Israel's brutal war on Gaza — now in its 103rd day — has killed some 24,285 Palestinians and wounded 61,154, Palestinian authorities say, as chaotic wave of attacks, reprisals in Middle East fuel worries of a broader regional war.
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
12:43 GMT — The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, has warned of the bleak future facing Gaza after Israel's war on the territory ends.
Following his fourth visit to the Palestinian territory since the war erupted on October 7, the UNRWA chief said many residents are no longer able to see "the future in Gaza".
"You have hundreds of thousands of people living now in the street, living in these plastic makeshift (tents), sleeping on the concrete," Lazzarini told journalists in Jerusalem.
The majority of Gaza's 2.4M residents have been forced from their homes, while Lazzarini said more than 60 percent of buildings are estimated to be damaged.
12:08 GMT — Israeli army destroys cemetery, exhume decomposed corpses in Khan Younis city
The Israeli army's withdrawal from areas in Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza has revealed the destruction of a cemetery in the city with many of its graves dug up by Israeli forces.
According to an Anadolu correspondent, the Israeli army early retreated hundreds of meters from areas around the Khan Younis Nasser Hospital, leaving behind heavily damaged buildings and infrastructure.
The Israeli army damaged the cemetery near the Nasser Hospital and exhumed some decomposed corpses while bulldozing areas in the cemetery, according to the correspondent.
11:47 GMT — US' Blinken calls sufferings in Gaza 'gut-wrenching'
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza after three months of Israeli attacks "gut-wrenching," adding that "there has to be another way" forward that addresses Israel's concerns.
"What we are seeing every single day in Gaza is gut-wrenching, and the suffering we're seeing among innocent men, women and children breaks my heart,” Blinken said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
He described “the tragedy” in the besieged Gaza as "devastating" and added, "It also reinforces my conviction that there has to be and there is another way that answers Israel's most profound concerns and questions."
11:09 GMT — Israeli army detains 45 more Palestinians in West Bank
The Israeli army has detained 45 more Palestinians, including minors and former prisoners, from various areas of the occupied West Bank.
According to a joint statement issued by the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society, the new detentions brought the total number of Palestinians detained by the Israeli forces since Oct. 7 to 6,025.
Some labourers from Gaza in the village of Azzun, near Qalqilya city of the occupied West Bank, were also among the people detained, the statement said.
Soldiers also beat and abused Palestinians, and conducted field interrogations, in addition to damaging their homes and other properties, it added.
In their annual report, both groups said the total number of Palestinians detained in Israeli jails at the end of December 2023 stood at 8,800 including 80 women.
11:06 GMT — UN chief reiterates call for immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has reiterated his call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, where Israeli attacks have killed more than 24,000 Palestinians and caused a humanitarian catastrophe.
"The world is standing by as civilians, mostly women and children, are killed, maimed, bombarded, forced from their homes and denied access to humanitarian aid," Guterres said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
"I repeat my call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, and a process that leads to sustained peace for Israelis and Palestinians, based on a two-state solution," he said.
"This is the only way to stem the suffering and prevent a spillover that could send the entire region up in flames."
10:20 GMT - Gaza death toll from Israeli attacks jumps to 24,448
The Palestinian death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza since October has surged to 24,448, the Health Ministry in the blockaded enclave has said.
The ministry in a statement said 61,504 others were also injured, adding that Israeli forces committed 16 massacres across the coastal territory in the last 24 hours, leaving 163 people killed and 350 others wounded.
“Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads and rescuers can’t reach them,” the ministry said.
09:15 GMT - Four Palestinians killed in Israeli shelling in occupied West Bank camp
Four Palestinians were killed in Israeli shelling in Tulkarm camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Red Crescent has said in a statement.
08:35 GMT - Hamas slams Germany over possible move to provide Israel with tank ammo
The Palestinian group Hamas has criticised Germany for reportedly considering sending thousands of tank shells to the Israeli army.
In a statement, Hamas said the delivery of this ammunition would turn Germany into a “direct partner in the war on our (Palestinian) people in Gaza."
"It seems Germany is reproducing its history full of sins against humanity, it is undeterred from the lessons of the recent past," the statement added.
On Tuesday, the German Der Speigel newspaper reported that Germany is considering the delivery of nearly 10,000 rounds of 120mm precision tank ammunition for the Israeli army.
07:55 GMT - Qatar and France send medicine for hostages in Gaza
A shipment of medicine for dozens of hostages has been en route to Gaza after France and Qatar mediated the first agreement between Israel and Hamas since a weeklong cease-fire broke down in November.
The medicines will be shipped through Egypt and delivered to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which will then hand them over to Hamas.
Qatar said the deal also includes the delivery of additional medicine and humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave.
07:20 GMT - Israeli police break up rally in Tel Aviv protesting war on Gaza
Israeli police have broken up a rally in Tel Aviv protesting the ongoing war on Gaza, according to Israeli media.
Haaretz daily reported that the police aggressively dispersed the rally under the claim that it "harms the feelings of the public."
Claiming the small gathering was "illegal," police officers were seen confiscating a banner saying "Stop the Massacre" in Gaza.
The Walla news website also reported that the Israeli police preemptively blocked an anti-war rally in Haifa, northern Israel that was set for Saturday.
07:00 GMT - Israeli strike kills three Palestinians near Balata refugee camp
At least three Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli drone strike on a car near the Balata refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said that it was able to reach the site after the Israeli forces withdrew from the area and recovered the body of a youth.
