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In the Gaza Strip, fighting is currently concentrated in the center and south. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is traveling to the Middle East. The news ticker.
- Israel wholesale Central and southern Gaza: Multiple Hamas targets hit
- air strike against Hezbollah: Israel kills four more Hezbollah members
- The information processed here about the war in Israel and the Gaza Strip comes from local and international media, as well as news agencies. Much of the information cannot be independently verified. We remain transparent in these cases as well.
Update January 4th, 8:40 pm: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wants to visit Israel, the West Bank and five Arab states on his fourth trip to the Middle East since the start of the Gaza war in early October. Stops are planned in Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Thursday. Visits to Türkiye and Greece are also planned.
During his previous trips to the Middle East, Blinken had already visited several Arab countries, in addition to Israel, in an effort to defuse the war in Gaza. The US chief diplomat wanted to make another trip to the region on Thursday. The trip had already been announced on Wednesday, but the US government initially only named Israel as a specific destination.
Fear of a conflagration in the Middle East – It’s about “avoiding escalation”
During his trip, the Minister of Foreign Affairs will discuss how an expansion of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian radical Islamic organization Hamas can be avoided, Miller announced. It will be about how different sides can take “specific measures” and use their influence “to avoid escalation”.
Fears of a conflagration in the region have recently been fueled by the bombing in Iran that killed 84 people at a general's grave and the assassination of Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Aruri in a drone strike widely blamed on Israel in a suburb from Lebanon. capital Beirut. “It is not in anyone’s interest – not Israel, not the region and the world – for this conflict to expand beyond the Gaza Strip,” emphasized the US State Department spokesperson.
The Israeli military ended an operation in the Nur Shams refugee camp
Update January 4th, 7:44 pm: The Israeli military claims to have ended an attack on the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm, in the northwest of the West Bank, after more than 40 hours. Eleven people were arrested in the anti-terrorism operation, the army announced on Thursday. What exactly they are accused of has not been disclosed.
Hundreds of suspects were therefore interrogated. Israeli forces also confiscated weapons and destroyed explosive devices. According to the information, Israeli forces also found a building with explosive traps on the ground floor, where there is said to be a kindergarten run by the Palestinian humanitarian aid organization UNRWA. The information could not initially be independently verified.
The Israeli army left great destruction in the Nur Shams refugee camp
According to the Army, two soldiers were injured by shrapnel from an explosive device. The terrorists threw explosives at Israeli forces and also shot at soldiers. The army also attacked them from the air. It also reportedly destroyed two explosives production facilities in the camp. Hundreds of buildings were searched.
According to Palestinian reports, several people were injured by Israeli forces during the interviews. When questioned, the army said it was investigating the allegations. According to the media and eyewitnesses, the army left great destruction in the countryside.
Hamas leader Saleh al-Aruri apparently killed in Lebanon
Update January 4th, 6:30 pm: According to Hezbollah militia circles, Hamas leader Saleh al-Aruri was killed in Lebanon, in an apartment that Hamas has long used as an office. Lebanese security sources said the facilities had been less used for some time, but had recently returned to being used more frequently.
Al-Aruri, deputy head of Hamas's political office, was killed on Tuesday night in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, Beirut – presumably by Israel, which has been waging war against the Palestinian Islamic organization since the Hamas attack on October 7th.
Hamas and Hezbollah blame Israel for Al-Arouri's death
Lebanese security circles also said that Israeli surveillance drones had already been spotted in the office area on Tuesday morning.
Hamas and Hezbollah blame Israel for Al-Arouri's death. Israel's military has so far refused to comment on reports of targeted killings. In total, seven members of Hamas and allies were killed in the attack.
“You have the right to return home” – High Commissioner for Human Rights criticizes Israel
Update January 4th, 5:05 pm: High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk condemned statements by Israeli ministers about a possible mass expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip as “very disturbing”. UN representative Türk highlighted on Thursday on X (formerly Twitter) that 85 percent of people inside the Palestinian territory had already been displaced. “You have the right to return home,” he emphasized. International law prohibits the forced relocation and deportation of protected persons to and from occupied territories, Türk said.
Right-wing extremist Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich spoke out in favor of the Israeli repopulation of the Gaza Strip after the war against Hamas. Ben-Gvir said on Monday that the war was an opportunity to promote the “resettlement of Gaza residents.” Smotrich said on Sunday that if Israel does things right, there will be an exodus of Palestinians “and we will live in the Gaza Strip.” In addition to Türk, the federal government and the governments of the USA and France, among others, expressed harsh criticism.
Update January 4th, 3:35 pm: The Israeli army has eliminated a high-ranking Islamic Jihad commander in the Gaza Strip. The military announced this in a statement. Mamdouh Lulu, Islamic Jihad commander and assistant, was killed in an airstrike. He was described as a “central figure” within the organization who “launched and led numerous terrorist attacks.”
War in Israel: the fight with Hamas continues
Update January 4th, 1:30 pm: The Israeli army says the Kiryati Brigade and the 55th Parachute Brigade remain engaged in fighting with Hamas militants in southern Gaza. Many militants were killed and the Hamas control structure in the city of Khan Younes was also damaged. As a result, Hamas militants are no longer capable of carrying out large-scale attacks against Israeli soldiers. In the same area, a tunnel was destroyed during the Israeli War, killing around 20 Hamas members. Five other members of Nukhba – Hamas' elite force – fled the tunnel and later surrendered.
Update January 4th, 12:15pm: According to the Israeli military, Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon again fired several anti-tank missiles at Israel. In response, a Hezbollah guard post and its infrastructure in the region were attacked from the air, he said. Later, a Hezbollah anti-tank unit was also targeted.
Israel News: Military penetrates deeper into Gaza Strip
First report from January 4th: Gaza City/Beirut – With the aim of completely destroying Hamas, the Israeli military is penetrating ever deeper into the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Initially, the offensive after the bloody October 7 attack took place mainly in the north of the strip. The fighting has now reached the center of Gaza and also the south.
Israel News: Army attacks central and southern Gaza: several Hamas targets hit
Israeli warplanes destroyed a Hamas weapons depot in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younes. The Israeli military announced this. Additionally, reservists from the Kiryati Brigade marked three Hamas members during the war in Israel who planted a bomb near the soldiers. They and two other Hamas militants hiding in a nearby house were later eliminated by fighter jets, he said.
Air operations in the Israeli War were also directed against Hamas anti-tank units. The Palestinian group repeatedly publishes images of these units showing terrorist units targeting Israeli tanks and other vehicles with “Yassin” bullets of their own production. The Israeli army said a rocket was fired at a tank from the 7th Armored Brigade in southern Gaza. The cell behind the attack was later neutralized. An anti-tank unit was also hit in Deir-al-Balah, in central Gaza.
Before the War in Israel: The History of the Israel-Palestine Conflict in Pictures
See series of photos
Israeli airstrike against Hezbollah: four more militants killed
Meanwhile, Israeli fighter jets carried out another airstrike against Hezbollah militia in Lebanon overnight. The group said four fighters were lost in an Israeli airstrike in the south of the country. One of the killed Hezbollah members was Hossein Yazbek, a prominent Hezbollah leader in Lebanon. The attack occurred just hours after the airstrike that killed Saleh Al-Arouri, a senior Hamas official, in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. (bb)