Gaza Crisis
Live Reporting
Satellite images show 30pc of Gaza destroyed, UN centre says
Satellite imagery analysed by the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) shows that 30 per cent of Gaza Strip’s buildings have been destroyed or damaged in the Israel offensive in the densely populated Palestinian enclave, Reuters reports.
Air strikes, shelling and demolitions have razed entire city districts, including much civilian infrastructure.
“In total, a staggering 69,147 structures, equivalent to approximately 30pc of the Gaza Strip’s total structures, are affected,” UNOSAT said.
It said 22,131 structures in the enclave have been identified as destroyed, with an additional 14,066 deemed severely damaged and 32,950 having sustained moderate damage.
UNOSAT used satellite imagery from January 6-7, which it compared with six other sets of images, including some dating from before the Israeli offensive. UNOSAT said that the regions of Gaza City and Khan Younis had experienced the most significant increase in damage since the previous analysis.
The two areas have seen 10,280 and 11,894 newly damaged structures respectively, compared with UNOSAT’s previous analysis based on images from November 26.
UNOSAT’s analysis also showed that an estimated 93,800 housing units have been damaged in the Gaza Strip.
UN estimates at least 17,000 Gaza children separated from parents
The United Nations has estimated that at least 17,000 children in the Gaza Strip have been left unaccompanied or separated nearly four months into the conflict, AFP reports.
“Each one has a heartbreaking story of loss and grief,” said Jonathan Crickx, spokesman for the UN children’s agency Unicef in the Palestinian territories.
“This figure corresponds to one per cent of the overall displaced population — 1.7 million people,” he told a media briefing in Geneva, via video-link from Jerusalem.
Each one “is a child who is coming to terms with a horrible new reality”.
Crickx said that tracing who the children were was proving “extremely difficult”, as sometimes they were brought to a hospital where they may be wounded or in shock, and “they simply can’t even say their names”.
He said that during conflicts, it was common for extended families to take care of children who lost their parents.
Director of Gaza’s Youth and Volunteers Department killed by Israeli firing: PRCS
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) February 2, 2024
People in Gaza queue for hours, just for a piece of bread: UN agency
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) February 2, 2024
Hamas gives ‘initial’ support to Gaza truce plan
Fighting in Gaza raged with scores reported killed overnight, after mediator Qatar said Hamas had given its “initial” support to a hostage-prisoner exchange deal that would pause the conflict in the besieged enclave.
After a truce proposal agreed with Israeli negotiators was presented to Hamas a day earlier, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said there were hopes of “good news” about a fresh pause to the fighting “in the next couple of weeks”.
Ansari said a truce plan thrashed out with Israeli negotiators by Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators in Paris earlier this week had received a “positive” initial response from Hamas.
“That proposal has been approved by the Israeli side and now we have an initial positive confirmation from the Hamas side,” he said.
But a source close to Hamas told AFP: “There is no agreement on the framework of the agreement yet — the factions have important observations — and the Qatari statement is rushed and not true.”
A Hamas source said the group had been presented with a three-stage plan which would start with an initial six-week halt to the fighting that would see more aid deliveries into Gaza.
The pause would also see the release of “women, children and sick men over 60” among the Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel, the source said, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.
Sweden probing foiled Israel embassy attack as ‘crime'
Sweden’s intelligence service has said that the investigation into a foiled attack on the Israeli embassy in Stockholm this week was being probed as a potential “terrorist crime”, Reuters reports.
Police were called to the embassy on Wednesday after a “dangerous object” was discovered on its grounds, which the national bomb squad destroyed after determining it was “live”.
Police declined to comment on what the object was but media have reported it was a hand grenade.
“The preliminary investigation launched by the Swedish Police Authority on January 31, following the discovery of a dangerous object at the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm, has been taken over by the Swedish Security Service,” the service said in a statement.
“In connection with this, the criminal classification has been changed to a terrorist crime,” it added.
Sweden probing foiled Israel embassy attack as ‘terrorist crime’
Sweden’s intelligence service says an investigation into a foiled attack on the Israeli embassy in Stockholm is being probed as a potential “terrorist crime”.
“The preliminary investigation launched by the Swedish Police Authority on January 31, following the discovery of a dangerous object at the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm, has been taken over by the Swedish Security Service,” the intelligence agency said in a statement.
