Summary of the day so far
It’s currently 4:42am in Gaza and Tel Aviv and this blog is now closing, but first, a summary of the main developments:
Senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri was killed in an explosion in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, reportedly caused by a targeted Israeli drone strike. Israel has not accepted responsibility, but says “whoever did this… [it was] a surgical strike against the Hamas leadership”.
Six people were killed in the explosion, reports say, including al-Arouri, a founder of Hamas’s military wing long targeted by Israel, and two leaders of Hamas’s elite military al-Qassam Brigades. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned a “new Israeli crime” and said the country was filing a complaint to the UN security council.
Israel’s military forces are in a state of “high readiness” after the assassination, a senior spokesperson without acknowledging his country’s involvement in the incident. Rear Adm Daniel Hagari told reporters “We are focused and remain focused on fighting against Hamas. We are on high readiness for any scenario”.
Hezbollah said its finger “is on the trigger” as it promised vengeance for Arouri’s death, and later claimed it had launched a so-far unconfirmed missile attack on Israeli troops. The group said the attack in Beirut was “a serious assault on Lebanon… that will not go without a response or punishment” in a statement posted to Telegram.
The French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Israel to avoid escalation, “particularly in Lebanon”, after the strike. Agence France-Presse (AFP) is reporting that Macron spoke by telephone with Israeli minister and war cabinet member Benny Gantz. The presidency said: “It was essential to avoid any escalatory attitude, particularly in Lebanon, and that France would continue to pass on these messages to all players directly or indirectly involved in the area.”
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has posted on X a number of hours ago about meeting families of the hostages who remain in Gaza, saying “The effort is continuing. The contacts are being held; they have not been cut off. There was an ultimatum from Hamas; now it has been softened.”
Meanwhile Hamas said it won’t release any more hostages it took during the 7 October attacks on Israel, except under its own terms. The group’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, told Reuters he laid out the Hamas position to officials of Egypt and Qatar, countries trying to broker a ceasefire similar to the one in November that saw more than 100 hostages freed. Haniyeh is demanding “a complete cessation of the aggression” by Israel.
There’s growing friction between the US government and far-right ministers in Israel who have called for the rebuilding of Israeli settlements in Gaza, and for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to relocate to southern Lebanon. Such proposals, voiced by Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, two senior members of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, are abhorrent, the US state department said in a statement on Tuesday.
Turkey arrested 34 people on suspicion of spying for Mossad on behalf of Israel. “The Israeli intelligence service is recruiting personnel to be used in acts against Palestinians residing in our country and their families.,” a government official said. Without providing evidence, the official said the suspects were also spreading fake news and disinformation, carrying out robberies and blackmail for Israeli intelligence.
Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant said military operations in the south of the Gaza Strip around Khan Younis were focused on areas above what he said was a tunnel network where Hamas leaders were believed to be hiding. “We are reaching them all ways. There already is engagement and there are hostages there too sadly,” he told Israeli troops in footage shown on Israeli television, Reuters said.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported “several fatalities and wounded” at its headquarters in Khan Younis as a result of Israeli missile. “The occupation renews its bombardment of the PRCS headquarters in Khan Younis for the second time, resulting in several fatalities and wounded among the 14,000 displaced individuals housed in the PRCS’s premises and the adjacent Al-Amal hospital,” the group said in a statement.
The United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (Ocha) has released its latest update on the situation in Gaza, describing the number of aid trucks coming into Gaza as “woefully inadequate”
At least 22,185 Palestinians have been killed and more than 57,000 wounded by Israel’s military action in Gaza, according to updated figures from the health ministry. It says that 207 Palestinians were killed and 338 were wounded in the past 24 hours. The Gaza health ministry is run by Hamas. The figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Separately, the Israeli military has claimed to have killed about 8,000 fighters in the Gaza Strip during its campaign. Additionally, since 7 October, at least 321 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank by Israeli troops or settlers. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Reuters news agency is reporting on what it says is declassified US intelligence on Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital.
It says US spy agencies have assessed that Hamas and another Palestinian group fighting Israel used Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital to command forces and hold some hostages – but largely evacuated the complex days before Israeli troops entered it, according to a US official.
The complex was used by both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to command forces fighting against Israel, the US official said, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
But US intelligence agencies obtained information that Hamas fighters had largely evacuated the complex days before Israel’s operation and destroyed documents and electronics as they left, the American official told the news agency.
US intelligence agencies have not disclosed the evidence on which they based their assessment. The official told Reuters the US had independently confirmed the information.
Israel has said al Shifa, which it had occupied earlier in the war in Gaza, had been used by Hamas. Troops entered in November and the targeting of the hospital had stoked global alarm over the fate of civilians and patients who were inside.
Read our analysis from November by Julian Borger on what the IDF presented as evidence that the hospital was being used as Hamas headquarters.
Updated
There are also images coming in from Israel, from protests calling for a ceasefire to scenes in the south of the country:
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) has also released details on the internal displacement inside Gaza. It says “obtaining an accurate figure of the total number of IDPs [internally displaced persons] remains challenging. By the end [of] 2023, according to UNRWA, 1.9 million people in Gaza, or nearly 85 per cent of the population, are estimated to be internally displaced”.
The update goes on to say that a high influx of those are in Rafah. Here are some of the latest images coming in to us from there:
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) has released their latest update on the situation in Gaza.
The update says there is an urgent need to evacuate thousands of sick and wounded:
On 30 December, the MoH in Gaza emphasized the need to prioritize the evacuation of more than 5,300 wounded and sick people who are facing serious and complex medical conditions in Gaza.
Ocha also updates on the number of aid trucks getting into Gaza, describing it as “woefully inadequate”
On 30 December, 103 trucks with food and medical supplies entered Gaza. The volume of aid remains woefully inadequate. The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator declared “that this is an impossible situation for the people of Gaza and for those trying to help them. The fighting must stop.”
There are also details on the spread of diseases due to the internal displacement. Ocha says the illnesses are overwhelming health systems:
On 29 December, the head of the WHO in the occupied Palestinian territory announced that people living in shelters in Gaza have continued to fall ill. Close to 180,000 people are suffering from upper respiratory infections; there are 136,400 cases of diarrhea (half of these among children under five years old); 55,400 cases of lice and scabies; 5,330 cases of chickenpox; 42,700 cases of skin rash (including 4,722 cases of impetigo); 4,683 cases of Acute Jaundice Syndrome; and 126 cases of meningitis.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has posted on X a number of hours ago about meeting families of the hostages who remain in Gaza.
He seems to suggest in his post that talks are continuing:
The effort is continuing. The contacts are being held; they have not been cut off. There was an ultimatum from Hamas; now it has been softened.
Earlier, the Reuters news agency reported that Hamas said it would not be releasing any more hostages it took during the 7 October attacks on Israel, except under its own terms. According to Reuters, the group’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, has laid out the Hamas position to officials of Egypt and Qatar, countries that have been trying to broker a ceasefire similar to the one in November that saw the release of a little more than 100 of the 240 hostages taken the month before.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this evening, to representatives of the hostages' families:
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) January 2, 2024
"The effort is continuing. The contacts are being held; they have not been cut off.
There was an ultimatum from Hamas; now it has been softened.
These contacts are being held now."
The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont has written a full report on the killing of Saleh al-Arouri and the reaction to it.
