Gaza War
Blinken says Arab countries not keen to rebuild Gaza if it will be ‘leveled’ again
Arab countries are not keen to get involved in the rebuilding of Gaza if the Palestinian enclave will be “leveled” again in a few years, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, adding that the Palestinian statehood question needed to be addressed.
“You have to resolve the Palestinian question,” Blinken told CNBC in an interview in Davos, according to Reuters.
“Arab countries are saying this: They’re saying, look, we’re not going to get into the business, for example, of rebuilding Gaza only to have it leveled again in a year or five years and then be asked to rebuild it again.”
South African lawyers preparing lawsuit against US, UK for complicity in Israel’s war crimes in Gaza
After South Africa filed a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for genocide in Gaza, the country’s nearly 50 lawyers are preparing a separate lawsuit against the US and UK governments on the grounds that they are complicit in Israeli forces’ war crimes in Palestine, Anadolu Agency reports.
The initiative, led by South African lawyer Wikus Van Rensburg, aims to prosecute those who are complicit in the crime in civilian courts in collaboration with lawyers from the US and UK, with whom he is already in contact.
Rensburg, who has been writing letters to various countries and the ICJ for the last few weeks demanding that Israel and its supporters be prosecuted, has begun preparations to file a lawsuit against the two Western countries, with the support of his colleagues.
“The United States must now be held accountable for the crimes it committed,” Rensburg told Anadolu in an interview, detailing the process by which Washington and London will be tried as complicit in Tel Aviv’s war crimes against the people of Gaza.
READ: Increased isolation for Israel, stronger support for Palestine after ICJ trial
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) January 16, 2024
Never thought would witness mass starvation of these proportions, says UN special rapporteur
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) January 16, 2024
PHOTOS: Palestinians wait to receive food from charity kitchen
‘End Gaza conflict to stop Houthi attacks’: Qatari PM
Military strikes will not contain attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea, but an end to the conflict in Gaza will, Qatar’s prime minister said during the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Reuters reports.
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani described the current regional situation as a “recipe for escalation everywhere” and said Qatar believes that defusing the conflict in Gaza will stop the escalation on other fronts.
“We need to address the central issue, which is Gaza, in order to get everything else defused […] if we are just focusing on the symptoms and not treating the real issues, [solutions] will be temporary,” he said.
Sheikh Mohammed said US and British attacks create “a high risk of further escalation and further expansion” of the conflict.
“We always prefer diplomacy over any military resolutions,” he said.
Iran says Revolutionary Guards attack Israel's 'spy HQ' in Iraq
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they attacked the "spy headquarters" of Israel in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, state media reported late on Monday, while the elite force said they also struck in Syria against the Islamic State.
The strikes come amid concerns about the escalation of a conflict that has spread through the Middle East since the war between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas began on Oct 7, with Iran's allies also entering the fray from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
Israeli tanks storm back into north Gaza areas where they had withdrawn
Israeli tanks stormed back into parts of the northern Gaza Strip they had left last week, residents said on Tuesday, bringing back some of the most intense fighting since the New Year when Israel announced it was scaling back its operations there.
Massive explosions could be seen over northern areas of Gaza from across the border with Israel - a rarity over the past two weeks after Israel announced a draw-down of forces in the north as part of a transition to smaller, targeted operations.
Iran attack: 2 dozen missiles launched from three locations
The Revolutionary Guard released a video detailing scenes minutes after its attacks on Iraq and Syria.
Amirali Hajizadeh, chief commander of the aerospace division of the elite force, directs the launches in footage released by the IRGC-linked Fars news website.
Hajizadeh says the attack on a “Zionist base” in northern Iraq was carried out using four ballistic missiles launched from Kermanshah and seven from East Azerbaijan, both provinces bordering Iraq.
Four missiles were launched from Khuzestan, also bordering Iraq, to hit an ISIL-linked target in Syria’s Idlib province. In the video, Hajizadeh says nine more missiles will target a second armed group within hours in Syria.
The missile launch on Syria was the Guard’s longest ever. The missile used identified as a Kheibar Shekan, a longer-range variant of the Fateh-110 solid-propellant ballistic missile unveiled in February 2022.
Qatari FM: No peace without ‘a real’ two-state solution
Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed Abdulrahman Al Thani delivered a speech at Davos in Switzerland, saying “there is no magic formula to return to what was before October 7 without a real solution – the two-state solution”.
He also said:
Ending the war, releasing Palestinian hostages and prisoners, as well as the deteriorating situation in the occupied West Bank must be quickly addressed.
Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is as bad as its invasion of Gaza, and there is no real reaction from the international community to resolve it.
There are politicians who believe the situation in Gaza can be ignored, and the global response to the war is extremely disappointing to nations of the Middle East.
