Gaza Tension
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EU says Houthi attacks cause 22pc drop in Red Sea traffic
Maritime traffic through the Red Sea shipping route has fallen by 22 per cent in a month due to attacks on international vessels by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, AFP quotes EU’s trade commissioner as saying.
“That decrease should be bigger now that shipping companies are rerouting their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope,” Valdis Dombrovskis told journalists.
“The broader economic impact, impact on consumer prices and the EU economy in general, will depend very much on the length of this crisis,” Dombrovskis said.
Israeli troops cut off Khan Younis after suffering worst Gaza loss
Twenty-four Israeli soldiers were killed in Israel's worst day of losses in Gaza, the military said on Tuesday, as its forces encircled southern Gaza's main city, trapping Palestinian residents trying to flee.
Israel said the aims of its war against the Hamas movement that runs Gaza were unchanged and that efforts were being made to bring about the release of more than 100 Israeli hostages.
EU top diplomat says Israel can’t ‘have veto’ on Palestinian state
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell has said that Israel cannot be allowed to unilaterally block the creation of a Palestinian state after the conflict in Gaza, AFP reports.
“One thing is clear — Israel cannot have the veto right to the self-determination of the Palestinian people,” Borrell told a Brussels press conference with his Egyptian counterpart.
“The United Nations recognises and has recognised many times the self-determination right of the Palestinian people. Nobody can veto it.”
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said there is “an international consensus on the necessity of resolving the conflict on the basis of a two state solution”.
“It is time to implement it and the international community has the means, has the resources, has the mechanisms to do so,” he said.
Terrified patients trapped inside few remaining hospitals in Khan Younis: UN
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said one of the largest UN shelters in Gaza’s Khan Younis was hit yesterday, resulting in the killing of six civilians.
“Terrified staff, patients and displaced people are now trapped inside the few remaining hospitals in Khan Younis as heavy fighting continues,” he said.
Lazzarini further called on all the parties to “take every precaution to minimise harm and protect civilians, medical facilities and personnel and UN premises in accordance with the international law”.
Loss of 24 soldiers in Gaza ‘heavy blow’: Israel defence minister
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has said that the loss of 24 soldiers the previous day in the deadliest day of the ground conflict in Gaza is a “heavy blow”.
“The difficult news that we received yesterday, about the deaths of 24 of our fighters, our best sons, who came from the whole country, from the north and from the south, from all places, is a heavy blow,” he said in a filmed statement.
Red Crescent’s Al-Amal hospital receives 1 killed, 12 injured from Gaza’s Khan Younis
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) January 23, 2024
‘Some of the harshest fighting’
Benjamin Netanyahu offered condolences to the families of the soldiers who died saying they are fallen heroes and the army will fight to the end, until victory, in Gaza.
Yesterday, 21 of the 24 soldiers died in a single incident. What we understand from the Israeli military is they were rigging homes with explosives when rocket-propelled grenades were fired at a tank. Then, somehow, the house they were working to demolish was detonated.
The Israeli prime minister said they are going to investigate what they call “a disaster” and would learn from it. There has been a real push into Khan Younis since Sunday. The Israeli defence minister said it would be some of the harshest fighting since the ground operation was launched.
It is densely built up and Hamas has the upper hand – above ground and underground – so it’s a very difficult fight.
Russia’s Lavrov talks Middle East with Iran, Turkey, Lebanon
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with counterparts from Iran, Turkey and Lebanon ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on the burgeoning turmoil in the Middle East.
Lavrov and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian agreed on the need for a swift ceasefire in Gaza and conditions for providing humanitarian assistance to civilians, Russia’s foreign ministry said.
“General concern was expressed about the tense situation in the Red Sea, which has sharply degraded,” it said.
According to the UN agenda, the Security Council is to discuss “the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question”. Lavrov said Russia will propose “collective efforts” to solve the Middle East crisis.
UK ‘will continue to degrade’ Houthi military assets: FM
Britain vowed to keep hammering the ability of Yemen’s Houthis to attack Red Sea shipping after joint US strikes on the rebels overnight.