One of Hamas’s most senior officials, Saleh al-Arouri, has been killed in an Israeli drone strike in Beirut that threatens a significant and dangerous escalation of Israel’s war against Hamas and its related conflict with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The Lebanese prime minister, Najib Mikati, echoing fears of further regional violence, described the assassination as a “new Israeli crime intended to spur a new phase of conflict, following daily attacks in the south [of Lebanon]”.
For more, read the rest of Peter Beaumont’s report here:
French president calls on Israel to avoid escalation
French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Israel to avoid escalation, “particularly in Lebanon”, after a strike in Beirut that killed Hamas’s deputy leader, the Élysée Palace said on Tuesday.
Israel has so far not admitted or denied responsibility for the attack. Government adviser Mark Regev has told MSNBC that “whoever did this … [it was] a surgical strike against the Hamas leadership”.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) is reporting that Macron spoke by telephone with Israeli minister and war cabinet member Benny Gantz. The presidency said:
It was essential to avoid any escalatory attitude, particularly in Lebanon, and that France would continue to pass on these messages to all players directly or indirectly involved in the area.
Hamas number two Saleh al-Aruri was killed in a strike in a suburb of Beirut on Tuesday evening, the Palestinian militant group and Lebanese security officials said.
The United States has reached a deal to extend its military presence at a base in Qatar for another 10 years, a source familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday.
It’s believed to be the Al Udeid airbase, which is located in the desert southwest of Doha and hosts the largest US military facility in the Middle East, the source said, asking Reuters not to be identified. The development was reported first by CNN.
The US Department of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. The tiny Gulf state has played a key role in mediation talks with Hamas and Israeli officials in relation to the war in Gaza.
US President Joe Biden has regularly spoken with the emir of Qatar since the 7 October attacks on securing the release of hostages held by Hamas and on boosting aid to Gaza.
There has also been criticism of Qatar by some in the US Congress over Hamas’ presence in the country.
Updated
Reged Ahmad here picking up the blog from Richard Luscombe
US senator Bernie Sanders has been making comments about US additional funding for Israel. Joan E Greve is in Washington and writes:
Bernie Sanders, the progressive senator of Vermont, issued a statement Tuesday calling on Congress to block additional funding to Israel amid the war in Gaza, where more than 22,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks after Hamas killed 1,200 people in Israel on 7 October.
“While we recognize that Hamas’ barbaric terrorist attack began this war, we must also recognize that Israel’s military response has been grossly disproportionate, immoral and in violation of international law,” Sanders said.
“Enough is enough. Congress must reject that funding. The taxpayers of the United States must no longer be complicit in destroying the lives of innocent men, women, and children in Gaza.
Here’s the rest of Joan E Greve’s report:
Updated
Summary of the day...
This is Richard Luscombe in the US, handing over our blog coverage to colleagues in Australia. Thanks for joining me.
It’s 1am on Wednesday in Gaza City, Jerusalem and Beirut. Here are the main developments we’ve been following in the Israel-Hamas war:
Senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri was killed in an explosion in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, reportedly caused by a targeted Israeli drone strike. Israel has not accepted responsibility, but says “whoever did this… [it was] a surgical strike against the Hamas leadership”.
Six people were killed in the explosion, reports say, including al-Arouri, a founder of Hamas’s military wing long targeted by Israel, and two leaders of Hamas’s elite military al-Qassam Brigades. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned a “new Israeli crime” and said the country was filing a complaint to the United Nations security council.
Israel’s military forces are in a state of “high readiness” following the assassination, a senior spokesman without acknowledging his country’s involvement in the incident. Rear Adm Daniel Hagari told reporters “We are focused and remain focused on fighting against Hamas. We are on high readiness for any scenario”.
Hezbollah said its finger “is on the trigger” as it promised vengeance for Arouri’s death, and later claimed it had launched a so-far unconfirmed missile attack on Israeli troops. The group said the attack in Beirut was “a serious assault on Lebanon… that will not go without a response or punishment” in a statement posted to Telegram.
Hamas said it won’t release any more hostages it took during the 7 October attacks on Israel, except under its own terms. The group’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, told Reuters he laid out the Hamas position to officials of Egypt and Qatar, countries trying to broker a ceasefire similar to the one in November that saw more than 100 hostages freed. Haniyeh is demanding “a complete cessation of the aggression” by Israel.
Turkey arrested 34 people on suspicion of spying for Mossad on behalf of Israel. “The Israeli intelligence service is recruiting personnel to be used in acts against Palestinians residing in our country and their families.,” a government official said. Without providing evidence, the official said the suspects were also spreading fake news and disinformation, carrying out robberies and blackmail for Israeli intelligence.
Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant said military operations in the south of the Gaza Strip around Khan Younis were focused on areas above what he said was a tunnel network where Hamas leaders were believed to be hiding. “We are reaching them all ways. There already is engagement and there are hostages there too sadly,” he told Israeli troops in footage shown on Israeli television, Reuters said.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported “several fatalities and wounded” at its headquarters in Khan Younis as a result of Israeli missile. “The occupation renews its bombardment of the PRCS headquarters in Khan Younis for the second time, resulting in several fatalities and wounded among the 14,000 displaced individuals housed in the PRCS’s premises and the adjacent Al-Amal hospital,” the group said in a statement.
At least 22,185 Palestinians have been killed and more than 57,000 wounded by Israel’s military action in Gaza, according to updated figures from the health ministry. It says that 207 Palestinians were killed and 338 were wounded in the past 24 hours. The Gaza health ministry is run by Hamas. The figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Separately, the Israeli military has claimed to have killed about 8,000 fighters in the Gaza Strip during its campaign. Additionally, since 7 October, at least 321 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank by Israeli troops or settlers. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Israel Defense Forces have killed four alleged Palestinian militants during a raid in the occupied West Bank town of Azzun, the IDF has said. In addition it said it had arrested seven others. More than 2,550 people have been arrested in the occupied territory since the Israel-Hamas war began.
Israel will defend its actions in Gaza at the international court of justice in The Hague after South Africa launched a case against the state accusing it of genocide last week, Israeli media has reported. “Israel, a longstanding signatory to the Genocide Convention, will not boycott the proceedings. We will participate and refute the absurd accusation that amounts to blood libel,” national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told the news site Ynet.
The first UK maritime shipment of aid for Gaza has arrived in Egypt, carrying almost 90 tonnes of thermal blankets and other essential items. The shipment was delivered from Cyprus by royal fleet auxiliary ship Lyme Bay, and the aid will be distributed within the Gaza Strip by UNRWA.
A United Nations humanitarian official has visited the Al-Amal hospital in Gaza, site of an Israeli missile attack earlier in which five people were reported dead, including a five-day-old baby.
“The world should be absolutely horrified. The world should be absolutely outraged a child was killed here today, four more people were killed here today, in a space that should be safe,” Gemma Connell, head of the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs said in the video posted to X.
“The world should be absolutely horrified. The world should be absolutely outraged. […] There is no safe space in #Gaza.”
— UN Humanitarian (@UNOCHA) January 2, 2024
🔊 A harrowing message from Gemma Connell, our team leader on the ground, after a hospital in the region was hit during an attack.#NotATarget pic.twitter.com/MfcsVqcJBa
“I’m at a hospital that’s a Palestinian Red Crescent Society facility, clearly marked with the red crescent emblem on the roof.
