16:12
Hezbollah asserts that its response to the killing of Hamas' number two is “inevitable.”
The leader of Lebanon's pro-Iranian Hezbollah said today that a “battlefield” response to the Israeli attack on its stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs, which killed Palestinian Hamas's number two, was “inevitable.” The attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut “is serious and will not go unanswered,” Hassan Nasrallah warned in a televised address, assuring that his movement would “respond” “on the battlefield.”
“The reaction is inevitable,” said the leader of Hezbollah, whose Islamist movement launches daily attacks against Israel from southern Lebanon. Saleh al-Arouri and six other Hamas officials and leaders were killed Tuesday evening in an attack attributed to Israel on an office of the Palestinian Islamist movement, an ally of Hezbollah.
2:05 p.m
The head of German diplomacy is visiting the Middle East again
The German Foreign Minister will begin her fourth visit to the Middle East on Sunday since the beginning of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas, a ministry spokesman said on Friday. During her visit, which begins in Israel, Annalena Baerbock will meet her new counterpart Israel Katz and President Isaac Herzog, spokesman Sebastian Fischer said during a regular federal government press conference in Berlin.
She must then hold talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Maliki. Annalena Baerbock then travels to Egypt, where she meets the head of Egyptian diplomacy, Sameh Shoukry, and then travels to Lebanon. Sebastian Fischer did not say who she should meet in this country.
13:12
Hamas' health ministry reports 162 deaths in the last 24 hours
The Palestinian Hamas Ministry of Health announced today that Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip have claimed 22,600 lives since the war began on October 7, including 162 people killed in the last 24 hours.
12:37
Maersk is rerouting its ships to avoid the Red Sea
Danish shipping giant Maersk says it will reroute its fleet via the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the Red Sea, where it has suspended all transit following attacks by Houthi rebels. “All Maersk ships scheduled to transit the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden will be diverted […] in the near future,” the airline said in a statement, adding that “all available information confirms that the security risk (in the Red Sea, editor's note) remains at a significantly high level.”
Also read: In the Red Sea, the victorious calculations of the Yemeni Houthis 10:50
According to the IOM, more than 76,000 Lebanese have been displaced
76,018 people have been displaced in Lebanon nearly three months after violence began on the border with Israel, according to a report released Thursday by the International Organization for Migration.
The IOM states that almost 81% of displaced people are currently staying with relatives. Only 2% are housed in 14 collective centers in the south of the country, mainly in the coastal city of Tire and the Hasbaya region, the agency adds. The rest of the displaced people have rented apartments or settled in second homes in regions further away from the border.
According to an AFP count, cross-border violence in Lebanon has claimed 175 lives, including 129 Hezbollah fighters but also more than 20 civilians, including three journalists. According to authorities, nine soldiers and five civilians were killed in northern Israel.
10:34
Lice, scabies, chickenpox, diarrhea: UNRWA produces an alarming assessment of the health situation in Gaza
On
📍#Gaza 1.9 million displaced people face an alarming spread of infectious diseases🚨@WHO:
🔺180,000 people with upper respiratory tract infections
🔺+136,000 cases of diarrhea, 1/2 children under 5 years old
🔺+55,000 cases of lice and scabies
🔺+5,000 cases of chickenpoxEvery day the situation worsens. pic.twitter.com/BuAEqOp7h8
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) January 4, 2024
08:56
Antony Blinken flew to the Middle East
The American diplomatic chief made his fourth trip to the Middle East on Thursday evening since the start of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas, where he will push for more aid to Gaza and ways to avoid wildfires in a tense regional context.
Antony Blinken expects difficult discussions during this new tour, which, in addition to Israel, will take him to five Arab countries early next week: Jordan, Qatar, the Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, as well as the West Bank. Palestinian Authority headquarters, its spokesman Matthew Miller told the press. He will first stop in Turkey before continuing his tour, which is scheduled to last until January 10th.
The US Secretary of State will discuss “immediate action to significantly increase humanitarian assistance to Gaza,” where the humanitarian situation is described by the United Nations and NGOs as “catastrophic.”
Antony Blinken boards a plane at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, Jan. 4, 2024, to travel to the Middle East. — © EVELYN HOCKSTEIN / AFP
05:34
Attacks on Gaza
On the night of Thursday to Friday, Israeli forces again stepped up their attacks in the south and center of the Gaza Strip, where witnesses reported heavy fighting.
05:11
For a “political solution for all of Palestine”
In an interview with the Financial Times, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh called for a “political solution for all of Palestine” and not just Gaza.
“People are starting to talk about 'the day after,' about the PA running Gaza again,” but Israel “wants to politically separate Gaza from the West Bank,” he said. And added: “We have to look at the calendar and delete the year 2024 (…) I don't think that Israel will leave the Gaza Strip very soon, I rather believe that Israel will create its own civil administration, which will be under the authority “will operate from” his occupying army. Therefore the question of the 'day after' is unclear (at the moment).”
04:45
Israeli Defense Minister presents post-war plan for Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant presented his first “post-war plan” for the Gaza Strip. He revealed the outlines of this plan to the press before presenting it to Benjamin Netanyahu's war cabinet.
According to the plan, operations in the Gaza Strip will “continue” until the “return of the hostages,” the “dismantling of Hamas's military and government capabilities,” and the “elimination of military threats in the Gaza Strip,” Yoav Gallant supported. After that, another phase will begin, that of the “day after” after the war, after which “Hamas will not control Gaza.”
“There will be no more Israeli civilian presence in the Gaza Strip after the war objectives are achieved,” explained Yoav Gallant, specifying that the Israeli army will, however, “retain its freedom of action” in Gaza to contain any possible “threat”.
“The people of Gaza are Palestinians. Therefore, the Palestinian units will be in charge (of administration) on the condition that there are no hostile actions or threats against the State of Israel,” the defense minister affirmed, without specifying which of the Palestinians will administer this territory of 2.4 million people .