Above photo: Palestinian families fleeing from Nusairat and Maghzi in the Central Gaza Strip to Rafah on January 4, 2024. Naaman Omar/APA Images.
All Eyes Turn To Lebanon.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gives a speech on Friday as world fears escalation on the Lebanese front. Meanwhile, Israeli military and government officials fight over future plans for Gaza and an investigation into the events of October 7.
Casualties:
- 22,600 killed* and at least 57,910 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
- 322 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
*This figure was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health on January 5. Due to breakdowns in communication networks within the Gaza Strip, the Ministry of Health in Gaza has been unable to regularly and accurately update its tolls since mid-November. Some rights groups say the death toll is higher than 30,000 when accounting for those presumed dead.
Key Developments
- Three days after the assassination of senior Hamas leader Saleh al-Aruri in Beirut, a speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday afternoon set the tone on the Lebanese-Israeli front, as international actors frantically try to avoid a regional conflagration.
- While Nasrallah said a response to al-Aruri’s killing was “inevitable,” he stated that Hezbollah’s primary goal was to end the Israeli assault on Gaza – seemingly signaling that a full-blown escalation was not in the cards.
- In Gaza, Israeli airstrikes kill at least 162 people and injure 296 others in the span of 24 hours, including in so-called ‘humanitarian zones.’
- Doctors and humanitarian groups warn that malnutrition and hypothermia are now having fatal consequences in Gaza, as winter hits amid serious shortages in food and drinking water.
- Rights groups meanwhile call for more pressure on Israel amid growing reports of field executions in Gaza as the whereabouts of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners remain unknown.
- Israeli forces kill a Palestinian teenager and detain at least 12 people across the occupied West Bank, as armed confrontations rage in several northern West Bank refugee camps.
- In Israel, tensions explode between the military establishment and far-right ministers over whether to conduct an investigation into the army’s failures on and after October 7, during a heated security cabinet meeting on Thursday.
- Israeli officials discuss plans for Palestinian “clans” friendly to Israel to take over administrative control of Gaza after the war – a proposal strongly rejected by various Palestinian political actors.
Israel Continues To Pummel Gaza, As Hunger And Cold Take Their Toll
The first International Court of Justice hearings scheduled for next week over whether Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip constitute genocide are not deterring the Israeli military from continuing to wage a relentless campaign of bombardment and deliberate humanitarian devastation on the besieged Palestinian territory.
WAFA news agency reported deadly Israeli airstrikes between Thursday and Friday in Jabalia refugee camp, Khan Younis, al-Zawaida, al-Maghazi refugee camp, al-Bureij refugee camp, Deir al-Balah, Rafah, and Nuseirat refugee camp. Israeli forces notably hit a cemetery and tents where Palestinian civilians had taken refuge, as well as residential homes and vehicles.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said on Friday that Israeli forces were continuing to target the area of the Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis for the fourth consecutive day. An estimated 14,000 people are taking refuge in the hospital. At least seven people, including a five-days-old infant, have been killed by Israeli shelling in the area in recent days.
In a statement on Friday, the Israeli army said it had struck at least 100 “targets” overnight.
Eyewitnesses told Al Jazeera that Israeli tanks crushed people in the al-Maghazi camp on Thursday and that army snipers had been ramping up their targeting of civilians, with one report of a sniper “piercing [a] baby’s skull with a bullet” in their mother’s arms, killing both.
The growing number of reports of field executions in Gaza in recent weeks has led rights groups such as the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor to call on the international community to pressure Israel into revealing the whereabouts of hundreds of Palestinians detained in Gaza.
The Gaza Ministry of Health reported on Friday that Israeli attacks had killed at least 162 people and injured 296 others in the span of 24 hours, raising the official toll in Gaza since October 7 to 22,600 killed and 57,910 wounded.
On Thursday, Save the Children denounced an Israeli airstrike that very morning in the area of al-Mawasi, an area to which Israeli forces had called on civilians to evacuate, that killed at least 14 people, the majority of them children under the age of 10.
“These relocation orders offer nothing more than a smokescreen of safety. If people stay, they are killed. If they move, they are killed. People are facing the ‘choice’ of one death sentence or another,” Save the Children’s country director for the occupied Palestinian territory Jason Lee said. “World leaders must secure a definitive ceasefire now. Every hour without one, more children will pay the price for broken politics with their lives and futures. There will be no safe place in Gaza until then.”
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Thursday that the Israeli army had once again air-dropped leaflets in the Deir al-Balah governorate ordering civilians to evacuate an area of Nuseirat where some 4,700 people are estimated to be taking refuge in a U.N.-supported health center. According to the UN agency, Israeli forces have issued evacuation orders covering 35 percent of the Gaza Strip since December 1 – all while repeatedly bombing areas it has designated as “safe zones” for civilians.
OCHA reported that more than one million people had now taken refuge in Gaza’s southernmost Rafah governorate, “squeezed into an extremely overcrowded space, following the intensification of hostilities in Khan Younis and Deir al Balah and the Israeli military’s evacuation orders.”
Humanitarian agencies have repeatedly warned that the slow entry of aid into the Gaza Strip was creating a devastating crisis in which many more Palestinians might die as a result of the lack of fuel, medical supplies, food, and water.
