There was constant overnight bombardment focusing on areas near al-Mawasi evacuation zone, an area where the Israeli military has instructed people to shelter.
A home near that area was destroyed. The two families sheltering there were all killed, that’s a total of 14 people. The youngest victim was five years old. The vast majority were under 10.
Once again, this is the pattern we are seeing: more children are killed, more women are killed and more Palestinians are displaced.
Since the strike hit near al-Mawasi evacuation zone, all the rubble and debris fell on people inside their tents, injuring dozens. This all happened without warning.
There are also reports that more people have been killed in other parts of Khan Younis and central Gaza, with the southern part of Deir el-Balah coming under heavy fire.
The coalition of Israeli lawmakers is trying to hamstring the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), claiming it is a tool of Hamas, according to a report in the Israel Hayom newspaper.
UNRWA is the largest aid agency operating in the besieged Gaza Strip, where an estimated 1.9 million displaced Palestinians are in desperate need of food, shelter and medicine.
In a December 30 post on X, UNRWA’s Gaza director, Thomas White, warned people in Gaza “are hungry and just desperate for food”, with 40 percent of the population at risk of famine.
In an exchange with our correspondent Kimberly Halkett, the White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the US “does not want the conflict [in the Middle East] to widen”.
When asked whether the US’s support for Israel killing Hamas leadership on foreign soil and Washington’s deployment of strike groups to the Eastern Mediterranean to challenge Yemen’s Houthi rebels are causing an escalation, Kirby said: “I stand by my answer. No.
The Netherlands said that Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s calls for the voluntary migration of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip are “irresponsible”.
“The Netherlands rejects any calls for Palestinian displacement from Gaza or reduction of Palestinian territory,” it said. “This does not fit a future two-state solution, with a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.”
On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia also condemned the statements and emphasised the importance of international efforts for Israel to be held accountable.
Jordan’s King Abdullah and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi have also rejected any Israeli move to expel Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
The US secretary of state is scheduled for another visit to the region, including a stop in Israel, on Wednesday, according to an AFP news agency report.
This will be his fourth tour of the Middle East since the Gaza war broke out, as the US struggles to balance a string of Arab alliances angered by Washington’s all-out backing of Israel during the conflict.
A US-led naval coalition in the Red Sea has not stopped Yemen’s Houthi rebels from waging attacks on passing commercial vessels. Border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah fighters are intensifying.
We’ll bring you more on the trip as soon as we have more information.Parkour athletes in Rafah turns ruins of destroyed neighborhoods into sporting arena
We’re getting reports that 14 people belonging to the same family were killed, and a number of people were injured, in an Israeli bombing of a house belonging to the Salah family overnight.
People displaced from other parts of Gaza were taking shelter in the house in al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
Over a day now – around 28 hours – we’ve seen this Israeli raid taking place in the Nur Shams refugee camp.The Israeli forces entered; there were armoured bulldozers pulling up the roads, destroying infrastructure. People’s homes have been ransacked.
Israeli forces have been met with fierce resistance. But they have now set up snipers at positions on the roofs. So it’s become an ongoing and very dangerous situation
Here are some of the main developments overnight:
The International Court of Justice confirms South Africa and Israel will deliver oral arguments in public hearings on January 11 and 12 regarding genocide charges.
A local Hezbollah official reportedly is among nine members killed in the latest Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon.
Humanitarian agencies have been unable to deliver aid north of Wadi Gaza, in the central part of the Palestinian enclave, for the past three days, the UN says.
A Palestinian man was reported shot and killed by Israeli forces during a military raid on Tammun town in the occupied West Bank.
Dozens of arrests have been reported in the occupied West Bank’s Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps as an Israeli military raid enters its second day.Israeli forces raid the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem on November 14, 2023
Israel’s war with Hamas reached Beirut when it targeted and killed Hamas’s deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri in a drone strike in a suburb of the Lebanese capital that is a Hezbollah stronghold
Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah has promised that “Israel’s crime will not go unpunished”.Palestinians conduct ‘elaborate ambushes’, battling behind Israeli front lines in Gaza: Monitors
Palestinian fighters are continuing to do battle behind the Israeli military’s forward lines of advance in Gaza City, and are fighting to stop Israeli forces “clearing” the Daraj and Tuffah neighbourhoods of the city, war monitors said.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War and the Critical Threats Project said that Hamas fighters are surveilling Israeli forces using drones and that smaller Palestinian groups carried out an “elaborate ambush” on Israeli soldiers near the al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza.Palestinian fighters also claimed to have shot down Israeli drones, the monitors said.