“What we have done again is send the clearest possible message that we will continue to degrade their ability to carry out these attacks while sending the clearest possible message that we back our words and our warnings with action,” Foreign Minister David Cameron says.
The Houthi military spokesman vowed revenge for the strikes. Yahya Saree posted on X: “These attacks will not go unanswered and unpunished.”
Cameron continued: “Since we last took action 10 days ago, there have been over 12 attacks on shipping by the Houthis. These attacks are illegal. They are unacceptable.”
‘We will not stop’, says Israel PM after deadly attack on troops
Israel’s beleaguered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to fight until “absolute victory” after the deadliest single day for Israeli troops in Gaza fighting since October.
Netanyahu said it is “one of the hardest days since the outbreak of the war” after 24 soldiers were killed.
The army will launch an investigation into an attack after Palestinian fighters targeted a tank with rocket-propelled grenades, setting off a secondary explosion that brought two buildings down on the troops. “We must draw the necessary lessons and do everything to preserve the lives of our warriors.”
In a post on X, Netanyahu wrote: “In the name of our heroes, and for our own lives, we will not stop fighting until absolute victory.”
Israeli army says it ‘encircled’ Khan Younis city; dozens killed
Israel’s military says it killed “dozens” of Palestinian fighters during fierce fighting in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours.
“Over the past day, troops carried out an extensive operation during which they encircled Khan Younis and deepened the operation in the area. The area is a significant stronghold of Hamas’ Khan Younis Brigade,” the military said.
“Ground troops engaged in close-quarters combat, directed [air] strikes, and used intelligence to coordinate fire, resulting in the elimination of dozens of terrorists,” it said.
Hundreds of civilians have been killed by Israeli fire over the past few days as its forces push deeper into the southern city. The Israeli military says it has killed about 9,000 Palestinian fighters in its war since October.
Houthi leader says US, UK strikes will only make Yemenis stronger
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a senior Houthi official, says Israel’s Western allies are supporting destruction in Gaza as they did during eight years of war on Houthi-controlled Yemen.
“Your strikes will only make the Yemeni people stronger and more determined to confront you, as you are the aggressors against our country,” he said in a post on X.
He added that the Yemeni people are fighting to stop the war on Gaza while the US is bombing Yemen to protect “terrorist criminal” Israel.
“We say to America and Britain that their aggression is nothing new.”
Israeli army deaths make it more important than ever to defeat ‘Nazi enemy’
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir says the deaths of 24 soldiers in a single day make it “clearer than ever” that Israel must not cease operations in Gaza.
Israel “must continue to subdue, crush and mow down the Nazi enemy in Gaza with all our might”, he wrote in a Telegram post.
Twenty-one Israeli soldiers were killed when a tank was hit by rocket-propelled grenade fire (RPG) near the Israel-Gaza boundary. Simultaneously, buildings set for demolition by Israeli forces collapsed after RPG fire ignited explosives they had planted.
Three Israeli soldiers died in fighting in southern Khan Younis city. More than 200 Israeli soldiers have now been killed since ground operations were launched at the end of October.
Attack on PRCS part of ‘systematic targeting’ by Israel: Official
Nebal Farsakh from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says attacks on its headquarters wounded several staff and endangered thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians sheltering there.
“The situation remains extremely dangerous. There has been a significant escalation since yesterday of attacks on PRCS in El Amal Hospital,” she told Al Jazeera.
“Movement in Khan Younis city is extremely hard. The population is trapped under intense air strikes along with gunfire from Israeli drones.”
Landline, mobile and WiFi connections are out as well. “We remain extremely worried regarding the safety of our units in Khan Younis. There has been a systematic targeting of PRCS premises, and of healthcare facilities by Israeli occupation forces since the start of the war.
“Eight PRCS members have been killed on duty with 29 others injured. At least 18 centres in Gaza have been targeted, 14 ambulances completely out of service, along with 19 damaged.”
Iran commander: Yemen’s Houthis ‘take orders from no side’
The Houthi rebels are acting independently in their decision to hamper Red Sea trade in support of the Palestinian people, says a senior commander with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC).
