gaza.
More on that soon. In other developments:
Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Washington DC on Saturday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israeli forces have killed nearly 24,000 Palestinians since 7 October. Pictures posted online showed demonstrators holding various signs including some saying “Stop funding apartheid now” and “Free Palestine”. Guest speakers who condemned Israel’s attacks on Gaza and urged for a ceasefire in Gaza included Cornel West, Imam Omar Suleiman and Wael al-Dahdouh (who spoke via a video feed).
Palestinian journalist Wael al-Dahdouh, who works for Al Jazeera and whose family members were killed by two separate Israeli strikes while he also was recently wounded by another Israeli strike himself, addressed the protest in Washington DC via a video feed from Gaza. He spoke up about the dire conditions in which Palestinians are struggling to exist in Gaza while under Israeli bombardment. “The people are paying an exorbitant price, and are living a disastrous life,” he told the crowds in Washington DC.
A Hamas official thanked Qatar on Saturday for sending medicine to Gaza “in light of the many risks that threaten the lives of Palestinians”, Reuters reports. Speaking at a news conference in Beirut, the Lebanon-based Hamas leader Osama Hamdan said: “Some medicine will be used to treat Israeli prisoners.”
The first lady of Namibia, Monica Geingos, has spoken out against Germany’s defense of Israel in South Africa’s case against Israeli genocide in Gaza at the International Court of Justice. In a statement on X, Geingos cited the Herero-Nama genocide, which was waged by German forces from 1904 to 1908 and killed between 24,000 and 100,000 Hereros and 10,000 Nama in Namibia (then known colonially as German South West Africa). Geingos said: “The absurdity of Germany, on 12 January 2024, rejecting genocide charges against Israel and warning about the ‘political instrumentalisation of the charge’ is not lost on us.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists has renewed its calls for the protection of journalists in Gaza and urged for “the killings of journalists by the Israeli army” to stop. CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, Sherif Mansour, said: “After 100 days of fighting, Israel’s longstanding record of impunity in journalist killings must face public scrutiny by allowing international media and international investigators uncensored access to Gaza. The killings of journalists by the Israeli army must stop now.”
