The US secretary of state Antony Blinken is continuing his fourth tour of the Middle East since the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
He’s due to visit the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Monday where he’ll speak with crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. He’ll then head to Israel where he’ll hold talks there on Tuesday.
Before leaving Doha in Qatar, Antony Blinken gave a news conference where he made several comments about the Israel-Gaza war including that:
Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow … They cannot, they must not be pressed to leave Gaza.
Some Israeli ministers have recently spoken in favour of “encouraging” Palestinians to leave and re-establishing Jewish settlements in the territory, although this is not official Israeli policy, Agence France-Presse reports.
Blinken also warned that the Israel-Gaza war could spread across the region without concerted peace efforts:
This is a moment of profound tension for the region. This is a conflict that could easily metastasise, causing even more insecurity and suffering.
The US secretary of state said he would tell Israeli officials that it is imperative they do more to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday:
The war must not be stopped until we achieve all the goals: the elimination of Hamas, the return of all our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel … I say this to both our enemies and our friends.
Key events
A British-Palestinian doctor who worked in hospitals in Gaza while Israeli forces bombarded the city has told the APF that he hopes that testimony he has given to UK police will lead to prosecutions for war crimes.
Ghassan Abu Sitta, a plastic surgeon specialising in conflict injuries, spent 43 days volunteering in Gaza, mostly at the al-Ahli and Shifa hospitals in the north.
The 54-year-old has already testified to the Met, the UK’s biggest police force, about the injuries he saw and the kinds of weapons used, as part of evidence being gathered for an international criminal court probe into alleged war crimes committed by both sides.
He is due to travel to The Hague this week to meet ICC investigators.
Abu Sitta said the intensity of the war was the greatest of the numerous conflicts he has worked in, including others in Gaza, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and south Lebanon.
“It’s the difference between a flood and a tsunami – the whole scale is completely different,” he told AFP during an interview in London on Sunday.
Abu Sitta is adamant that he treated burn wounds caused by white phosphorus. Its use as a chemical weapon is prohibited under international law, but it is allowed for illuminating battlefields and as a smokescreen.
“It has a very distinctive injury,” he said.
“The phosphorus continues to burn until the very deepest part of the body, until you reach bone.”
The Met says it is obliged to gather evidence for an ICC probe into alleged war crimes committed by both sides.
Abu Sitta says he told officers about what he witnessed, including the use of white phosphorus and attacks on civilians.
Al Jazeera accuses Israel of ‘targeted killing’ of two Palestinian journalists
Al Jazeera has accused Israel of a “targeted killing” after two of its Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip were killed in an Israeli strike on their car.
Hamza Wael Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria, who also worked as a video stringer for AFP and other news organisations, were killed while they were “on their way to carry out their duty” for the channel in the Gaza Strip, the network said.
A third freelance journalist travelling with them, Hazem Rajab, was seriously injured.
Al Jazeera said in a statement it “strongly condemns the Israeli occupation forces’ targeting of the Palestinian journalists’ car”, accusing Israel of “targeting” journalists and “violating the principles of freedom of the press”.
The health ministry in Gaza also confirmed the deaths and blamed an Israeli strike.
The Guardian’s Chris McGreal has taken a closer look at the domestic reaction in South Africa after it launched legal action against Israel accusing the country of genocide.
Israel has denounced South Africa’s legal action at the international court of justice accusing Israel of genocide and war crimes in Gaza as amounting to support for Hamas.
Israel called the charge that it was intentionally killing thousands of Palestinian civilians – which the ICJ is expected to start hearing on Thursday – a “blood libel”. Jewish organisations in South Africa accused the ruling African National Congress of siding with terrorism and antisemitism.
But South Africa’s lawsuit seeking a halt to the Israeli assault on Gaza in response to the Hamas cross-border attack in October comes after years of deteriorating relations rooted in the ANC’s decades-long support for the Palestinian cause and the legacy of Israel’s close military alliance with the apartheid regime during some of the most oppressive years of white rule.
The Guardian’s Archie Bland is taking a closer look at the figures coming out of the Israel-Gaza war for First Edition.
Gaza’s ministry of health says that at least 22,835 Palestinians had been killed by yesterday, with another 58,416 reportedly injured. That figure does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but an estimated 70% are women and children. 7,000 more are reportedly missing and most are likely dead.
Israel’s final count for Hamas’s 7 October massacre is 1,139: 685 Israeli civilians, 373 members of the security forces, and 71 foreigners. Deaths in Israel since then bring the total to about 1,200. 36 of the victims were children. The Israeli military says that 174 soldiers have been killed in Gaza, and 1,023 injured.
Read more of his analysis here:
Germany is ready to allow sales of Eurofighter jets to Saudi Arabia, foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday.
Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain jointly build the jet and each can veto deals, Agence France-Presse reports.
Germany has blocked arms sales to Riyadh since the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. That includes blocking a deal for 48 Eurofighter jets signed by Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman in London.
“We do not see ourselves, as the German federal government, opposing British considerations on other Eurofighter (sales),” Baerbock told journalists on a trip to Israel, in which she highlighted the Saudi role in the Middle East security crisis since the Israel-Gaza war.
Germany’s foreign minister noted that Saudi Arabia and Israel had “not renounced their policy of normalisation” since war broke out. “The fact that Saudi Arabia is now intercepting missiles fired by the Houthis at Israel underlines this, and we are grateful for that,” AFP reports.
“Saudi Arabia is a key contributor to Israel’s security, even these days, and is helping to stem the risk of a regional conflagration.”
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says 73 Palestinians were killed and 99 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza in the past 24 hours. The figures were given in a statement on Monday, says Reuters.
Israel’s offensive has so far killed 22,835 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials. In Israel, about 1,200 people were killed and 240 were taken hostage on 7 October, according to Israeli officials.
