Israeli raids in West Bank, East Jerusalem as Gaza war continues

This live blog on Israel's war on Gaza has concluded. Make sure to follow us for the latest news on Facebook, X, and Instagram.

Israel continues to attack the devastated Gaza Strip after some three months of war.

AFP correspondents reported Israeli strikes early on Saturday on the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of people have sought shelter from the fighting.

Al Jazeera English said 18 people were reportedly killed after Israel struck a home in Khan Younis's al-Manara neighbourhood, also in the south of the strip.

A similar attack in Deir al-Balah in the middle of the enclave left three dead, Al Jazeera Arabic said.

Israeli forces have raided areas in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

The places impacted include Jerusalem's Shuafat refugee camp, and Nablus and Tulkarm.

Israeli forces have reportedly attacked and arrested three people in a town in Bethlehem province.

Al Jazeera said it had verified footage showing sounds of shooting and blasts in Nablus, adding that people there were "confronting Israeli forces" and that fighting was reportedly intense in the old city.

Four percent of the population of Gaza is now dead, wounded, or missing, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said on Friday as the war neared the start of its 14th week.

It added in a press release that this amounted to over 90,000 people.

Israeli attacks have destroyed some 70 percent of Gaza's civilian facilities and infrastructure since 7 October, the rights group said.

Washington's top diplomat will discuss the Gaza war with Turkey's mercurial leader on Saturday before flying to Crete to address Greek worries about the looming sale of US fighter jets to Ankara.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Istanbul late on Friday for the first leg of a trip that includes visits to Israel, the occupied West Bank, and five other Arab states.

Blinken's fourth crisis tour since the start of the Gaza war three months ago comes with fears mounting that the conflict will engulf swathes of the Middle East.

The occupied West Bank has experienced an "unmatched surge" in the number of new Israeli settlements since the start of the Gaza war, an Israel-based NGO has said.

Peace Now said in a report that nine outposts had appeared in the West Bank since the start of the war. Israeli settlements in the territory violate international law.

Peace Now said in the report published on Thursday there had been an increase in the activities of some settlers who are "marginalising" the Palestinians in the territory, noting a "record" number of new settlements since the outbreak of fighting.

"The three months of war in Gaza are being exploited by settlers to establish facts on the ground and effectively take control of extensive areas in Area C," Peace Now said, referring to the part of the West Bank under Israeli civil and military control and where the settlements are concentrated.

Several leaders of Israel's pro-settlement movement are ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, which has helped to create a "permissive military and political environment" that is favourable to the development of some settler projects, according to the group.

Here are some photos, courtesy of Getty Images, amid Israel's war on Gaza.

The United Nations warned Israel's war on Gaza, now approaching its fourth month, had made the territory "uninhabitable", as bombing continued across the Palestinian enclave on Friday.

A plan by Israel's military to mount an internal investigation into the 7 October Hamas attack is drawing criticism from rightist government ministers, who want a more sweeping review of policy towards Gaza.

The armed forces chief, Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, informed the security cabinet of the planned inquiry during a briefing on Thursday evening. The briefing was meant to be closed but some of it was aired by Israeli media, including criticism by several ministers who were present.

The 7 October attack by Hamas and other Palestinian militants blindsided the Israel's advanced security apparatus and exposed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to criticism.

Unlike some other top officials, he has made no personal admission of failure. He has spoken more generally of the eventual need of a public reckoning with all Israeli decision-makers involved in Gaza policy, including those predating his record-long term.

Two far-right cabinet ministers said they were upset at the inclusion in the military's inquiry of Shaul Mofaz, a retired general who was defence minister when Israel ended its permanent ground presence in Gaza in 2005, evacuating its settlements there. The strip remains occupied according to international law and is under a crushing Israeli-led blockade, tightened since the current war broke out.

The two ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, accused another ex-general helping with the probe of having weakened the military by supporting reservists who protested again a campaign for a judicial overhaul by Netanyahu last year.

