Jan. 5: Gallant warns time running out for diplomatic solution to Hezbollah tensions

UNICEF says nutrition needs of children and pregnant woman are unmet in Gaza

Members of the Abu Jarad family, who were displaced by the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, carry bags full of wood and dry tree leaves at a makeshift tent camp in the Muwasi area, southern Gaza, January 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

The UN children’s agency says most young children and pregnant women in the Gaza Strip are not able to meet their basic nutrition needs.

Only a trickle of humanitarian aid has entered the Palestinian territory Oct. 7, when Hamas’ deadly attack into southern Israel ignited the war. Fewer than 200 aid trucks enter each day, less than half the prewar level, and aid groups say the fighting hinders distribution.

A survey by UNICEF releases found that 90% of children under age 2 are eating two or fewer food groups each day, mainly bread or milk. A quarter of pregnant women said they only eat from one food group per day.

UN officials previously said that one in four Gazans were enduring famine-like levels of starvation.

UNICEF says cases of diarrhea among children under 5 have risen from 48,000 to 71,000, an indication of poor nutrition. Normally, only 2,000 cases of diarrhea are reported each month in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli authorities say there is enough food in the territory, and that they have taken the necessary steps to allow aid in, blaming any shortages on UN bodies.

UN officials say aid operations are hindered by the Israeli inspections, as well as fighting and road closures within the territory, and have long been calling for a humanitarian cease-fire.

German foreign minister presses for better protection of Gaza civilians

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks during a news conference at the COP27 UN Climate Summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 18, 2022. (Peter Dejong/AP)

Germany’s foreign minister is insisting ahead of a trip to the Middle East that “Israel must do more for the protection of the civilian population” in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

Annalena Baerbock reiterates staunch ally Germany’s solidarity for Israel in its fight against “blind terror” and underlined its right to defend itself.

But she calls for more “humanitarian pauses” and says that “peace can’t be won if the prospect of a life in dignity dries up, if Gaza is uninhabitable after the war.”

Baerbock says there must be no postwar occupation of the Gaza Strip, no expulsion of Palestinians and no reduction of the territory’s size, but “at the same time there must no longer be any danger to Israel from the Gaza Strip.”

The minister is due to depart Sunday on a trip to Israel, the West Bank, Egypt and Lebanon.

Biden accuses Trump of echoing Nazis, kickstarting re-election campaign with speech warning of threat to democracy

US President Joe Biden speaks at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, on January 5, 2024. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP)

US President Joe Biden accuses Donald Trump of echoing Nazi Germany as he kickstarts his 2024 reelection campaign with a major speech warning of a threat to democracy.

“He’s willing to sacrifice our democracy, put himself in power,” the 81-year-old Democrat says of his likely Republican rival on the eve of the third anniversary of the January 6 Capitol attack.

Biden chooses a symbolic location for the speech near Valley Forge, the historic site where George Washington regrouped American forces during the war of independence nearly 250 years ago.

He says that twice-impeached former president Trump had failed to prevent the Capitol mob assault in 2021, and accused the tycoon and his supporters of still embracing political violence ahead of the 2024 vote.

“He talks about the blood of Americans being poisoned, echoing the same exact language used in Nazi Germany,” says Biden, who was greeted by chants from supporters of “four more years.”

“Donald Trump’s campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future. He’s willing to sacrifice our democracy, put himself in power,” Biden says in the speech in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

Biden’s address marks an aggressive start to the year as he either trails or is neck and neck with Trump — the man he beat in 2020 — in recent polls.

Congo denies that it’s in talks with Israel about taking in thousands of Gaza refugees

Illustrative -- Palestinians cross to the Egyptian side of the border crossing with the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Nov. 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)

The Democratic Republic of Congo denies a report in The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site Zman Yisrael earlier this week claiming that Israel is in talks with the African country about it taking in thousands of refugees from Gaza.

There has “never been any form of negotiation, discussion or initiative” between Kinshasa and Israel about the reception of Palestinian migrants on Congolese soil, Congolese government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya says in a statement.

A senior Israeli official briefing reporters on condition of anonymity on Wednesday also denied the Zman report.

“It’s a baseless illusion in my opinion. No country will absorb 2 million people, or 1 million, or 100,000, or 5,000. I don’t know where that idea came from.”

“It could be between Congo and Gazans, but Israel is not conducting any talks with any country on this issue,” the official continued. “I don’t want to say it’s fake, but it can’t be through us since we have no connection to it. [The Congolese] can talk to the Gazans and ask them to move to Congo.”

Democratic Republic of Congo President Félix Tshisekedi, left, meets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, September 21, 2023. (Avi Ohayon/GPO)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir have recently called for Gazans to be resettled outside of the Strip, drawing widespread international condemnation.

“Let’s say Smotrich wanted to do it, what can he do? We’re not part of this. We are not in a position where we can bring people from here to Congo… we’re not in the loop,” said the official.

Zman Yisrael reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition is conducting secret contacts for accepting thousands of immigrants from Gaza with Congo, in addition to other nations.

“Congo will be willing to take in migrants, and we’re in talks with others,” a senior source in the security cabinet said.

The governments of Rwanda and Chad have issued denials similar to the one published by Congo.

Settlers establish 9 illegal outposts in West Bank under fog of Gaza war, watchdog reveals

Youths at the illegal West Bank outpost of Evyatar bring in a water tanker, June 22, 2023. (Flash90)

With the world’s attention focused on the war in Gaza, Israeli settlers have quietly established an unprecedented number of unauthorized outposts in the West Bank, according to a new report from left-wing watchdog Peace Now.

The report finds that settlers have built nine unauthorized outposts since the start of the war. The group estimates it is the largest number of settlements built over a three-month timeframe since outposts began to be established in the 1990s.

Most of the new outposts are primitive. Most consist of only a few tents and an Israeli flag, the report said. But many such outposts have evolved into more permanent developments over the years, often with tacit government support.

Israel’s government is dominated by supporters of the settler movement. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a hardline settler leader, holds special authority over settlement planning.

The report says the outposts sit in parts of the West Bank that are under full Israeli control according to interim peace accords signed in the 1990s. Israel says the territory is disputed and the fate of the settlements should be resolved in negotiations. The international community considers all settlements illegal.

“The three months of war in Gaza are being exploited by settlers to establish facts on the ground,” the report says.

Some 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements in addition to 200,000 others in East Jerusalem. The Palestinians seek both areas, captured by Israel in 1967, as parts of a future state.

Turkish court rules to formally arrest 15 people suspected of ties to Mossad

Turkey’s national intelligence organization MIT releases footage of its arrest of alleged Mossad spies on January 2, 2024. (Screen capture/X)

A Turkish court rules to formally arrest 15 people and deport eight others suspected of being linked to the Mossad intelligence service and of targeting Palestinians living in Turkey, according to state broadcaster TRT Haber.