“The [Qassam] Brigades claimed that it seized an Israeli drone south of Zaytoun neighbourhood in the southern Gaza Strip on January 3. The militia fired anti-tank rockets at Israeli armor in Sheikh Ijlin neighborhood, where Israeli forces have not reported on clearing operations since mid-November,” the monitors said.
Intense ground fighting is also continuing around Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip, they added.
Dozens of arrests have been reported in the occupied West Bank’s Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps where an Israeli military raid has entered its second day.
Residents say Israeli forces beat local people and damaged homes as they raided civilian houses acting “like crazy people”, kicking down doors and subjecting Palestinian residents to violent interrogations.
The 25 crew members of the Galaxy Leader ship have been detained for more than 40 days since Houthis seized control of the cargo vessel in the Red Sea on November 19, 2023.
“Japan is outraged by the armed seizure and continued holding of the vessel Galaxy Leader and its 25-person multinational crew,” Japan’s UN envoy, Yamazaki Kazuyuki has told a UN Security Council briefing.
“We see no reason to tolerate such an injustice, and strongly demand the release of the Galaxy Leader and its crew immediately and unconditionally,” Yamazaki added.
After boarding the ship, the Houthis took it to a port off Yemen’s province of Hodeidah. The crew members are from countries including Ukraine, Mexico, the Philippines and Bulgaria.
The British-owned and Japanese-operated cargo vessel reportedly has links to Abraham “Rami” Ungar, known as one of the richest men in Israel.
a blue ship with the name galaxy leader written on it
A picture taken during a Houthi organised tour on November 22, 2023 shows the Galaxy Leader cargo ship approaching a port off Yemen’s province of Hodeida [File: AFP]
The nighttime video clips are said to show attacks on Hezbollah military infrastructure and “observation devices” in the village of Yaroun in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh governorate, located across the border from the Israeli settlements of Yir’on and Avivim in northern Israel.
The grainy footage appears who show Israeli bombs hitting and destroying a number of residential buildings in close proximity to other civilian buildings in Lebanon’s south.
“Launches” were also detected crossing Lebanese territory that fell in open areas in northern Israel’s Goren settlement area, the Israeli military said.
The Israelis did not specify if missiles or drones had been launched or who was responsible.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has confirmed that it will hold public hearings on January 11 and 12 in a case brought by South Africa against Israel.
The hearings will be held at the Peace Palace in The Hague, which is where the ICJ, also known as the World Court, is located.
The ICJ was established by the UN Charter in June 1945 and began its activities in April 1946. The Court is composed of 15 judges elected for a nine-year term by the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council.
By comparison, the International Criminal Court (ICC), another court located in The Hague, prosecutes individuals for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression.
In December, the ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said that “wilfully impeding relief supplies to civilians may constitute a war crime under the ICC Rome Statute”, in relation to humanitarian assistance to Gaza.
However, Khan has faced criticism from Palestinian leaders, including after he briefly visited the occupied West Bank in December.
Al Jazeera Arabic has shared two video clips of what appears to be intense clashes between Palestinian fighters and Israeli forces engaged in nighttime raids in Ramallah’s el-Bireh city and Tammoun town in the occupied West Bank.
In the clip from Tammoun, in the northern part of the West Bank, the video appears to capture an explosive device targeting an Israeli army bulldozer, which Israel uses to rip up roads and destroy infrastructure in Palestinian refugee camps and residential neighbourhoods.
Intense exchanges of automatic gunfire can be heard in the clip from Ramallah.
[Translation: An Israeli bulldozer was targeted with an explosive device during its storming of the town of Tammoun in the northern West Bank.]
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has described recent remarks by Israeli ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir regarding Palestinian resettlement from Gaza as “irresponsible”, in a post on X.
“The Netherlands rejects any calls for Palestinian displacement from Gaza or reduction of Palestinian territory,” the ministry added.