"These are people whose own actions should be under investigation – and who should not be the ones doing the investigating," Ben-Gvir said in a social media post.

In his own online post, Smotrich said he was not in principle opposed to a military review intended to improve war performance. But any investigation of what led to the events on 7 October, and of wider security doctrines, demanded cabinet input, he said.

The office of an Israeli military spokesperson said the inquiry had not yet begun, adding: "The general staff are planning the process of the investigation and the appointment of the heads of the investigation teams."

The joy of Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) paramedics was "overwhelming" as a baby girl was safely delivered at the Deir al-Balah Ambulance Center in central Gaza.

PRCS posts a video filmed yesterday to social media platform X.

After a day of hard and risky work, the joy of the PRCS paramedics is overwhelming as a baby girl is safely delivered safely❤️ inside the Deir al-Balah Ambulance Center🚑, in central #Gaza.
📷Filmed by PRCS volunteer: Fuad Khmash, 4/1/2024. pic.twitter.com/1PaiEUYLl8

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) January 5, 2024

Rwanda has denied discussing with Israel the transfer of Palestinians from Gaza.

Kigali's foreign ministry said the Rwandan government "notes disinformation" published by an Israeli news organisation alleging there had been talks on the issue. 

"This is completely false. No such discussion has taken place either now or in the past, and the disinformation should be ignored," the ministry added.

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

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

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

Baerbock will subsequently meet with her Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry and also planned 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 said.

The UN children's agency UNICEF says Gaza's children face a "deadly triple threat to their lives" as disease cases rise, nutrition falls, and the war on the strip approaches the start of its fourteenth week.

"Children in Gaza are caught in a nightmare that worsens with every passing day," says UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell.

"Children and families in the Gaza Strip continue to be killed and injured in the fighting, and their lives are increasingly at risk from preventable diseases and lack of food and water. All children and civilians must be protected from violence and have access to basic services and supplies."

UNICEF says in its statement that diarrhoea cases in under-fives increased from 48,000 to 71,000 in just one week beginning on 17 December.

Some 90 percent of children below two years old are consuming two or fewer food groups, a UNICEF survey carried out on 26 December shows.

Dietary diversity for pregnant and breastfeeding women is also "severely compromised", with a quarter only consuming one food type the day prior, and nearly 65 percent just two.

"The deteriorating situation is raising concerns about acute malnutrition and mortality breaching famine thresholds. UNICEF is particularly worried about the nutrition of over 155,000 pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers, as well as more than 135,000 children under two, given their specific nutrition needs and vulnerability," UNICEF says.

"When combined and left untreated, malnutrition and disease create a deadly cycle. Evidence has shown that children with poor health and nutrition are more vulnerable to serious infections like acute diarrhea. Acute and prolonged diarrhea seriously exacerbates poor health and malnutrition in children, putting them at high risk of death."

UNICEF said it is calling for commercial traffic to restart so shops can be restocked and for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to help save civilian lives and ease suffering.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) has said tens of thousands of people across the UK are expected to protest tomorrow against Israel's attacks on Gaza.

Saturday will be the fifth national day of action and comes a week before the seventh national march for Palestine in London.

The PSC said in a statement that actions are set to take place from Bath to Wolverhampton, adding that there will be protests, petitions, fundraising, and marches, mostly led by its network of branches across the UK.

PSC director Ben Jamal, who described Israel's actions in Gaza as amounting to genocide, said: "This Saturday, ordinary people across the UK will come out again to show that the vast majority of them support the demand for a permanent ceasefire and stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine.

"They will also demand the root causes are addressed - Israel’s decades-long military occupation of Palestinian territories and its system of apartheid against Palestinians.

"We demand justice for the Palestinian people – their right to self-determination and to live in freedom, dignity and with equality."

The United Nations delivered medical supplies from a warehouse in Rafah to the Palestinian health ministry's central drug storage facility in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the World Health Organization's chief says.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus adds on X that the supplies delivered by his agency and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) will be sent to hospitals in the region and can support 142,000 people needing care.

