It’s 1.45am in Gaza City, Tel Aviv and Beirut and we’re about to close this blog. Our live coverage will resume later in the day. A summary of key recent developments is below. All our coverage of the Israel-Gaza war and the broader Middle East crisis can be seen here. Thank you for reading.
Updated
The US has defended its veto last month of a UN security council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying the proposal was “disconnected from the situation on the ground”.
The Associated Press reports that a UN general assembly meeting on Tuesday, the Palestinian and Arab delegations were joined by many other countries as they demanded an immediate halt to the fighting – calls that were echoed by a group of anti-war rabbis in the gallery.
US deputy ambassador Robert Wood repeated that Washington was working to secure a “pause” in the Israel-Hamas war and the release of 136 Israeli hostages in Gaza. He said it was “striking” that those urging an end to the conflict had made very few demands of Hamas, whose 7 October attack on southern Israel sparked the war.
The US only got support from Israel. A ceasefire would be “a victory for Hamas … to continue the reign of terror in Gaza”, said Israel’s UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan. He said Israel supported delivering aid to Gaza but accused Hamas of “looting” humanitarian assistance before it got to civilians. He also accused the UN of doing “nothing” to bring the hostages home.
About 36 rabbis from the group Rabbis 4 Ceasefire, which opposes Israel’s ongoing military action, came to the UN as tourists. The majority of them briefly held signs in the empty security council chamber saying “Biden Stop Vetoing Peace”. A small group did the same in the gallery of the general assembly chamber before being hustled out by UN security officers.
Riyad Mansour, the UN Palestinian ambassador, told the assembly his people were “being slaughtered”, with entire families killed, and stressed that “the horrors need to end, and the only way to end them is a ceasefire”.
This is Adam Fulton picking up our live coverage – stay with us for the latest developments
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s 1am in Gaza City, Tel Aviv and Beirut. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
A total of 23,210 Palestinians have been killed and 59,167 have been wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, according to the latest figures by the Gaza health ministry on Tuesday. About 126 Palestinians were killed and 241 were wounded in the previous 24 hours, it said.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has dismissed South Africa’s genocide charge against Israel as “meritless”, but said the daily toll of war on civilians in Gaza is “far too high”. At a press conference in Tel Aviv, Blinken urged Israeli leaders to work with moderate Palestinian leaders, saying regional countries would only invest in the reconstruction of Gaza if there is a “pathway to a Palestinian state”. He added that he was “crystal clear” that Palestinians must be able to return to their homes “as soon as conditions allow”.
Intense fighting, shelling and aerial bombardment continued across the south and centre of Gaza as Blinken met top officials in Israel on a regional tour aimed at reaching a consensus on the Palestinian territory’s future and stopping an escalation of the war across the Middle East. US officials said Blinken told Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, that his forces must avoid inflicting further harm on civilians in Gaza. However, there was no sign of any letup in the violence in Gaza as the two men met.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has condemned “in the strongest possible terms” a strike on an MSF shelter in Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip on Monday. A five-year-old daughter of an MSF staff worker was critically injured by the strike and died of her injuries on Tuesday, it said. The charity said it had notified Israeli forces that the shelter was housing MSF staff and their families.
The leaders of Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, will meet on Wednesday to discuss the war in Gaza and surging violence in the West Bank. Jordan’s King Abdullah II will host a summit with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in the southern Red Sea city of Aqaba, according to a statement issued by Jordan’s royal court.
Israel and Hezbollah edged closer towards full scale war on Tuesday, as the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group launched explosive drones at a key Israeli command base, declaring the attack part of its response to recent high-level Israeli assassinations in Lebanon. Hezbollah announced it had launched “a number of explosive attack drones” at the Israeli northern military command base in Safed, the first time it has targeted the site. An Israeli army spokesperson said there had been no damage or casualties.
Hezbollah has denied a claim by the Israeli military that it killed the southern Lebanon commander of Hezbollah’s aerial unit in an airstrike on Tuesday. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had killed Ali Hussein Barji, who it said had led dozens of drone attacks on Israel. But in a statement, Hezbollah said “the commander was never subjected to any assassination attempt as the enemy claimed.”
Israeli aircraft, drones and artillery struck multiple targets inside southern Lebanon, including a strike on a car during the funeral of a senior commander in the group’s elite Radwan force who had been killed the day before. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, said that while his country was open to negotiations, it was being threatened with war.
The Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has called on Muslim states to provide Palestinian militants with weapons, adding that the group’s war with Israel is “not the battle of the Palestinian people alone”. At a conference in Doha, Haniyeh said Israel had “failed to achieve any of its goals” after nearly 100 days of its war in Gaza, and argued that the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October “came after an attempt to marginalise the Palestinian cause”.
The UK maritime trade operations (UKMTO) said on Tuesday that it received a report of an incident in the Red Sea near Yemen. UKMTO received a report of an incident approximately 50 nautical miles (93 km) west of Yemen’s Hodeidah, which authorities were investigating, it said in an advisory note. A Yemeni military source told Al Jazeera that the Houthis had targeted a ship linked to Israel in the Red Sea.
The former UK Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, will join a South African delegation for this week’s hearings at the international court of justice (ICJ), where the country has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza. Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, said “there is nothing more atrocious and preposterous” than the lawsuit as he censured South Africa for bringing the case, which is due to begin hearings on Thursday. Belgium’s deputy prime minister, Petra De Sutter, also expressed support for South Africa’s case.
The UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, has admitted he is “worried” that Israel might have taken action in Gaza that might be in breach of international law. Cameron also confirmed to parliament’s foreign affairs committee that two British nationals are still being held hostage in Gaza. Israel needs to “act carefully” and avoid risking further escalation in its war with Hamas, Downing Street said in a separate statement.
The international criminal court (ICC) has confirmed it is investigating potential crimes against journalists since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas. At least 79 journalists and media workers, the vast majority of them Palestinian, have been killed since the war began three months ago, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
UN international law experts have criticised the killing of Hamas deputy leader, Saleh al-Arouri, and other fighters in drone strikes in Lebanon. In a statement, UN special rapporteurs Ben Saul and Morris Tidball-Binz said killings in foreign territory are arbitrary when they are not authorised under international law.
The planet-warming emissions generated during the first two months of the war in Gaza were greater than the annual carbon footprint of more than 20 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations, new research reveals.
Jeremy Corbyn to join South Africa’s delegation accusing Israel of genocide
The former UK Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, will join a South African delegation for this week’s hearings at the international court of justice (ICJ), where the country has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza.
South Africa’s justice ministry said Corbyn was one of a number of “senior political figures from progressive political parties and movements across the globe” who will join the South African delegation at The Hague for two days of preliminary hearings which begin on Thursday.
South Africa has accused Israel of genocide in its campaign against Hamas in Gaza, saying among other things that it has the “specific intent … to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group”.
In its 84-page filing, it also says Israel has failed to prevent genocide and failed to prosecute officials who have publicly incited genocide.
Corbyn expressed support for South Africa’s case against Israel on Monday and criticised the British government in a social media message.
“Every day, another unspeakable atrocity is committed in Gaza,” he wrote.
Millions of people around the world support South Africa’s efforts to hold Israel to account. Why can’t our government?
Médecins Sans Frontières says strike on Gaza shelter killed staff member's five-year-old daughter
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has condemned “in the strongest possible terms” a strike on an MSF shelter in Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip on Monday.
A five-year-old daughter of an MSF staff worker was critically injured by the strike and underwent surgery at a hospital, the medical charity said. She later died of her injuries on Tuesday, it said.
In a statement, MSF said that more than 100 staff and their family members had been sheltering in the building on Monday morning when a shell broke through the wall.
Thomas Lauvin, MSF project coordinator in Gaza, said:
We are outraged and deeply saddened by the death of yet another family member of our MSF staff. This strike on civilians is unacceptable and, once again, goes to show that it doesn’t matter where you are in Gaza, nowhere is safe. The shell did not detonate on impact, otherwise many more of our staff and their families would have most likely been killed.
The charity said it had notified Israeli forces that the shelter was housing MSF staff and their families, and that no evacuation orders were issued before the strike. It added:
While MSF is not able to confirm the origin of the shell, it appears to be similar to those used by Israeli tanks.
