Gaza Under Fire
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US security adviser lands in Israel for meetings with top officials
Jake Sullivan has landed in Israel for two days of meetings with officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Army Radio reported.
The national security adviser also has planned meetings with Netanyahu’s war cabinet and President Isaac Herzog, amid efforts by the White House to pressure Israel to dial back its “indiscriminate” bombing of Gaza.
Sullivan began his tour of the region on Wednesday when he met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia.
Palestinian ministry says 3,714 students killed in Gaza, West Bank since war began
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Education, 3,714 students have been killed and 5,700 injured in Gaza and the occupied West Bank since October 7.
A ministry statement, cited by the official Wafa news agency, said the number of students who have been killed in Gaza is 3,679 with 5,429 wounded.
In the West Bank, 35 students have been killed, with 271 others injured and 82 arrested, according to the statement.
The ministry added that 209 teachers and school administrators were also killed and 619 injured in Gaza, while two teachers were injured and 65 arrested in the occupied West Bank since October 7.
Artillery attacks reported in southern Lebanon
Lebanese media have reported Israeli army artillery attacks in southern Lebanon in the towns of Awidah and Aziziyah hills, and south of the town of Khiam.
The official National News Agency warned that the area between Alam al-Chaab and Naqoura was exposed to attacks.
Al-Quds Brigades says it targeted Israeli military post, tank and bulldozer
Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad Group, said its fighters “engaged in fierce clashes” with the Israeli forces in the areas al-Zaytoun and Shujayea in east of Gaza, and Sheikh Radwan in the west of the enclave.
The group said on its Telegram channel that it bombed a military post and surrounding targets in the Sufa settlement in southern Israel with “missile barrages”.
Al-Quds Brigades fighters also targeted an Israeli tank and Caterpillar D9 bulldozer with tandem and RPG shells in Jabalia and Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, according to the groups statement.
US taking more ‘assertive’ steps to curb settler violence
The US is taking increasingly assertive steps in trying to limit settler violence.
First, telling Israel it must contain this vigilante extremist violence, then issuing a visa ban earlier last week against travel to the US from some of the individuals involved in this violence, and now pausing, at least for the moment, the shipment of 27,000 military-style rifles.
It was intended to go to the Israeli national police, but the Biden administration fears that they could ultimately be handed over into the hands of these extremist settlers.
It’s notable how this pause occurred because already this shipment had cleared the initial congressional review and passed the committee stage.
Power outage in southern Lebanon area after Israeli attack
A power outage happened in the town of Taybeh in southern Lebanon after Israeli artillery attack on areas where electricity infrastructure is located, the official National News Agency reported.
Iran warns against proposed US-backed Red Sea force
Iran’s defence minister has warned that a proposed US-backed multinational task force to protect shipping in the Red Sea would face “extraordinary problems”, Iranian media reported.
“Nobody can make a move in a region where we have predominance,” Reza Ashtiani told the official Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA). “If they make such an irrational move, they will be faced with extraordinary problems.”
The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have staged attacks on ships they claim had links to Israel.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters last week that Washington was in talks with “other countries” over forming a maritime task force to ensure the safe passage of ships in the Red Sea, but did not give further details.
MBS, Sullivan hold talks on efforts for peace between Israel and Palestine: White House
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in Saudi Arabia to discuss efforts to create a sustainable peace between Israelis and Palestinians, according to the White House.
“They discussed a number of bilateral and regional matters, including ongoing efforts to create new conditions for an enduring and sustainable peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” a White House statement said.
They also discussed the humanitarian response in Gaza, including how to increase the flow of critical aid to the Palestinian enclave, it added.
Seventeen journalists killed on duty since October 7: RSF
Seventeen journalists on duty have been killed in the war between Israel and Hamas, according to an annual report compiled by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) group.
The RSF said that 13 of those journalists killed since the October 7 attacks were in the Gaza Strip.
“Sixty-three journalists lost their lives in total (including 56 in Gaza) if we include journalists killed in circumstances unproven to be related to their duties,” the group said.
Heavy rains add to misery as Palestinians evacuate to escape Israeli air strikes
Palestinians were seen fleeing from the Jabalia refugee camp in the middle of intense rainfall as they tried to escape non-stop Israeli attacks that targeted their shelter in northern Gaza.
In an exclusive video from the Al Jazeera team on the ground in Gaza, and posted on social media, scores of people, including the elderly, women and children, are seen carrying their belongings while walking without any protection from heavy rains that have hit the Palestinian enclave over the last two days.
According to the report, the Palestinians were fleeing from Israel’s shelling of the Abu Hussein School, which had served as a shelter for internally displaced people in Gaza.
Winter rainfall in Gaza has increased worries of the spread of disease among the thousands of displaced people, who are already been struggling to find proper shelter and food to survive.
More than 70% of Palestinians killed in Gaza are women and children
The number of women and children killed in Gaza by the Israeli military’s months of bombing and air strikes “has surpassed anything we’ve seen in recent conflicts”, says Reem Alsalem, the UN’s special rapporteur on violence against women and girls.
People working on the ground in Gaza have “run out of words to describe the unspeakable level of suffering and horrors,” Alsalem told Al Jazeera.
“Within this hell, being a Palestinian woman or a child has really meant being stripped of any humanity, dignity, safety or any special considerations that would usually be given to women or children in times of peace or conflict,” she said.
Australia considering US request to send warship to Red Sea: Treasurer
The Australian government is considering a US request to send a warship to the Red Sea, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has told the ABC, Australia’s public broadcaster.
Australian Greens Senator David Shoebridge said in a post on X that the move was “the first step towards entangling Australia in the United States next war in the Middle East”.
The announcement comes a day after the Australian government showed support for a ceasefire in Gaza for the first time, including by voting in favour of a UNGA resolution calling for one.
Israeli army’s death toll since Gaza Strip invasion now at 116
The Israeli military said that a 38-year-old reservist was killed during confrontation between its forces and Palestinian fighters on Wednesday.
The latest casualty brings the Israeli military death toll to at least 116 since the ground invasion of Gaza began.
The statement said that another soldier was also seriously injured in the incident and has been taken to a hospital.
Israeli West Bank raid kills 7: Palestinian ministry
JENIN (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – An Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank that lasted more than a day left at least seven Palestinians dead, the Palestinian health ministry said Wednesday, raising an earlier toll.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its medics treated multiple others wounded in the military raid on Jenin, including a 27-year-old woman shot in the chest in the city's refugee camp.
The Israeli military said forces "confiscated approximately 30 weapons, ammunition, military equipment and weapon parts", without commenting on those killed.
Israel suffers heaviest combat losses since October, diplomatic isolation
CAIRO/GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel announced its worst combat losses in more than a month on Wednesday after an ambush in the ruins of Gaza, and faced growing diplomatic isolation as civilian deaths mounted and a humanitarian catastrophe worsened in the Palestinian territory.
Intense fighting between Hamas and Israeli soldiers was under way in both north and south Gaza, a day after the United Nations demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and US President Joe Biden said Israel's "indiscriminate" bombing of civilians was costing international support.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military would fight on despite international pressure for a ceasefire.
Washington shows signs of strained patience with ally Israel
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The administration of President Joe Biden has begun to publicly air its differences with the Israeli government over the conduct of the war in Gaza, expressing its exasperation even as it remains largely steady in its support.
Biden referred this week to "indiscriminate bombing" in Gaza, underscoring his frustration with conservative Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government Biden agrees is starting to lose global support.
The Democratic US administration is even beginning to talk about a "timetable" for how long Israel's high-intensity military operations can continue.