“No child in the world shouldn’t be killed, let alone one sheltering under the emblem of humanitarian organization. This war has to end. There’s no safe space in Gaza and the world should be ashamed.”
Hezbollah says it has acted quickly on its earlier promise to “punish” Israel for the death of senior Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Lebanon on Tuesday.
The militant group claimed it had “targeted a group of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of Marj with missiles”, according to Reuters.
The group gave no other details of the alleged attack, and Israel has not confirmed any attack on its forces.
Updated
Here’s a closer look at Saleh al-Arouri, the senior Hamas official killed by a reported Israeli drone strike in Lebanon on Tuesday, written by the Guardian’s international security correspondent Jason Burke:
The killing of Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut is the first strike in a campaign of assassinations overseas promised by Israeli officials for several months.
The target was carefully chosen – one of the most senior Hamas leaders and the organization’s main link to Iran and the Lebanon-based militia Hezbollah. Arouri was also influential in the occupied West Bank, where he was born and where violence has soared in recent months.
Some Israeli officials also believe that the 57-year-old may have known in advance about the plan to launch bloody attacks into Israel before the assault on 7 October, which killed more than 1,100 Israelis, mainly civilians.
Arouri became involved in Islamist activism when a student at Hebron university in the mid-1980s, a time when such ideologies were surging across the Middle East. He joined Hamas soon after its foundation in the immediate aftermath of the first intifada and helped create Hamas’s military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassem brigades.
Jailed by Israel in 1992, Arouri spent almost all the next 18 years in prison. In 2010, he helped negotiate the release by Israel of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in return for a single kidnapped Israeli soldier.
Read the full story:
A British maritime security firm said on Tuesday that a Malta-flagged container ship reported seeing three explosions in the Red Sea, close to Yemen’s coast, Reuters is reporting.
Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi militants, who control much of the country, have stepped up attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea in protest against Israel’s war in Gaza.
The ship’s crew reported the explosions towards its port quarter, 15 miles (24km) southwest of the Yemen coast. Ambrey, the maritime security company, said the ship’s master was heard over radio appealing for military support.
No damage to the vessel was reported, and its crew are safe, the UK maritime trades operation agency said.
There has been a recent escalation in attacks by Houthi militants on Red Sea shipping, with some operators deciding to re-route vessels around the Cape of Good Hope rather than through the Suez canal.
The United Nations security council might meet to discuss the issue as early as Wednesday, the French ambassador Nicolas de Riviere told reporters Tuesday.
“The situation is bad. There is a repetition of violations and military actions in this area,” he said.
Read more:
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protestors have gathered in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, to protest Tuesday’s killing of senior Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Lebanon.
Here are some images of protests in the city, sent to us over the news wires.
US denounces Israeli ministers' Gaza settlement proposals
There’s growing friction between the US government and far-right ministers in Israel who have called for the rebuilding of Israeli settlements in Gaza, and for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to relocate to southern Lebanon.
Such proposals, voiced by Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, two senior members of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, are abhorrent, the US state department said in a statement on Tuesday:
This rhetoric is inflammatory and irresponsible. We have been told repeatedly and consistently by the government of Israel, including by the prime minister, that such statements do not reflect the policy of the Israeli government. They should stop immediately.
We have been clear, consistent, and unequivocal, that Gaza is Palestinian land and will remain Palestinian land, with Hamas no longer in control of its future and with no terror groups able to threaten Israel. That is the future we seek, in the interests of Israelis and Palestinians, the surrounding region, and the world.
Hezbollah plans 'punishment' for al-Arouri killing
Hezbollah says its finger “is on the trigger” as the Islamic militant group in Lebanon plots its response to the death of Hamas senior leader Saleh al-Arouri in an explosion in Beirut Tuesday that it blames on Israel.
The “assassination” of Arouri and two other senior Hamas figures among six deaths in the reported drone striker is “a serious assault on Lebanon”, the group said in a post Tuesday night on Telegram:
[It is] a dangerous development in course of war between the enemy and the axis of the resistance… [that] will not go without a response or punishment. The resistance has its finger on the trigger.
Israel forces 'on high readiness' after al-Arouri death
Israel’s military forces are in a state of “high readiness”, a senior spokesman has said, without acknowledging his country’s involvement in Tuesday’s death of a top Hamas leader.
Rear Adm Daniel Hagari, speaking to reporters on Tuesday night, made no direct mention of the killing of Saleh al-Arouri in a reported Israeli drone strike in Beirut, Lebanon. And Israel has not so far said it was responsible.
But in what could be seen as an allusion to it, and suggestions the episode could heighten the risk of an escalation of the conflict to the wider Middle East, the Associated Press reports that Hagari said:
We are focused and remain focused on fighting against Hamas. We are on high readiness for any scenario.
Al-Arouri’s death comes ahead of a visit to the region by US secretary of state Antony Blinken, even as the administration of president Joe Biden has tried to prevent a spread of the conflict, repeatedly warning Hezbollah and its regional supporter Iran not to escalate the violence, the AP says.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has issued a strongly-worded statement via television calling the killing of Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Lebanon an assassination.
Hamas blames Israel for the drone strike that killed Arouri in Beirut.
In the speech, Haniyeh said:
The assassination of the leader Al-Arouri and his brothers by the occupation is a fully-fledged terrorist act, a violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty, and an expansion of its aggression. The Nazi occupation bears responsibility for this aggression and will not succeed in breaking the will of resilience and the steadfast resistance of our people and its valiant resistance.”
Hamas said the leaders were mourned, Reuters has reported.
It appears that the strike within Lebanon that killed Hamas senior official Saleh al-Arouri also killed two leaders from the armed wing of Hamas, Samir Findi Abu Amer and Azzam al-Aqraa Abu Ammar, Reuters reports, citing a Hamas TV channel.
The weapons strike by drone, so far attributed by Hamas to Israel, reportedly killed six people in total.
Reuters now reports that two of those in addition to Arouri were leaders of Hamas’ armed wing Al Qassam brigades, citing Hamas Al Aqsa TV channel via Telegram.
My colleague Peter Beaumont says in this previous explainer about Hamas, an entity which is “many things”, that the Qassam brigades have always supported the use of terrorism tactics against Israel.
Updated
Summary of the day so far...
It’s 9pm on Tuesday in Gaza City, Jerusalem and Beirut. Here are today’s main developments in the Israel-Hamas war:
Senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri was killed in an explosion in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, reportedly caused by a targeted Israeli drone strike. Israel has not accepted responsibility, but says “whoever did this… [it was] a surgical strike against the Hamas leadership”.
Six people were killed in the explosion, reports say, including al-Arouri and two leaders of Hamas’s elite military al-Qassam Brigades. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, said condemned a “new Israeli crime” and said the country was filing a complaint to the United Nations security council.
Hamas said it won’t release any more hostages it took during the 7 October attacks on Israel, except under its own terms. The group’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, told Reuters he laid out the Hamas position to officials of Egypt and Qatar, countries trying to broker a ceasefire similar to the one in November that saw more than 100 hostages freed. Haniyeh is demanding “a complete cessation of the aggression” by Israel.
Turkey arrested 34 people on suspicion of spying for Mossad on behalf of Israel. “The Israeli intelligence service is recruiting personnel to be used in acts against Palestinians residing in our country and their families.,” a government official said. Without providing evidence, the official said the suspects were also spreading fake news and disinformation, carrying out robberies and blackmail for Israeli intelligence.
Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant said military operations in the south of the Gaza Strip around Khan Younis were focused on areas above what he said was a tunnel network where Hamas leaders were believed to be hiding. “We are reaching them all ways. There already is engagement and there are hostages there too sadly,” he told Israeli troops in footage shown on Israeli television, Reuters said.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported “several fatalities and wounded” at its headquarters in Khan Younis as a result of Israeli missile. “The occupation renews its bombardment of the PRCS headquarters in Khan Younis for the second time, resulting in several fatalities and wounded among the 14,000 displaced individuals housed in the PRCS’s premises and the adjacent Al-Amal hospital,” the group said in a statement.
At least 22,185 Palestinians have been killed and more than 57,000 wounded by Israel’s military action in Gaza, according to updated figures from the health ministry. It says that 207 Palestinians were killed and 338 were wounded in the past 24 hours. The Gaza health ministry is run by Hamas. The figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Separately, the Israeli military has claimed to have killed about 8,000 fighters in the Gaza Strip during its campaign. Additionally, since 7 October, at least 321 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank by Israeli troops or settlers. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Israel Defense Forces have killed four alleged Palestinian militants during a raid in the occupied West Bank town of Azzun, the IDF has said. In addition it said it had arrested seven others. More than 2,550 people have been arrested in the occupied territory since the Israel-Hamas war began.
Israel will defend its actions in Gaza at the international court of justice in The Hague after South Africa launched a case against the state accusing it of genocide last week, Israeli media has reported. “Israel, a longstanding signatory to the Genocide Convention, will not boycott the proceedings. We will participate and refute the absurd accusation that amounts to blood libel,” national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told the news site Ynet.
The first UK maritime shipment of aid for Gaza has arrived in Egypt, carrying almost 90 tonnes of thermal blankets and other essential items. The shipment was delivered from Cyprus by royal fleet auxiliary ship Lyme Bay, and the aid will be distributed within the Gaza Strip by UNRWA.
US defense official: Israel 'responsible' for Beirut explosion
The Washington Post is reporting that US defense officials have already concluded that Israel “was responsible” for the explosion in Beirut that killed senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri.
The newspaper is quoting “a senior US defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operations”, stating said the Israel Defense Forces was responsible for a strike targeting Arouri and that the IDF was conducting “an assessment of whether he had been killed”.
Israel has so far not admitted or denied responsibility, government adviser Mark Regev telling MSNBC that “whoever did this… [it was] a surgical strike against the Hamas leadership”.
Six people were killed in the explosion, including al-Arouri and “two leaders of Hamas’s elite al-Qassam Brigades”, the Post said.
Updated
Netanyahu adviser: al-Arouri death 'surgical strike against Hamas leadership'
Israel says “whoever did it”, the death of Hamas senior official Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut on Tuesday was not an attempt to provoke Lebanon into a wider Middle Eastern conflict.
Mark Regev, an adviser to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli ambassador to the UK, said in an interview with MSNBC TV:
[Israel] has not taken responsibility for this attack. But whoever did it, it must be clear – this was not an attack on the Lebanese state … whoever did this did a surgical strike against the Hamas leadership.
His comments were reported by Reuters, which also said Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the reported drone blast as a “new Israeli crime” and said it was an attempt to pull Lebanon into war.
The country will submit a formal complaint to the United Nations security council about Israel’s “blatant strike in Beirut’s southern suburb” and “new Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty”, the agency said.
State media in Iran, meanwhile, says al-Arouri’s death “will undoubtedly further motivate the resistance to fight against Israel”.
Updated
If Israel is confirmed to be responsible for the death of Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut on Tuesday, it would indicate an escalation of the country’s “worldwide campaign of assassinations of Hamas leaders” signaled by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu soon after the 7 October attacks.
As the Guardian’s Jason Burke and Sufian Taha reported at the time, officials in Israel repeatedly briefed journalists that its secret services would target senior leaders of the militant Islamist organization all over the world.
“In November, Netanyahu told a press conference that he had instructed Mossad, Israel’s overseas intelligence service, to ‘assassinate all the leaders of Hamas wherever they are’,” we reported.
“In early December a leaked recording revealed Ronen Bar, the head of Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, telling Israeli parliamentarians that Hamas leaders would be killed ‘in Gaza, in the West Bank, in Lebanon, in Turkey, in Qatar, everywhere … It will take a few years, but we will be there in order to do it’.
“There have been explicit comparisons drawn with the (in)famous campaign of assassinations after the 1972 attack by an armed Palestinian faction on the Israeli team at the Munich Olympics.”
There are, however, serious concerns that the strategy would backfire. As Jason Burke writes: “When I spoke to former targets of assassination by Israel, including one who was very seriously injured by a letter bomb, they said that they had not been deterred but made more determined. And others suggest that any harm done to extremist and terrorist organizations is temporary.
“Finally, analysts say the consequences of assassinations is often very unpredictable. The death of one leader might force a group to switch strategy, or even relinquish violence, but might equally lead to the rise of another who is more intransigent.”
Read the full report:
The Israeli spy chief Zvi Zamir, who headed the Mossad during the 1973 Arab-Israel war, died Monday night at the age of 98, the government said on Tuesday, reported by AFP.
Zamir, who led the agency between 1968 and 1974, pioneered the strategy of deploying secret operatives abroad to assassinate Israel’s enemies.
Zvi Zamir, the man who sounded the alarm in 1973, is dead at 98 https://t.co/L2wluhqHwN . Click to read ⬇️
— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) January 2, 2024
“His tenure as director of the Mossad was characterised by extensive action, while dealing with significant challenges,” a government statement said.
They included “the fight against Palestinian terrorism” as well as the “military threat to the state of Israel, which peaked with the outbreak of the Yom Kippur war”, it said, referring to the 1973 conflict.
Zamir also led the global hunt for the leaders of the Palestinian militant group Black September, who were blamed for the 1972 murder of Israeli Olympic athletes in Munich.
Updated
This was the scene in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh on Tuesday night, after a reported Israeli drone strike on a Hamas office that killed a senior official, Saleh al-Arouri.
Four people were killed in the explosion, officials said, which some reports said took place as Arouri was meeting with Hezbollah leaders.
Israel has so far not commented on a claim, reported by Lebanese state TV and confirmed to Reuters by three anonymous Lebanese security sources, that it was behind the attack.
Arouri, a founder of Hamas’s military wing in the West Bank, has reportedly been a target of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, since before the group’s 7 October raids into Israel.
Updated
Who was Saleh al-Arouri?
The death of a senior Hamas figure, Saleh al-Arouri, in a reported drone strike in Beirut on Tuesday is a significant victory for the Israel Defense Forces as the military campaign against the group in Hamas continues.
Born in 1966 in the West Bank town of Aroura, he had been a member of Hamas’s politburo since 2010 and its deputy chair since October 2017, according to the Mapping Palestinian Politics website.
He was also the founder of Hamas’s military wing in the West Bank and, according to the Associated Press, was a target of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, even before the group launched its 7 October attacks on Israel.
According to the The MPP website, Arouri led Hamas’s delegation in successive reconciliation talks with Fatah, the rival pro-Palestinian military and political group, and helped negotiate the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011, in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
He joined Hamas in 1987 and led the Islamic student movement before helping to establish Hamas’s military wing in the West Bank. He has been repeatedly detained by Israel, MPP said, including for long periods between 1985 and 1992, and between 1992 and 2007.