Four of MSF’s staff have been killed since the beginning of the war in addition to numerous family members, it said.
A meeting between the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in Tel Aviv earlier today was “tense”, according to a report.
The Times of Israel reported, citing a Channel 12 story, that Washington is losing its patience over Tel Aviv’s outlook on its war with Hamas in Gaza.
The outlet noted that the Israeli prime minister’s office did not release a readout of the meeting, as it usually does.
Matthew Miller, a US state department spokesperson, said after the meeting that Blinken had reaffirmed to Netanyahu the US’s support for Israel’s attempts to stop any repeat of the Hamas attack of 7 October but “stressed the importance of avoiding further civilian harm and protecting civilian infrastructure in Gaza”.
Updated
Hezbollah denies Israel's claim that it killed senior Hezbollah leader
Hezbollah has denied a claim by the Israeli military that it killed the southern Lebanon commander of Hezbollah’s aerial unit, Ali Hussein Barji, in an airstrike on Tuesday.
In a statement, Hezbollah said “the commander was never subjected to any assassination attempt as the enemy claimed.”
Here are some of the latest images we have received over the newswires from the Gaza Strip and Israel.
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Belgium's deputy prime minister voices support for genocide case against Israel
Belgium’s deputy prime minister, Petra De Sutter, has expressed support for South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.
Posting to social media, De Sutter said she wants Belgium to take action at the international court of justice (ICJ), following the lead of South Africa. She wrote:
Belgium cannot stand by and watch the immense human suffering in Gaza. We must act against the threat of genocide.
Belgium cannot stand by and watch the immense human suffering in Gaza. We must act against the threat of genocide.
— Petra De Sutter (@pdsutter) January 9, 2024
I want Belgium to take action at the International Court of Justice, following the lead of South Africa.
I will propose this within the Belgian government. #begov
South Africa has launched a case against Israel at the UN’s international court of justice (ICJ) accusing the state of committing genocide in its military campaign in Gaza. Israel has responded to the allegations “with disgust”, calling South Africa’s case a “blood libel” and urging the ICJ to reject it.
A Palestinian journalist has said he was subjected to beatings and torture during more than a month of detention by Israeli forces.
Diaa al-Kahlout, the Gaza bureau chief of the London-based media outlet The New Arab, was arrested by the Israeli army in Beit Lahia city in north Gaza on 7 December and detained without charge for several weeks, the outlet said.
He was among dozens of Palestinians shown detained by Israeli troops and stripped to their underwear last month, the Qatari-owned outlet said.
In an interview, Kahlout described the Israeli army’s treatment of himself and other detained Palestinians as “indescribably tough and difficult”. He said:
The moment I was detained, Israeli soldiers crowded round me and I heard the word “journalist” said more than once, before they gagged me with tape so I couldn’t speak. They were mocking journalists and their work.
He said he was subjected to beatings and torture several times by agents of Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet. He said he spent 25 out of the 33 days of his detention forced to remain in a kneeling position, which caused him severe pain.
Houthis claim it targeted vessel in Red Sea
We reported earlier that the UK maritime trade operations (UKMTO) said it received a report of an incident in the Red Sea near Yemen.
A Yemeni military source has told Al Jazeera that the Houthis had targeted a ship linked to Israel in the Red Sea.
Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have stepped up attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea in protest against Israel’s war in Gaza.
Leaders of Egypt, Jordan and Palestinian Authority to meet at summit on Gaza
The leaders of Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, will meet tomorrow to discuss the war in Gaza and surging violence in the West Bank.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II will host a summit with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, on Wednesday in the southern Red Sea city of Aqaba, according to a statement issued by Jordan’s royal court.
The leaders will discuss the “serious developments” in the Gaza Strip as well as “the situation in the West Bank”, it said.
The meeting will be held as part of “Jordan’s efforts to coordinate Arab positions to push for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and ensure the uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid”, it said.
The UK maritime trade operations (UKMTO) said it received a report of an incident in the Red Sea near Yemen.
In a social media post, it said it received a report of an incident in the Red Sea approximately 50 nautical miles west of Al Hodeidah. Authorities were investigating, it added.
/www.ukmto.org/indian-ocean/products/warnings/2024#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/vC2mLzJxmm
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) January 9, 2024
IDF says it killed senior Hezbollah commander
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it has killed the southern Lebanon commander of Hezbollah’s aerial unit, Ali Hussein Barji, in an airstrike on Tuesday.
IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the Hezbollah commander had led dozens of drone attacks on Israel.
The IDF statement came after reports that an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon had killed a top Hezbollah commander.
Summary of the day so far
It’s just past 10pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
A total of 23,210 Palestinians have been killed and 59,167 have been wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, according to the latest figures by the Gaza health ministry on Tuesday. About 126 Palestinians were killed and 241 were wounded in the previous 24 hours, it said.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has dismissed South Africa’s genocide charge against Israel as “meritless”, but said the daily toll of war on civilians in Gaza is “far too high”. At a press conference in Tel Aviv, Blinken urged Israeli leaders to work with moderate Palestinian leaders, saying regional countries would only invest in the reconstruction of Gaza if there is a “pathway to a Palestinian state”. He added that he was “crystal clear” that Palestinians must be able to return to their homes “as soon as conditions allow”.
Intense fighting, shelling and aerial bombardment has continued across the south and centre of Gaza as Blinken met top officials in Israel on a regional tour aimed at reaching a consensus on the Palestinian territory’s future and stopping an escalation of the war across the Middle East. US officials said Blinken told Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, that his forces must avoid inflicting further harm on civilians in Gaza. However, there was no sign of any letup in the violence in Gaza as the two men met.
Israel’s military has said it has expanded its ground operation in the city of Khan Younis inside the Gaza Strip. The IDF claimed on Tuesday that “dozens of terrorists were killed” and “large quantities of weapons and underground terror tunnel shafts were located”. The claims have not been independently verified. Israel has said that 182 of its soldiers have so far been killed during fighting inside the Gaza Strip.
Israel and Hezbollah edged closer towards full scale war on Tuesday, as the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group launched explosive drones at a key Israeli command base, declaring the attack part of its response to recent high-level Israeli assassinations in Lebanon. Hezbollah announced it had launched “a number of explosive attack drones” at the Israeli northern military command base in Safed, the first time it has targeted the site. An Israeli army spokesperson said there had been no damage or casualties.
Israeli aircraft, drones and artillery struck multiple targets inside southern Lebanon, including a strike on a car during the funeral of a senior commander in the group’s elite Radwan force who had been killed the day before. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, said that while his country was open to negotiations, it was being threatened with war.
The Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has called on Muslim states to provide Palestinian militants with weapons, adding that the group’s war with Israel is “not the battle of the Palestinian people alone”. At a conference in Doha, Haniyeh said Israel had “failed to achieve any of its goals” after nearly 100 days of its war in Gaza, and argued that the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October “came after an attempt to marginalise the Palestinian cause”.
Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, said “there is nothing more atrocious and preposterous” than the lawsuit filed in the international court of justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocidal actions against Palestinians in the Gaza war. Herzog censured South Africa for bringing the case, which is due to begin hearings on Thursday. Herzog added Israel must win “because it is a war that affects international values and the values of the free world”.
The UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, has admitted he is “worried” that Israel might have taken action in Gaza that might be in breach of international law. Cameron also confirmed to parliament’s foreign affairs committee that two British nationals are still being held hostage in Gaza. Israel needs to “act carefully” and avoid risking further escalation in its war with Hamas, Downing Street has said.
Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, has said the international community has an obligation to organise security in Gaza after the war and a reformed Palestinian Authority must play a crucial role in its future. Egypt and Germany both “agree that Gaza and the West Bank belong to Palestinians”, she told reporters in Cairo on Tuesday. Baerbock also visited the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt as part of her Middle East trip.
The international criminal court (ICC) has confirmed it is investigating potential crimes against journalists since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas. At least 79 journalists and media workers, the vast majority of them Palestinian, have been killed since the war began three months ago, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The Israel Defense Forces said they shot dead a Palestinian man on Tuesday following an alleged stabbing attack near the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Israeli forces have killed more than 330 Palestinians in the West Bank since the war between Israel and Hamas began three months ago, the Palestinian health ministry said.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has accused Israel of a “brutal crime” after footage circulating on social media appeared to show a military vehicle running over a dead militant in the occupied West Bank.