More than 100 hostages are still believed to be held by Hamas.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has posted on Telegram and X in the last hour that it “struck numerous Hezbollah targets in Lebanon” overnight.
The post says “IAF fighter jets struck a Hezbollah military compound in the area of Marwahin”. It also says a rocket launcher and infrastructure was hit in Ayta ash Shab.
Earlier, the IDF confirmed that a Hezbollah rocket barrage damaged a strategic airbase in northern Israel, on Saturday.
The IDF declined to comment on the extent of the damage at Mt Meron airbase, which is less than 10km (6.21 miles) from the border with Lebanon.
במהלך הלילה צה”ל תקף שורת מטרות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בלבנון.
מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו במהלך הלילה מתחם צבאי של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב הכפר מרווחין, וכן משגר רקטי ותשתית טרור במרחב הכפר עייתא א-שעב>> pic.twitter.com/6oCnAlWpsP
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) January 8, 2024
The US secretary of state Antony Blinken is continuing his fourth tour of the Middle East since the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
He’s due to visit the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Monday where he’ll speak with crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. He’ll then head to Israel where he’ll hold talks there on Tuesday.
Before leaving Doha in Qatar, Antony Blinken gave a news conference where he made several comments about the Israel-Gaza war including that:
Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow … They cannot, they must not be pressed to leave Gaza.
Some Israeli ministers have recently spoken in favour of “encouraging” Palestinians to leave and re-establishing Jewish settlements in the territory, although this is not official Israeli policy, Agence France-Presse reports.
Blinken also warned that the Israel-Gaza war could spread across the region without concerted peace efforts:
This is a moment of profound tension for the region. This is a conflict that could easily metastasise, causing even more insecurity and suffering.
The US secretary of state said he would tell Israeli officials that it is imperative they do more to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday:
The war must not be stopped until we achieve all the goals: the elimination of Hamas, the return of all our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel … I say this to both our enemies and our friends.
Welcome and opening summary
Hello and welcome to our Middle East crisis blog, covering the Israel-Gaza war and other events in the region. It’s currently 8:03am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. I’m Reged Ahmad and I’ll be with you for the next while.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is on his fourth tour of the Middle East since the 7 October attacks in Israel by Hamas. Speaking at a news conference after his meeting with Qatari prime minister sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, Blinken said “Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow,” and that “this is a conflict that could easily metastasise, causing even more insecurity and suffering”.
More on Blinken’s comments in a moment but first, here’s a summary of the latest developments:
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The Israeli military says it has completed its mission to destroy Hamas’s infrastructure in northern Gaza and has scaled back its military operations there as the offensive moves south, In recent weeks, Israel had already been scaling back its military assault in northern Gaza and pressing its offensive in the territory’s south, Associated Press reports.
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The Qatari foreign ministry has released a statement following US secretary of state Antony Blinken’s meeting with Qatari prime minister sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani on Sunday. In the statement, the Qatari foreign ministry said that Blinken and al-Thani discussed ways to pressure for a ceasefire, lift restrictions imposed on humanitarian aid and discussed negotiations to release prisoners and the latest regional developments.
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Some bakeries in Gaza have resumed functioning after over 50 days of closures due to shortages in fuel and electricity as a result of Israel’s deadly attacks across the strip. The World Food Programme announced the resumption of bakery functions in Gaza on Sunday, adding that it is providing wheat flour, salt, sugar and yeast so bakeries can start making bread again.
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Beirut’s airport screens were hacked on Sunday with messages that showed anti-Hezbollah messages, Agence France-Presse reports Lebanon’s state news agency saying. According to Lebanese media reports, the messages urged Hezbollah to not “drag the country into war”. Another message said: “You’re going to blow up our airport by bringing in weapons. Let the airport be freed from the grip of the [Hezbollah] statelet,” AFP reports.
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Nine people are confirmed to have died in the occupied West Bank, as more details emerge about an Israeli drone strike in Jenin. Seven Palestinians were targeted in an airstrike by the Israeli army in Jenin refugee camp and an Israeli police officer was killed during an operation, the Israeli army said. An Israeli civilian was also shot dead in another incident north of Ramallah, the army said.
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A Hezbollah rocket barrage on Saturday night damaged a strategic airbase in northern Israel, the country’s military confirmed. The Israeli Defense Forces declined to comment on the extent of the damage at Mt Meron airbase, which is less than 10km (6.21 miles) from the border with Lebanon.
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Two journalists have been killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza . Hamza Wael Al-Dahdouhof Al Jazeera and Mustafa Thuria, a video freelancer for AFP, died while travelling in a car, the health ministry and medics confirmed.
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UNRWA’s Gaza deputy director Scott Anderson gave an update on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza as a result of Israel’s deadly attacks which have killed nearly 23,000 Palestinians while leaving nearly 2 million survivors internally displaced. Speaking to CNN, Anderson said: “The levels of hunger are quite severe in Gaza. From Rafah to the north, it gets worse, the farther north you go.”
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Crew from Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the International Rescue Committee have been forced to withdraw from Gaza’s al-Aqsa hospital due to Israeli bombardment. In a statement released on Sunday, MAP said: “As a result of increasing Israeli military activity around the Al Aqsa hospital, the only functioning hospital in Gaza’s Middle Area, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC)’s Emergency Medical Team (EMT) has been forced to withdraw and cease activities.”
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Israel has named its former supreme court president Aharon Barak as its addition to the international court of justice (ICJ) panel scheduled to hear a genocide allegation filed against it this week, an Israeli official said. Under the ICJ’s rules a state that does not have a judge of its nationality already on the bench can choose an ad hoc judge to sit in their case, Reuters reports.