The Times of Israel reported that Israeli intelligence officials believed he helped plan the June 2014 kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers – Gil-ad Shaar, Eyal Yifrach and Naftali Fraenkel – as well as many other attacks.
In 2010 he was deported by Israel to Syria, where he lived for three years before moving to Turkey. He was based in Lebanon at the time of his death.
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Hamas confirms senior official killed in reported Israeli drone strike
An Israeli drone strike killed senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, reports on Tuesday said. His death, which was confirmed by a Hamas radio station, would be a significant blow to the group in Gaza.
According to Lebanese state television, an Israeli drone missile targeted a Hamas regional office in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh where Arouri was believed to be present.
At least four people were killed in the explosion, according to the Reuters news agency, which said the Hamas radio station Al-Aqsa had confirmed Arouri among the dead.
Arouri was one of the founders of Hamas’s military wing, and led the group’s presence in the West Bank, the Associated Press reported. The agency said Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had threatened to kill him even before the Israel-Gaza war began on 7 October.
In response to questions from Reuters, the Israeli military said it did not respond to reports in foreign media.
More soon…
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Sources: Four dead in Beirut drone attack
Here’s a little more on the explosion reported on Tuesday evening in southern Beirut: according to Reuters, citing Lebanese state media, the target of the attack was “an office of the Hamas movement” in the suburb of Dahiyeh.
Officials say four people were killed in the attack, including a “senior Palestinian official”, Reuters reports, quoting two unnamed security sources. The Associated Press, citing Hezbollah TV, named the person as “top Hamas official Saleh Arouri”.
According to the Mapping Palestinian Politics website, Saleh al-Arouri is a founding member of Hamas’s military wing in the West Bank, and has been a member of the group’s politburo since 2010, currently acting as its deputy chairman.
The explosion was caused by an Israeli drone, Lebanon state media said. Israel has not yet responded to the claim.
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Senior Palestinian official killed in Beirut explosion: report
A “senior Palestinian official” has been killed in an explosion in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, according to reports from Lebanon.
Unconfirmed early reports suggest a drone missile hit a vehicle. Video posted to social media shows thick black smoke rising from a fire apparently at a roadside in the city, which is about 175 miles north of Gaza City.
Unconfirmed reports that a drone hit a car in Dahiyeh, the southern suburb of Beirut. #Lebanon pic.twitter.com/L0Y5Zck71n
— Sharmine Narwani (@snarwani) January 2, 2024
Two “security sources” in Lebanon confirmed the explosion, according to the Reuters news agency, and said an unnamed “senior Palestinian official” was dead.
Israel and Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon have been exchanging missile fire as the country’s conflict in Gaza continues.
Nobody has so far claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack, and the number of any other casualties is not yet known.
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The humanitarian charity ActionAid has released a bleak new year’s message as the conflict in Gaza continues, highlighting statistics showing 2023 was the deadliest year for Palestinians since the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
“More than 200 Palestinians were killed in the first 24 hours of 2024 alone, in a grim sign that this year could be just as deadly as the last,” the group said in a press release Tuesday.
“In the less than three months since 7 October, more than 22,000 people have been killed in Gaza including about 9,000 children and 6,450 women, according to Gaza’s health ministry – yet even these figures are likely to underestimate the true number of casualties.”
Riham Jafari, advocacy and communications coordinator at ActionAid Palestine, said:
As people across the world welcome in a new year filled with hope and new promises, millions in Gaza have nothing to celebrate as their suffering continues unabated. Unless things change, 2024 could end up even deadlier than 2023, with even more people left grieving their children, parents, siblings, relatives and friends.
All that people in Gaza are wishing for in 2024 is a permanent ceasefire to put an end to this senseless bloodshed and loss of life. There can be no delay.
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“Tough negotiation” rather than an escalating military campaign is the only way to move towards peace in Gaza, says a veteran former British MP and foreign office minister for the Middle East, writing in the Guardian today.
Peter Hain, now a member of the UK House of Lords, says some “long overdue truths” need stating:
First, Israel is not going to ‘destroy Hamas’, as its leaders promise – not even by destroying Gaza.
Although Israel is damaging Hamas militarily, maybe significantly, with many of its tunnels eliminated and its fighters fleeing, Hamas is a movement and an ideology that, in many respects, [Israel prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s extremism helped to promote.
Lord Hain also says history has proven that discussions are the only pathway to peace, and that Hamas must be included in any negotiations:
British governments refused for decades to officially negotiate with the IRA because of its terrorist outrages. But when they finally did so, it resulted in the 1998 Good Friday agreement. Although an immensely painful pill for unionists to swallow, it was supported by the US president, the UK prime minister and an EU president, all of whose successors have apparently forgotten that fundamental lesson.
As for the notion, peddled by leaders of the global north, that only negotiations with a discredited Palestinian Authority leadership in the West Bank can be countenanced – that won’t work either. Global north governments have a history of trying and failing to promote their “favoured” candidates on peoples demanding self-determination to choose their own representatives. Hamas will have to be included in some way.
In the end, the solution has to be political. Palestinians of whatever political stripe cannot defeat Israel militarily, but nor can Israel defeat Palestinians militarily.
You can read Hain’s commentary here:
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Hamas: no more hostage releases until 'aggression' ends
Hamas says it won’t be releasing any more hostages it took during the 7 October attacks on Israel, except under its own terms.
According to Reuters, the group’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, has laid out the Hamas position to officials of Egypt and Qatar, countries that have been trying to broker a ceasefire similar to the one in November that saw the release of a little more than 100 of the 240 hostages taken the month before.
Haniyeh is demanding “a complete cessation of the aggression” by Israel against the Palestinians before Hamas would consider further hostage releases, the news agency says. He also wants Israel to be “helping them and responding to their rightful demands”, Reuters says.
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Reuters is carrying more details on the allegations against the 34 people in Turkey who have been arrested today on suspicion of spying for the Mossad on behalf of Israel.
It cites a Turkish official “The Israeli intelligence service is recruiting personnel to be used in acts against Palestinians residing in our country and their families.”
“It uses intermediaries for payments to be made to its contacts. It tries to lose trace of the money by using cryptocurrency and a [money] transfer system.”
Without providing evidence, the official said the suspects were also spreading fake news and disinformation, carrying out robberies and blackmail for the Israeli intelligence. The Mossad arranged meetings and training for the suspects abroad, the person added.
Last month, Turkish officials warned Israel of “serious consequences” if it tried to hunt down members of Hamas in Turkey. Turkey, unlike most of its western allies, does not classify Hamas as a terrorist organisation.
Reuters states that asked about the arrests, the Israeli prime minister’s office and the foreign ministry did not immediately comment.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Gaza and Israel.
Israel defence minister: 'high intensity' battle in south is targeting Hamas leadership in tunnels
Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said the operations in the south of the Gaza Strip around Khan Younis were focused on areas above what he said was a tunnel network where Hamas leaders were believed to be hiding.
“We are reaching them all ways. There already is engagement and there are hostages there too sadly,” Reuters reports he told troops in Gaza in footage shown on Israeli television.
“This will continue as high intensity efforts in the heart of Khan Younis,” he said.
The Times of Israel reports that Gallant was touring the Salah al-Din road in the central Gaza Strip, and said: “The sense that we are stopping is wrong.”