“Yemen is an independent country with a strong army, and it also has a strong leader who acts independently and takes orders from no side,” said Alireza Tangsiri, chief of the IRGC’s naval force.
“Yemen’s naval operations in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and their prevention of the transit of ships belonging to the Zionist regime or vessels choosing the occupying regime as a destination is in line with their support of Muslims,” state-linked media quoted him as saying.
Tangsiri said the “heroic Yemenis” are trying to stop the killing of Palestinians, and it’s the United States and Western world that need to stop supporting “bloodshed by Zionists”.
Israeli president says ‘unbearably difficult morning’ after 21 soldiers killed
Isaac Herzog has described an “unbearably difficult morning” today as “more and more names of the best of our sons” are being added to tombstones.
Explaining how 21 Israeli soldiers died in a single day of combat in Gaza on Monday, he said “intense battles are taking place in an extremely challenging space”.
The fatalities occurred near the Israel-Gaza border when Israeli soldiers were targeted by RPG fire, while a nearby building simultaneously collapsed following a separate explosion, according to Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari.
Iran’s foreign minister decries genocide as he arrives in New York
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has decried genocide being committed by Israel in Palestine as he arrived in New York for a UN meeting.
“The martyrdom of more than 25,000 Palestinians, the injury of tens of thousands and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza and the West Bank and the spread of instability in the region are the result of the genocide of the Israeli regime and its supporters,” he wrote in a post on X.
Amirabdollahian is expected to address a meeting of the UN Security Council on the war and hold a string of meetings with his counterparts from some other countries.
Arab states offer deal to Israel in exchange for Palestinian state: Report
Five Arab states are working on a proposal for post-war Gaza, a key part of which will be the establishment of a Palestinian state in exchange for the establishment of full diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Citing unnamed Arab officials, the Journal reports that the proposal was submitted to Israel via the US but it has so far been rejected by Tel Aviv, “with the creation of a Palestinian state the main sticking point”.
Yesterday Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, told CNN that his country won’t normalise relations with Israel or contribute to Gaza’s reconstruction without a realistic plan for a Palestinian state.
“As long as we’re able to find a pathway to a solution, a resolution, a pathway that means that we’re not going to be here again in a year or two, then we can talk about anything,” he said.
“But if we are just resetting to the status quo before October 7 – in a way that sets us up for another round of this, as we have seen in the past – we’re not interested in that conversation.”
Israeli army says 10 more soldiers killed in Gaza
The Israeli military says 10 more soldiers have been killed in Gaza, bringing the total number of Israeli soldiers confirmed to have been killed since the ground offensive to 208.
The army said the soldiers were killed after a large explosion caused two buildings to collapse, adding that it was probing the blast, but it is thought that an RPG fired by Palestinian fighters at a building where the soldiers were keeping mines to destroy other buildings caused the collapse.
Consistent, systematic attacks on healthcare facilities
Prior to the attacks on its headquarters in Khan Younis, PRCS sent out a statement saying it lost all contact with its ambulances and emergency department on the ground.
An hour later, the fourth floor of their headquarters was targeted, destroying the majority of the property and the equipment inside. This is not the first time PRCS has come under attack, having been targeted in the past few weeks as well.
It is becoming increasingly difficult for the PRCS and El Amal Hospital to provide sustainable medical services, and also provide necessary support for the Nasser hospital and relieve some of the pressure that has been mounting on it.
What we’re looking at is consistent, systematic attacks on healthcare facilities, not only in Khan Younis but also across the Gaza Strip.
Aid workers say supplies of food staples running out in Gaza
The UN says everyone in Gaza is hungry, with 40 percent of the besieged enclave’s 2.3 million people at risk of famine. Now, with supplies of even basic staples such as rice at critically low levels, the risk of widespread starvation is growing.
US denies Houthis claim of attack on US military cargo ship in Gulf of Aden
CAIRO (Reuters) – The US military on Monday denied claims made by the Yemeni Houthi movement that it had attacked American cargo ship Ocean Jazz in the Gulf of Aden.
