LIVE – Israel-Hamas: Abbas “committed” to reform of the Palestinian Authority, according to Blinken

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Wednesday promised 15 million euros in aid to the Lebanese army, amid growing concern over tensions on the border with Israel.

The army must be able to exercise “effective control” over the region in order to “contain armed militias and terrorist organizations”, declared the minister visiting Beirut, adding that this was to help the Lebanese army to better secure the southern border with Israel. The aid will be used in particular for the purchase of fuel as well as the training of Lebanese troops in border surveillance, she said.

The Palestinian Red Crescent announced this Wednesday the death of six people, including four of its rescuers, in a strike on an ambulance in the center of the Gaza Strip which it attributed to the Israeli army. A previous report reported four deaths.

Algerian international footballer from Nice Youcef Atal has appealed his conviction for sharing a video calling for “a black day on the Jews” against the backdrop of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, his lawyers announced.

The 27-year-old player, who is preparing to compete in the African Cup of Nations (CAN) with the Algerian team, was sentenced on January 3 to eight months in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros for incitement to hatred on grounds of religion.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was “committed” to reforming the government entity in the occupied West Bank after a meeting between the two men in the Palestinian territory.

“I don’t want to speak for President Abbas, but I think what I take away from this meeting is that he is committed to doing this and he is fully prepared to move forward. “before,” Antony Blinken said, in response to a question about the Palestinian Authority president’s commitment to reform.

Four rescuers were killed in an Israeli strike targeting an ambulance on Wednesday at the entrance to Deir el-Balah in the center of the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Red Crescent announced.

“Four members of a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance rescue team were martyred following the occupation (Israel) targeting of their vehicle on Salaheddine Street at the entrance to Deir-el- Balah,” the organization said in a statement published on X.

The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is “indescribable” and the distribution of aid faces “almost insurmountable” obstacles, the head of the WHO denounced on Wednesday, after months of incessant bombardments by the army. Israeli.

“People queue for hours to get a small amount of water, which may not be clean, or bread, which alone is not nutritious enough,” the director lamented. General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, during a press briefing in Geneva.

“Only 15 hospitals are even partially functioning. The lack of clean water and sanitation and overcrowded living conditions create an ideal environment for the spread of diseases,” he warned.

The Hamas Health Ministry announced today that 23,357 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7. Hamas also reports 59,410 wounded. The majority of those killed are women, adolescents and children.

The head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, reiterated today in the occupied West Bank his support for the creation of a Palestinian state, after urging Israel to spare civilians in the Gaza Strip, where the bombings know no respite .

Despite numerous diplomatic efforts, nothing seems to be able to end the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which has entered its fourth month, while the UN is alarmed by the disastrous living conditions of the population in the territory. besieged, and a regional conflagration is feared.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Bahrain on Wednesday, adding another stop to his diplomatic marathon in the Middle East, according to a State Department official. The head of diplomacy, who met in the morning with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, in the West Bank, is due to meet King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in Bahrain as part of his discussions on means of avoid an escalation of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) on Wednesday condemned “with the greatest firmness” a strike against an MSF shelter in Khan Younes, which resulted in the death of the daughter of one of its employees. “A shell passed through (Monday) the wall of the building where more than 100 MSF staff members and their families had taken refuge,” the NGO said in a press release. “Although MSF is unable to confirm the origin of the shell, it appears similar to those used by Israeli tanks.”

In its latest update, the Israeli army claimed to have “discovered more than 15 underground tunnels in the area” of Maghazi, in central Gaza, and that its troops had killed “several terrorists” in this area, reports The Guardian. “During the battles that took place in the region over the past day, dozens of terrorist operatives were killed” in Khan Younis, she added. “In total, approximately 150 terrorist targets were struck by IDF troops over the past day,” the IDF continued in a report.

The British and American armies repelled “the largest attack” carried out by the Houthi rebels to date in the Red Sea, British Defense Minister Grant Shapps announced on Wednesday. “Overnight,” the British ship HMS Diamond along with American warships “successfully repelled the largest attack by the Iranian-backed Houthis to date in the Red Sea,” the minister wrote on the social network X (formerly Twitter).

American and British forces shot down 18 drones and three missiles fired by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea on Tuesday evening in a “complex” attack, the US military said. “The Iranian-backed Houthis launched a complex Iranian-designed attack in the southern Red Sea using drones, anti-ship cruise missiles and an anti-ship ballistic missile,” the US military command said in the Middle East (Centcom).

Since the start of the war on October 7 between Israel and Hamas, the Houthis, who control a large part of Yemen, have increased attacks in the Red Sea in order to slow down international maritime traffic there, claiming to act in solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza.

The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken meets this Wednesday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in particular to address the thorny post-war issue in this territory ravaged by Israeli strikes. On Tuesday, he met in Tel Aviv with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to urge Israel to spare Palestinian civilians in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

“We know that facing an enemy who hides among the civilian population, hiding in schools and hospitals to shoot, makes things incredibly difficult. But the price paid every day by civilians in Gaza, especially children, is far too high,” he lamented. The Gaza Strip needs to receive “more food, more water, more medicine”, he also recognized, also urging Israel to “stop taking measures that undermine the ability of Palestinians to govern themselves.

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