The supplies include eight refrigerators, UNFPA clean delivery kits to support 66 safe births, and medical supplies to support surgeries.

"While I welcome the glimmer of hope these supplies in the south provide, the deliveries were done amid great insecurity and danger for staff. And these supplies are only a small percentage of what is needed," Adhanom Ghebreyesus says.

"It is also imperative that WHO and our partners are enabled to send supplies to heavily damaged northern Gaza.

"But since 26 December, we have been unable to due to various factors, including insecurity, damaged roads and inability to receive permissions needed to reach the region."

Adhanom Ghebreyesus adds that thousands are suffering needlessly as the health system is unable to even satisfy most basic needs.

He says health workers in Gaza "continue working tirelessly" in dangerous conditions to fulfil the needs of the people caught up in the war.

"I renew my call for all health facilities, and the staff, patients and displaced people within them, to be protected from the ongoing conflict in Gaza," he says, calling for an "immediate, sustained #CeasefireNOW".

.@WHO has managed to get in touch with health professionals at the Al-Shifa hospital in #Gaza.

The situation is dire and perilous.

It's been 3 days without electricity, without water and with very poor internet which has severely impacted our ability to provide essential…

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) November 12, 2023

US Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley has met with a coalition of faith leaders across the district she represents to discuss "our collective calls for a ceasefire in Gaza".

"With over 22k Palestinians killed and thousands more slowly dying from hunger & disease, we need a permanent #CeasefireNow to save lives," she says on social media platform X.

Pressley, a Democrat and part of the "Squad" of progressive lawmakers, represents the state of Massachusetts' seventh congressional district.

I met with a coalition of faith leaders across my district to discuss our collective calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.

With over 22K Palestinians killed & thousands more slowly dying from hunger & disease, we need a permanent #CeasefireNow to save lives. pic.twitter.com/biXs2JGKqd

— Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (@RepPressley) January 5, 2024

Thousands rallied in support of Gaza in the rebel-controlled Yemeni capital Sanaa on Friday, chanting anti-US and anti-Israeli slogans.

The Houthis have launched more than 20 attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea in recent weeks, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in the face of Israel's war on Gaza.

Since the outbreak of the war on 7 October, the Iran-backed group has organised weekly protests in Sanaa but Friday's demonstration was the "largest" so far, spokesman Mohammad Abdel Salam said.

"Millions of people" took part, he said on social media platform X.

A photographer who collaborates with AFP witnessed a flypast over the crowds by rebel helicopters and warplanes.

Aerial footage released by the Houthis' media centre showed a sea of protesters flooding the capital's al-Sabeen Square, carrying Palestinian and Hezbollah flags.

"Allahu Akbar [God is greatest]. Death to America. Death to Israel," they chanted.

The demonstrators also held up pictures of Houthi fighters killed Sunday in a US strike on rebel vessels in the Red Sea.

The US military said it had sunk three Houthi boats following attacks on a container vessel run by shipping giant Maersk. The rebels said 10 of their fighters were killed.

"We challenge you, America, to approach our coasts," Houthi supporter Abdulkarim al-Marwani told AFP as he took part in the protest.

"We will make the sea, as we made the land, a graveyard for America and Israel. We will make the sea a sinking zone and an incinerator for America and Israel," he added.

The attacks on shipping by the Houthis, who control much of Yemen's Red Sea coast, have caused major disruption to a waterway that carries about 12 percent of global trade.

Twelve nations led by the United States jointly warned the Houthis on Wednesday of unspecified consequences unless they immediately halt their attacks.

But Sanaa protester Hazaa Sarhan warned: "Even if you unite the forces of the entire world and the forces of all the European countries, they will never intimidate us".

A senior United Nations official says Gaza has become a "place of death and despair".

UN relief chief Martin Griffiths says in a statement that tens of thousands have been killed or injured and areas where civilians were told to go to for safety have been bombed.

