Israel says it is scaling down Gaza war
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Israel says it has begun a new, less intense phase of the war, admitting publicly for the first time that the conflict has “shifted”.
The next step will involve fewer airstrikes and troops, and operations would now focus on central and southern Gaza, an IDF spokesman said.
Rear-Adml Daniel Hagari said: “The war shifted a stage.”
“But the transition will be with no ceremony...it’s not about dramatic announcements.”
His comments to the New York Times follow weeks of international pressure over the number of civilian deaths in Gaza. Last week, Israel sent some reservists home and moved to reinforce its northern border with Lebanon.
Anthony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, is due to arrive in Israel for talks amid fears that the conflict could spread to the wider region.
On Sunday, Mr Blinken said Palestinians displaced by the now four-month-old war must be allowed to “return home”, while warning that the violence could “easily metastasize” into a regional conflict.
04:00 PM GMT
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03:47 PM GMT
Car belonging to deceased Hezbollah commander Wissam al-Tawil destroyed in Israeli strike
03:40 PM GMT
Hezbollah 'underestimating Israel,' says Netanyahu
“Hezbollah underestimated us big-time in 2006, and is underestimating us again,” Benjamin Netanyahu has said, as he visited troops near Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.
On a visit to troops in Kiryat Shmona, the Israeli prime minister told the 769 Brigade: “We will do everything to restore security to the north and allow your families, because many of you are local, to return home safely and know that we cannot be messed with.
“We will do whatever it takes. Of course, we prefer that this be done without a wide campaign, but that will not stop us.”
He added: “We gave them an example of what is happening to their friends in the south, this is what will happen here in the north. We will do everything to restore security.”
03:31 PM GMT
UN very concerned by death toll of journalists in Gaza
Very concerned by high death toll of media workers in #Gaza. Killings of all journalists, incl Hamza Al-Dahdouh & Mustafa Abu Thurayya in reported IDF strike on car, must be thoroughly, independently investigated to ensure strict compliance w/ intl law, & violations prosecuted
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) January 8, 2024
03:09 PM GMT
Pictured: IDF in the Gaza Strip
02:58 PM GMT
UN experts demand accountability for sexual torture during Hamas attacks
UN experts demanded accountability for sexual violence against Israeli civilians during the October 7 Hamas attacks, saying that mounting evidence of rapes and genital mutilation point to possible crimes against humanity.
Israeli authorities have opened an investigation into possible sexual crimes during the most deadly attack on Israel in its history. Hamas denies the abuses.
“The growing body of evidence about reported sexual violence is particularly harrowing,” two UN-appointed independent experts said in a statement on Monday. The statement referred to allegations of sexual torture including rape and gang rape as well as mutilations and gunshots to genital areas.
“These acts constitute gross violations of international law, amounting to war crimes which, given the number of victims and the extensive premeditation and planning of the attacks, may also qualify as crimes against humanity,” the experts said.
“Each and every victim deserves to be recognised, regardless of their ethnicity, religion or sex, and our role is to be their voice,” they added.
02:27 PM GMT
Israel's 'brutal' war creates generation of Gaza orphans, says Jordanian King
Jordan’s King Abdullah said that Israel has created a whole generation of orphans with its “brutal” war in Gaza, where he said over 30,000 people, mostly women and children, had been killed or were missing as a result of the conflict.
In remarks at the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Rwanda, where the monarch also spoke of “unspeakable crimes” during that African conflict, he said a lesson to be drawn was that Israel’s “indiscriminate aggression” in Gaza would never guarantee its security. His remarks were reported in state media following a statement by the royal palace.
“More children have died in Gaza than in all other conflicts around the world this past year. Of those who have survived, many have lost one or both parents, an entire generation of orphans,” he said.
“How can indiscriminate aggression and shelling bring peace? How can they guarantee security, when they are build on hatred?,” he said of Israel’s war against the militant group Hamas.
01:38 PM GMT
Rafah in pictures:
12:56 PM GMT
Palestinians must be able to stay in Gaza, Blinken says
Palestinians must not be pressured into leaving Gaza, Anthony Blinken said, as he condemned calls by some Israeli ministers for the resettlement of the enclave’s citizens as “irresponsible.”
“Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow,” the US Secretary of State said. “They cannot, they must not be pressed to leave Gaza.”
His comments come amid rifts in the Israeli government over plans for post-war Gaza.
Bezalel Smotrich, the Israeli finance minister, has said that most Israelis support a “humanitarian solution” involving the “voluntary migration of Gaza’s Arabs and their absorption in other countries”.
Isaac Herzog, Israel’s president, said that resettling Palestinians out of Gaza is “absolutely not” the official position of the country’s government or the Israeli public.
But he added: “In a society where free speech is the basis of our national DNA, people can say whatever they want.”
12:11 PM GMT
Israeli strike on Lebanon kills senior commander in elite Hezbollah unit
An Israeli strike on south Lebanon killed a senior commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force on Monday, three security sources told Reuters.
The security sources identified him as Wissam al-Tawil, the deputy head of a unit within the Radwan force.
They said he and another Hezbollah fighter were killed when their car was hit in a strike on the Lebanese village of Majdal Selm.
“This is a very painful strike,” one of the security sources said. Another said: “things will flare up now.”
11:59 AM GMT
Civilians killed in Gaza war 'aren't collateral damage,' says Pope
Pope Francis has condemned “war crimes” perpetrated against civilians in conflicts such as in Gaza and Ukraine, and said those killed should not be considered “collateral damage”.
“The distinction between military and civil objectives is no longer respected,” the 87-year-old pontiff said in his New Year’s address to diplomats at the Vatican.