UN international law experts have criticised the killing of Hamas deputy leader, Saleh al-Arouri, and other fighters in drone strikes in Lebanon. In a statement, UN special rapporteurs Ben Saul and Morris Tidball-Binz said killings in foreign territory are arbitrary when they are not authorised under international law.
The planet-warming emissions generated during the first two months of the war in Gaza were greater than the annual carbon footprint of more than 20 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations, new research reveals.
Updated
The commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, is posting on social media a fresh message that Gaza “is simply becoming uninhabitable” under Israeli bombardment in response to the murderous attacks by Hamas on southern Israel on 7 October.
The relief agency has used its latest post on X, formerly known as Twitter, to call for “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire”, saying such action “is a matter of life and death”.
UNRWA points out list the latest stage of the crisis in Gaza thus: “Almost an entire population forcibly displaced; Families search for safety where there is none; Health system rapidly collapsing; Famine looms; Unprecedented levels of depravation; People driven to despair.”
📍#Gaza Almost an entire population forcibly displaced
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) January 9, 2024
Families search for safety where there is none
Health system rapidly collapsing
Famine looms
Unprecedented levels of depravation
People driven to despair
An immediate humanitarian ceasefire is a matter of life and death pic.twitter.com/kfMf2ngtVM
Here’s a picture of Philippe Lazzarini.
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Here’s a clip of US secretary of state Antony Blinken calling the charge against Israel of genocide of the Palestinians “meritless” at his press conference a little earlier.
Blinken said South Africa’s International Court of Justice case against Israel only “distracts the world” as well as being unjustified.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says charges of genocide against Israel are meritless. Speaking in Tel Aviv, he did say more needs to be done to protect innocent civilians in Israel and Gaza https://t.co/fC15hxLdKa pic.twitter.com/vfpbcQEY5F
— Bloomberg (@business) January 9, 2024
It’s obviously difficult when Blinken calls for Palestinians to be allowed to “return home” to northern Gaza, given the death toll and the obliteration of so much physical infrastructure by Israeli bombardment. As one commenter notes:
Blinken says " the civilians in Gaza must be allowed to go home"
— Dr Mike (@EmergMedDr) January 9, 2024
Their homes:#GazaGenocide pic.twitter.com/9DF7vYBp7H
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Blinken, at the news conference in Tel Aviv, says Palestinian Authority revenue being withheld by Israel should be released.
He says these revenues should be released so that the Palestinian Authority can pay people providing essential services in the West Bank, as well as in the future to pay people to administer Gaza after the war ends.
Before taking questions from journalists, Blinken says “the US has Israel’s back today, tomorrow, always.”
He describes the friendship between Israel and the US as “truly exceptional” and “unique”.
Blinken says lasting peace requires a 'pathway to a Palestinian state'
Blinken says he told Benjamin Netanyahu that the leaders he met during his Middle East tour have said they are ready to support a lasting solution.
But “this can only come through a regional approach that includes a pathway to a Palestinian state”, the secretary of state says.
Israel must be a partner to Palestinian leaders who are willing to lead their people in living side by side in peace with Israel as neighbours.
Israel must stop taking steps that “undercut Palestinians’ ability to govern themselves effectively”, he says, adding that extremist settler violence in the occupied West Bank make it harder for Israel to achieve lasting peace and security.
He says the Palestinian Authority must also reform itself to “improve its governance issues”. He adds:
If Israel wants its Arab neighbours to make the tough decisions necessary to help ensure its lasting security, Israeli leaders will have to make hard decisions themselves.
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On the subject of Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, Blinken says the US stands with Israel and ensuring its northern border is secure.
He says the US is fully committed to working with Israel to find a diplomatic solution that avoids escalation and allows families to return to their homes.
Blinken says UN will carry out 'assessment mission' ahead of return of Palestinians to northern Gaza
Blinken says he also discussed with Israeli leaders today about the phased transition of Israel’s military campaign.
He says the US will continue to “offer our best advice” for how Israel can achieve its goal of ensuring that 7 October Hamas attacks can never happen again.
The US secretary of state says the UN will carry out an “assessment mission” to determine “what needs to be done to allow displaced Palestinians to return safely to their homes in the north of Gaza”.
This will not happen overnight, he says, adding that there are “serious security, infrastructure and humanitarian challenges”.
But this assessment mission will start a process that evaluates these obstacles and how they can be overcome, he says, adding:
I was crystal clear that Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow. They must not be pressed to leave Gaza.
The US “unequivocally” rejects any proposal that advocates for the resettlement of Palestinians outside Gaza, he says.
Updated
Blinken says toll on civilians in Gaza 'far too high'
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, says that the daily toll on civilians in Gaza, especially children, is “far too high”.
He notes UN figures that say 90% of the territory’s population faces acute food security, and that this has lifelong consequences for children.
Blinken says that during his meetings today with Israeli leaders, he underscored that more food, water, medicine and other essential goods need to get into Gaza.
Israel must also “do everything it can to remove any obstacles” for aid to get into Gaza, he says.
Blinken says genocide charge against Israel a 'distraction'
Antony Blinken says South Africa’s International Court of Justice case against Israel only “distracts the world”, adding that the charge of genocide against Israel is “meritless”. He said:
It’s particularly galling given that those who are attacking Israel – Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis – continue to openly call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews.
He said he has met with the leaders of Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, in recent days, all of who “share a concern about the spread of conflict”.
All of these leaders are “committed” to using their influence to prevent the conflict from escalating, he said.
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Antony Blinken says the “immense human toll” is one of the reasons why the US continues to stand with Israel in ensuring that the 7 October Hamas attacks can never happen again.
He says the US is “intensely focused” on bringing the remaining hostages in Gaza home, addressing the humanitarian crisis, strengthening protection for civilians in Gaza, and preventing the conflict from spreading across the region.
Blinken holds news conference in Tel Aviv
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is speaking at a press conference in Tel Aviv following meetings with Israeli leaders.
Blinken says he has met with hostages who have been released as well as families of those hostages still being held in Gaza, for whom “time moves differently”.
He says time also “feels different” for families in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands are experiencing “acute” food insecurity. “The passage of another day without food is excruciating,” he says.
You can watch Blinken’s news conference below:
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UN international law experts have criticised the killing of Hamas deputy leader, Saleh al-Arouri, and other fighters in drone strikes in Lebanon, stating that this amounted to crimes of extrajudicial killings and murder.
“Killings in foreign territory are arbitrary when they are not authorised under international law,” UN special rapporteurs Ben Saul and Morris Tidball-Binz said in a statement.
Israel was not exercising self-defence because it presented no evidence that the victims were committing an armed attack on Israel from Lebanese territory.
The UN experts also said there was “no legal basis for geographically unlimited attacks against members of an armed group wherever they are”.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it assassinated Arouri, who was killed in a drone strike on Hamas’s office in Musharafieh, a southern suburb of Beirut, last week.
UN experts @profbensaul & Morris Tidball-Binz condemn #Israel’s alleged extraterritorial use of lethal drones last week in #Lebanon, which would amount to extrajudicial killings and crimes of murder.https://t.co/pA1O5DNKsk pic.twitter.com/ZOk45ECnzK
— UN Special Procedures (@UN_SPExperts) January 9, 2024
Israel needs to “act carefully” and avoid risking further escalation in its war with Hamas, Downing Street has said.
PA news agency reported that when whether the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, shared his foreign secretary David Cameron’s concerns about whether Israel was acting within international law, a No 10 spokesperson replied:
It’s an issue we continue to keep under review and obviously we have made our views clear to the Israeli government at a number of levels on this.
The Downing Street spokesperson added:
We continue to want Israel to act carefully and avoid doing anything that could endanger civilians or risk potential further escalation. Fundamentally, though, we recognise that it is Israel that is responding to a terror attack, first and foremost.
Palestinian Authority accuses Israeli forces of running over body of militant in West Bank
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has accused Israel of a “brutal crime” after footage circulating on social media appeared to show a military vehicle running over a dead militant in the occupied West Bank.