Turkish authorities detained 34 people earlier this week after warning Israel of “serious consequences” if it tried to hunt down members of the militant group Hamas living outside Palestinian territories, including in Turkey.

TRT Haber’s story provides no details about what the court decided for the remaining 11 people who were initially detained.

Turkey, unlike most of its Western allies and some Arab nations, does not classify Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Police raided locations in eight provinces to capture the suspects as part of the investigation carried out by the MIT intelligence agency and the Istanbul prosecutor’s counter-terrorism bureau.

Houthi leader: Any country involved in US-led Red Sea task force will be targeted

FILE - This photo released by the Houthi Media Center shows a Houthi forces helicopter approaching the cargo ship Galaxy Leader on November 19, 2023 in the Red Sea. (Houthi Media Center via AP)

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of Yemen’s Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, said that any country to involve itself with the United States-led Red Sea coalition will lose its maritime security and be targeted.

Al-Houthi made the comments on Friday in an interview with the BBC.

Joining the US-led coalition to protect Red Sea shipping routes targeted by the Houthis are Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

UN humanitarian chief says Gaza has become ‘uninhabitable’ after three months of war

Members of the Abu Jarad family, who were displaced by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, bake bread at a makeshift tent camp in the Muwasi area, southern Gaza, Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations humanitarian chief says Gaza has become “uninhabitable” three months after Hamas’ horrific attacks against Israel and “a public health disaster is unfolding.”

Martin Griffiths says in a statement that “people are facing the highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded (and) famine is around the corner.”

And Gazans are “witnessing daily threats to their very existence – while the world watches on,” he says.

The UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs says tens of thousands of people, mostly women and children, have been killed or injured, families are sleeping in the open as temperatures plummet, and areas where Palestinians were told to relocate have been bombed.

Martin Griffiths, the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, meets with the Syrian foreign minister in Damascus on June 26, 2023. (Louai Beshara/AFP)

The few partially functioning hospitals are overwhelmed and critically short of supplies, infectious diseases are spreading, and amidst the chaos some 180 Palestinian women are giving birth every day, he says.

Griffiths reiterates UN demands for an immediate end to the war and the release of all hostages, declaring, “It is time for the international community to use all its influence to make this happen.”

He says the humanitarian community is facing an “impossible mission” of supporting more than 2 million people in Gaza while aid workers are killed, communications blackouts continue, roads are damaged, truck convoys are shot at, and vital commercial supplies “are almost non-existent.”

Gaza has shown “the worst of humanity,” Griffiths says, and it’s long past time for the war to end.

France and Jordan airdrop aid to Gaza

An airdrop of humanitarian aid to Gaza by Jordan and France on January 4, 2024. (Emmanuel Macron/X)

France and Jordan have teamed up to airdrop seven tons of aid to civilians and aid workers in Gaza, President Emmanuel Macron says.

“In a difficult context, France and Jordan delivered aid by air to the population and those aiding them,” Macron writes on X.

“The humanitarian situation remains critical in Gaza” after three months of conflict, he adds.

The French leader posts a photograph of an airman standing on the cargo ramp of a military plane, with parachutes visible in the sky below.

Macron’s office says the “extremely complex operation” took place late Thursday, saying it had been made possible by close ties between the French and Jordanian militaries.

Each nation sent a C-130 transport plane with mixed French-Jordanian crews, bringing a total of seven tonnes of “humanitarian and health” aid, the presidency said.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains critical. In a difficult context, France and Jordan provided aid by air to the population and to those assisting them. pic.twitter.com/RXQYgPa9Ep

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) January 5, 2024

The supplies dropped by France and Jordan were equipped with systems that remotely guided them to a Jordanian field hospital operating in the territory, the French presidency says.

Thursday’s mission “allows us to show that such operations are possible,” the Elysee adds, without saying whether it would be repeated.

Iran arrests 11 suspects over bomb blasts, mourners demand revenge — state TV

Screen capture a video released by state-run Iran Press news agency on January 3, 2024 shows ambulances leaving the site where two explosions in quick succession struck a crowd marking the anniversary of the 2020 killing of Guards general Qasem Soleimani, near the Saheb al-Zaman Mosque in the southern Iranian city of Kerman. (IRAN PRESS / AFP)

Iranian authorities say that security forces had arrested 11 people suspected of involvement in two bomb blasts that killed nearly 100 people at a memorial service for a slain military commander.

The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Kerman, southeastern Iran, on Wednesday.

Iran’s intelligence ministry says in a statement security forces detained two people for providing support to the two suicide bombers in Kerman and nine others based in other parts of Iran who were suspected of links to the incident.

The bombings were the deadliest such attacks in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

US intelligence confirms Islamic State’s Afghanistan branch behind Iran blasts — sources

Iranian emergency services arrive at the site where two explosions in quick succession struck a crowd marking the anniversary of the 2020 killing of Guards general Qasem Soleimani, near the Saheb al-Zaman Mosque in the southern Iranian city of Kerman on January 3, 2024. (MEHR NEWS / AFP)

Communications intercepts collected by the United States confirmed that Islamic State’s Afghanistan-based branch carried out twin bombings in Iran that killed nearly 100 people, two sources familiar with the intelligence told Reuters on Friday.

“The intelligence is clear cut and indisputable,” one source said.

That source and a second, both of whom requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue, said that the intelligence comprised communications intercepts without providing further details. The collection of the intercepts has not been previously reported.

Army says it carried out strike on Hezbollah command center in southern Lebanon

Smoke billows in the southern Lebanese village of Marwahin following an Israeli airstrike, December 27, 2023. (Jalaa Marey/AFP)

The IDF says it carried out an airstrike on a Hezbollah command center in the southern Lebanese village of Blida in response to attacks on the border today.

It also says tanks and artillery shelled a number of areas along the border, apparently to foil planned Hezbollah attacks.

Following rocket fire on Kiryat Shmona earlier, the IDF says it is striking the launch sites.

IDF spokesman says investigating army’s failures is critical for future fighting

IDF troops seen operating inside the Gaza Strip in this handout photo released for publication on January 4, 2023. (IDF)

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says investigating the military’s failures is essential to its fighting in the Gaza Strip, as well as preparing itself for other fronts.

The comments come against the backdrop of a security cabinet meeting last night that ended in a loud and angry dustup between ministers and the IDF’s Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi as right-wing lawmakers cried foul over his plans for the army to probe its mistakes surrounding the October 7 Hamas invasion.

“Our goal is to always improve, to draw conclusions from the fighting, to deepen the achievement and minimize casualties to our forces,” Hagari says in an evening press conference.

“The operational investigation is one of the basic principles of the IDF. Only a thorough investigation of the truth will allow us to learn from the failures and prepare for the security challenges in the future — 2024 will be a year of fighting, and there are lessons to be learned that will help us fight better, in all the arenas,” he says.