Iran says it ‘respects sovereignty, territorial integrity’ of other nations
Iran says it launched ballistic missiles at targets in Iraq and Syria in defence of its sovereignty and security as well as to counter terrorism.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said Tehran “respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries”.
But at the same time it is using its “legitimate and legal right to deter national security threats”.
Dozens of rockets fired towards southern Israel
More than 50 rockets have been shot from the direction of Gaza towards the city of Netivot, some 15km (9.3 miles) from the border, The Times of Israel and other Israeli media report, in what may be the largest rocket salvo in weeks.
Footage posted on social media shows a building in Netivot severely damaged in the aftermath of the rocket attacks.
The city’s municipality confirmed in a statement that there had been rocket impacts, but reported no casualties, according to the Times of Israel
Iraqi government condemns strikes on Erbil
Iraq’s government has condemned a series of overnight Iranian strikes on the northern city of Erbil in the autonomous Kurdistan region that killed four civilians.
In a foreign ministry statement cited by Reuters, Iraq’s government said it denounced the “attack on its sovereignty” and would take legal measures, including filing a complaint at the UN Security Council, to hold Iran accountable.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) earlier took credit for the attack, which it said hit an Israeli spy headquarters.
WATCH: A father’s journey to save his two-year-old from Israeli bombs
Rami Abu Jamous, a Palestinian journalist, carried his two-year-old child, who had no notion of war before this, 40km (24 miles) to try and escape Israeli bombs.
The Palestinian mission to the UN has shared the AJ+ video documenting the grueling journey to reach Rafah in southern Gaza, where the two are now staying with a friend.
“Be prepared to grasp what life feels like being a Palestinian ‘living’ in Gaza right now. Please share with others that think this is all too ‘complicated’ – because it’s not,” it said in a post on X.
If you are going to watch anything, let these 7 min. be it. Be prepared to have your life changed. Be prepared to grasp what life feels like being a #Palestinian “living” in #Gaza right now. Please share w/ others that think this is all too “complicated”- b/c it’s not @ajplus https://t.co/mNYpqWFr4d
— State of Palestine (@Palestine_UN) January 16, 2024
Palestinian ambassador to UN calls on Non-Aligned Movement to pressure Israel to enforce cease-fire
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The Palestinian ambassador to the UN called on the members of the Non-Aligned Movement in Kampala, Uganda, to put pressure on Israel to implement a cease-fire in Gaza after 100 days of war with militant Palestinian group Hamas.
Rayid Mansour addressed in his opening speech the 120 members, convening throughout this week, that despite the UN General Assembly and the Security Council’s resolutions, a cease-fire remained elusive.
The Non-Aligned Movement, formed during the collapse of the colonial systems and at the height of the Cold War, has played a key part in decolonization processes, according to its website.
Israel says war to wind down in southern Gaza as toll tops 24,000
GAZA STRIP (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Israel has said its operations against Hamas in southern Gaza will soon enter a less intensive phase, after the the group's health ministry reported the death toll in the territory had surpassed 24,000.
More than 100 days into the war, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under intense international pressure to end the fighting as civilian deaths soar and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepens.
At the same time, deadly violence in the occupied West Bank, exchanges of fire over Israel's border with Lebanon, and strikes by US forces on Iran-backed Yemeni rebels acting in solidarity with Hamas have all raised fears of an escalation beyond the Gaza Strip.
WHO appeals for $1.5 bln to address crises from Gaza to Afghanistan
GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday appealed for $1.5 billion in funding to respond to the health needs of millions of people caught up in dozens of humanitarian crises around the globe, from Ukraine and Gaza to Afghanistan.
"We aim to reach some 87 million people with life-saving humanitarian assistance this year," said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
"To do this, we need support totalling $1.5 billion, and we need this funding to arrive as early as possible and with as much flexibility as possible... A reactive approach is not enough."
Iranian attacks in Syria, Erbil not sign of regional escalation: Analyst
Sina Azodi, an adjunct professor at George Washington University, said the Iranian strikes on northern Syria and Erbil in Iraq overnight are significant but do not signal a new regional escalation amid the war in Gaza.
Iran has said the strikes were retaliation for recent “terrorist” attacks inside its territory as well as the killing of several of its commanders, Azodi told Al Jazeera.
“As long as the conflict in Gaza continues, we will see actions. But I don’t believe that this is an escalation,” Azodi said, noting that the US State Department had issued a statement saying, basically, that the Iranians “were not targeting us”.
“So, the US is kind of playing it down too,” he said.
“Iranians have repeatedly said that they are not interested in escalating the conflict. But, again, I think that as long as the conflict in Gaza continues, we will see actions like this,” he added.
“My main concern is, one of these attacks, there could be casualties, US casualties, which would force the United States to respond and then it could escalate without anyone actually wanting war.”
Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian property continue in West Bank
Dozens of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles at dawn in the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, the Wafa news agency reports. Earlier, we reported several attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian property across the occupied West Bank near the cities of Nablus, Tulkarem, Qalqilya and Ramallah.
We also reported that Israeli soldiers had raided the home of Ahmed and Mohammed Zeidat, whom they accuse of carrying out a car ramming and stabbing attack in Raanana, near Tel Aviv, killing one person and injuring at least 14 others.
Raids and arrests have also been reported in the following locations:
The Batn al-Hawa neighbourhood of Ramallah
The town of Idhna, west of Hebron
The Ein al-Sultan camp in Jericho
A man has been arrested in Qalqilya
A man has been arrested in the town of Beit Rima, northwest of Ramallah
We will bring you further updates when we have them.
Israel says another soldier killed in Gaza
The 21-year-old, a member of the 55th Brigade’s 7155th Battalion, was killed during fighting in southern Gaza on Monday, the Israeli military has said.
A second soldier from the same battalion was seriously injured during the same battle, while a third soldier from the Combat Engineering Corps’ 603rd Battalion was also injured in a separate incident in southern Gaza.
The UN’s latest situation report, citing the Israeli military, says that 186 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since October 7. It is not known if this latest death is counted in that total.
More than 24,000 Palestinians have been killed during that same period, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
Iran FM labels US, UK actions in Yemen ‘illegal’ in call with UN chief
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also described the US and UK military strikes on Houthi targets as a “strategic mistake” in a phone call on Monday with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reports.
Referencing tensions in the Red Sea, Guterres “expressed concern about the spread of conflicts in the region”, the IRNA said.
Amir-Abdollahian reportedly told Guterres of “Iran’s readiness to send humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian people” during the call.
The US and the UK launched strikes against Houthi military targets in Yemen on January 12 in response to the Iran-backed group’s repeated attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea.
Protesters shout, ‘Shame’, at NYC cancer centre over Israel complicity
Protesters gathered outside the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, labelling it a “complicit institution” for collaborating with Israeli medical centres.
“Make sure they hear you, they’re in the windows,” one march leader is heard saying in the footage recorded on Monday. In response, protesters chanted, “Shame”.
UK's Sunak says strikes on Huthis 'successful'
LONDON (AFP) – UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Monday that his government believed that all planned targets had been destroyed in last week's US-led strikes against Iran-backed Huthi rebels.
The British leader also told lawmakers that there were no reports of civilian casualties from the joint strikes, which occurred overnight between Thursday and Friday.
"I can tell the House (of Commons) today that our initial assessment is that all 13 planned targets were destroyed," Sunak said during an address to parliament, describing the strikes as "successful".
Hamas appears to show dead bodies of two hostages after warning Israel
GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas appeared to show the dead bodies of two Israeli hostages on Monday (Jan 15) after warning Israel they might be killed if it did not stop its bombardment of Gaza.
A new video released by the Palestinian militant group purportedly showed the bodies of Yossi Sharabi, 53, and Itai Svirsky, 38, who had appeared in an initial video on Sunday.
It also showed a third Israeli hostage, university student Noa Argamani, 26, seemingly reading a script in front of a blank white wall, saying the two were killed by Israeli strikes.
US-owned ship hit off coast of Yemen in Houthi attack
JERUSALEM (AP) - Houthi rebels fired a missile, striking a US-owned ship Monday (Jan 15) just off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden, less than a day after they launched an anti-ship cruise missile toward an American destroyer in the Red Sea, officials said.
The attack on the Gibraltar Eagle further escalates tensions gripping the Red Sea after American-led strikes on the rebels. The Houthis' attacks have affected global shipping, amid Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, targeting a crucial corridor linking Asian and Mideast energy and cargo shipments to the Suez Canal onward to Europe.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which oversees Mideast waters, said Monday's attack happened 177km southeast of Aden. It said the ship’s captain reported that the "port side of vessel hit from above by a missile".
Famine and disease unless Gazans get more aid faster say UN chiefs
RAFAH (AP) - Gaza urgently needs more aid or its desperate population will suffer widespread famine and disease, the heads of three major UN agencies warned Monday (Jan 15) as authorities in the enclave reported that the death toll in the Israel-Hamas war had surpassed 24,000.
While the UN agency chiefs did not directly point a finger at Israel, they said aid delivery is hobbled by the opening of too few border crossings, a slow vetting process for trucks and goods going into Gaza, and continuing fighting throughout the territory — all of which Israel plays a deciding factor in.
Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, sparked by the militant group's Oct 7 attack on southern Israel, has prompted unprecedented destruction in the tiny coastal enclave and triggered a humanitarian catastrophe that has displaced most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population and pushed more than a quarter into starvation according to the UN.