“If there are 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs in Gaza and not two million Arabs”, Israelis would say, “it’s a nice place, let’s make the desert bloom”, Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said earlier this week.
The US State Department also issued a similar statement on Tuesday, rejecting comments from Smotrich alongside similar comments from Israel’s far-right Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.Raids continuing across the occupied West Bank [since] last night and into early this morning.
In Tulkarem, in the Nur Shams refugee camp, we are looking at a raid that is now in its 26th hour. Locals are describing the number of arrests as “massive”, but we are not able to confirm an exact number just yet.
Armed confrontations between Palestinian fighters and the occupation forces were reported there, too.
We are also following a raid in Tubas, where the occupation forces are also engaged in what they are calling an arrest operation. We do know that one Palestinian has since died from those gunfights.
Additionally, we are following several other raids in Nablus, in Ramallah, in Hebron and in Bethlehem.
This is a continuation of the intensifying Israeli military raids since October 7.
We are looking at, at least, 325 Palestinians who have been killed and around 5,000 arrested since October 7.
The occupied West Bank is not the only place seeing Israeli military activity. There are also raids in occupied East Jerusalem tonight as well as continuous Israeli air strikes in the southern part of Gaza, near Khan Younis, where at least 14 Palestinians there have been killed.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has confirmed that it will hold public hearings on January 11 and 12, in proceedings instituted by South Africa against Israel on December 29, 2023.
The hearings to be held at the ICJ’s court in the Peace Palace in The Hague will be dedicated to South Africa’s request for “provisional measures”, the ICJ said in a press release.
South Africa requested the “provisional measures” in order to:
“Protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of
the Palestinian people under the Genocide Convention.”
“Ensure Israel’s compliance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention not to engage in genocide, and to prevent and to punish genocide.”
South Africa will make its oral argument on Thursday, January 11 from 10am to 12 noon (09:00-11:00 GMT).
Israel, which has promised to fight South Africa’s accusation, will then make its oral argument on Friday, January 12 from 10am to 12 noon (09:00-11:00 GMT).
Palestinian killed, many arrests in Israeli raids on homes in occupied West Bank: Report
The Palestinian state news agency, Wafa, is reporting that a 29-year-old Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli forces during a military raid on Tammoun town in the occupied West Bank.
The victim was reportedly shot in the back amid clashes as local Palestinian youths attempted to resist Israeli military raids on several homes.
“trong explosions were heard repeatedly,” Wafa said of the raid in Tammoun.
Israeli occupation forces also conducted raids and arrested Palestinians in the following locations:
Three people were arrested in Husan town, to the west of Bethlehem city, and raids were conducted in areas of Bethlehem city and the town of Beit Fajjar to the south.
Two young Palestinians were arrested in raids on Bidya town, west of Salfit city.
Two people were arrested in Ramallah city and raids were conducted on the town of Beit Rima to the northwest.
One arrest was made in the village of Beit Amin, south of Qalqilya city, and a photographer with the Wafa news agency was arrested amid raids in Tulkarem city and the nearby Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camp.
Several towns and districts in Nablus governorate and city were raided, as well as Tubas city, Hebron city, and Dura town in the south, Surif town in the north, and Beit Ula to the west of Hebron.
Israeli security forces deploy at the scene of a stabbing attack in the Mishor Adumim Industrial Park near the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the occupied West Bank on December 31, 2023. - A Palestinian assailant stabbed two people near the Israeli settlement leaving them wounded before being "neutralised",
Israeli security forces near the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the occupied West Bank on December 31, 2023 [File: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP]
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US Jewish protesters halt California legislative session with Gaza ceasefire demonstration
Hundreds of Jewish pro-Palestinian protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza stopped the first day of California’s legislative session, forcing the state Assembly to adjourn just moments after convening.
The protesters stood in their seats and started singing “Ceasefire now” and “Let Gaza live” after legislators had recited the US Pledge of Allegiance. Banners were hung in the chamber’s gallery declaring: “Jews say never again for anyone.”
According to the Associated Press news agency, almost all the lawmakers in attendance left the floor and the protesters cheered when officials turned the lights off in the chamber, holding up the flashlights on their phones as they continued to sing.
“We are Jews and Californians, Assembly members, we call on you to join us in demanding a ceasefire now,” the protesters said.
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