As we reported earlier, the videos appear to show soldiers firing at an injured Palestinian lying on the ground and an Israeli armoured vehicle running over one of the bodies of the dead men before halting and then continuing over the body, dragging it for several metres.
The foreign affairs ministry of the PA said the footage was from a military operation in the city of Tulkarem. A statement said:
This complex and brutal crime is not the first and will not be the last in the series of crimes of the occupation and terrorist settler militia members.
Israel’s military confirmed they had killed three “terrorists” on Monday night and engaged in gun battles around Tulkarm.
Updated
Blinken urges Israel to avoid 'further civilian harm' in Gaza
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has met top Israeli officials in Tel Aviv on a regional tour aimed at reaching a consensus on the territory’s future and stopping an escalation of the war across the Middle East.
US officials said Blinken told Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, on Tuesday that his forces must avoid inflicting further harm on civilians in Gaza.
Matthew Miller, a state department spokesperson, said Blinken had reaffirmed US support for Israel’s attempts to stop any repeat of the Hamas attack of 7 October but “stressed the importance of avoiding further civilian harm and protecting civilian infrastructure in Gaza”.
However, there was no sign of any let up in the violence in Gaza as the two men met, as intense fighting, shelling and aerial bombardment continued across the south and centre of the territory.
On the disputed border between Israel and Lebanon, there have been intensifying clashes for weeks between Israel and Hezbollah, the militant Islamist organisation.
Hezbollah targeted a key Israeli base on Tuesday, declaring the attack part of its response to recent high-level Israeli assassinations in Lebanon. Shortly afterwards, Israel killed four more Hezbollah members, including one at the funeral of a senior commander in the group’s elite Radwan force who had been killed the day before.
Updated
Hamas chief urges Muslim states to provide weapons
The Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has called on Muslim states to provide Palestinian militants with weapons, adding that the group’s war with Israel is “not the battle of the Palestinian people alone”.
Haniyeh, at a conference in Doha, said Israel had “failed to achieve any of its goals” after nearly 100 days of its war in Gaza, and it had only succeeded in revealing its “bloody, murderous face to the whole world after committing all these massacres”.
He argued that the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October “came after an attempt to marginalise the Palestinian cause”. In comments released by Hamas, Haniyeh said:
We see countries of the world pouring weapons into the occupation (Israel) ... The time has come (for Muslim states) to support the resistance with weapons, because this is ... not the battle of the Palestinian people alone.
Updated
We reported earlier that the UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, has confirmed that two British nationals are still being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
Sky News is reporting that Nadav Popplewell is one of the British hostages in Gaza.
Popplewell, 51, was taken captive along with his mother, Channah Peri, 79, during the Hamas attack on their home in the Nirim kibbutz, the Times of Israel reported. Peri was released on 24 November as part of a temporary ceasefire deal.
Nadav Popplewell (51) from Kibbutz Nirim is a family person who loves spending time with his beloved nephews. His sister, Ayelet, describes him as a literature fan with a collection of hundreds of science fiction books, his favorite genre. In his free time, Nadav prefers to play… pic.twitter.com/9fnqymYRec
— Bring Them Home Now (@bringhomenow) November 13, 2023
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The Israel Defense Forces said they shot dead a Palestinian man following an alleged stabbing attack in the occupied West Bank.
An IDF statement said the Palestinian man was shot after attempting to stab a soldier near the city of Ramallah. The Palestinian health ministry said a 31-year-old man was killed in the nearby village of Ein Sinya.
Israeli forces have killed more than 330 Palestinians in the West Bank since the war between Israel and Hamas began three months ago, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Updated
International criminal court says it is investigating potential crimes against journalists in Gaza
The international criminal court (ICC) has confirmed it is investigating potential crimes against journalists since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The media advocacy group has filed two complaints with the ICC alleging war crimes over the deaths of journalists trying to cover the conflict. In a statement, RSF said:
The office of prosecutor Karim Khan has assured the organisation that crimes against journalists are included in its investigation into Palestine.
RSF cited a statement from the ICC prosecutor’s office as saying:
Crimes against journalists are being examined by the prosecutor’s office, among other potential crimes, as part of the ongoing investigation into the situation in Palestine, and RSF’s objectives and actions must be supported and are of crucial importance in Gaza and elsewhere.
At least 79 journalists and media workers, the vast majority of them Palestinian, have been killed since the war began three months ago, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
On Sunday, Al Jazeera accused Israel of the targeted killing of two of its journalists, Hamza Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria, while on assignment in Gaza. A third freelancer, Hazem Rajab, was wounded. The health ministry in Gaza confirmed the deaths and blamed an Israeli strike.
Confusion over Canada’s plan to temporarily resettle 1,000 Palestinians trapped in Gaza has created a situation like the “Hunger Games”, with residents fighting for what immigration lawyers say are too few spots to address the humanitarian crisis.
In December, amid mounting pressure from advocacy groups, Canadian officials said they would offer 1,000 visas to people fleeing Gaza.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced during Israel’s sustained aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip. Canada’s programme allows successful applicants to take refuge in Canada for three years if their families are willing to financially support them during that time.
But one immigration lawyer said the few details released about the application process, which opens on Tuesday, means residents in Canada are fearful they won’t be able to help family members.
“When the government says 1,000 spots – what does that mean? We have a client with more than 20 family members in Gaza. Do they represent one application? Or 20? We don’t know,” the lawyer said. “We have one client hoping to save her family but the reality is, she’s competing against everyone else in this situation.”
Matthew Krupovich, a spokesperson for Canada’s Immigration Department, said on Tuesday the cap of 1,000 visas “takes into consideration the volatility on the ground and the difficulty that Canada and like-minded countries are having in moving people from Gaza to Egypt”.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims has called on the government to remove the cap, arguing the need is far greater than the 1,000 visas allocated.
Last year, Canada announced a similar effort to help Ukrainians flee the Russian invasion of their country. But the programme had no cap on visa applications and the government waived all application fees.
“Canada has previously shown that when it wants to help, it can,” the lawyer said. “Why they’re not doing it in this situation, when people’s homes are being bombed, is immensely frustrating.”
Updated
A group of rabbis and rabbinical students staged a protest at the UN security council in New York calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
More than 30 rabbis gained access to the UN building as part of a guided tour, where they recited prayers and chanted their support for a ceasefire, HuffPost reported.
A representative from Jews for Racial and Economic Justice told the paper:
Since the Biden administration is consistently, single-handedly blocking the UN from taking any meaningful action for a ceasefire, we are organising 36 rabbis and rabbinical students from seven different states to come to the U.N. themselves, and say, ‘We’re speaking for the people, this is a moral call.’
WOW. 36 rabbis led by @rodfeishalom just held a prayerful sit-in at the @UN Security Council to remind President Biden that the whole world demands a permanent #CeasefireNOW.
— IfNotNow🔥✡️ (@IfNotNowOrg) January 9, 2024
Biden and the US must stop vetoing peace and end Israel’s bombing and starvation of Gaza. https://t.co/WcKWGPgjUB pic.twitter.com/PgOKDyv7cn
Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, has visited the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt as part of her Middle East trip.
Baerbock landed in al-Arish, capital of the Egyptian governorate of North Sinai on the Mediterranean, on Tuesday, DPA news agency reported. She then planned to travel to the border town of Rafah, a visit that initially been kept secret for security reasons, it said.
The German minister handed over almost 10 tonnes of relief supplies for the Palestinian population in Gaza to the Egyptian Red Crescent, it said.
Speaking at a press conference in Cairo earlier today, Baerbock said the international community has an obligation to organise security in Gaza after the war and a reformed Palestinian Authority must play a crucial role in future.
Egypt and Germany both “agree that Gaza and the West Bank belong to Palestinians”, she told reporters.
While Germany is traditionally one of Israel’s strongest allies, Berlin has called for an easing of the suffering of Palestinian people in Gaza.
“We need to have concrete measures today and now. We need to make sure aid is getting to people in Gaza,” Baerbock said.
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Egypt has rejected a proposal by Israel for greater Israeli oversight over the buffer zone on the Egypt-Gaza border, according to a report.