He says the IDF is busy fighting and has not yet begun its investigation into the failures that led to Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.

“The General Staff is formulating these days the process of planning the investigations, and picking those leading the operational investigation,” Hagari says.

He says some investigations are intended to be internal, and others will include former defense officials looking into the chain of command from an outside perspective.

The probes will be presented to the public once completed, he says.

“IDF investigations are intended to improve the army and they do not replace any external investigation,” Hagari adds.

IDF says it demolished Hamas tunnel network under northern Gaza beach resort

This infographic released by the IDF on January 5, 2024, shows the locations of Hamas tunnels in the area of northern Gaza's Blue Beach Resort (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF says it has demolished a Hamas tunnel network discovered under the Blue Beach Resort on the coast of the northern Gaza Strip.

Troops of the 14th Reserve Armored Brigade alongside the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit recently raided the hotel, which was used by Hamas operatives to attack Israeli troops in early November.

The soldiers discovered at least seven tunnel shafts in the area of the hotel, leading to an underground network of passages where Hamas operatives hid, the IDF says.

The IDF says troops recovered in the underground site assault rifles, explosive devices and drones used by Hamas.

In November, the IDF said troops killed around 30 Hamas gunmen who were holed up in the hotel, firing anti-tank missiles at the forces.

The tunnels, which were recently investigated by troops, were demolished by combat engineers, the IDF says.

Reservists of the 14th Brigade have been operating in northern Gaza over the past two months, battling Hamas operatives and destroying the terror group’s infrastructure.

The brigade is one of the five that are now being withdrawn from the Strip.

Hostages’ families land in Qatar for first time in effort to revive talks for their relatives’ return

Protesters lift protraits of hostage Naama Levy during a rally for supporters and relatives of Israelis held in Gaza since October 7, in Tel Aviv on December 23, 2023. (Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

The families of six Hamas hostages landed in Qatar earlier today for meetings aimed at reviving talks for returning their loved ones, Channel 12 reports.

The families will meet with the US Ambassador to Qatar Timmy Davis and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Al Thani, Channel 12 says.

This is the first time that families of the hostages have visited Qatar, which has been responsible for mediating hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

Gallant: Time running out on diplomatic efforts to end tensions between Israel and Hezbollah

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant receives a situational assessment at the IDF's Northern Command base on January 5, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says time is running out on diplomatic efforts to end tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, indicating that Israel will soon be left with no choice but to launch a major military offensive against the terror group in Lebanon.

“We prefer the path of an agreed-upon diplomatic settlement, but we are getting close to the point where the hourglass will turn over,” Gallant says during a situational assessment at the IDF’s Northern Command base.

Speaking at son’s memorial ceremony, Eisenkot stresses need for unity

War cabinet minister Gadi Eisenkot speaks at a memorial ceremony for his son Gal in Herzliya on January 5, 2024. (Screen capture/X)

Speaking at a memorial ceremony for his son Gal who was killed last month during an IDF operation to recover the bodies of hostages in Gaza, war cabinet minister Gadi Eisenkot stresses the need for unity after a year of massive societal divisions sparked by the government’s highly controversial plan to overhaul the judiciary.

“The fact that a young man from Herzliya and a young man from [the West Bank settlement of] Susiya are fighting together after the year we’ve had should be thought provoking for all of us,” Eisenkot says as he fights back tears.

“I think the fact that [Gal] was killed in an operation that was ultimately intended to help rescue hostages, it’s a mission that he very much identified with, even if it meant returning the hostages for burial in Israel,” he adds.

Asked by a reporter after his speech whether he’s worried that the fabric of Israeli society could fall apart after the year that the country endured, Eisenkot admits that he very concerned, but expresses hope that the unity that has followed the tragedies endured on October 7 will help sustain the country.

8 rockets fired from Lebanon at Kiryat Shmona less than an hour after launching of another pair

Damage seen in Kiryat Shmona on December 28, 2023 as a result of a rocket launched by Hezbollah in Lebanon. (Kiryat Shmona Municipality)

Another eight rockets were fired from Lebanon at the northern city of Kiryat Shmona.

Four of the projectiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome, and the other four landed in open areas, causing no damage or injuries, according to local authorities.

Earlier this afternoon, two rockets were fired at the city, causing no damage.

Ex-IDF intelligence chief warns Hezbollah could strike at Israelis overseas

An Israeli emergency rescue team examines the remains of a bus bombed in Bulgaria in July, 2012, allegedly by Hezbollah (Dano Monkotovic/Flash90/JTA)

After Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah again vows to respond to the alleged Israeli strike in Beirut on Tuesday that killed Hamas terror chief Saleh Al-Arouri, a former head of IDF military intelligence warns that Hezbollah could strike at Israelis overseas.

“The chief of staff, northern command chief and homefront command chief need to assume” that Nasrallah will “fire rockets deeper into Israel, and with heavier warheads,” says Major General (res.) Amos Yadlin.

“We also need to be prepared” for Nasrallah to act against Israelis overseas, he stresses.

“After Mughniyeh, he hit Israeli tourists in Bulgaria,” Yadlin recalls, referring to the assassinated Hezbollah terror chief Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a car bombing in Damascus in 2008. Four years later, five Israeli tourists and their Bulgarian bus driver were killed in a suicide bombing at Burgas airport, Bulgaria, in which Hezbollah was implicated.

‘Stop irresponsibly using the IDF for political gain,’ Gallant says after right-wing ministers bash army chief

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant conducts a daily security situation assessment with senior security officials, including IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi (R), October 26, 2023. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

After defending him during yesterday’s security cabinet meeting amid a verbal assault from right-wing ministers, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant issues a statement hailing IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.

Gallant says he called Halevi in order to praise him and ask him to pass along to the soldiers of the IDF that he trusts them and supports them.

“The people of Israel won a brave and balanced chief of staff during a difficult war,” Gallant says.

“IDF soldiers are fighting for all the people of Israel, and I appeal to all members of the public to stop irresponsibly using the IDF and its commanders for political gain,” the defense minister adds.

Last night’s security cabinet meeting ended in a loud and angry dustup between ministers and military brass, as right-wing lawmakers cried foul over plans for the army to probe its own mistakes.

Blinken arrives in Turkey on first leg of Middle East tour

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken waves before boarding an aircraft at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, to travel to the Middle East on January 4, 2024. (EVELYN HOCKSTEIN / POOL / AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Turkey, kicking off his fourth tour of the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war broke out three months ago.

Blinken is expected to meet his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Saturday before flying to Greece later in the day.

He is slated to arrive in Israel on Monday.

At least two rockets fired from Lebanon at Kiryat Shmona

Illustrative: An Israeli man looks at a small crater and damaged vehicles in Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel on November 6, 2023. (Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

At least two rockets were fired from Lebanon at the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona.

