Artillery fire and air strikes continue in the southern Gaza Strip. Israeli forces asserted on Saturday, January 20, that they had destroyed “terrorist infrastructure” in the area and attacked rocket launchers in Khan Younes, now the epicenter of Israeli military operations against Hamas. The group, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, also reported heavy fighting in the north of the besieged and devastated territory after 106 days of violence. Since Hamas' terrorist attack in the Hebrew state on October 7, the Israeli army has relentlessly shelled the small landlocked area.
On Saturday it also dropped leaflets on the Gaza Strip in the town of Rafah. These documents included photographs of the hostages held by the organization and calls for information about them to be shared.
Israelis gather in Tel Aviv to demand Benjamin Netanyahu's resignation
Thousands of Israelis demonstrated in central Tel Aviv on Saturday to demand the return of hostages held in the Gaza Strip and early elections to overthrow Benjamin Netanyahu. Demonstrators marched through Habima Square. Some carried signs denouncing the far-right prime minister with slogans such as “The face of evil” and calling for “Elections now.” Benjamin Netanyahu is under intense pressure to secure the return of hostages held by Hamas since October 7. Of the approximately 250 people kidnapped, around a hundred were released during a ceasefire at the end of November, and 132 are still in Gaza.
“The way things are going, all the hostages will die. It is not too late to free them,” Avi Lulu Shamriz, the father of one of the hostages killed in Gaza, pleaded on Saturday.
At least five Iranians killed in Damascus, Iran threatens Israel with retaliation
Iran's Revolutionary Guard has accused Israel of carrying out a deadly attack on a four-story building in the Syrian capital Damascus. According to the Iranian Ideological Army, five of its “military advisors” and “members of the Syrian armed forces” were among the victims. The Iranian Mehr news agency said the “intelligence chief of the Guard in Syria and his deputy” were among the Iranians killed. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), the total number of fatalities from Saturday's attack is 10.
Since the war in Syria began in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on neighboring Syrian territory, mostly targeting forces backed by Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah, allies of the Syrian regime and sworn enemies of the Syrian army. However, when contacted by AFP, the Israeli army did not admit it was behind the attack and said it “did not comment on information provided by foreign media.”
For his part, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani “strongly condemned” the attack attributed to the “Zionist regime” and denounced “a desperate attempt to spread instability and insecurity in the region.” In an Iranian diplomatic press release, he threatened Israel with reprisals “at the right time and in the right place.”
US strikes destroy Houthi-fired anti-ship missile
These so-called “self-defense attacks” by the Americans were carried out around 4 a.m. local time. The United States announced on Saturday that it had “destroyed” an anti-ship missile about to be launched by the Houthis, the Yemeni rebels who regularly attack merchant ships in the Red Sea and Gulf from Aden in their opinion “connected with Israel”. as a sign of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. These attacks were part of efforts to “protect freedom of navigation and prevent attacks on ships at sea,” the US military command in the Middle East (Centcom) said in a statement.
On January 12, American and British forces attacked the Houthis for the first time in Yemen. Since then, several more attacks have followed, including on Friday against American army rocket launchers.
Tensions between the United States and Israel
During a phone interview Friday with U.S. President Joe Biden, the Israeli prime minister reiterated his rejection of “Palestinian sovereignty” in Gaza and believed Israel must maintain “control over the security” of the territory, according to Netanyahu's exchange reported by Benjamin on Saturday Office.
The conflict is testing Israel's relationship with its most important American ally and supporter, particularly on the central postwar issue of a “two-state” solution. Joe Biden “still believes in the prospect and possibility” of a Palestinian state, but “recognizes that it will take a lot of work to get there,” the White House said after the telephone exchange. “The illusion that Biden is preaching for a state of Palestine (…) does not deceive our people,” Hamas responded on Saturday.
The Non-Aligned Movement calls for “a two-state solution”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Saturday that “the right of the Palestinian people to build their own state must be recognized by all.” “The refusal to accept the two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians and the denial of the right to statehood for the Palestinian people are unacceptable,” he said at the summit of the non-religious movement in Uganda. “It would indefinitely prolong a conflict that has become a major threat to global peace and security, increasing polarization and emboldening extremists around the world,” he continued.
In its final statement, the Non-Aligned Movement, founded in 1961 to give a greater voice to countries caught up in the power struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, condemned “in the strongest terms Israel's illegal military aggression against the Gaza Strip.” called for “a permanent humanitarian ceasefire”. The countries also called for “the independence and sovereignty of the State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in order to achieve a two-state solution.”
Thousands demonstrate in Spain to demand an end to relations with Israel
Thousands of people carrying Palestinian flags and chanting anti-Israel slogans marched in Madrid and other Spanish cities on Saturday to demand “an end to the genocide in Palestine.” In the Spanish capital, around 25,000 people marched between Atocha train station and Cibeles Square, according to the government, calling on the Spanish government to “end the arms trade and relations with Israel.”
The demonstrations called by the Solidarity Network platform against the occupation of Palestine also took place in other major Spanish cities, including Barcelona, Valencia and Seville.