“There is no conflict that does not end up in some way indiscriminately striking the civilian population. The events in Ukraine and Gaza are clear proof of this,” he added.
“We must not forget that grave violations of international humanitarian law are war crimes”, he continued, in a speech dominated by calls for an end to conflicts around the world.
The Pope said people “need to realise more clearly that civilian victims are not ‘collateral damage’ but men and woman, with names and surnames, who lose their lives”.
11:12 AM GMT
Pictured: A boy cooks near debris in Gaza City
10:29 AM GMT
Israel has 'duty' to protect West Bank Palestinians, says Germany
Israel has the duty to protect Palestinians in the West Bank, Annalena Baerbock, the German foreign minister, said in Ramallah on Monday.
Her comments came after the Palestinian health ministry said Israeli forces had killed six Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli officials said an Israeli police officer was killed in the violence.
On Sunday, Ms Baerbock urged Israel to ease its military campaign in Gaza and do more to protect civilians in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Germany has been one of Israel’s most steadfast supporters since the start of the conflict with Hamas, but she warned that Israel’s security also depended on limiting civilian deaths.
10:22 AM GMT
Healthcare workers forced to withdraw from 'only functioning hospital' in Gaza
Staff at international aid agencies have been forced to withdraw and cease activities at Gaza’s only functioning hospital.
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC)’s Emergency Medical Team (EMT) have ceased operations at the Al-Aqsa hospital after the Israeli military dropped leaflets designating areas surrounding the hospital as a “red zone.”
Professor Nick Maynard, a surgeon and clinical lead for the EMT, said: “The amount of injuries being brought in over the last few days has been horrific, and with a huge reduction in the number of staff able to come to the hospital there is even less capacity for treating them. There are patients clearly dying in the emergency department who could be saved if there were enough staff.”
Dr James Smith, emergency medical specialist with the EMT, said: “We fear for the immediate safety of people in the area, the Palestinian staff we’ve worked alongside, the hundreds of patients in the hospital, and thousands of displaced people in the hospital compound and nearby camps.”
A local emergency physician in the area told the team: “I’m really scared because the past few days they’re getting closer and closer, and no place is safe anymore. Where should people go if they get injured?!”
09:52 AM GMT
Pictured: Border police officers mourn near the grave during a funeral for Sgt Shai Garmai in Karmiel, Israel
09:33 AM GMT
Blinken meets Arab leaders
Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, held more talks with Arab leaders on Monday as part of a diplomatic push to stop the war in Gaza spreading further.
Mr Blinken met Abu Dhabi’s ruler, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in the United Arab Emirates and was due later on Monday to hold talks in Saudi Arabia with Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s crown prince, in the oasis town of AlUla before heading on to Israel.
Mr Blinken visited Jordan and Qatar on Sunday, and sought to reassure Arab officials that the United States opposes the displacement of Palestinians outside Gaza, and instead wants Israel’s Muslim majority neighbours to play a role in the enclave’s future governance.
09:06 AM GMT
WHO cancels delivery of medical supplies to north Gaza because of unsafe conditions
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it had been compelled to cancel a mission to bring medical supplies to northern Gaza on Sunday after failing to receive security guarantees.
It was the fourth time WHO was forced to call off a planned mission to bring urgently needed medical supplies to the Al-Awda Hospital and the central drug store in northern Gaza since December 26, it said.
The WHO office in the occupied Palestinian territories wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “It has now been 12 days since we were last able to reach northern Gaza.
“Heavy bombardment, movement restrictions, and interrupted communications are making it nearly impossible to deliver medical supplies regularly and safely across Gaza, particularly in the north.”
The delivery planned for Sunday had been designed to sustain the operations of five hospitals in the northern part of the enclave, according to WHO.
08:41 AM GMT
'Increasing hostilities' at one of Gaza's last functioning hospitals, says WHO
International aid groups said that Israeli attacks on one of Gaza’s last functioning hospitals forced them to evacuate.
Shocked by the scale of health needs and devastation in Northern Gaza.
Urgent, safe and unhindered access to the region is needed to deliver humanitarian aid.
Further delays will lead to more death and suffering for far too many people.#CeasefireNow. https://t.co/9uYTWZLxEc— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) January 7, 2024
The World Health Organisation said on Sunday it had evacuated more than 600 patients from the Al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza following “troubling reports of increasing hostilities”.
Doctors Without Borders said a day earlier it had evacuated its staff from the same hospital after a bullet had penetrated a wall in the intensive care unit.
08:35 AM GMT
Pictured: Smoke and flames rise from different parts of Salah al-Din Road following Israeli attacks in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza
08:34 AM GMT
West told to ‘put its money where its mouth is’ if it really wants to help people of Gaza
Western nations that claim to care about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza should “put their money where their mouth is” and resettle Palestinians in their own countries, a far-Right member of Israel’s parliament has said.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Simcha Rothman, whose ultra-nationalist party forms part of Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government in the Knesset, urged Western countries to “support the people - and getting them out of danger and poverty”.
Several members of ultra-nationalist parties, including Mr Rothman’s National Religious Zionism Party, have called for Palestinians to leave Gaza in recent weeks, eliciting condemnation from the West.
Read more here
08:33 AM GMT
Confidential US report finds Israel unlikely to win against Hezbollah on second front
Israel is unlikely to win a war against the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah if it decides to open a new front on its northern border, according to a confidential report by US intelligence.
The US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) found that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would be too stretched by fighting on two fronts, with the air force already overworked by constant raids on Gaza.
IDF pilots would face far more dangerous missions going up against Hezbollah’s powerful air defences, the DIA warned, according to a report in the Washington Post.
Read more here