Local authorities say one projectile was intercepted, while the second landed in open areas, causing no injuries.

Sirens had sounded in the city, as well as the adjacent community of Kfar Giladi.

Iraqi base hosting US, international forces said targeted by armed drone

Illustrative: US Army soldiers stand outside their armored vehicle on a joint base with the Iraqi army, south of Mosul, Iraq, Feb. 23, 2017. (Khalid Mohammed/AP)

Iraq’s al-Harir airbase, which hosts US and international forces, has been targeted by an armed drone, Iraqi Kurdistan’s counterterrorism service say in a statement.

The statement does not elaborate on whether the attack caused casualties or infrastructure damage.

Relatedly, the US military publicly thanks Iraq’s police for their Wednesday discovery of a land-based cruise missile that a US official says was aimed at American troops in the country.

“The Coalition is appreciative of the efforts of the legitimate security forces in Iraq for their efforts to prevent future attacks,” US Central Command says in a post on social media platform X.

The praise comes as Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s office announced it was forming a committee to prepare to close down the US-led international coalition’s mission in the country following a US strike against a militia leader blamed for attacks against US troops.

Nasrallah: We have an opportunity to return to us Lebanese territories that Israel took over

View of Mount Dov, also known as Shebaa farms, from the village of Ghajar on the Lebanon border, August 2, 2023. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah discusses preliminary negotiations brokered by the West to try and secure a diplomatic solution to Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah before tensions deteriorate into a full-blown war.

“We now have an opportunity to return to us Lebanese territories that Israel took over, such as Shebaa Farms, thanks to our standing on the side of Gaza and its people, but any talk about this should only happen after the end of the war on Gaza, and this is our official position,” he says, claiming without proof that Israel would be willing to cede territory to Lebanon in exchange for an agreement settling the land border dispute.

Nasrallah claims that Hezbollah has conducted around 670 military operations on the Lebanese-Israeli border since October 7, destroying a “large number of Israeli vehicles and tanks.”

He also claims, without proof, that Israel is covering up casualties on its side.

Nasrallah also hails Iranian proxies in Iraq for their strikes on US forces in the region, adding that they have a “historic opportunity” to get rid of the American troops.

Nonetheless, he accuses the US of expanding the conflict through its actions against Houthi rebels who have been disrupting Red Sea shipping lanes since October 7.

Nasrallah: Response to Arouri killing is coming; failure to respond would leave Lebanon exposed to continued Israeli strikes

People watch a televised speech by Lebanon's Hezbollah terror chief Hassan Nasrallah in a Beirut southern suburb on January 3, 2024. (ANWAR AMRO / AFP)

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah says in a nationally televised speech that all of Lebanon would be exposed if his terror group did not react to the alleged Israeli assassination of deputy Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut.

Nasrallah uses his speech to repeat many of his same threats against Israel that he made earlier this week, again vowing to avenge Arouri’s killing while remaining vague on the specifics.

“We cannot sit quietly in the face of an assassination in the middle of the war, and the assassination will not go unpunished,” he claims.

“The response is coming. The decision has already been made. The matter now depends on what will unfold on the ground and on Allah,” Nasrallah says.

“We are unable to remain silent in the face of such an action because this would expose all of Lebanon to IDF operations,” he asserts, adding that allowing Israel to succeed in its operations in Gaza would lead to the IDF following suit in Lebanon.

Highlighting the thousands of residents in northern Israel who have been forced to evacuate their homes since October 7, Nasrallah says they should reach out to the government in Jerusalem if they want to return, suggesting that it would be contingent on the IDF ceasing its military campaign in Gaza.

He adds that Israel’s northern residents will be the first to pay the price of a war with Hezbollah.

Lebanon files UN Security Council complaint over alleged Israeli killing of Hamas terror chief

People search for survivors inside an apartment following a massive explosion in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday, January 2, 2024, in which Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri was killed. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanon has filed a complaint to the UN Security Council over the alleged Israeli killing of Hamas deputy terror chief Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut earlier this week.

The complaint calls the killing “the most dangerous phase” in Israeli attacks on Lebanon, claiming Israel fired six missiles in the strike that killed Arouri and five other Hamas operatives.

The complaint also cries foul on Israeli use of Lebanese airspace to carry out regular airstrikes in Syria, which the IDF says are necessary to prevent Iranian entrenchment along its border.

The complaint appears largely symbolic and is unlikely to lead to any tangible action against Israel.

Netanyahu’s party defends ministers who bashed IDF chief after Gantz blasted conduct

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads a Likud Knesset faction meeting, March 13, 2023. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party defends ministers from his and other right-wing parties who attacked IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi during last night’s security cabinet meeting over the army’s plan to open a probe into operational failures ahead of October 7.

The Likud statement comes minutes after war cabinet minister Benny Gantz issued one of his own blaming Netanyahu for allowing the fracas to unfold and demanding that he choose between the national security and unity or politics of the kind that was on display last night.

“The duty of the political and security cabinet is to ask questions and receive answers. This is not politics,” the Likud statement says.

“In wartime when the public is united, Gantz is expected to act responsibly and stop looking for excuses to break his promise to remain in the unity government until the end of the war,” the Likud statement adds.

Gantz’s call for Netanyahu to choose between security and politics did indeed renew speculation that the National Unity chairman is considering leaving the government.

Contrary to the Likud statement, though, Gantz did not pledge to stick around until the end of the war, instead leaving his commitment vague.

“Just as I knew when to enter it, I’ll know when to leave,” he has said when asked.

After Netanyahu allowed ministers to bash IDF chief, Gantz says PM must choose between politics and unity

War cabinet minister Benny Gantz gives a statement on January 4, 2024. (Courtesy)

War cabinet minister Benny Gantz says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is responsible for last night’s security cabinet meeting bashing of the IDF chief of staff by right-wing ministers.

The security cabinet meeting was intended to discuss planning for the next phases of Israel’s campaign against Hamas and the administration of Gaza following the war, but ended in a loud and angry dustup between ministers and military brass after right-wing ministers cried foul over IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi’s plan for the army to probe its own mistakes.

Asserting that Netanyahu is culpable for the ugly scene, and implying that the prime minister should have intervened to stop the dustup, Gantz says in a video statement that it is now on the premier to correct the mistake “and to choose between unity and security or politics.”

“The cabinet was supposed to discuss strategic processes that will affect the continuation of the campaign and our security in the future. That didn’t happen, and the prime minister is responsible for that,” said Gantz. “It is his responsibility to fix this, and to choose — between unity and security or politics. If what is important now is security and unity, then we need to hold the essential meeting on the continuation of the fighting, and soon.”

Gantz conceded that ministers are supposed to ask questions and challenge the information provided to them by security chiefs at cabinet meetings, but “what happened yesterday was a politically motivated attack in the middle of a war.”