He adds that a public health disaster is unfolding and that the last 12 weeks have been traumatic for children in particular.

He says around 180 Palestinian women are giving birth a day during this "chaos" and that food insecurity is as at the worst levels ever recorded, with famine near.

"Gaza has simply become uninhabitable. Its people are witnessing daily threats to their very existence – while the world watches on," Griffiths says.

"The humanitarian community has been left with the impossible mission of supporting more than 2 million people, even as its own staff are being killed and displaced, as communication blackouts continue, as roads are damaged and convoys are shot at, and as commercial supplies vital to survival are almost non-existent."

Griffiths adds that rocket attacks on Israel continue and over 120 hostages remain in Gaza, while tensions in the occupied West Bank are "boiling" and the "spectre of further regional spillover of the war is looming dangerously close".

"We continue to demand an immediate end to the war, not just for the people of Gaza and its threatened neighbors, but for the generations to come who will never forget these 90 days of hell and of assaults on the most basic precepts of humanity," he says.

Griffiths, whose statement says the 7 October attacks inside Israel were "horrific", calls for the parties to the war to fulfil their obligations under international law, including to protect civilians and meet their essential needs, and release all hostages immediately.

"It is time for the international community to use all its influence to make this happen," he says.

"This war should never have started. But it’s long past time for it to end."

The UK-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) says the route for the next national pro-Palestine rally in London has now been confirmed.

The seventh national march will take place on 13 January, the PSC says on social media platform X, adding that people should assemble at Bank Junction.

A map attached by the pro-Palestine group shows the march will end near the UK's Houses of Parliament.

🚨The route for the 7th National March for Palestine on Saturday 13 January has now been confirmed. Assemble @ Bank Junction - join us! #ceasefirenow #SaveGaza #FreePalestine pic.twitter.com/2zejgmBLLI

— PSC (@PSCupdates) January 5, 2024

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Friday said the existence and protection of Israel cannot be questioned but called for more humanitarian pauses in the conflict and said there should be no occupation of the area afterwards.

Speaking to reporters alongside her counterpart from Luxembourg Xavier Bettel, Baerbock also warned against the risk of the conflict widening in the region.

While Israel ended its permanent ground presence in Gaza in 2005, evacuating its settlements in the enclave, the territory continues to be occupied according to international law.

A crushing Israeli-led blockade, tightened since the start of the war, enables Tel Aviv to dictate who and what enters and exits Gaza.

(Reuters, The New Arab)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Turkey on Friday to start his fourth Middle East crisis tour since the start of the Gaza war three months ago.

The top American diplomat will visit Israel, the Palestinian Authority base in the occupied West Bank, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, the State Department said.

Blinken will hold talks in Istanbul on Saturday with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, one of the Muslim world's harshest critics of US support for Israel in the war.

"We don't expect every conversation on this trip to be easy. There are obviously tough issues facing the region and difficult choices ahead," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

"But the secretary believes it is the responsibility of the United States of America to lead diplomatic efforts to tackle those challenges head on," he said.

Blinken has used previous trips to try to stop the war spreading. But he returns to a region that has seen attacks in or from Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, and Iran.

A strike inside Lebanon widely assumed to have been carried out by Israel killed a top Hamas leader on Tuesday. Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been firing on ships in the Red Sea in avowed solidarity with Gaza.

Iran was in turn hit Wednesday by one of the deadliest attacks since its 1979 Islamic revolution, with twin blasts killing at least 84 people gathered to commemorate a slain Revolutionary Guards general.

Tehran initially blamed Israel and the United States, although the Islamic State group later claimed responsibility.

Blinken will pay a brief visit Saturday to Greece, which is jittery about an expected US sale of advanced F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, its historic adversary.

The Biden administration is expected to offer the jets once Turkey gives a long-delayed approval to NATO membership for Sweden.

France and Jordan teamed up to airdrop seven tonnes of aid to civilians and aid workers in Gaza, President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday, as Israel continued to bomb the Palestinian territory.

