The Palestinian Red Crescent announced the deaths of four people in an Israeli army attack in the northwest of the West Bank on Wednesday morning. Israel and Hamas agreed on Tuesday to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza. Follow the latest developments in the conflict.
15:29
FRANCE refuses to “accuse the Jewish state of genocide”
France today refused to support allegations of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza brought by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), condemning the crossing of a “moral threshold”.
“To accuse the Jewish state of genocide is to cross a moral threshold. We cannot exploit the concept of genocide for political purposes,” said Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné when answering questions to the government in the National Assembly.
2:35 p.m
BLINK: PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY NEEDS “SUPPORT” FROM ISRAEL
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in the name of its “security,” calls on Israel to help rather than hinder the Palestinian Authority, which cannot function effectively without this “support.” The American diplomatic chief reiterated his call for finding a “path to a Palestinian state” even as Washington supports Israel in its war against Hamas.
“Without this it will be impossible to achieve real security,” he explained. “Of course, for this to happen, a stronger, reformed Palestinian Authority that can work effectively for its people must be part of the equation.”
11:21
WEST BANK: 4 DEAD ACCORDING TO THE RED CREST
The Palestinian Red Crescent announced this morning the deaths of four people in an Israeli army attack in the Tulkarem camp in the northwest of the West Bank.
Since the war in Gaza began on October 7, Israeli security forces have carried out daily raids in the West Bank, where the army and the internal security service Shin Beth also announced in the morning that they had killed several Palestinians in the Balata refugee camp, including the leader, according to a press release a “terror cell” that was planning an “imminent” attack.
09:43
WEST BANK
The Israeli army said on Wednesday that it had killed a Palestinian in an airstrike in the occupied West Bank, described as the leader of a “terrorist cell” that was planning an “imminent and large-scale” attack.
In a joint statement, the army and domestic intelligence agency Shin Beth described the man as “the head of a terrorist infrastructure in the Balata (refugee) camp in Nablus” and identified him as “Amed Abdullah Abu Shalal.”
According to Israeli authorities, he was killed in a “precise airstrike” along with members of his “cell”, the number of whom was not disclosed.
09:16
RED SEA
Three of Japan's major shipping companies confirmed on Wednesday that they would suspend the transit of all their cargoes through the Red Sea due to soaring tensions in the region.
Since last November, Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who control much of Yemen, have increased maritime attacks on ships they suspect are linked to Israel.
Tensions in the Red Sea, a narrow maritime passage through which 12% of global trade normally passes, have continued to rise since late last week as Anglo-American attacks in Yemen were carried out against the Houthis, followed by aftershocks from them.
07:06
UPDATE ON THE SITUATION
Israel steps up attacks on southern Gaza Strip: Witnesses reported Israeli attacks last night near Nasser Hospital in Khan Younes, the capital in the southern Gaza Strip where Israel says local leaders of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas are hiding. According to these witnesses, these bombings caused panic among hundreds of people displaced by the fighting who had taken refuge in the sprawling grounds of this hospital in recent weeks.
Medication expected from the hostages: An agreement was reached on Tuesday between Israel and Hamas, which is still holding around 130 hostages since the deadly attack on Hebrew soil on October 7, to supply them with medicine “in exchange for a delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip.” . These negotiations were conducted under the auspices of Qatar and France. The head of Qatari diplomacy announced that the medicines would be sent to the Gaza Strip this Wednesday.
Macron warns Israel of “a long-term risk” to the country’s security: Israel's pursuit of inadequately targeted operations in Gaza poses “a long-term risk to the security” of the country, Emmanuel Macron said during his press conference on Tuesday. “We will continue our diplomatic initiatives, resolutions and discussions to declare a ceasefire and I will continue bilateral contact to try to achieve it in a very concrete way,” the President of the Republic continued.
06:54
WELCOME
Hello and welcome to this live broadcast dedicated to the latest news on the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
It's a first. Israel and Hamas, which is waging war in the Gaza Strip, reached an agreement on Tuesday, January 16, to provide humanitarian aid to the population of the besieged Palestinian territory and medicine to Israeli hostages, the Qatari Foreign Ministry announced. The agreement negotiated by Qatar and France concerns “the entry of a shipment of humanitarian aid for civilians in the Gaza Strip, especially in the most affected areas, in exchange for the delivery of medicines to the hostages,” said ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari.
“The medicines and supplies will be sent to the city of Al-Arich in Egypt tomorrow (Wednesday) on board two Qatari Armed Forces planes, with the aim of transporting them to the Gaza Strip,” Majed al-added. Ansari, quoted by the official Qatar News Agency (QNA). The French presidency said the medication was intended for 45 hostages. In November, needs for 83 of them were assessed with the help of families, but 38 have since been released or killed, the same source said.
Upon their arrival at Rafah Hospital on Wednesday, the medicines will be received by the ICRC, “divided into batches” and then immediately handed over to the hostages. This delivery of treatments, planned for a period of three months, represents a first that Paris will hopefully be able to repeat until all the hostages are released. It was coordinated by the French Foreign Ministry's crisis center, which bought the drugs and sent them to Doha on Saturday in the “diplomatic suitcase,” said its director Philippe Lalliot. Of the 250 people abducted during the Hamas attack in southern Israel on October 7, more than 130 are missing, according to Israeli authorities, including at least 25 who died without their bodies being returned.
The editorial team of TF1info