Egyptian security sources told Reuters that Israel has approached Egypt about securing the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow buffer zone along the border, as part of Israeli plans to prevent future attacks.
Israeli officials did not discuss control of the corridor, but instead asked to participate in monitoring the area, the sources said.
These discussions took place during talks to broker a new ceasefire and hostage deal, in which Egypt has played a leading role, they said.
They said Egyptian negotiators rejected the idea, but said that Egypt has bolstered the physical barriers on its side of the border.
Egypt is prioritising reaching a new ceasefire agreement as the necessary foundation for discussions about postwar Gaza, including securing the corridor, the sources added.
An Israeli official said joint monitoring of the Philadelphi Corridor with Egypt was among issues that have been discussed by the countries. Asked if Egypt had refused, the Israeli official said: “I’m not aware of that.”
Updated
The UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, said he had seen figures showing that Hamas’ ability to launch rockets into Israel has been “considerably degraded” since the Israeli bombardment.
Speaking before parliament’s foreign affairs committee, he said he had seen figures that Hamas has “lost over 50% of their capability and capacity in terms of being able to launch rockets and all the rest of it”.
When committee chair Alicia Kearns suggested that such a major dismantling of Hamas might be an opportunity for a pause in fighting in northern Gaza, Cameron said that was a “very good point”, adding:
It is more helpful to have a human pause covering the whole of Gaza ... but frankly anything would help.
UK 'worried' Israel may have breached international law in Gaza
The UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, has admitted he is “worried” that Israel might have taken action in Gaza that might be in breach of international law.
Taking questions from parliament’s foreign affairs committee chair, Alicia Kearns, Cameron declined to say whether he had seen any Foreign Office legal advice stating that Israel has breached international humanitarian law in Gaza. He said:
The reason for not answering this question, I cannot recall every single bit of paper that has been put in front of me.
I look at everything. Of course, there are a lot of things that have happened where you think surely that was something that shouldn’t have happened.
He acknowledged that he had seen things regarding the conflict that have been “deeply concerning”, but said it was not his job to make a “legal adjudication”. Cameron said:
Am I worried that Israel has taken action that might be in breach of international law, because this particular premises has been bombed, or whatever? Yes, of course.
My colleague Andrew Sparrow is covering Cameron’s appearance before the foreign affairs committee live on the UK politics blog.
Updated
An Israeli actor known for his role on the hit Netflix show “Fauda” has been seriously injured while fighting in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli media reports.
Idan Amedi, 35, was wounded from shrapnel and airlifted from Gaza to Sheba medical centre at Tel Hashomer, where he was sedated and is undergoing treatment, the Jerusalem Post reported. His injuries are serious but not life-threatening, the outlet said.
Amedi had been carrying out reserve duty in the Combat Engineering Corps when he was injured, the Times of Israel reported.
Amedi played rookie undercover agent Sagi Tzur in “Fauda”, which follows a team of undercover agents from Israel’s domestic security agency, Shin Bet, in their operations against Palestinians.
While the show is critically acclaimed, some Palestinians say it trivialises their experience under Israel’s open-ended military occupation of the West Bank, according to AP.
Updated
Two British hostages still held in Gaza
Two British nationals are still being held in Gaza, the UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, has confirmed.
Cameron, addressing the foreign affairs committee, said:
There are two British nationals who remain as hostages. I don’t want to make any further comment on them.
Asked whether it is known if they are still alive, he replied:
I just don’t want to say any more. We don’t have any information to share with you.
Summary of the day so far …
It is 5pm in Gaza City, Tel Aviv and Beirut. Here are the latest headlines …
The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has launched explosive drones at a key Israeli command base, declaring the attack part of its response to recent high-level Israeli assassinations in Lebanon. Hezbollah announced it launched “a number of explosive attack drones” at the Israeli northern military command in Safed, the first time it has targeted the site. An Israeli army spokesperson said there had been no damage or casualties.
Shortly afterwards, Israel killed two more Hezbollah members, including one at the funeral of a senior commander in the group’s elite Radwan force who had been killed the day before. The escalating violence came as the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, tours the Middle East in an attempt to prevent the war between Israel and Hamas from spreading regionally.
Hezbollah deputy leader, Naim Qassem, said in a televised speech on Tuesday that his group did not want to expand the war from Lebanon, “but if Israel expands, the response is inevitable to the maximum extent required to deter Israel”. Qassem added that Israel’s wave of targeted killings “cannot lead to a phase of retreat but rather to a push forward for the resistance”. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, told a senior UN official on Tuesday that his country was ready for talks on long-term stability with Israel.
Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, said on Tuesday that “there is nothing more atrocious and preposterous” than the lawsuit filed in the international court of justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocidal actions against Palestinians in the Gaza war. Herzog censured South Africa for bringing the case, which is due to begin hearings on Thursday. Herzog added Israel must win “because it is a war that affects international values and the values of the free world”.
A total of 23,210 Palestinians have been killed and 59,167 have been wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement. About 126 Palestinians were killed and 241 were wounded in the previous 24 hours. The health ministry in Gaza is run by Hamas.
Israel’s military has said it has expanded its ground operation in the city of Khan Younis inside the Gaza Strip. The IDF claims that “dozens of terrorists were killed” and “large quantities of weapons and underground terror tunnel shafts were located”. The claims have not been independently verified.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday nine more soldiers had been killed in Gaza, bringing its total war losses there to 187. Earlier on Tuesday, the military said four soldiers had been killed. The updated figure of nine, all killed on Monday, followed notification of families. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Families of some of the hostages protested at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, stating that their aim was to prevent humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip. It is estimated that at least 130 hostages are still being held captive by Hamas since being seized inside southern Israel and abducted on 7 October.
A US airstrike on a rocket launcher late on Monday foiled an attack on Ain al-Asad airbase, which hosts US and other international forces in western Iraq.
The global shipping company Hapag-Lloyd has said it will continue to route cargo via the Cape of Good Hope as it still considers the situation in the Red Sea “dangerous”.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, told a senior UN official on Tuesday that his country was ready for talks on long-term stability with Israel.
Mikati’s office said in a statement he met the UN undersecretary general for peace operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, in Beirut to reiterate “Lebanon’s readiness to enter negotiations to achieve a long-term process of stability in southern Lebanon”.
Israel and Lebanon have been divided for over two decades by the blue line drawn by the UN in 2000.
“We seek permanent stability and call for a lasting peaceful solution – but in return we receive warnings through international envoys about a war on Lebanon,” Reuters reports Mikati said.
“The position I repeat to these delegates is: Do you support the idea of destruction? Is what is happening in Gaza acceptable?”
Violence has forced tens of thousands of people to flee on both sides of the blue line.
Israel has said it is giving a chance for diplomacy to prevent Hezbollah firing on people living in its north and to push Hezbollah back from the border, warning that the Israeli army will otherwise take action to achieve these aims.
Mikati’s statement did not specify the type of negotiations to which Lebanon would be open.
Updated
Here is a map illustrating where two of the key events have been today in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah across the UN-drawn blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon.
Hezbollah attacked an Israeli military base in Safed with drones. Israel’s military reported no casualties. Hezbollah says three of its fighters were killed in an Israeli strike in the village of Ghandouriyeh in southern Lebanon.
A few hours after the drone strike on Safed, an Israeli attack hit a car in the village of Kherbet Selm, where senior Hezbollah figure Wissam al-Tawil’s funeral was taking place. It is believed to have killed one person close to the home of Tawil’s brother, according to the village head.
Updated
Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting multiple activites by Israeli security forces in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It reports a Palestinian youth was shot by Israeli forces on Tuesday afternoon near the Ein Sinya checkpoint, north of the city of Ramallah.
Israeli forces also, it says, blew up the homes of two Palestinians in the town of Sur Baher, south of Jerusalem. Security forces had closed the two houses last month by welding the doors and windows to prevent entry into them. The two brothers the houses belonged to, Murad, 38, and Ibrahim Nimr, 30, were killed by Israeli security forces in November.
Wafa also reports 14 citizens were injured on Tuesday morning by Israeli forces east of Nablus.