"In a difficult context, France and Jordan delivered aid by air to the population and those aiding them," Macron wrote on social media platform X.

"The humanitarian situation remains critical in Gaza" after three months of war, he said.

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

Macron's office said the "extremely complex operation" took place late on 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 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 said.

Thursday's mission "allows us to show that such operations are possible," the Elysée added, without saying whether it would be repeated.

La situation humanitaire reste critique à Gaza. Dans un contexte difficile, la France et la Jordanie ont livré par les airs de l’aide à la population et à ceux qui lui portent secours. pic.twitter.com/jNXGiZieCh

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) January 5, 2024

The Israeli NGO Peace Now has observed a significant escalation in settler activities in the occupied West Bank coinciding with the onset of the war on 7 October.

The group reported an unprecedented rise in the establishment of new outposts, the construction of roads, and the installation of fences and roadblocks by settlers.

According to a press release from Peace Now, "Settlers continue to aggressively expand their control over Area C in the West Bank, increasingly diminishing the presence of Palestinians in the area."

Thousands protest in Amman, Jordan have went out on the street to support Palestinians in Gaza and to call for ending normalisation with Israel.

The protest began at the Husseini Mosque following Friday afternoon prayers, and chanted slogans supporting the Palestinians in Gaza and denouncing Jordan’s normalisation with Israel.

#BREAKING #Jordan #Gaza Protests in the capital of Jordan, Amman, as a sign of solidarity with the Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/nXGAZ5l5Yj

— The National Independent (@NationalIndNews) January 5, 2024

Large protests are currently taking place in Yemen, with vast numbers of people assembling in the capital, Sanaa, and other cities to express their support for the Palestinians.

According to Al Masirah TV, the "Blood of the Free People…on the Road to Victory" march has drawn the participation of approximately two million Yemenis.

In Sanaa's Al-Sabeen Square, live broadcasts showed large crowds of protestors, many waving Palestinian flags, as Houthi officials delivered speeches to the gathered crowd.

A statement issued at the rally stated that Yemenis are prepared to confront the United States and paid tribute to 10 Yemeni fighters recently killed by US forces.

The statement also denounced the assassination of al-Arouri in Lebanon and called for an Arab boycott of Israeli and American goods and products.

HUGE Palestine solidarity protest happening in Yemen right now.

Millions hit the streets of Sanaa in support of Gaza.

🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/N7NeuSJXgU

— sarah (@sahouraxo) January 5, 2024

"The Americans must complete their departure from Iraq. Iraq doesn’t need the US to fight Daesh [IS]," Nasrallah said.

"The chance to rid Iraq of the occupying American troops is a blessing."

"If the [Israeli] occupation succeeded in breaking Gaza's will, Lebanon's turn would be next, specifically south of the Litani" river, Nasrallah said, in reference to much of south Lebanon.

"The killing of Sheikh Saleh al-Arouri is a big and dangerous violation," Nasrallah said.

He claimed that "all of Lebanon would be exposed" if Hezbollah did not react to Arouri's assassination, vowing that the group's response in the battlefield was inevitable.

Hezbollah's current operations on the southern borders opened a "historic opportunity" for Lebanon to liberate its lands occupied by Israel, and the Islamic resistance in Iraq also has a "historic opportunity" to get rid of the US presence in that country, said Nasrallah.

"The people of the south [Lebanon] were always the ones being displaced, but today, the Israeli occupiers are the ones that are displaced," said Nasrallah.

Most of northern Israel's residents have been evacuated due to the border clashes. In Lebanon, the UN's International Organization for Migration has said more than 76,000 have left their homes in the south.

Responding to questions as to why Hezbollah was clashing with Israel, Nasrallah said it was to exert pressure on Israel to end its aggression on Gaza.

"Since day one, we have said the aim of this front is two-fold: to put pressure on the enemy’s government, and exhausting the enemy's army and society in order to put an end to the Gaza aggression."