“I have participated in many cabinet meetings. Such conduct has never occurred and must not occur,” he asserts.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and IDF chief Herzi Halevi, October 23, 2023. (Kobi Gideon / GPO)

Gantz goes on to defend Halevi’s decision to appoint a panel to probe the military’s failures ahead of October 7 to better prepare the IDF for fighting against Hezbollah.

In the process, the National Unity chairman — who agreed to join the government on an interim basis days after the war’s outbreak — appears to take a swipe at Netanyahu who has refused to admit any culpability in what unfolded on October 7.

“It is good that the chief of staff, who knew how to take responsibility after the October 7 disaster, is taking responsibility and establishing a team that will produce operational lessons for the continuation of the fighting. This is his duty,” Gantz says.

“There is no doubt that after the war, a state commission of inquiry will be established to deal with everything that happened up to October 7, at all levels. But its main [focus] should be [the government’s role] and not on military operational matters. This is what the Israeli public demands, and above all — this is what it needs,” Gantz adds.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir leads a faction meeting of his far-right Otzma Yehudit party, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on January 1, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Hardline lawmakers fumed over Halevi’s reported decision to have former defense minister Shaul Mofaz sit on the panel probing the IDF’s pre-October 7 failures due to his involvement in the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza.

But some of the criticism appeared motivated by fears that an IDF probe into its responsibility for October 7 would also look into the government’s role or at the very least would lead to pressure for lawmakers to conduct the same type of investigation.

Netanyahu has insisted that such a probe can only take place after the war is over, as critics claim he is buying time in order to remain in office.

Top German diplomat to visit Israel Sunday for fourth time since outbreak of Gaza war

German Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock attends a meeting with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh (not pictured) in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023. (Ammar Awad /Pool Photo via AP)

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will travel to Israel Sunday for her fourth visit since the outbreak of the Gaza war, a ministry spokesman says.

Baerbock will hold talks with new Foreign Minister Israel Katz, as well as President Isaac Herzog, German foreign ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer tells a regular press conference.

She will also meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki.

Baerbock will subsequently travel to Egypt to meet with her counterpart Sameh Shoukry and also plans to visit Lebanon.

The talks would focus on the “dramatic humanitarian situation in Gaza, the situation in the West Bank and the extremely volatile situation on the Israel-Lebanon border,” as well as efforts to secure the release of more Hamas hostages, Fischer says.

Sderot building damaged in latest rocket fire, no injuries reported

A building in Sderot was damaged by rocket fire from Gaza on January 5, 2023. (Sderot Municipality)

One rocket hit a building in Sderot, close to the Gaza border, in a rocket barrage fired from Gaza a short while ago, a spokeswoman for the city says.

A second rocket fell outside of the city.

No injuries were reported, although the building was damaged in the direct impact.

Sirens sound in Ashkelon, Gaza border communities

Sirens sound in and around the southern city of Ashkelon and the Gaza border area, warning residents of possible incoming rocket fire.

The sirens are activated in the Gaza border city of Sderot, as well as Nitzanim and Kibbutz Nir Am, among other locations.

???? Large Rocket Alerts [14:50:59] – 10 Alerts:

• Western Lakhish — Hodaya, Nitzan, Nitzanim, Kfar Silver, Nir Israel, Berekhya, Ashkelon – South, Ashkelon Northern Industrial Zone, Ashkelon – North, Be'er Ganim#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/BRQfw01YYj

— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) January 5, 2024

Hostage families to protest at Kerem Shalom border crossing over lack of humanitarian aid to captives

Shai Wenkert, the father of Omer Wenkert who was taken hostage on October 7, tells Channel 12 that families of hostages will stage a protest at the Kerem Shalom border crossing on Tuesday, January 9, to raise awareness about the lack of humanitarian aid being given to the captives.

Wenkert has been campaigning for humanitarian aid, and medical aid in particular, to reach the hostages, as his son Omer suffers from colitis, which could have life-threatening repercussions without access to the correct food and medicine.

Speaking to Channel 12, he says that the aim of the protest at the Kerem Shalom border crossing will be to raise awareness about how much humanitarian aid enters Gaza on a daily basis while the hostages suffer.

“It’s not because we don’t think they don’t deserve aid,” Wenkert says of civilians in Gaza, explaining that the goal isn’t to prevent Palestinians from receiving aid altogether, but rather to pressure Israel to negotiate a deal in which the supplies are withheld until Hamas agrees to grant humanitarian aid to the captives as well.

Some 100 trucks of aid enter Gaza per day, in comparison to the 500 trucks a day that would enter prior to October 7.

Germany warns risk of escalation between Israel, Lebanon is ‘very real’

The German government is monitoring the situation on the border between Israel and Lebanon, a German foreign ministry spokesperson says as the country’s top diplomat prepares to travel to the Middle East for talks.

“The risk of escalation is unfortunately very real,” the spokesperson says.

Cross-border clashes between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon have become a near-daily occurrence since the deadly Hamas onslaught in southern Israel on October 7.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will depart on Sunday for Israel to meet her new counterpart Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Israeli President Isaac Herzog, according to the spokesperson. She is also scheduled to hold talks with Palestinian Authority officials in the West Bank.

More than 76,000 people in southern Lebanon displaced by cross-border fighting between Israel, Hezbollah

More than 76,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon in almost three months of near-daily fighting along the border with Israel, the UN’s International Organization for Migration says.

The border area has seen a surge of violence since the deadly Hamas onslaught in southern Israel on October 7 and the subsequent war in Gaza, with the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group launching rockets, missiles and drones at Israel on a near-daily basis, which Israel has responded to by hitting Hezbollah targets close to the border.

In a report published on Thursday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says that the escalation has displaced 76,018 people, mainly in areas of southern Lebanon bordering Israel.

More than 80 percent of the displaced Lebanese are staying with relatives, according to the report, and only 2% are housed in 14 collective shelters spread across the south of the country, mainly in the coastal city of Tyre and in the Hasbaya region.

The rest have rented apartments or moved to homes in areas farther from the border, the UN agency adds.

According to figures shared by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant with US special envoy to the region Amos Hochstein on Thursday, more than 80,000 residents of northern Israel have been displaced by the cross-border clashes.

60-year-old man shot and killed in car in Baqa al-Gharbiya

A 60-year-old man was killed in a violent incident in Baqa al-Gharbiya earlier this morning, Magen David Adom says.

According to Hebrew media reports, the man was shot and killed while in a car. Reports add that a police investigation has been opened into his death.

Iran’s President Raisi says war in Gaza will bring about Israel’s destruction

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi waves to the crowd during the funeral ceremony of the victims of Wednesday's bomb explosion in the city of Kerman about 510 miles (820 kms) southeast of the capital Tehran, Iran, Friday, January 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi says that the October 7 Hamas massacres in southern Israel, dubbed “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” by the Gaza terror group, will bring about the downfall of Israel.