“In connection with this, the criminal classification has been changed to a terrorist crime”.
An explosive device was found inside the grounds of the Israeli Embassy and destroyed by the bomb squad. The daily Aftonbladet reported the object was believed to be a hand grenade thrown over the embassy fence.
One million Gaza children require mental health support
UNICEF says about 17,000 children in Gaza are unaccompanied or have been separated from their families during the conflict.
Nearly all children in the enclave require mental health support, the UN agency added.
“They present symptoms like extremely high levels of persistent anxiety, loss of appetite. They can’t sleep, they have emotional outbursts, or they panic every time they hear a bombing,” said Jonathan Crickx, UNICEF’s chief of communication for the occupied Palestinian territories.
“Before this war, UNICEF was considering already that 500,000 children were already in need of mental health and psychosocial support in Gaza. Today, we estimate almost all children are in need of that support, and that’s more than one million children.”
Suspension of UNRWA funding attempt to ‘erase right of return’
The head of the Supreme Committee for Defending the Right of Return, Muhammad Alyan, says the suspension of funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) puts the refugee issue in “intensive care”.
UNRWA opened an investigation after Israel alleged some of its employees were involved in the October 7 attacks that triggered the war on Gaza.
Alyan said the decision by a dozen countries to suspend funds in the aftermath of the Israeli claims amounted to “collective punishment” and was an attempt to erase the right of return of seven million refugees.
Israel likely to ‘agree to some kind of prisoner exchange’
Hamas continues to review plan to swap captives for Palestinian prisoners and pause Israel’s attack on Gaza.
“I think because of the amount of pressure on the government from the Israeli public… the government will agree to some kind of prisoner exchange,” said Israela Oron of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. “[Prime Minister] Netanyahu is trying to prepare his coalition for this hostage deal.”
A proposal to free the hostages in exchange for a halt in Israel’s attacks is being studied by Hamas leaders after it was thrashed out by Israel, Qatar, Egypt, and the United States. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected in Israel soon for talks with Netanyahu on the proposal.
Iranian army adviser killed in Israeli strike on Damascus: Reports
An Iranian Revolutionary Guards adviser in Damascus has been killed in an Israeli missile attack that targeted a southern district of the Syrian capital, according to semi-official Iranian news sites.
Earlier, Syria’s state news agency SANA, citing a Syrian military source, said the country’s military had downed a number of Israeli missiles launched from the Golan Heights at southern Damascus.
The Iranian news sites identified the dead man as Saeid Alidadi without sharing his rank.
Iraq’s pro-Iran al-Nujaba armed group vows to keep up attacks on US troops
Iraq’s pro-Iran al-Nujaba movement says it intends to press on with attacks on American forces in the Middle East, despite Washington’s threat to hit back after three of its soldiers were killed in Jordan.
“Any [US] strike will result in an appropriate response,” al-Nujaba leader Akram al-Kaabi said in a statement.
The armed group will continue its actions until its demands are met for US troops to leave Iraq and an end to Israel’s war on Gaza.
US judge urges Biden to examine support for ‘plausible genocide’
A United States federal court has dismissed a case accusing President Joe Biden and other senior US officials of being complicit in Israel’s alleged genocide in Gaza.
Still, the court’s decision urged Biden and his colleagues to examine “the results of their unflagging support” for Israel, including its human rights implications.
Iran will respond strongly to anyone who bullies it: Raisi
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has said that his country will not start a war, but it will “respond strongly” to anyone who bullies it.
Raisi made the remarks in a televised speech amid rising tensions between the US and Iran over Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza.
Tehran’s military power has not and will not pose a threat to any country in the region, the president also said, adding that Iran’s strength only creates security for the countries around it.
Syrian military says Israel targeted southern Damascus: State media
The Syrian military has said that it downed a number of Israeli missiles launched from the Golan Heights, according to state news agency Sana citing a military source.
The missiles were targeting a southern area in the capital Damascus, the report said.
Jordan arrests four Israelis for illegally crossing the border
The Jordanian army arrested four Israelis, soldiers among them, for illegally crossing the border, Israeli television station Channel 14 reports.
The Israelis, who were detained near the city of Aqaba in Jordan, were released after several hours with the help of “political intervention”.