"On our front, they [Israel] are exercising secrecy. There are more than 2,000 people injured in the northern front who have been sent to eight hospitals in Israel. Those in charge of their hospitals say their conditions are hopeless, or have moderate injuries," Nasrallah said.

Israel claims only nine soldiers have been killed by rocket fire from Lebanon.

"Israeli experts estimate their losses to be three times more than what they are publicly announcing," added Nasrallah.

"The Islamic resistance [Hezbollah] carried out more than 670 operations in a period of more than three months, on some days more than 23 operations," Nasrallah said.

"The average is 6-7 operations per day with 48 border posts targeted, meaning not one border posts from Shebaa [eastern part of south Lebanon] to Naqoura [western part of south Lebanon] was spared."

"We were hitting military targets and officers and soldiers [in Israel], and if we did target homes that's only in response to the targeting of civilians in Lebanon," Nasrallah said.

"This was the first phase [of the clashes], whereby the Israeli bases were subject to intense bombardment [by us] and technical intelligence equipment was targeted," Nasrallah said.

He responded to criticism of Hezbollah's targeting of Israeli transmission towers. In the early weeks of the clashes, some critics said Hezbollah was waging a war "against poles."

"Some people say you’re targeting poles, they don’t know what they’re talking about. We are targeting the equipment on these poles because they [Israelis] keep trying to fix it, this is not only to have intelligence control in this area, but also over a large part of Lebanon," he said.

He was referring to transmission towers along the border.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that his group has been achieving military and strategic advancements along the Israeli-Lebanese borders in his speech on Friday. 

"What’s happening in the southern border was described by a former [Israeli] general as a 'genuine humiliation," he said. 

 "From day one, what did we say? We said the aim of this front is two-fold, to put pressure on the enemy’s government and exhaust the enemy - its army, its society - to put an end to the aggression in Gaza," he explained.

The leader of the Lebanese group also said that the strategic purpose of these operations is not just immediate military gains but also to alleviate the pressure on Gaza by engaging Israeli forces on multiple fronts.

"The people of the south [Lebanon] were always the ones who were displaced, today, the Israeli occupiers are the ones that are displaced," he said.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech on Friday that the group had intensively targeted technical intelligence equipment and conducted over 670 operations in a period of more than three months, affecting the entire stretch from Shebaa to Naqoura.

"The Islamic resistance carried out more than 670 operations in a period of more than three months, in some days more than 23 operations, the average is 6-7 operations per day, 48 border posts targeted," he added, "meaning not one border posts from the Shebaa to Naqoura was spared." 

Nasrallah also claims over 2,000 people were injured on the Israeli front, that he said is operating in "secrecy".

"There are more than 2,000 people injured in the northern front who have been sent to 8 hospitals in Israel. Those that oversee their hospitals say their conditions are hopeless or have moderate injuries."

Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah started his speech after a 45-minute delay. 

More details to follow

At least 22,600 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in continuous Israeli bombardment since 7 October, and 57,910 have been injured, according to the health ministry.

Shipping giant Maersk said Friday that it would divert all vessels around Africa instead of using the Red Sea and Suez Canal for the "foreseeable future" after Yemeni rebels attacked its merchant ships.

The Danish company cited a "highly volatile" situation and noted that the security risk "continues to be at a significantly elevated level," and that it had "therefore decided that all Maersk vessels due to transit the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden will be diverted south around the Cape of Good Hope for the foreseeable future," it said in a statement.

Gaza's health ministry has announced 162 Palestinians killed and 296 injured in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours.

The office of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said on Friday that the Iraqi government is setting up a joint committee to "permanently end" the US-led international coalition's mission in Iraq.

This announcement came one day after a US airstrike resulted in the death of a local militia leader in Baghdad, according to Reuters.

The Israeli army has confirmed in a statement that it launched new strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon on Friday, the Jerusalem Post has reported.

Fighter jets belonging to the country's air force launched strikes on the Eita al-Sha’ab and Majdal Zon regions within Lebanese borders.