Speaking at the funeral for the 89 victims of twin ISIS bombings earlier this week, Raisi hails Hamas for its deadly October 7 onslaught, in which thousands of terrorists attacked more than 20 communities across southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and seizing around 240 hostages.

“We know that ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ operation will bring about the end of the Zionist regime,” he says.

“Our enemies can see Iran’s power and the whole world knows its strength and capabilities. Our forces will decide on the place and time to take action,” he adds of those who carried out the deadly blasts, for which ISIS has claimed responsibility.

Mourners attending the funeral shout “revenge, revenge,” “Death to America and “Death to Israel.”

IDF finds tunnels, booby-trapped homes hidden among high-rise buildings in central Gaza neighborhood

The IDF says it has completed an operation in a central Gaza neighborhood, where troops located tunnel shafts, booby-trapped homes and weapons.

Troops of the 646th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade and elite Yahalom combat engineering unit were operating in the neighborhood over the past week, in an area dubbed by the IDF “the towers neighborhood” after its high-rise buildings.

“The buildings of the neighborhood were used as anti-tank missile and machine gun fire positions,” the IDF says.

It says troops battled and killed many Hamas gunmen, and located several primed rocket launchers, booby-trapped buildings, tunnel shafts, and explosive devices during operations in the neighborhood.

The IDF says troops also found a warehouse and chemical lab used to manufacture weapons.

Combat engineers destroyed the Hamas infrastructure, including tunnels in the area.

The IDF says it has completed an operation in a central Gaza neighborhood, where troops located tunnel shafts, booby-trapped homes and weapons.

Troops of the 646th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade and elite Yahalom combat engineering unit operated in the neighborhood over the past… pic.twitter.com/4eblowQpxG

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 5, 2024

Finance Minister Smotrich claims stopping politicians from criticising IDF chief is undemocratic

Finance Minister and Religious Zionism Party leader Bezalel Smotrich defends attacks on IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi during a cabinet meeting last night, writing on X, formerly Twitter, that politicians questioning or criticizing military officials does not mean they are not giving full support to the army amid the war against Hamas in Gaza.

“It is permissible and even desirable to ask the army questions, and to criticize it as well,” he writes. “The attempts to prevent this are undemocratic and very dangerous. This is the first lesson from the initial investigation of the October 7 [assaults].”

6. שאלות וביקורת של דרג מדיני למפקדי צה"ל הם לא "השתלחות" ולא סותרים גיבוי מלא. מותר ואפילו רצוי לשאול את הצבא שאלות וגם לבקר אותו. הניסיונות למנוע את זה הם לא דמוקרטים ובעיקר מסוכנים מאוד. זה הלקח הראשון מהתחקיר הראשון של ה 7 לאוקטובר.

— בצלאל סמוטריץ' (@bezalelsm) January 5, 2024

Smotrich’s statement comes after an explosive argument was reported to have occurred during a meeting of top ministers who intended to discuss planning for the administration of Gaza following the end of the war.

According to reports, the brawl erupted as right-wing lawmakers cried foul over plans for the army to probe its own mistakes.

Right-wing politicians, including some from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, reportedly took aim at Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi over both the timing of the inquest and the inclusion of an ex-defense minister in the investigation process.

After backlash, IDF chief clarifies he will only probe army’s conduct in the war, to improve for the future

After reports that IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi is forming a committee to probe the army’s failures in the lead-up to Hamas’s October 7 attacks were met with a backlash from government ministers on Thursday night, Halevi clarifies that the investigation will deal with the IDF’s state of preparedness only.

According to Hebrew news outlet Ynet, Halevi told security officials that he will hold “a professional investigation by external observation to examine the conduct of the army in the war, to improve its performance for the future,” and will not investigate any aspect of Israel’s response on a national-political level.

Iraq forming bilateral committee to prepare for ending the US-led international coalition

The Iraqi government is forming a bilateral committee to prepare for ending the mission of the US-led international coalition in Iraq, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani says in a statement released by his office.

His statement comes one day after a US strike in Baghdad killed a local leader of the Harakat al Nujaba militia.

Displaced families in Gaza search for their next meal amid scarce supplies and soaring prices

Members of the Abu Jarad family, who were displaced by Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, eat breakfast at a makeshift tent camp in the Muwasi area, southern Gaza, Monday, January 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

As food prices in Gaza soar amid Israel’s war with Hamas, people sheltering in crowded apartments that line the streets of Rafah are unsure how they’ll continue to feed their families.

Dalia Abu Samhadana, a young mother sheltering with her uncle’s family in a crowded house of 20 in Rafah, says the only food staples at her local market are tomatoes, onions, eggplants, oranges and flour. All are virtually unaffordable.

A 25-kilogram (55-pound) bag of flour before the deadly October 7 Hamas attack in southern Israel and subsequent war in Gaza cost around $10. Since then, it has fluctuated between $40 and $100.

“My money has almost run out,” says Abu Samhadana, unsure of how she will be able to feed her daughter.

Elsewhere in southern Gaza, Nouman Abu Jarad says the task of finding food and water takes up most of his family’s time.

He says that each day, he and several of his younger relatives collect jugs of water from one of the public pipes nearby, which is exclusively used for washing and is unsuitable for drinking. Next, they head to one of the dozens of drinking water tankers dotted across the city, where they wait in line for hours.

A gallon of drinking water costs one shekel, or 28 cents. Some, so desperate for cash, wait in line just to sell their space.

Nouman’s wife, Majeda says that the food scarcity, coupled with rapidly spreading disease, has severely impacted her young granddaughter.

“My granddaughter is 10 months old, and since the day we came to this place, she has been suffering from weight loss and diarrhea,” says Majeda.

Going to the pharmacy offers little help. “We can’t find any (suitable) medicines available,” she adds.

IDF carries out strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon

The IDF says it carried out strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon’s Ayta-ash Shab and Majdal Zoun.

The targets included various infrastructure used by the terror group, along with an observation post and military site manned by Hezbollah operatives, according to the IDF.

The IDF releases footage showing the strikes carried out by fighter jets.

לפני זמן קצר מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר השלימו תקיפה באזור עייתא א-שעב ומג׳דל זון שבשטח לבנון.

במסגרת התקיפה, הושמדו שורת תשתיות טרור של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה, לצד עמדה ואתר צבאי בהם פעלו מחבלי הארגון pic.twitter.com/VVSYfBx6NP

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) January 5, 2024

Police open investigation after body of 45-year-old woman discovered in car in northern Israel

The body of a woman was found inside a car in northern Israel, January 5, 2024. (Israel Police)

The body of a 45-year-old woman was found inside a vehicle near the Yasif Junction in northern Israel earlier this morning, Magen David Adom says.

Confirming the incident, police say they have opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the woman’s death.

Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards vows revenge after ISIS bombing kills close to 100 people

The commander-in-chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says at the funeral for the victims of twin ISIS bombings earlier this week that their deaths would be avenged.