Updated
Thousands of mourners have attended the funeral of the Hezbollah commander Wissam Tawil in south Lebanon. His coffin was draped in Hezbollah’s yellow flag as it was carried through the streets of his village.
Updated
Air France will resume flights to Israel from 24 January, Reuters reports. Many foreign carriers halted flights to Israel at the outset of the war. Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian resumed flights to Israel this week.
Associated Press are carrying some more quotes from World Health Organization (WHO) officials about the perilous state of healthcare inside the Gaza Strip after weeks of Israeli bombardment.
Speaking to a UN briefing in Geneva by video from the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Sean Casey, WHO’s emergency medical teams coordinator based in southern Rafah, decried dire food shortages in the north. He said some health workers are now fleeing out of fear for their own lives – after sticking it out for months to treat patients.
“I’ve been in Gaza for five weeks. I have not seen a lowering of the intensity of the conflict,” he said. “I went to Nasser medical complex just a few days ago and saw multiple explosions just in the few minutes that I was driving down the roads.”
Dr Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territory, said from Jerusalem that in addition to the more than 23,000 people killed, nearly 59,000 people had been injured.
He cited multiple trauma cases: “Spinal trauma, crush injuries, severe burns, amputees … I’ve never seen so many amputees in my life, including among children.”
“This will have such a long-term impact for everything,” he said.
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Emissions from Israel’s war in Gaza have ‘immense’ effect on climate catastrophe
The planet-warming emissions generated during the first two months of the war in Gaza were greater than the annual carbon footprint of more than 20 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations, new research reveals.
The vast majority (99%) of the 281,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2 equivalent) estimated to have been generated in the first 60 days following the 7 October Hamas attack can be attributed to Israel’s aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis by researchers in the UK and US.
According to the study, which is based on only a handful of carbon-intensive activities and is therefore probably a significant underestimate, the climate cost of the first 60 days of Israel’s military response was equivalent to burning at least 150,000 tonnes of coal.
The analysis, which is yet to be peer reviewed, includes CO2 from aircraft missions, tanks and fuel from other vehicles, as well as emissions generated by making and exploding the bombs, artillery and rockets. It does not include other planet-warming gases such as methane. Almost half the total CO2 emissions were down to US cargo planes flying military supplies to Israel.
What is the ICJ and what is South Africa’s claim against Israel?
As we have reported, Israel’s president has criticised the claim of genocide brought by South Africa to the international court of justice. But what exactly is the ICJ and what impact could the case against Israel have?
What is the ICJ?
The international court of justice (ICJ) – not to be confused with the international criminal court (ICC), which tries individuals for war crimes – is the UN’s top court. Established in 1945, it is based in The Hague and rules on disputes between countries as well as giving advisory opinions.
It has 15 judges – which will be expanded by an additional judge from each side in the Israel case – elected for nine-year terms by the UN general assembly and the security council.
What is the case that South Africa has brought against Israel?
South Africa has accused Israel of genocide in its campaign against Hamas in Gaza, saying among other things that it has the “specific intent … to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group”.
In its 84-page filing it also says Israel has failed to prevent genocide and failed to prosecute officials who have publicly incited genocide.
Read on here:
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Hani Mahmoud, reporting for Al Jazeera from Rafah, has described the health situation there as “dire”.
He writes that he can see wounded being taken into the Kuwaiti hospital there, but notes that with more than half of Gaza’s population squeezed into the tiny area, “there are no large hospitals, only mid-sized hospitals or smaller centres and clinics”.
Earlier today a spokesperson for the World Health Organization warned of “an intensification of hostilities” near the European Gaza hospital in Khan Younis, farther north in the Gaza Strip, saying that “we are seeing the health system collapse at a very rapid pace”.
Updated
We reported earlier that family members of some of those kidnapped on 7 October and still being held by Hamas in Gaza were protesting at the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza. Here are some pictures from the protest.
An estimated 240 people were seized from southern Israel on 7 October and abducted into Gaza. Just over 100 of those have subseqently been released. The status and health of those remaining in captivity is unclear.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday nine more soldiers had been killed in Gaza, bringing its total war losses there to 187.
Earlier on Tuesday, the military said four soldiers had been killed. The updated figure of nine, all killed on Monday, followed notification of families.
Reuters reports most of the latest fatalities were said to be from engineering units operating in south and central Gaza.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
It has just gone 12.30pm in Gaza City and in Tel Aviv. Here are the headlines …
Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, said on Tuesday that “there is nothing more atrocious and preposterous” than the lawsuit filed in the international court of justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocidal actions against Palestinians in the Gaza war. Speaking to the visiting US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, Reuters reports Herzog censured South Africa for bringing the case, which is due to begin hearings on Thursday. Herzog added Israel must win “because it is a war that affects international values and the values of the free world”.
A total of 23,210 Palestinians have been killed and 59,167 have been wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement. About 126 Palestinians were killed and 241 were wounded in the previous 24 hours. The health ministry in Gaza is run by Hamas, and it has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
An Israeli army spokesperson said a northern base was hit in an aerial attack but there had been no damage or casualties, after Hezbollah claimed to have targeted the Israeli army headquarters in Safed with drones. Hezbollah said its drones had hit the Israeli army headquarters in Safed as part of retaliation for last week’s killing of deputy Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, and in response to Monday’s killing of a Hezbollah commander.
Three Hezbollah fighters killed on Tuesday died in an Israeli strike on their vehicle in the town of Ghandouriyeh in the south of Lebanon. Israel’s military said its fighter jets attacked “terrorist infrastructures” in southern Lebanon on Tuesday morning.
Israel’s military has said it has expanded its ground operation in the city of Khan Younis inside the Gaza Strip. The IDF claims that “dozens of terrorists were killed” and “large quantities of weapons and underground terror tunnel shafts were located”. The claims have not been independently verified. The Israeli military has also published the names of four more soldiers who have died in Gaza, bringing the total number of those killed in the territory to 182.
Israel’s military announced a “temporary tactical suspension of military activities for humanitarian purposes” in south-east Deir al-Balah inside the Gaza Strip. It says the pause will run from 10am (0800 GMT) and 2pm (noon GMT) “for the purpose of supply”.
The Times of Israel is reporting that “a high-level Israeli delegation” arrived for talks in Cairo on Monday night, which it says is an indication that “indirect talks” about freeing hostages held by Hamas in Gaza are “back on track”.
Families of some of the hostages protested at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, stating that their aim was to prevent humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip. It is estimated that at least 130 hostages are still being held captive by Hamas since being seized inside southern Israel and abducted on 7 October.
A US airstrike on a rocket launcher late on Monday foiled an attack on Ain al-Asad airbase, which hosts US and other international forces in western Iraq.
The global shipping company Hapag-Lloyd has said it will continue to route cargo via the Cape of Good Hope as it still considers the situation in the Red Sea “dangerous”.
The UN rights office has said it is “very concerned” by the number of journalists killed in the war in Gaza, a day after two Al Jazeera reporters were killed in an alleged Israeli strike on their car. The killing of journalists “must be thoroughly, independently investigated to ensure strict compliance with international law, and violations prosecuted”, the UN office said on Monday.
Updated
Israel says 'no damage or casualties' after Hezbollah drone attack on an army base in northern Israel
An Israeli army spokesperson said a northern base was hit in an aerial attack but there had been no damage or casualties, after Hezbollah claimed to have targeted the Israeli army headquarters in Safed with drones.
Reuters reports Hezbollah said its drones had hit the Israeli army headquarters in Safed as part of retaliation for last week’s killing of the deputy Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, and in response to Monday’s killing of a Hezbollah commander.
A source familiar with Hezbollah operations said it marked the first time the group had attacked Safed, about 14km (8 miles) from the border, during hostilities that began three months ago after Hamas attacked Israel. More than 130 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in Lebanon since 7 October.
Three Hezbollah fighters killed on Tuesday died in a strike on their vehicle in the town of Ghandouriyeh in the south of Lebanon, the sources said, without identifying them.
The Hezbollah commander killed on Monday, Wissam al-Tawil, was a commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force and the most senior Hezbollah officer killed so far in the conflict.