"The Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists' report of an alleged successful attack on M/V Ocean Jazz is patently false," the US Naval Forces Central Command said in a statement. "NAVCENT has maintained constant communications with M/V Ocean Jazz throughout its safe transit."
The Houthi movement earlier in the day said its forces had launched a missile attack on Ocean Jazz in the Gulf of Aden. It did not say when or precisely where the attack took place or if any damage was caused.
US calls for Israel to protect innocent as forces storm Gaza hospital
GAZA/DOHA (Reuters) – The United States on Monday called for Israel to protect innocent people in hospitals, medical staff and patients as Israeli forces stormed one hospital and put another under siege as they advanced deep into western Khan Younis in Gaza.
Residents said the bombardment from air, land and sea was the most intense in southern Gaza since the war began in October.
Troops moved for the first time into Al-Mawasi district near the Mediterranean coast, west of Khan Younis, the main city in southern Gaza. There, they stormed Al-Khair hospital and arrested medical staff, Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al Qidra told Reuters.
Hamas and allies in ‘early stages’ of reasserting control in northern Gaza: think tanks
Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups are likely in the “early stages of the reconstitution of their military and governance capabilities” in the north of the Gaza Strip, two military think tanks said.
In their latest battlefield assessment on the war, the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) said that Israeli forces had reduced their “footprint” in the north of Gaza since December 31, allowing for the re-emergence of “Hamas-backed governing structures” in some areas.
While Israeli forces are expanding ground operations in the south’s Khan Younis after declaring key areas of the north “cleared” of Hamas’s main fighting forces, Palestinian fighters are again “reconstituting militarily” in the north of Gaza.
“Hamas and other Palestinian fighters are already contesting Israeli raids into the northern Gaza Strip, which indicates that Hamas is reconstituting some of its military capabilities,” the ISW and CTP said.
US, British forces carry out new strikes in Yemen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - US and British forces carried out a fresh round of strikes on Monday (Jan 22) in Yemen, targeting a Houthi underground storage site as well as missile and surveillance capabilities used by the Iran-aligned group against Red Sea shipping, the Pentagon said.
The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen, have said their attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians as Israel strikes Gaza.
The Houthi attacks have disrupted global shipping and stoked fears of global inflation. They have also deepened concern that fallout from the Israel-Hamas war could destabilise the Middle East.
Fierce battles in Gaza as troops push deeper into Khan Younis; 3 IDF officers killed
GAZA STRIP (Agencies) - Thousands of Palestinians flee south to Rafah, as IDF accused of raiding hospital and encircling another; military says it seeks to avoid places civilians are sheltering
A day after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant vowed that fighting in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis would intensify, fierce battles were waged Monday as the IDF launched a new large offensive on the western party of the city, in which at least three IDF officers were killed.
Four brigades, led by the 98th Division, took part in the offensive, which began Sunday with a series of airstrikes on Hamas sites in the area. The IDF is aiming to dismantle Hamas’s military framework in the Khan Younis area with the new push.
WHO’s Tedros ‘deeply concerned’ as fighting engulfs Gaza hospitals
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said he is “deeply concerned” about reports of fighting in the vicinity of Al-Amal Hospital and Israel’s raid on Al-Khair Hospital in Gaza.
Tedros reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in the enclave.
“Not only do they put patients and people seeking safety within these facilities at risk, but they also prevent newly injured people outside the hospitals from being reached and receiving care,” he said in a post on X on Tuesday.
“This must end.”
Israel hammers Gaza's south, hostage families urge Netanyahu to seek deal
GAZA STRIP (AFP) - Gazans sheltered Monday (Jan 22) from intense bombing and shooting in the city of Khan Yunis, as pressure built on Israel for an eventual two-state solution involving statehood long sought by Palestinians.
Witnesses reported deadly strikes and fierce fighting between Israeli soldiers and Hamas militants overnight in the southern city which has become the latest epicentre of the war.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza reported on Monday that more than 120 people had been killed in the previous 24 hours.
