live blog
According to a media report, at least half of all buildings in the Gaza Strip are damaged or destroyed. Israel wants to retain security responsibility in Gaza for years to come. All developments in the live blog.
- Israel wants to retain security responsibility in Gaza
- BBC: At least half of them Gaza buildings damaged or destroyed
In Iraq, the pro-Iranian militia Kataib Hezbollah has announced that it will suspend its attacks on US military bases in the region. The group wanted to prevent an “embarrassment” for the Iraqi government, it said in a statement distributed on Telegram late Tuesday evening. Since the beginning of the war in the Middle East, pro-Iranian militias have carried out almost daily attacks on US military bases in Iraq and Syria. The US government responded with air strikes in both countries.
Israeli forces say they have killed at least 25 Palestinian militants in fighting in the Gaza Strip in 24 hours since Tuesday. The military said three soldiers fell in their own ranks.
Conflict parties as a source
In the current situation, information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by the Palestinian and Israeli conflict parties cannot be directly verified by an independent body.
Federal Development Minister Svenja Schulze does not want to permanently stop aid payments to the UN Palestinian Relief Agency (UNRWA). “I can’t imagine that we won’t provide more support given the suffering and need that is currently in this region. We will have to help,” said Schulze in the “Early Start” program on RTL/N-TV . “We don’t have any other structures that can provide support right now. So there’s nothing we can do in the short term,” said Schulze. In the longer term, however, the aid organization will have to change. Organizations like Hamas should not be supported by UN funds, the minister emphasized.
The Iran-backed Houthis have announced that they will continue to attack US and British warships in the Red Sea in “self-defense”. The militia spokesman said this in a statement broadcast by the Yemeni television channel Al-Massirah TV. It was also said that the militia had fired rockets at the US warship USS “Gravely”. On Tuesday evening, the US military’s Central Command said they shot down an anti-ship missile that was fired from Yemen towards the Red Sea.
Almost four months after the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, at least half of all buildings in the Mediterranean coastal strip have been damaged or destroyed, according to a media report. As the BBC reported on Tuesday after evaluating satellite data, between 144,000 and 175,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed. That is between 50 and 61 percent of all buildings in the coastal area.
The footage also shows that the bombardment of the southern and central Gaza Strip has intensified since the beginning of December, with the hotly contested city of Khan Yunis in the south of the coastal area being particularly badly affected.
Gray areas: Built-up areas in the Gaza Strip, hatching: Israeli army
The UN Security Council has called for urgent measures to expand humanitarian aid deliveries to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip. “The dire and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation” in the territory is worrying, said a statement from the most powerful UN body read to reporters in New York.
The Council urged all actors to consult with the new UN coordinator for humanitarian assistance to those in need in the Gaza Strip, Sigrid Kaag. It is currently working to accelerate the delivery of aid to hundreds of thousands of civilians who need food, water supplies, medicine and other support.
The US military says it has once again destroyed an anti-ship missile belonging to the militant Islamist Houthis. The United States Central Command announced on the online portal According to the information, there were no injuries or property damage.
Several UN organizations have warned against stopping funding for the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA, which has come under massive criticism. “The decisions by several Member States to suspend funding to UNRWA will have catastrophic consequences for the people of Gaza,” the heads of a number of UN agencies said in a joint statement. “Withdrawing UNRWA funding is dangerous and would lead to a collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza.”
This would have “far-reaching” humanitarian and human rights consequences in the occupied Palestinian territories and throughout the region, said the statement by the so-called United Nations Interagency Standing Committee. “The world must not abandon the people of Gaza.”
In the dispute over a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict, Israel’s foreign minister has once again emphasized that his country wants to retain security responsibility in the Gaza Strip for a few more years. This will apply “until we are sure that we will no longer be killed by the residents of Gaza,” said Israel Katz to the “Bild” newspaper, Welt TV and Politico. Referring to the terrorist attack by the Islamist Hamas on Israel on October 7th with around 1,200 deaths, Katz said: “The new ‘Nazis’ are Hamas, which must be eliminated.”
Israel’s message for Holocaust Remembrance Day this week said: “It must be clear that what happened must not be allowed to happen again.” Regarding advice from Washington and Berlin, among others, on a two-state solution in the Middle East conflict with the Palestinians, Katz said: “It is absolutely absurd that after everything that has happened, today Israel is being told that a two-state solution is the right thing.” In view of the fact that Palestinians have killed Jews, Palestinians will not be given the task of being responsible for the safety of Jews in the future.
Israel has confirmed that it has flooded tunnels belonging to the Islamist Hamas group. A Hamas leader appeared open to discussions about a ceasefire – under certain conditions. All developments can be read in the live blog.