The Hezbollah deputy leader, Naim Qassem, in a televised speech on Tuesday, said his group did not want to expand the war from Lebanon, “but if Israel expands, the response is inevitable to the maximum extent required to deter Israel”.
Updated
Palestinian death toll from Israeli strikes rises to 23,210 – ministry
A total of 23,210 Palestinians have been killed and 59,167 have been wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
About 126 Palestinians were killed and 241 wounded in the previous 24 hours, Reuters reports the ministry added.
The health ministry in Gaza is run by Hamas, and it has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Updated
US airstrike foiled rocket attack on Iraqi airbase – reports
A US airstrike on a rocket launcher late on Monday foiled an attack on Ain al-Asad airbase, which hosts US and other international forces in western Iraq, two Iraqi army sources have told Reuters.
Iraqi military sources said a rocket launcher fixed on the back of a small truck had been parked in a rural area about 7km (4 miles) to the east of the base, with at least two rockets ready to be fired.
The US airstrike destroyed the launcher, an army official said.
The global shipping company Hapag-Lloyd has said it will continue to route cargo via the Cape of Good Hope as it still considers the situation in the Red Sea “dangerous”.
Yemen’s Houthis have been targeting shipping they consider to have Israeli links heading for the Suez canal or Israel via the Red Sea.
Reuters reports Hapag-Lloyd said it would next assess the situation on Monday 15 January.
Updated
Israel’s military has published video of what it says is its fighter jets attacking “terrorist infrastructures in the village of Kila in southern Lebanon” earlier this morning.
מטוסי קרב של חיל-האוויר תקפו מוקדם יותר הבוקר תשתיות טרור בכפר כילא בדרום לבנון.
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) January 9, 2024
כמו כן, כלי-טיס של חיל-האוויר תקף לפני זמן קצר חוליית שיגור של כלי טיס בלתי מאוישים בדרום לבנון. pic.twitter.com/iMwls5SgTB
At the same time, some unverified footage is emerging which appears to show the aftermath of the claimed Hezbollah drone strike on an Israeli military HQ in northern Israel.
A Hezbollah drone launched from Lebanon struck the IDF's Northern Command HQ in Safed. The IDF says there are no damage or injuries. pic.twitter.com/r3xAkS8Y6x
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 9, 2024
Israel’s military has announced a “temporary tactical suspension of military activities for humanitarian purposes” in south-east Deir al-Balah inside the Gaza Strip. It says the pause will run from 10am (0800 GMT) and 2pm (noon GMT) “for the purpose of supply”.
Updated
Hezbollah claims to have targeted Israeli military HQ in northern Israel with drones
Hezbollah has issued a statement in which it claims to have targeted the northern command HQ of the Israeli military with drones.
It says it is in response to the killing of Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut last week. As yet there has been no comment from Israel’s military. Drone infiltration warnings had been sounding in the region.
More details soon …
Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, has posted to social media about his meeting with the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken. He wrote:
This morning I met my American counterpart, the secretary of state Antony Blinken. I thanked him for the support of President Biden and the US for Israel, and insisted on the goals of the war, which are the return of the kidnapped, the defeat of the terrorist organization Hamas and the expulsion of Hezbollah from southern Lebanon in order to allow the residents of the south and the north to return home safely. The secretary of state emphasised that the US is committed to Israel’s security and to the fact that the 7 October massacre will not happen again.
Updated
US secretary of state Antony Blinken told Israel following his visits to Arab capitals that he saw opportunities for it to build closer ties in the region after the Gaza crisis.
“I know of your own efforts, over many years, to build much greater connectivity and integration in the Middle East, and I think there are actually real opportunities there,” Reuters reports he said in a televised meeting with his Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz.
“But we have to get through this very challenging moment and ensure that 7 October can never happen again and work to build a much different and much better future,” Blinken said.
Immediately before the Hamas attack on 7 October there had been talk of the normalisation of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, with Riyadh’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, telling Fox News that talks with Israel meant the prospect of normalised relations was “getting closer every day”. The UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan had all already agreed to normalise relations despite the continuing occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Israel’s assault on Gaza has shattered some of those ties, however, with Bahrain, Jordan and Turkey among countries who have withdrawn from diplomatic ties with Israel during the conflict.
Updated
Three members of Hezbollah killed by Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon
Three members of Hezbollah were killed on Tuesday in a targeted strike on their vehicle by Israel in the town of Ghandouriyeh in the south of Lebanon, two sources familiar with the group’s operations have told Reuters.
The sources did not immediately identify those killed.
Zeina Khodr for Al Jazeera has described it as “a very tense situation”, writing: “Hezbollah is in a difficult position because nothing seems to be stopping the Israeli military. It has been trying to avoid some sort of retaliation that could drag Lebanon into war because it knows it will bring destruction to the whole country.”
Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander in a strike in south Lebanon on Monday, sources familiar with the group’s operations said. There was no immediate comment from Israel on Monday’s operation.
Updated
There are unconfirmed reports of a vehicle being hit by an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon. Al Jazeera reports that the incident happened in Ghandouriyeh, and that “as many as three people” may have been killed. Reuters has a quick snap suggesting they may have been Hezbollah fighters.
More details soon …
Here is a photograph issued of the meeting between Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, and the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, in Tel Aviv.
During the public portion of the meeting Herzog said a lawsuit filed in the international court of justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in its Gaza offensive was “atrocious and preposterous”.
Reuters reports he went on to say:
Actually our enemies, Hamas, in their charter, call for the destruction of our nation, the state of Israel – the only nation state of the Jewish people.
We will be there at the international court of justice and will present proudly our case of using self-defence under our most inherent right under international humanitarian law.
Herzog added Israel must win “because it is a war that affects international values and the values of the free world”.
Israel launched its campaign after the surprise attack inside southern Israel by Hamas on 7 October that killed about 1,200 people, and during which an estimated 240 people were seized and abducted into Gaza as hostages. Just over 100 of those hostages have subsequently been released.
Updated
In the last 45 minutes a series of warning sirens have sounded in northern Israel, including at Yiftah kibbutz, Safed and Birya.
Updated
Israeli president Herzog: genocide claim at international court 'atrocious and preposterous'
Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, said on Tuesday that “there is nothing more atrocious and preposterous” than the lawsuit filed in the international court of justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocidal actions against Palestinians in the Gaza war.
Speaking to the visiting US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, Reuters reports Herzog censured South Africa for bringing the case, which is due to begin hearings on Thursday, and thanked Washington for its support of Israel.
More than 23,000 Palestinians are said by the health ministry there to have been killed by Israeli military action in the 13-and-a-half weeks since 7 October, with more than 85% of Palestinians in Gaza displaced from their homes by order of the Israeli military. Independent experts estimate as much as 40% of the housing in Gaza has already been damaged or destroyed by the Israeli assault.
The UN has previously said that 40% of the population in Gaza is at risk of starvation, with limited humanitarian aid getting into the territory. Israel insists on inspecting all aid delivered, and has periodically cut off utilities and communications within Gaza.
Updated
The Times of Israel is reporting that “a high-level Israeli delegation” arrived for talks in Cairo last night, which it says is an indication that “indirect talks” about freeing hostages held by Hamas in Gaza are “back on track”.
Meanwhile, some families of Israeli hostages being held have gathered for a planned protest at the Kerem Shalom border crossing. They are intending to draw attention to the plight of the estimated more than 130 people still being held after being abducted from southern Israel on 7 October.
Shai Wenkert, whose 22-year-old son is a captive, told the Ynet news site: “We will arrive at Kerem Shalom crossing to prevent the entry of goods and medications to the Gaza Strip.”
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In a statement Israel’s military has said it has expanded its ground operation in the city of Khan Younis inside the Gaza Strip.
The IDF claims that “dozens of terrorists were killed” and “large quantities of weapons and underground terror tunnel shafts were located”. The claims have not been independently verified.
In the statement, issued on the Telegram messaging app, it said:
Over the past day, IDF troops expanded ground operations in Khan Younis and conducted strikes in which approximately 40 terrorists were killed. In addition, significant terror tunnel shafts were located, as well as a variety of weapons, including 12 AK-47 rifles, four loaded RPG launchers, dozens of grenades, cartridges, and military vests.