“Israeli forces reportedly hold the bodies of other young men along with the vehicle before withdrawing from the area,” the news agency said.
06:20 GMT - Israeli attacks kill 13 Palestinians in Khan Younis
At least 13 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, a report has said.
Dozens of Palestinians were also injured in air and land attacks, said the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Israeli jets also targeted Palestinian homes west of Khan Younis with air strikes and artillery fire, it added.
05:47 GMT - Preventing new forced displacement is 'absolute priority': Borrell
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said the absolute priority now is to prevent a "new de facto forced displacement" out of Gaza.
Noting that over 80 percent of the population has already been displaced within the besieged enclave, Borrell said "in humanitarian terms, the situation is horrific" in an op-ed published Monday in the French daily Le Monde.
"Now the absolute priority is to prevent a new de facto forced displacement out of Gaza, which is legally forbidden and morally unacceptable," he said.
05:00 GMT - US Senate rejects measure to force human rights report on Israel
The US Senate has rejected a resolution that would have forced the State Department to produce a report within 30 days examining whether Israel committed human rights violations in its invasion of Gaza.
As voting continued, 54 senators voted to set the resolution aside, thus meaning it cannot move ahead in the 100-member Senate.
The vote was forced by Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats. While the measure was handily defeated, it reflected growing concern among some of President Joe Biden's fellow Democrats, especially on the left, over the supply of US weapons to Israel despite the war's steep toll on Palestinian civilians.
04:33 GMT - Palestinian envoy says there is no way ICJ would rule in favour of Israel
The Palestinian ambassador to Britain has said "there is no way" that the International Court of Justice [ICJ] would rule in favour of Israel, and for the first time in history, the "genocide" has been recorded and transmitted live by the people who were executed.
Husam Zomlot's remarks came during a news conference in London on the ongoing Israeli attacks and genocide case filed by South Africa against Israel before the ICJ in the Hague in the Netherlands.
Touching on the Israeli attacks, Zomlot said the destruction of Gaza is a "deliberate genocide and ethnic cleansing...deliberate in its intent and execution."
03:30 GMT - Israel confirms Gaza aid deal as concerns grow of widening war
Israel has pummelled Gaza and confirmed reaching a deal with Hamas resistance group to deliver medicines to captives and desperately needed aid to civilians in the war-torn Palestinian territory following Qatari mediation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office confirmed the deal and said: "The medicines will be forwarded by Qatari representatives in the Gaza Strip to their final destination."
Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on Gaza since a cross-fence attack by Hamas on October 7 which Tel Aviv says killed more than 1,100 people.
02:56 GMT - Jordan says economy hit by Israel's war on Gaza
Jordan's Prime Minister Bisher al Khasawneh has said the Gaza war's negative impact on the country's aid-dependent economy had put the brakes on a promising performance last year that had seen a surge in tourism revenues and higher growth.
"Last year (2023) before October 7 economically was an extremely, extremely promising year," Khasawneh said.
Khasawneh said disruptions to Red Sea shipping on the main East-West route caused by Houthi attacks was the latest hit alongside the plunge in tourism that had prior to the October 7 blitz by Hamas on Israel seen a boom that outstripped levels nearly five years ago
02:46 GMT - France's Macron says 'priority is ceasefire' in besieged Gaza
French president has said that a ceasefire in besieged Gaza is "a priority."
"All lives matter," the president reiterated, but blamed the Palestinian resistance group Hamas for the current situation in the region.
He recalled that France has delivered humanitarian aid to those in need in Gaza but stressed that the "priority is a ceasefire."
"France is attached to peace and stability in Lebanon," the president said.
02:30 GMT - US to relist Yemen's Houthis as specially designated global terrorists: reports
The Biden administration is expected to soon announce plans to redesignate Iran-allied Houthi group in Yemen as specially designated global terrorists, AP and Reuters news agencies reported.
The decision comes as the Houthis have launched dozens of attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea. The group says it has attacked Israel-linked or Israel-bound ships in response to Israel's harsh siege and brutal invasion of Gaza.
The administration is expected to make the announcement on Wednesday, a US official said.
02:15 GMT - Bernie Sanders forces US senators into test vote on military aid to Israel
In a notable test, Senator Bernie Sanders is forcing colleagues to vote on record whether to investigate human rights abuses in Israel's brutal war on besieged Gaza, a step toward potentially limiting US military aid to Israel.
The Senate vote, a first of its kind tapping into a decades-old law, would require the US State Department to, within 30 days, produce a report on whether Israel's war in Gaza is violating human rights and international accords. If so, US military aid to Israel, long assured without question, could be quickly halted.
While the Senate is unlikely to approve the measure, the vote by senators will begin to reveal the depth of unease among US lawmakers over Israel's prosecution of the war.
For our live updates from Tuesday, January 16, click here.
Rumors Stir Succession Fears in Cameroon
Controversial vice presidency reintroduced amid Biya’s long rule
From Waste to Fertility: Vermicomposting Revitalizes Kenya’s Farmland
Nature-based innovation offers farmers a sustainable alternative to restore soil health and boost productivity
James Swan Takes Charge of MONUSCO Amid Escalating Crisis in Eastern DRC
New UN envoy faces urgent security, diplomatic, and operational challenges in a volatile region