Israel has announced that it will be pulling back some troops from the Gaza Strip.
Gallant went on to say to troops he met: “You are on the corridor; the meaning of this is that on both your sides, operations of a different kind will soon take place.
“To the north, we destroyed 12 Hamas battalions. Terrorists still remain … a large number of them were eliminated and others fled to the south. The goal is to exhaust the enemy … and achieve a situation in which we control the territory. In the south of the Gaza Strip the situation is different.”
Gallant also referenced the pressure that Israeli forces are under in the north of Israel, saying “at the same time, unfortunately, there are other threats, the first and most prominent of which is what is happening in the north”.
Israel and anti-Israeli forces have been frequently exchanging fire in the north, with Israel conducting strikes inside Lebanon that it says are aimed at Hezbollah targets. Israel has also struck inside Syria in recent days.
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In Rafah, Reuters has spoken to Palestinians forced to live in makeshift tent shelters after being displaced from their homes by Israel’s military.
Shadi Maarouf said: “There is no safety. We’re scared, I swear. My children are scared and say to me, ‘Dad we’re out in the open.’ I tell them: ‘God help us, where can we go?’”
The Maaroufs, from Beit Lahia close to the northern border with Israel, fled on the first day of the war. They sought refuge in a shelter in another northern district but found it to be unsafe and moved on.
They stayed in al-Nuseirat, in central Gaza, for a month but airstrikes came close too often. Then they moved south, to Rafah, right on the frontier with Egypt.
Maarouf, his wife, Safeya, and their six children huddle for warmth against the biting cold. “This life in Rafah is a tragedy,” Maarouf said. “We sleep in fear,” said Safeya Maarouf, who struggles to find supplies and baby formula for her four-month-old daughter.
“What can we do? There is no shelter. The life and conditions are difficult, for us and everyone else, all the people, not just us. All the people are suffering, they are all in pain. There are no bathrooms, no water, no warmth, no safety. We sleep in fear,” she said.
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In the last 20 minutes Israel’s military has reported sirens sounding in two locations in northern Israel. Israel and anti-Israeli forces inside Lebanon have frequently exchanged fire since 7 October.
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'Several fatalities and wounded' after Israel targets Palestine Red Crescent HQ in Khan Younis
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has reported “several fatalities and wounded” at its headquarters in Khan Younis after it was targeted by Israel.
In a message posted to social media, it wrote:
The occupation renews its bombardment of the PRCS headquarters in Khan Younis for the second time, resulting in several fatalities and wounded among the 14,000 displaced individuals housed in the PRCS’s premises and the adjacent Al-Amal hospital.
🚨The occupation renews its bombardment of the PRCS headquarters in #KhanYounis for the second time, resulting in several fatalities and wounded 🚑 among the 14,000 displaced individuals housed in the PRCS’s premises and the adjacent Al-Amal Hospital.#Gaza#NotATarget ❌ pic.twitter.com/pnSc1yewxf
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) January 2, 2024
Earlier it had posted that Israel had targeted the eighth floor of the headquarters, resulting in “several fatalities and wounded”, and that “Israeli drones continue firing in the vicinity of Al-Amal hospital and the PRCS’s headquarters.”
Israel has repeatedly claimed that Hamas uses hospitals as cover for terrorist activity, a claim which Hamas has denied.
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Summary of the day so far …
It has just gone 3pm in Gaza City and in Tel Aviv. Here are the latest headlines …
Israel’s military action inside the Gaza Strip continues. Palestinians reported heavy airstrikes and artillery shelling overnight and into Tuesday in the southern city of Khan Younis and farming areas to the east, near the border with Israel. Fighting was also under way in and around the built-up Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. In its latest operational briefing, Israel’s military claims to have “killed dozens of terrorists” and “neutralised” explosives inside the Gaza Strip. The attacks come after Israel said it would begin withdrawing some troops from Gaza but also that it was preparing for an intense campaign to continue there for “six months at least”.
At least 22,185 Palestinians have been killed and more than 57,000 wounded by Israel’s military action in Gaza, according to updated figures from the health ministry. It says that 207 Palestinians were killed and 338 were wounded in the past 24 hours. The Gaza health ministry is run by Hamas. The figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Separately, the Israeli military has claimed to have killed about 8,000 fighters in the Gaza Strip during its campaign. Additionally, since 7 October, at least 321 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank by Israeli troops or settlers. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
An estimated 85% of Gaza’s population remains displaced by Israeli military action. Hundreds of thousands of people are living in overcrowded shelters or teeming tent camps in Israeli-designated safe areas that the military has nevertheless bombed.
Israel Defense Forces have killed four alleged Palestinian militants during a raid in the occupied West Bank town of Azzun, the IDF has said. In addition it said it had arrested seven others. More than 2,550 people have been arrested in the occupied territory since the Israel-Hamas war began. The official Palestinian Wafa news agency said the four men were shot dead when clashes erupted as Israeli troops raided the town of Azzun. “Israeli occupation soldiers fired live ammunition, stun grenades and teargas at residents during the raid,” it claimed.
Israel’s military has said that “in response to yesterday’s launches toward Israeli territory, the IDF struck military infrastructure belonging to the Syrian army”. On Monday, the Israeli military said it had identified five missiles launched from Syria that fell in open areas.
Local media in Israel reports that there has been a small amount of damage in Shlomi, which is near the UN-drawn blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon. Authorities in the community say two anti-tank guided missiles were fired from Lebanon. Israel says it has again fired upon what it described as Hezbollah targets inside Lebanon.
Israel will defend its actions in Gaza at the international court of justice in The Hague after South Africa launched a case against the state accusing it of genocide last week, Israeli media has reported. “Israel, a longstanding signatory to the Genocide Convention, will not boycott the proceedings. We will participate and refute the absurd accusation that amounts to blood libel,” national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told the news site Ynet.
Turkey has detained 33 people suspected of carrying out espionage for Israel’s the Mossad intelligence service. Interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, said “We will never allow espionage activities to be conducted against the national unity and solidarity of our country”. Another 13 suspects are being sought. Diplomatic relations between Israel and Turkey have been severely strained by the conflict that followed the 7 October Hamas attack inside Israel. Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has been a vocal critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza, accusing it of genocide and comparing Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.
The first UK maritime shipment of aid for Gaza has arrived in Egypt, carrying almost 90 tonnes of thermal blankets and other essential items. The shipment was delivered from Cyprus by royal fleet auxiliary ship Lyme Bay, and the aid will be distributed within the Gaza Strip by UNRWA.
Updated
Major shipping company Hapag-Lloyd has said that it will continue to redirect its maritime traffic away from the Red Sea and instead sail round the Cape of Good Hope until 9 January, when it will reassess the situation. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis have been targeting shipping it claims is linked to Israel.
Updated
Recent images from Gaza show that Israel continues to bombard the territory.
The first UK maritime shipment of aid for Gaza has arrived in Egypt, carrying almost 90 tonnes of thermal blankets and other essential items.
PA Media reports the shipment was delivered from Cyprus by royal fleet auxiliary ship Lyme Bay, carrying thermal blankets, shelter packs and medical supplies provided by the UK and Cyprus.
From Port Said, the aid will be received by the Egyptian Red Crescent and will make its way to Al Arish and then through Rafah and into Gaza for distribution by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
The UK has announced it will spend almost £60m in additional humanitarian funding in Gaza this financial year, trebling the existing annual budget to the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs).