Biden to receive bodies of soldiers killed in Jordan base attack
US President Joe Biden will oversee the return of the bodies of three American soldiers killed in Jordan to their homeland.
They were killed in a drone attack at a base in Jordan that Washington has blamed on Iran-backed fighters.
The three were the first US military personnel died due to hostile fire in the region following the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
The bodies of William Jerome Rivers, Kennedy Ladon Sanders and Breonna Alexsondria Moffett will arrive at an air force base in Dover, Delaware.
Saudi Arabia willing to accept ‘political commitment’ from Israel on Palestinian state: Report
Riyadh is willing to accept a political commitment from Israel on the creation of a Palestinian state – rather than something more binding – as it attempts to secure a defence pact with Washington ahead of the US presidential election, Reuters news agency reports.
Months of US-led diplomacy to get Saudi Arabia to normalise relations with Israel were shelved in October as anger in the Arab world grew over the war in Gaza.
But Saudi Arabia is keen to shore up its security situation in the face of threats from Iran so it can concentrate on economic growth, two anonymous regional sources told Reuters.
Riyadh is now attempting to provide wiggle room for negotiations to get back on track by not insisting that Israel take concrete steps towards creating a Palestinian state, the anonymous sources said.
Almost half of Israelis want election once Gaza ceasefire agreed: Poll
The poll, conducted by Hebrew-language newspaper Maariv, shows that 49 percent of respondents want an election to be called once a ceasefire is agreed between Israel and Hamas.
The same polling showed that 49 percent of respondents think war cabinet minister Benny Gantz is more suitable to lead the country than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who received only 32 percent in the poll.
Netanyahu’s popularity has plummeted since the October 7 attacks on southern Israel, his government’s handling of the war on Gaza, and his failure to secure the return of Israeli captives from the Palestinian territory.
A dozen bodies recovered from rubble in Khan Younis: Report
The bodies of 12 people have been found under the rubble of a house destroyed by an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis, according to local news agency, the Palestinian Information Center.
The agency said the house was bombed “weeks ago” in the al-Sika area of the city in southern Gaza, but the bodies were only just retrieved.
Arab Americans protest against ‘Genocide Joe’ Biden during Michigan visit
Arab Americans angered by President Joe Biden’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza took to the streets to protest his visit to the vital swing state of Michigan on Thursday.
Attacks on Israel’s north, south as Israeli military plans Rafah operation: Monitors
Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon carried out six cross-border attacks against Israeli forces in the north of the country on Thursday, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) report.
Also on Thursday, Palestinian fighters in Gaza – while battling Israeli forces in northern, central and southern areas of the territory – launched rockets and fired mortars into southern Israel.
In their latest battlefield assessment of the Gaza war, the two US–based think tanks further report that Israeli and Egyptian intelligence officials were said to have met in Cairo for talks on Israel’s operation in southern Gaza, which is reported to target Rafah next.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have crowded into Rafah in recent weeks in the hopes of being spared the intensity of attacks Israel is launching elsewhere in Palestinian territory.
“Egypt has expressed concern that an operation could create a flow of Palestinian refugees into the Sinai Peninsula,” the ISW/CTP said.
“Israel has not decided where it will evacuate the civilian population,” the think tanks said, citing an Israeli army radio correspondent.
Nasser and al-Amal hospitals suffering from ‘serious shortage of oxygen’: UN
Continued heavy fighting in the vicinity of the Nasser and al-Amal hospitals in Khan Younis is “jeopardizing the safety” of medical staff, the wounded, and internally displaced people sheltering inside the facilities, the UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, has said in its daily update.
Both hospitals are suffering from a “serious shortage of oxygen” to treat patients, the agency added.
OCHA also reports that thousands of Palestinians continue to flee to Rafah, saying the southern city is now hosting more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people.
The UN said that, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 118 Palestinians were killed and 190 were injured between the afternoons of January 31 and February 1.
Netanyahu pressured by far-right over possible deal with Hamas on Gaza truce, exchange of captives
When we talk about Israel’s far right, these are members of Netanyahu’s coalition who are threatening to leave the government – essentially topple the coalition entirely – if Netanyahu enters a deal with Hamas that they say is bad for Israel. One that they are not in favour of.
We are talking about Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who are both known ultranationalists.
