UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – The war enters its fourth month this Sunday. An Israeli raid left six people dead in Jenin, a stronghold of Palestinian factions in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry.
The war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas entered its fourth month this Sunday, January 7, with no sign of respite. The Israeli Air Force continues its strikes in the Gaza Strip and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on tour in the Middle East, seeks to avoid a regional conflagration. Jordan’s king urges US to pressure Israel for ceasefire.
Two journalists killed in Israeli strike, says Hamas
The Hamas Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip said on Sunday that an Israeli airstrike had killed two Palestinian journalists.
Moustafa Thuraya, a freelance videographer working with AFP, and Hamza Waël Dahdouh, a journalist for the Al-Jazeera channel, were killed while driving, the ministry and rescuers said.
Israeli civilian killed in Ramallah, wanted assailant
An Israeli civilian was shot and killed this Sunday in the West Bank, the Israeli army said, while this occupied territory is the scene of deadly violence which has intensified in recent months.
The Israeli was “killed near the British Police Crossroads” north of Ramallah, the army said, adding that police were searching for the attacker.
Israeli raid leaves 6 dead in Jenin, Jewish state officer killed
An Israeli raid left six dead this Sunday in Jenin, a stronghold of Palestinian factions in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry. An Israeli officer was killed and three injured during the raid, police said. “She (the killed officer) was in a military vehicle which was hit by an explosive device”she indicated.
Witnesses also reported Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younes, the main city in the south of the Gaza Strip and the new epicenter of clashes between the Israeli army and Hamas. The Palestinian Wafa agency counts numerous deaths and injuries.
Israel claims to have “dismantled” there “military structure” of Hamas in northern Gaza as its war against the Palestinian Islamist movement enters its fourth month on Sunday amid fears of a regional conflagration.
Israel vowed to destroy the Palestinian Islamist group after its unprecedented attack on Israeli soil on October 7, which killed around 1,140 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count based on the Israeli toll. Around 250 people were taken hostage, and more than a hundred were freed during a truce at the end of November.
On Saturday evening, the Israeli army said it was now focusing more on the center and south of Gaza after some three months of war which, according to it, allowed it to defeat Hamas in the north of this Palestinian microterritory of approximately 2.4 millions of inhabitants. “We have completed the dismantling of the Hamas military structure in the north of the Gaza Strip (…) We are now focusing on the dismantling of Hamas in the center and south of Gaza”declared Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari, specifying however that Hamas elements were still operating in northern Gaza “without structure and without commanders”.
Jordan’s king calls for US pressure on Israel for ceasefire
Abdullah II of Jordan on Sunday called on the United States to pressure Israel for a “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza and warned against “catastrophic repercussions” of a continuation of hostilities, by receiving American Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Amman. According to a statement from the royal palace in Amman, Abdullah II also stressed the need to end the “tragic humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip”.
He reaffirmed that “the region would not experience stability without a just solution to the Palestinian question and the achievement of a just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution», Palestinian and Israeli.
The king also repeated “Jordan’s total rejection of the forced displacement of Palestinians” And “attempts to separate Gaza from the West Bank”, two territories which are an integral part of a future Palestinian state, according to him. The King of Jordan also denounced “acts of violence committed by extremist settlers against Palestinians and violations of Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem”warning of the danger of “explosion of the situation in the region”.
Doctors Without Borders evacuates its staff from a hospital in central Gaza
The NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced overnight that it had evacuated its staff from a hospital in central Gaza. “The situation became so dangerous that some of our team members living in the neighborhood were not even able to leave their homes due to constant threats from drones and snipers”declared on X Carolina Lopez, MSF emergency services coordinator in Gaza.
“The war must not stop until we have achieved (our objectives, editor’s note)” which are “to eliminate Hamas, recover the hostages and ensure that Gaza is no longer a threat to Israel”declared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday evening to mark three months of war.
22,722 dead in the Gaza Strip, according to Hamas
Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip left 22,722 dead, mostly women, children and adolescents, and more than 58,000 injured, according to a latest report from the Hamas Ministry of Health. These figures could not be independently verified.
The Israeli offensive has razed entire neighborhoods of Gaza and displaced 1.9 million people – 85% of the population according to the UN – who lack water, food, medicine and care, including hospitals. mostly out of service.
To the point that Gaza is “simply become uninhabitable”, “a place of death and despair”deplored this weekend the coordinator of humanitarian affairs of the UN, Martin Griffiths.
Anti-government protests in Tel Aviv
Israeli anti-government protesters gathered in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening, calling for early elections and the resignation of the government. “We have had enough! We have had enough! The government is a bunch of idiots. They are leading us to a horrible place. They lead us towards an unspeakable future. Bibi Netanyahu and all his other idiots are ruining Israel and destroying everything we hoped and dreamed of.”Shachaf Netzer, 54, told AFP on site.
“We need new elections. We need a new government. We need a new leader”he added while the Israeli opposition had called for the departure of Benjamin Netanyahu, affirming that he did not have the “trust” of the population to carry out a military campaign in Gaza.
Exchanges of fire with Hezbollah
Since October 8, the day after the bloody attack by Hamas on Israeli soil, the almost daily exchanges of fire between Lebanese Hezbollah and Israeli forces have left 181 dead in Lebanon, including 135 fighters from the Shiite movement, according to a AFP count.
These tensions have been increasing since the elimination near Beirut of Hamas number 2, Saleh al-Arouri, in an airstrike attributed to Israel and which led to the “initial response” Hezbollah with a barrage of rockets fired at an Israeli military base.
Blinken in Jordan
Meanwhile, the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken is in Jordan on Sunday as part of a tour of the Middle East aimed at curbing this escalation.