Earlier we reported that Turkey had arrested 33 people on suspicion of spying for the Mossad, and was seeking 13 additional suspects. [See 9.23am GMT]
AFP is carrying a quote from Turkey’s interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, who said the suspects were rounded up in raids across eight provinces in and around Istanbul. He said: “We will never allow espionage activities to be conducted against the national unity and solidarity of our country.”
It remains unclear whether those arrested are Israeli nationals or of another nationality allegedly working with Israel’s security services.
Yerlikaya’s office released video footage showing armed security service agents breaking down doors and handcuffing suspects in their homes.
Diplomatic relations between Israel and Turkey have been severely strained by the conflict that followed the 7 October Hamas attack inside Israel. Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has been a vocal critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza, accusing it of genocide and comparing Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.
Erdoğan has also recalled Ankara’s envoy to Tel Aviv and pushed for the trial of Israeli commanders and political leaders at the international criminal court in The Hague.
Updated
Over 22,000 Palestinians killed and 57,000 wounded by Israel in Gaza – ministry
At least 22,185 Palestinians have been killed and more than 57,000 wounded by Israel’s military action in Gaza, according to updated figures from the health ministry.
It says that 207 Palestinians were killed and 338 were wounded in the past 24 hours. The Gaza health ministry is run by Hamas.
The figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, and are likely undercounted due the number of Palestinians missing who are believed to be under rubble, and due to the impact of Israeli attacks on healthcare facilities, which has made record-keeping difficult in the territory.
Separately, the Israeli military has claimed to have killed about 8,000 fighters in the Gaza Strip during its campaign, which began after the 7 October surprise Hamas attack inside Israel. That attack killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel, and an estimated 240 people were seized and abducted into Gaza as hostages. Just over 100 of them have been freed to date.
Additionally, since 7 October, at least 321 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank by Israeli troops or settlers.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Updated
An estimated 85% of Gaza’s population has been displaced by Israeli military action since 7 October. Hundreds of thousands of people are living in overcrowded shelters or teeming tent camps in Israeli-designated safe areas that the military has nevertheless bombed.
Associated Press notes that Palestinians reported heavy airstrikes and artillery shelling overnight and into Tuesday in the southern city of Khan Younis and farming areas to the east, near the border with Israel. Fighting was also under way in and around the built-up Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
Al Jazeera reports that the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, say they engaged Israeli troops in the Bureij refugee camp, and targeted the Israeli military with mortar shells in the al-Mahatta area in Khan Younis.
Israeli forces have released images of their troops on the ground inside the Gaza Strip, and have said they are close to having obtained operational control over most of northern Gaza.
Updated
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has posted to social media to say that its volunteers “continue their humanitarian work” despite the difficult circumstances inside Gaza and the targeting of hospitals by Israeli forces.
It writes: “With the simplest resources, our volunteers have saved hundreds of lives in the northern Gaza, where people have been deprived of health services due to the occupation’s targeting of all hospitals, rendering them non-functional.”
Proud of the PRCS volunteers 🫶 who continue their humanitarian work at the #PRCS medical point in #Jabalia, northern #Gaza, despite the difficulty and danger of the conditions they are experiencing. With the simplest resources, our volunteers have saved hundreds of lives in the… pic.twitter.com/iZ3TmbvzD4
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) January 2, 2024
Updated
Sirens have sounded in northern Israel over a suspected drone incursion.
Turkish authorities have detained 33 people suspected of carrying out espionage for Israel’s the Mossad intelligence service, the state-run Anadolu news agency said on Tuesday, adding 13 others were being sought by police.
Reuters reports Anadolu said police had carried out simultaneous raids in 57 locations across eight provinces as part of an investigation that the counter-terrorism bureau of the Istanbul prosecutor’s office had launched.
The IDF has said that “in response to yesterday’s launches toward Israeli territory, the IDF struck military infrastructure belonging to the Syrian army”.
Associated Press reports that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition war monitor, reported that the airstrikes hit a Syrian army artillery unit where members of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah were also stationed. The observatory said Israel carried out 76 attacks on Syrian territory in 2023.
On Monday, the Israeli military said it had identified five missiles launched from Syria that fell in open areas.
Updated
AFP reports that in addition to the four Palestinians the IDF said it killed overnight in the occupied West Bank, Israel says it has arrested seven others.
More than 2,550 people have been arrested in the territory since the Israel-Hamas war began.
The official Palestinian Wafa news agency said the foru men were shot dead when clashes erupted as Israeli troops raided the town of Azzun. “Israeli occupation soldiers fired live ammunition, stun grenades and teargas at residents during the raid,” it claimed.
In a separate exchange of fire, Israeli troops “neutralised” a Palestinian who fired at them in the town of Qalqilya, the army said without elaborating. It also said that an Israeli soldier was moderately wounded.
AFP notes that since 7 October, at least 321 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank by Israeli troops or settlers, according to the Palestinian health ministry. More than 520 Palestinians were killed in the territory last year. The West Bank has been under Israeli military occupation since 1967.
Local media in Israel reports that there has been a small amount of damage in Shlomi, which is near the UN-drawn blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon.
Authorities in the community say two anti-tank guided missiles were fired from Lebanon, with one of the projectiles hitting a building. The mayor is quoted as saying:
This is a very serious incident and miraculously no physical damage was caused to the residents. This morning illustrates the great danger of the current situation for the residents of Shlomi. We will not agree to live in this situation.
The IDF has said fighter jets this morning carried out strikes on what it claimed were Hezbollah positions in Yaroun, inside Lebanon.
מטוסי קרב של חיל-האוויר תקפו לפני זמן קצר תשתיות טרור בהן פעלו מחבלי ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב הכפר יארון שבשטח לבנון. pic.twitter.com/TN5OOIjpOo
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) January 2, 2024
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Gaza and Israel.
Reuters has a quick snap, citing security sources, that a drone attack on a US base in northern Iraq has been thwarted.
In today’s First Edition newsletter, Archie Bland has a round-up of the situation in the Red Sea, writing:
There have been at least 17 attacks on vessels the Houthis believe are linked to Israel or its allies, mostly without success. Until now, the US has refrained from direct confrontation. But on Sunday, US Navy helicopters fired on a group of small boats attempting to board a container ship that had requested their protection, the Maersk Hangzhou. While Washington said that its helicopters had fired in self-defence, the deaths of 10 militants mark a new phase in the crisis.
The Houthis are a militia group representing a branch of Shia Islam called Zaidism that once ruled Yemen but was marginalised under the Sunni regime in the Yemen capital, Sana’a, since the 1962-70 civil war. They forced the government out in a 2014 coup, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention against them and a catastrophic civil war that the UN estimated led to 377,000 deaths and displaced 4 million people by the end of 2021.
The Houthis effectively won the war. An April 2022 ceasefire prompted a significant decline in violence, and fighting has largely remained in abeyance despite the official expiry of the truce in October. Most Yemenis now live in areas under rebel control, with the Houthis now running most of the north of the country and in charge of its Red Sea coastline. Crucially, the Houthis are backed by Iran as part of its longstanding hostility to Saudi Arabia, and the US recently declassified intelligence it said showed Iranian involvement in the operations against commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
Read more here: Tuesday briefing – Will the Red Sea crisis lead to a wider Middle East conflict?