Remember the deal back in November that saw a ceasefire and an exchange of captives for Palestinian prisoners? They both went into the cabinet meeting with the intention of voting ‘no’ to that deal.
Itamar Ben-Gvir and his party ended up voting against that deal.
So you have this issue with Israel’s far right.
Then you have Israel’s opposition who have been completely critical of Netanyahu throughout not only his political career but this wartime period especially. They are saying they are going to offer Netanyahu a safety net if the far-right leaves the government because of a deal that could release thousands of Palestinian prisoners.
The opposition is ready to step into a unity government.
They are willing to go into government with Netanyahu for an unknown amount of time to get this deal secured and on the table so that it could see the release of Israeli captives from Gaza.
So an incredibly complex and ever-changing situation in Israel across the political landscape.
Israeli forces raid Jenin, Nablus and Hebron in the occupied West Bank
Israeli forces have conducted raids in the cities of Jenin, Nablus and Hebron in the occupied West Bank tonight, the Wafa news agency reports.
Armed clashes have been reported in the Jenin refugee camp, while homes have been raided in all three cities, but no arrests have been reported so far.
Local media is also reporting raids and arrests in the following locations:
The town of al-Mazra’a al-Sharqiya, north of Ramallah
The towns of Baqat al-Hatab and Hajjah, east of Qalqilya
The town of Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem
A man has been arrested in the town of Azzun, east of Qalqilya
A man has been arrested in the village of Baqat al-Hatab, east of Qalqiliya
We will bring you further updates when we have them.
Netanyahu must stop ‘extremist settlers’: US Senator
Senator Elizabeth Warren has lauded an “important” executive order signed by US President Joe Biden imposing sanctions on Israeli settlers.
“The Netanyahu government must stop the extremist settlers in the West Bank who have been attacking and killing Palestinians. Anyone who facilitates settler violence must be held accountable,” she wrote on X.
The Biden administration’s executive order will impose sanctions on just four Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank for their roles in attacks on Palestinians that undermine “peace, security, and stability in the West Bank”.
The Netanyahu government must stop the extremist settlers in the West Bank who have been attacking and killing Palestinians. Anyone who facilitates settler violence must be held accountable.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) February 1, 2024
Important action by @POTUS Biden. https://t.co/x2DWCldRQ5
Biden support among Arab Americans plummets over ‘total insensitivity’ towards Palestinians
US President Joe Biden is in “very serious trouble” with Arab American voters due to his support for Israel in its war on Gaza, says James Zogby, president of the Washington, DC-based Arab American Institute.
“He’s in very serious trouble, and that was in October, and I dare say the numbers would have gotten worse in the intervening months. There is not only disappointment. There is real anger in the [Arab-American] community,” Zogby told Al Jazeera.
“Imagine a situation where a sitting president comes to town and people are trying to set up a meeting with him before he comes, and the [Arab-American] community says, ‘We don’t want to meet with him,’ and they reject it, and finally the White House has to abandon plans to do it,” Zogby said.
“Losing Michigan would clinch, I think, his defeat in November, and it’s something he has got to deal with, and they are not dealing with it correctly at all,” he said.
The reason for Biden’s plummeting support with Arab Americans: “Number one, he has been totally insensitive to the suffering of Palestinians,” Zogby said.
“From the beginning of this war, he was making statements about Israel – even as of yesterday … that Israel has a right to defend itself. That is ludicrous, and it is actually really hurtful to people in the community,” he said.
“You don’t ask people for their votes if you don’t respect them and respect their feelings at all. Any other community would react the way my community has, given the catastrophic impact of what Gaza represents. Not just to Palestinians but to the entire community,” he added.
“After 30,000 dead, there really is no looking back.”
Australian police confirm ‘gas the Jews’ not chanted at Sydney demonstration
An independent investigation has determined with “overwhelming certainty” that video footage appearing to show pro-Palestinian protesters chanting “gas the Jews” outside Australia’s Sydney Opera House was wrongly captioned, police have said.
Police in the Australian state of New South Wales said an expert from the National Centre of Biometric Science who examined audio and visual files of the protest found that demonstrators had actually chanted, “Where’s the Jews?”.
The incorrectly captioned footage of the protesters seeming to invoke the Holocaust at the October 9 rally attracted headlines around the world and prompted the New South Wales government to launch a review of the state’s hate speech laws.