The statement also claimed to have “conducted a targeted raid on a military compound in Khan Younis” and also said that “the Israeli navy also struck military posts, storage facilities, and vessels used by Hamas’s naval forces”.
Israel says that 182 of its soldiers have so far been killed during fighting inside the Gaza Strip. The health ministry in Gaza says more than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli military activity since 7 October. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures issued during the conflict.
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Israel’s assault on Gaza intensified over the past 24 hours, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said in its latest update, with 249 Palestinians killed, and another 510 injured, according to figures from the territory’s ministry of health.
It said the Israeli offensive in central Gaza and in Khan Younis in the south was having a particularly awful impact, with “rapidly rising casualties” and “devastating consequences for tens of thousands of civilians” many of whom were already displaced having fled fighting in northern Gaza.
The deadliest Israeli strikes on Monday included one on residential houses in Deir al-Balah, in which 10 people were reportedly killed and tens injured, and one on UNRWA preparatory school of al-Maghazi, where displaced people were sheltering and where an unknown number were killed.
It also said Israeli authorities were denying permission to OCHA and the World Health Organization to deliver urgent medical supplies. It said:
For instance, on 8 January, a planned mission by OCHA and WHO to deliver urgent medical supplies to the Central Drug Store in Gaza City and al-Awda hospital in Jabalia, as well as planned missions to deliver vital fuel to water and sanitation facilities in Gaza City and the north, have been denied by the Israeli authorities.
This marked the fifth denial of a mission to al-Awda hospital in Jabalia and Central Drug Store in Gaza City since 26 December, leaving five hospitals in northern Gaza without access to life-saving medical supplies and equipment.
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The Israeli military has published the names of four soldiers who have died in Gaza, bringing the total number of those killed in the territory to 182.
The dead were named as Sgt 1st Class (res) Gavriel Bloom, Sgt 1st Class (res) David Schwartz, Sgt 1st Class (res) Yair Hexter, and Sgt Roi Tal.
Graphic video has emerged from the West Bank, showing three men being shot dead at close range by Israeli forces on Monday night in the city of Tulkarem.
The videos, which are circulating on social media and could not be verified, show soldiers continuing to fire at an injured Palestinian lying on the ground and an Israeli armoured vehicle running over one of the bodies of the dead men before halting and then continuing over the body, dragging it for several metres.
The Israeli military (IDF) claimed the men were militants, according to Al Jazeera. The broadcaster said that the militant Tulkarem Brigade said only one of those killed was a fighter. Neither claim could be verified.
A fourth man was reportedly shot in the leg and arrested by the Israeli military.
Al Jazeera said clashes broke out in Tulkarem after the IDF went into arrest a wanted Palestinian fighter.
The city, and much of the West Bank, have been the scene of repeated clashes since the Hamas invasion of 7 October, as the IDF carries out raids.
A total of 329 Palestinians have been killed by the IDF and Israeli settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 7 October, according to the UN. The dead include 84 children.
More than 4,000 Palestinians, including more than 600 children, have been injured in the West Bank.
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Blinken to push Israel to scale back Gaza assault, begin talks on post-war governance
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is in Tel Aviv, where he will try to convince the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to begin serious negotiations on postwar governance in Gaza, do more to protect civilians in Gaza, and allow more aid into the territory.
“I will press on the absolute imperative to do more to protect civilians and to do more to make sure that humanitarian assistance is getting into the hands of those who need it,” said Blinken, who has spent the past two days holding talks with Arab leaders.
Israeli officials, meanwhile, will tell Blinken that civilians in Gaza will not be allowed back to the north of the territory unless more of the hostages held by Hamas are released, Axios reported citing two senior Israeli officials.
The US has offered staunch support to Israel since the outbreak of its war with Hamas three months ago, but Netanyahu has angered Washington by so far refusing to offer any detailed public plans for the governance of Gaza when Israel’s military offensive ends. He has rejected the US’s preferred option, the creation of unified Palestinian state comprising of the West Bank and Gaza.
Israel has also come under growing pressure from the US, its closest ally, and Arab leaders to scale back its assault on Gaza.
The US president, Joe Biden, confronted on Monday by protesters shouting “ceasefire now” while visiting an historic Black church in South Carolina, said he had been “quietly” working to encourage Israel to ease its attacks and “significantly get out of Gaza”.
Israeli officials have said the operation is entering a new phase of more targeted warfare, but there has been no apparent respite in the fighting. The death toll in Gaza has continued to mount steadily, with at least 23,084 Palestinians killed and thousands more buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings.
Blinken is also on a mission to prevent the conflict from escalating further; in the latest signs the war is spreading beyond the borders of Israel and Gaza, Israel killed a top commander of Hamas’s ally Hezbollah in south Lebanon on Monday as well as a Hamas commander in Syria.
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Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the crisis in the Middle East with me, Helen Livingstone.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is in Tel Aviv, where he will hold meetings aimed at persuading the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to scale back Israel’s assault on Gaza, and begin serious negotiations on postwar governance in Gaza as well as doing more to protect civilians there.
Israeli officials, meanwhile, will tell Blinken that civilians in Gaza will not be allowed back to the north of the territory unless more of the hostages held by Hamas are released, Axios reported citing two senior Israeli officials.
Blinken, who flew in late on Monday from the Saudi oasis town of AlUla, has spent the past two days holding talks with Arab leaders. He said he had found a “clear interest in the region” in normalising relations with Israel, but only if the war ended and a clear pathway to Palestinian statehood could be found.
On his fourth trip to the Middle East in the three months Blinken is also attempting to stop the conflict spreading beyond Israel and Gaza; Israel killed a top commander of Hamas’s ally Hezbollah in south Lebanon on Monday as well as a Hamas commander in Syria.
More on that soon. In other key developments:
At least 23,084 Palestinians have been killed and 58,926 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, according to the latest figures by the Gaza health ministry on Monday. The ministry, which is run by Hamas, said 249 Palestinians were killed and 510 were wounded in the previous 24 hours.
The UN rights office has said it is “very concerned” by the number of journalists killed in the war in Gaza, a day after two Al Jazeera reporters were killed in an alleged Israeli strike on their car. The killing of journalists “must be thoroughly, independently investigated to ensure strict compliance with international law, and violations prosecuted”, the UN office said on Monday. Meanwhile, Israel’s supreme court has rejected a request from international media organisations to allow journalists to report in Gaza.
The only hospital remaining in central Gaza is on the verge of shutting down amid intense fighting that has engulfed the area, a UN spokesperson has said. Medics, patients and displaced people have been fleeing from Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, according to witnesses. The Israeli military has dropped leaflets designating areas surrounding Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah as a “red zone”, the International Rescue Committee said.
Three Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli forces in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm, the Palestinian health ministry said on Monday.
Joe Biden’s speech at Mother Emanuel church in Charleston, South Carolina, was interrupted by pro-Palestine activists, who called for a ceasefire in Gaza. As the protest dissipated, Biden said: “I have been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza and using all that I can to do that.”
Israel has killed a senior military commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, Wissam Hassan al Tawil, in an air strike in southern Lebanon approximately 6km from the border. It comes amid warnings from Lebanese security sources that the assassination could lead to a further escalation in the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Shia armed movement.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it has killed a Hamas operative who it claimed was responsible for rockets attacks against Israel from Syria. Hassan Hakashah was killed by Israeli forces in Beit Jinn in Syria, the IDF said in a statement on Monday.
Israel is carrying out an unprecedented wave of deadly strikes in Syria targeting cargo trucks, infrastructure and people involved in Iran’s weapons lifeline to its proxies in the region, sources have told Reuters. The sources said Israel had shifted strategies following the 7 October attack by Hamas fighters into Israeli territory and the ensuing Israeli bombing campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement has released video footage it claimed showed an Israeli hostage taken during the 7 October attacks. The hostage has been named by Israeli media as Elad Katzir, 47, from Nir Oz kibbutz.
UN experts have demanded accountability for sexual violence allegedly carried out by Hamas militants against Israeli civilians during the 7 October attacks, saying that mounting evidence of rapes and genital mutilation point to possible crimes against humanity. Israeli authorities have opened an investigation into possible sexual crimes during the most deadly attack on Israel in its history.
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