In its latest operational briefing, Israel’s military claims to have “killed dozens of terrorists” and “neutralised” explosives inside the Gaza Strip.
The IDF writes:
Over the past day, IDF naval forces and ground troops identified terrorists planting explosive devices along the coast of the Gaza Strip and inside compounds adjacent to coast. The terrorist operatives planned to detonate these explosives in attacks on IDF troops. In joint operations, IDF naval, aerial, and ground forces targeted a number of the terrorists and neutralised the explosives.
It adds that “IDF troops killed dozens of terrorists, among them those who attempted to plant explosive devices, others who operated drones, and those who were armed identified driving toward the forces” and that “during searches in the central Gaza Strip, a weapons production facility, launch pits and long-range rocket launchers were located.”
It also claims that “IDF troops located in Bureij a number of rocket launchers positioned adjacent to an UNRWA school.”
The claims have not been independently verified.
Israel intensified its attacks on southern Gaza overnight, residents said, with Israeli tanks and planes stepping up their bombardments of eastern and northern Khan Younis.
Witnesses also reported missiles fired towards the city of Rafah in the south and shelling around the Jabalia refugee camp in the north, while fighting was also reported around the central areas of Maghazi and Bureij.
Al Jazeera reported that 15 people had been killed in an Israeli strike on Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
The attacks come after Israel said it would begin withdrawing some troops from Gaza but also that it was preparing for an intense campaign to continue there for “six months at least”.
Israel to defend itself against accusations of genocide at international court
Israel will defend its actions in Gaza at the international court of justice in the Hague after South Africa launched a case against the state accusing it of genocide last week, Israeli media has reported.
“Israel, a long-standing signatory to the Genocide Convention, will not boycott the proceedings. We will participate and refute the absurd accusation that amounts to blood libel,” national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told the news site Ynet.
Haaretz newspaper reported that the rare decision was made during a meeting chaired by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and after consultations with the justice ministry, the military and the national security council.
Proceedings at the court can take years, but Israel’s immediate aim would be to prevent the court from issuing an interim order to halt its Gaza campaign.
In its application to open proceedings against Israel last week, South Africa said Israel’s actions in Gaza were “genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group.”
Four alleged militants killed in Israeli raid on West Bank town, IDF says
The Israeli military (IDF) has killed four alleged Palestinian militants during a raid in the occupied West Bank town of Azzun, the IDF has said.
The alleged militants were killed during an exchange of fire in which one Israeli soldier was also injured, the IDF said on Twitter, after they had allegedly shot and thrown explosives at Israeli soldiers. The military posted pictures of three submachine guns it said had been seized afterwards.
במהלך מבצע לסיכול טרור של כוחות צה"ל מגדוד המילואים 8211 בכפר עזון בפיקוד חטיבת אפרים, מחבלים ירו והשליכו מטענים לעבר כוחותינו, הלוחמים זיהו את המבנה בו הסתתרה חוליית המחבלים ובתום חילופי אש חיסלו את ארבעת המחבלים והחרימו שלושה נשקים מסוג "קרלו" ששימשו אותם>> pic.twitter.com/tDu9TWOV8u
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) January 2, 2024
The IDF was also raiding at least five other towns and cities in the West Bank, according to the broadcaster Al Jazeera, which reported fighting in Qalqilya, near Azzun, and posted footage showing a wounded Palestinian man being kicked in the head by Israeli soldiers.
As of 30 December, 307 Palestinians had been killed by the Israeli military and Israeli settlers since Hamas’ 7 October attack, according to the UN, including 79 children.
The dead include a 17-year-old boy, Mahmoud Abu Haniya, who was shot in the back in Azzun last month when an Israeli raid sparked confrontations with residents, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
The UN last week deplored what it said was a “rapid deterioration” of human rights in the West Bank and urged Israeli authorities to end violence against the Palestinian population there.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war with me, Helen Livingstone.
The Israeli military (IDF) says it has killed four alleged Palestinian militants in the West Bank town of Azzun overnight.
In a social media post, the IDF said the Palestinians had shot and thrown explosives at soldiers and after identifying the building where they were hiding, they killed them in an exchange of fire. It said three Carlo-type submachine guns were recovered afterwards.
An Israeli soldier was also injured in the exchange of fire.
The broadcaster Al Jazeera reported that the IDF was also carrying out raids in at least five other towns and cities in the West Bank, including on the Jenin refugee camp and the city of Jericho.
More than 300 Palestinians have been killed by the IDF and Israeli settlers in the West Bank since the 7 October attack on Israel.
More on that soon. In other key developments:
The Israeli military claims to have killed Adil Mismah, a regional commander of Hamas’s elite Nukhba forces, in the central city of Deir al-Balah. The Israel Defense Forces said Mismah had taken part in Hamas’s 7 October attack against Israel.
A total of 21,978 Palestinians have been killed and 56,697 injured in Israeli strikes in Gaza since 7 October, the health ministry in Gaza said on Monday. The figures include 156 Palestinians killed and 246 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry added. Thousands more people are believed to be buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings and tens of thousands of Palestinians have been wounded.
Israel is withdrawing some troops from Gaza to shift to more targeted operations against Hamas, an Israeli official told Reuters. The official said the withdrawal was focused on reservists – of which Israel drafted 300,000 for the war – and designed to “re-energise the Israeli economy”.
Not all of those returned from Gaza will go home, a senior Israeli official told Reuters, with some prepared for rotation to the northern border with Lebanon, where Israel is expanding its preparations for war. “The situation on the Lebanese front will not be allowed to continue. This coming six-month period is a critical moment,” the official said.
Israeli settlers killed at least 10 Palestinians and set alight dozens of homes in the occupied West Bank in 2023, making it the “most violent” year on record for settler attacks, an Israeli watchdog has said. Numerous West Bank attacks were carried out by a large group of Israeli settlers and the violence rose after Hamas’s 7 October attacks on Israel, said Yesh Din, a human rights group.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has collaborated with the Egyptian Red Crescent to establish the first organized camp in Khan Younis for Palestinians displaced by Israeli strikes across Gaza. The camp is initially set to hold 300 families from PRCS medical, ambulance and relief teams, with its capacity set to expand later to 1,000 tents, the PRCS said.
Some of the Israeli communities north of the Gaza Strip that were evacuated in the wake of the 7 October attack by Hamas will be able to go back in the near future as military operations progress, the Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said on Monday. According to published remarks from a briefing, Gallant said that some of the evacuated communities in areas within a range of 4-7km north of the territory would be able to return soon.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said that four of its fighters had been killed in southern Lebanon, updating the toll from three in a statement made earlier, without giving any further detail. Security sources said the first three were killed in an Israeli raid on two houses in the Lebanese village of Kafr Kila near the border where Hezbollah maintains security control.
The US aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford, deployed to the eastern Mediterranean after the deadly attack on Israel by Hamas in October to deter other regional actors from escalating the conflict, will return to the US “in the coming days,” the Navy said Monday. It will be replaced by the amphibious assault ship the USS Bataan and its accompanying warships, the USS Mesa Verde and the USS Carter Hall.
Israel’s supreme court has ruled against a key component of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government’s judicial overhaul, which challenged the powers of the judiciary. A supreme court statement said eight of 15 justices had ruled against an amendment passed by parliament in July which scraps the “reasonableness” clause, used by the court to overturn government decisions which are deemed unconstitutional.