These attacks are said to have significantly damaged Hezbollah's facilities, including a military location where members of the group were located.

Jordan's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Ayman Safadi, said on Thursday that Jordan supports South Africa in its appeal against Israel at the International Court of Justice for committing genocide.

"Jordan supports the appeal raised by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice for genocide and the violation of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The Ministry is working on preparing the necessary legal file to follow up on this and is coordinating with Arab and Islamic countries," he said

"Israel's prevention of sufficient humanitarian aid to Gaza is an implementation of a starvation policy used against the Palestinians, a clear violation of international law, and represents another war crime that Jordan is confronting with all its capabilities," he added.

The Palestinian Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs Authority, along with the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, report that Israeli forces interrogated approximately 500 individuals, including women and children, at the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem.

According to a statement from both organisations, "The occupation moved around 150 Palestinians to a military barrack and detained 20 others."

During an intense two-day raid by Israeli forces on the refugee camp, numerous Palestinians were injured and arrested. The operation also involved bombing homes and causing significant damage to streets, infrastructure, and public facilities.

The statement further noted that since October 7, the total arrests in the West Bank have reached 5,650. This figure includes both those who remain in detention and those who were subsequently released.

US top diplomat Antony Blinken will return to the Middle East on Thursday, continuing the Biden administration's talks over Israel's three-month-long war on Gaza, the US Department of State has reported.

The US secretary of state's weeklong trip - his fourth to the region since 7 October - will include visits to Israel and the West Bank, as well as Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. He also will make stops in Turkey and Greece.

Israeli airstrikes are targeting the area around the Palestinian Red Crescent Society headquarters in the southern city of Khan Younis again, the NGO has reported.

The building has previously been attacked three times over as many days. Seven people, including a five-day-old baby, were and 11 injured in the attacks.

🚨 Urgent: Artillery shelling has resumed in the vicinity of PRCS Al-Amal Hospital in #KhanYounis, and the firing from the occupation's drones continues.#AlAmalHospital#Gaza#NotATarget ❌

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) January 5, 2024

An intense military campagin has been going on in central Gaza for the past hour, Al Jazeera has reported,

Heavy bombardment near the areas of  Deir el-Balah, including at the Nuseirat, al-Maghazi, and Bureij refugee camps" seems to be an attempt to force the remaining residents of the area to evacuate," according to Al Jazeera reporter.

The attacks have so far killed more than 20 people and destroyed a number of the remaining buildings.

Heavy gunfire exchange and battles are taking place in Deir Al Balah, central #Gaza ! pic.twitter.com/031aqPmF5i

— Nour Naim| نور نعيم (@NourNaim88) January 5, 2024

Families of captives held in Gaza organised a protest outside of the home of Israeli defence minister Benny Gantz in Rosh Ha’ayin Friday morning, the Jerusalem Post has reported.

They demanded Gantz and the war cabinet to use take necessary measures to rescue their loved ones, "even if it means stopping the fighting”.

“The lives of our relatives are in daily danger, and the Israeli government has the commitment and ability to save them, before it is too late and there is no one left to save,” they said in a statement.

Israeli authorities are reportedly engaged in undercover negotiations with Rwanda and Chad about relocating Palestinians from Gaza, the Israeli news outlet, Zman Yisrael reported on Friday. 

The Israeli newspaper reports that both Rwanda and Chad have shown initial willingness to continue negotiations, unlike many other countries that have refused in principle.

On Wednesday, Zman Yisrael reported that "Congo" appears open to accepting thousands of Palestinian refugees, though it was not specified whether this refers to the Democratic Republic of Congo or the Republic of Congo.

Israel is negotiating with Chad & Rwanda as potential receiving countries for Palestinians from Gaza. The offer include "generous" aid, including military aid.
Ethnic cleansing out in the open.

https://t.co/bYE3357XKk

— (((it's DOCTOR, not Ms.))) (@NotOccupying) January 5, 2024