Nearly 100 people were killed at a memorial in the city of Kerman on Wednesday for former top commander Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in Iraq in 2020 by a US drone.

ISIS said on Thursday that two of its members had detonated explosive belts in the crowd that had gathered at the cemetery in the southeastern city.

“We will find you wherever you are,” Iranian Major-General Hossein Salami says at the funeral, referring to Islamic State.

Kibbutz Nir Oz says resident Tamir Adar killed Oct 7, body held in Gaza

Tamir Adar, 38, was killed and abducted by Hamas terrorists while he was defending his kibbutz, Nir Oz, on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)

Kibbutz Nir Oz announces that Tamir Adar, who was taken hostage during the Hamas-led massacres on October 7 was killed in the assault on his community.

Tamir, 38, was “born and raised in the kibbutz and lived there with his family,” the statement from Nir Oz says. “Tamir was a family man, he loved people and nature.”

His grandmother, Yaffa Adar, was also taken captive on October 7 and was released during a weeklong ceasefire in late November.

Residents of South Korean islands told to evacuate after North Korea fires artillery barrage

North Korea fired an artillery barrage near two South Korean islands on Friday, Seoul’s defense ministry says, warning the actions threatened peace and that it would respond.

Residents of both islands are ordered to evacuate and ferries are suspended as South Korea plans a naval drill in response, in one of the most serious military escalations on the peninsula since the North fired shells at one of the same islands in 2010.

Friday’s live firing follows repeated warnings from Kim Jong Un’s regime in Pyongyang that it was prepared for war against South Korea and the United States.

EU foreign policy chief heads to Lebanon in effort to cool tensions between Israel, Hezbollah

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will be in Lebanon from January 5 for two days to discuss the situation on the Israel-Lebanon border where cross-border clashes have taken place between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah since October 8, and to stress the importance of avoiding regional escalation, the EU says in a statement.

“(Borrell) will re-emphasize the need to advance diplomatic efforts with regional leaders”, the statement says.

IDF says troops hit more than 100 Hamas targets from the ground, air and sea over last day

The IDF says it carried out strikes on more than 100 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip over the past day.

The strikes, carried out by air, sea, and ground forces, hit Hamas command centers, launch positions, weapons depots, and other infrastructure, according to the IDF.

In central Gaza’s al-Bureij, the military says troops of the Border Defense Corps’ 414th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit spotted a group of Hamas operatives attempting to attack an IDF tank.

Troops launched a pursuit after the gunmen used a drone, and the army called in a fighter jet airstrike after the gunmen were spotted fleeing into a building, the IDF says, publishing footage of the strike.

In southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, reservists of the Kiryati Brigade found several rocket launch sites used to fire projectiles at Israel.

The IDF says the troops destroyed the launchers and killed “many” Hamas operatives during several battles in the area.

The IDF says it carried out strikes on more than 100 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip over the past day.

The strikes, carried out by air, sea, and ground forces, hit Hamas command centers, launch positions, weapons depots, and other infrastructure, according to the IDF.

In… pic.twitter.com/cM0E6gUZyv

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 5, 2024

Opposition leader Lapid calls for government to be replaced after explosive fight in meeting on post-war Gaza

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid slams the government and calls for them to be replaced on X, formerly Twitter, following an explosive argument during a cabinet meeting Thursday night intended to discuss planning for the administration of Gaza following Israel’s war against Hamas.

“The leaks from cabinet last night are a disgrace and further proof that this cabinet is dangerous,” writes Lapid.

“The State of Israel must replace the government and its leader. These people are not worthy of the sacrifice and heroism of IDF men and women, and will not be able to steer a strategic decision. They have to go now.”

A loud brawl during Thursday night’s cabinet meeting saw right-wing politicians, including some from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, take aim at IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi over plans for the army to probe its own mistakes in the lead-up to the deadly October 7 Hamas assault. The ministers criticized both the timing of the inquest and the inclusion of an ex-defense minister.

Hamas leader Khaled Mashal says Israel is digging its own grave in Gaza war

Khaled Mashaal speaks in Doha, Qatar, August 28, 2014. (AP/Osama Faisal)

Senior Hamas official Khaled Mashal warned that Israel is digging its own grave with the war against the Gaza terror group, Arabic media reports him as saying.

Speaking days after the alleged Israeli assassination of Hamas terror chief Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, Lebanon, Mashal accused Israel of being delusional and said that Palestinian “resistance” groups will only grow stronger in the face of the war against Hamas.

“This arrogant, criminal Zionist enemy, despite its failure and disappointment after three months of its barbaric aggression against Gaza… wants to export their crisis abroad,” Arabic media outlets quote Mashal as saying of the assassination. “They want to expand the circle of aggression, thinking that this will confuse the calculations of the resistance and the calculations of the region.”

“The enemy also thinks that the assassination of our leaders will break the will of the resistance and weaken the leadership. It does not know that this is a big illusion,” he said, and added that in the past, “every time a leader fell, a leader rose, and the martyrdom of a leader sets others on the same path, with the same will, with the same determination.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman urges more empathy for Muslims, Palestinians in tech industry

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says he feels members of the Muslim and Arab communities in the tech industry are uncomfortable speaking about their recent experiences, in an apparent reference to the impact of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

“Muslim and arab (especially palestinian) colleagues in the tech community i’ve spoken with feel uncomfortable speaking about their recent experiences, often out of fear of retaliation and damaged career prospects,” Altman writes on X, formerly Twitter, urging the tech industry to treat members of those communities with empathy.

muslim and arab (especially palestinian) colleagues in the tech community i've spoken with feel uncomfortable speaking about their recent experiences, often out of fear of retaliation and damaged career prospects.

our industry should be united in our support of these colleagues;…

— Sam Altman (@sama) January 5, 2024

In response to a user on X asking Altman in a reply how he feels about the experiences of the Jewish community, Altman responds: “I am jewish. i believe that antisemitism is a significant and growing problem in the world, and i see a lot of people in our industry sticking up for me, which i deeply appreciate. i see much less of that for muslims.”

Rights advocates note that both antisemitism and Islamophobia have risen sharply in the US and elsewhere since October 7, when Hamas, the terror group that rules the Gaza Strip, burst through Israel’s borders, killing some 1,200 people and seizing around 240 hostages.

Israel launched an aerial campaign and ground invasion in response to the deadly onslaught that the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says has killed more than 22,000 people. Those numbers aren’t verifiable and do not differentiate between combatants and civilians.

Footage appears to show Palestinian teen shot during raid

Footage published by Palestinian media appears to show a West Bank teen being shot and killed, despite apparently being unarmed, thought he is with a group who may have been.

In the video, a group of young men can be seen preparing what appears to be an incendiary device, seemingly intended to be used against Israeli troops.

As others attempt to light the device, a teen, named in Palestinian media as Asid Tariq Anis Al-Rimawi, 17, can be seen looking out from around a corner, when he is suddenly shot.

تغطية صحفية: كاميرا مراقبة توثق لحظة إصـابـة الفتى أسيد الريماوي قبل ارتقائه وإطـلاق الـنـار تجاه شابين حاولا إسعافه في بلدة بيت ريما شمال غرب رام الله. pic.twitter.com/2PFs8oU9yX

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) January 5, 2024

Two others who try to help him also appear to be shot, before three military jeeps approach the intersection.

There is no comment from the military on the footage or operations in the West Bank overnight.

It is unclear why the time stamp on the video shows the date as December 31.

Pentagon mum on plans to respond to ongoing Houthi attacks

Amid mounting pressure for the Biden administration to take action against Yemen’s Houthi rebels over continuing attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder will not say whether any military action is in the offing.

Ryder points instead to a statement Wednesday signed by the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom which gave the Houthis what a senior Biden administration official described as a final warning.

″I’ll let the statement speak for itself, which, again, represented many nations around the world and highlighted that if these strikes don’t stop, there will be consequences,” Ryder says.

On Thursday, an armed unmanned surface vessel launched from Houthi-controlled Yemen got within a “couple of miles” of US Navy and commercial vessels in the Red Sea before detonating, in the first such attack since Houthi rebels began attacking ships in support of Hamas in Gaza.

Retired US general calls for ‘violent’ response to Iran over proxy attacks

Retired four-star Marine general Frank McKenzie, who led US forces in the Middle East until retiring in 2022, says the Biden administration’s indecisive response to attacks in the Red Sea and against US troops at bases in Iraq and Syria has failed to deter Iran and its proxies carrying them out.

“Even before Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, Iranian forces were launching missile and drone strikes on our bases across the region, acting through proxies that gave them a measure of deniability,” he writes in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. “Our response has consistently been tentative, overly signaled and unfocused.”

“To reset deterrence, we must apply violence that Tehran understands,” McKenzie writes.

Asked whether Operation Prosperity Guardian, the coalition dispatched to protect Red Sea shipping lanes, might target Houthi positions with strikes to prevent them from attacking ships, Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads US Naval forces in the Middle East, says the 22-nation coalition is purely defensive in nature.

“Anything that happens outside of the defensive aspect of this operation is a completely different operation,” he says.

Palestinians say teen killed in overnight West Bank raids

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that a teen was killed by Israeli forces during a raid on Beit Rima, near Ramallah in the West Bank.

The 17-year-old is named as Asid Tariq Anis Al-Rimawi.

Clashes are also reported in the Balata refugee camp adjoining Nablus.

Gunfire and explosions can be heard in footage posted online showing heavy IDF machinery operating in the camp.

pic.twitter.com/gN5xcnQKoZ
One was injured by Israeli occupation bullets inside Balata camp, east of #Nablus, coinciding with clashes & sounds of explosions inside the camp.#WestBank #Palestine #Breaking
????A military bulldozer accompanied by occupation vehicles storms Balata…

— ⚡️???? World News ????⚡️ (@ferozwala) January 5, 2024

????#URGENTE || Las fuerzas de ocupación israelí disparan contra una ambulancia durante el asalto al campamento de Balata, Cisjordania ocupada pic.twitter.com/Opsl7hTVB7

— Palestina Internacional Broadcast (@pbi_es) January 5, 2024

Ministers fume over attacks on IDF head, ask if panel ‘fit to make defense decisions’

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and IDF chief Herzi Halevi, October 23, 2023. (Kobi Gideon / GPO)

A minister quoted by the Kan public broadcaster says screaming from a cabinet meeting that went down in flames as ministers squabbled over an IDF probe could be heard down the hall, and another derides the “unhinged incitement” against army chief Herzi Halevy.

“This was a despicable discussion that blew up,” another minister is quoted saying. “They attacked the army. Some of the senior defense officials left in the middle.”

Yet another minister tells the station that the government needs to rethink whether the security cabinet is currently made up “is fit to make decisions on our defense policies.”

“What happened there was a shameful embarrassment,” the minister tells the station. “You can criticize the IDF, but they want after the chief of staff relentlessly.”

According to the Ynet news site, the meeting ended after 3 hours as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent everyone home.

Kan reports that as he did so, the premier told Halevi “Sometimes, you need to listen to the ministers.”

High-level meeting on post-war Gaza blows up as ministers protest IDF probe — reports

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a cabinet meeting at the Kirya military HQ in Tel Aviv on December 24, 2023. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

A meeting of the high-level security cabinet intended to discuss what Gaza will look like in the post-war period was put on ice after it descended into a shouting match as right-wing ministers attacked IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, Hebrew language news sites report, citing sources with knowledge of the meeting.

According to the Walla news site and others, ministers attacked Halevy over the makeup of a panel formed to probe the military’s mistakes in the lead-up to the October 7 massacres, which will include Shaul Mofaz, who was defense minister from 2002 to 2006.

Once ministers Miri Regev, David Amsalem and Itamar Ben Gvir got wind of Mofaz’s involvement, they began to protest loudly to Halevi during the meeting over the fact that he had “appointed people behind the Gaza disengagement,” Walla reports.

“You appointed Mofaz? Are you crazy,” the Kan broadcaster quotes Regev saying.

According to the Kan, the trio were also perturbed by the timing of the announcement, with fighting still ongoing.

After current Defense Minister Yoav Gallant hushed the trio and came to Halevi’s defense, Ben Gvir began attacking military planners for continuing to rely on what critics describe as a failed conception of geopolitics exposed by the attacks.

This prompted war cabinet minister Benny Gantz, a former chief of staff and defense minister, to explode that “this is a professional investigation, what does it have to do with the disengagement and conceptions? The chief of staff is fucking probing what happened to serve our battle aims and our ability to plan for a confrontation in the north,” Walla reports.

As others shouted back, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ended the meeting, according to the reports.

Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005 in a unilateral move that some on the far-right hope to see reversed following the war against Hamas in the Strip, a veritable non-starter. Regev herself is largely identified with the pull-out thanks to her role as IDF spokesperson at the time.

Jordanian air strikes in southern Syria target alleged Iran-linked drug smugglers

Jordan launched several aerial raids inside Syria Thursday against suspected warehouses and hideouts of Iranian-backed drug smugglers, local and regional intelligence sources say.

The strikes took place in southern Syria, near the Jordanian border.

The army has stepped up a campaign against drug dealers after protracted clashes last month with dozens of infiltrators from Syria linked to pro-Iranian militias, carrying large hauls who crossed its border with weapons and explosives.

Data published by Jordan’s official mouthpiece Petra on Thursday, showed a more than three-fold increase in drug-related crimes from 2013 to 2022, “prompting an escalation in confronting drug dealers.”