Israeli human rights group Gisha reported on Wednesday that an average of 75 truckloads of aid per day had entered Gaza between October 21 and December 16, “light years away from what’s needed.” The organization added that there was a “lack of transparency” around Israeli restrictions of so-called “dual-use” items Tel Aviv claims could be used by Palestinian armed groups, such as flashlights or materials that could repair the enclave’s decimated communications infrastructure.
“Israel bears obligations towards Gaza’s civilian population under international law, which it has continued to blatantly disavow. As a party to hostilities, it must allow, at the very least, the passage of humanitarian aid into the Strip. As an occupying power, it has an obligation to provide it. Deliberately blocking life-saving humanitarian consignments is a war crime, as is collective punishment,” the group added.
Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert, who has previously worked in Gaza, told Al Jazeera that winter was bringing “an unbearable avalanche of human suffering” to Gaza, and that the risk of hypothermia was becoming “overwhelmingly dangerous,” particularly for young children.
“This is particularly true for those who are small and those who are already starving or sick – which a large portion of the people are,” Gilbert said. “A small child will very quickly become cold and when your body temperature drops below 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) it reaches hypothermia. This weakens the body, weakens the immune system, and if there is a bleeding injury, causes bleeding to occur more quickly. Hypothermia is a death trap.”
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the International Rescue Committee also raised the alarm about the rise in serious malnutrition and “harrowing injuries” seen by its staff in Gaza.
“Every square inch of the hospital – the halls, the staircases, the reception areas, the wards – are covered with people lying on the ground,” surgeon Nick Maynard said. “We are seeing children and adults in the hospital with serious malnutrition. At the first hint of any infection these patients lose weight rapidly and look ever more profoundly malnourished.”
Meanwhile, ground fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups has been reported in the areas of Nuseirat, Gaza City, Bureij, Khan Younis, al-Shati, Khuza’a, and Maghazi.
Israeli media reported on Thursday that three Israelis who had been believed missing since October 7 were now confirmed to be held in Gaza, raising the official number of hostages to 136. The body of another Israeli was also reported to be held by Palestinian groups in Gaza.
Nasrallah Speech Sets The Tone On The Lebanese Front
Since the assassination of senior Hamas leader Saleh al-Aruri in the suburbs of Beirut on Tuesday, the world has been looking towards Lebanon as an escalation of the northern front becomes a more serious possibility.
While Israel has not claimed responsibility for al-Aruri’s killing, there has been little doubt in Lebanon and most of the international community over who was behind the targeted drone attack.
Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement allied with Hamas, gave a speech on Friday afternoon – the second this week, after he warned on Wednesday that al-Aruri’s killing would not go unpunished.
“A response to what happened in the southern suburbs of Beirut is inevitable, and the decision depends on the situation in the field. The ground does not wait. I will not say ‘at the right time and place,’” Nasrallah said during a lengthy speech.
Despite such warnings, Nasrallah did not seem to indicate that an escalation of conflict was inevitably in the cards in Lebanon, emphasizing that Hezbollah’s primary goal was to support Palestinian groups fighting in Gaza: “The goal of all fronts is to cease this aggression.”
“To those who ask why we are fighting on the [southern Lebanese] front, we are obligated to respond. There are two goals for this front: to exert pressure on the enemy [Israel] and its government to stop the aggression against Gaza,” he said. “The second goal is to ease the pressure on the resistance in Gaza.”
While he expressed hope for Lebanon to reclaim territories occupied by Israel, including the Shebaa farms, Nasrallah noted that such negotiations would only happen after Israel’s aggression on Gaza came to an end.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken began his fourth visit to the Middle East since October 7 on Friday, with, amongst other goals, the aim of reducing tensions between Lebanon and Israel.
Lebanon has filed a formal complaint to the U.N. Security Council over the attack that killed al-Aruri and five others, calling it “the most dangerous escalation since 2006,” the last time Israel bombarded Beirut during a month-long war.
The Israeli army has nonetheless continued to strike towns in southern Lebanon and violate Lebanese airspace, as Lebanese officials held talks with a number of U.N. and international representatives regarding the risk of escalation. European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell landed in Lebanon on Friday for three days with the aim of defusing the situation, the E.U. said in a statement.
While Hezbollah has reportedly continued to fire some rockets toward Israel in recent days, The Economist reported on Thursday that the Lebanese resistance group had withdrawn fighters to two to three kilometers away from the Blue Line, which analysts have interpreted as either a “tactical retreat” or a signal that it does not seek all-out war.
Inside Israel, The Army Spars With The Settler Movement Over October 7 Investigation, Gaza’s Future
Members of the Israeli leadership have meanwhile been lashing out at one another, amid growing fractures between the military leadership and the far right, extremist ministers in Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government.
A Security Cabinet meeting on Thursday night reportedly devolved into a screaming match between senior army officials and hardline ministers over when and whether the army should conduct an investigation into its actions on and since October 7 – including the killing of three Israeli hostages by Israeli forces in December. Army chief of staff Herzl Halevi said the military had so far avoided investigating what happened on October 7 because of fears it may cause “tensions within the army,” adding that any investigation while the war was still ongoing could bear “a significant impact on the fighting itself.”
Plans for the army to investigate itself have nonetheless provoked ire from ministers who opposed the inclusion of former defense minister Shaul Mofaz in the investigation. Mofaz was involved in the 2005 withdrawal of illegal Israeli settlements in Gaza, a decision reviled by the far-right, which has repeatedly called for these settlements to be revived, and for more than 2 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinian inhabitants to be exiled elsewhere.
Internal discussions on the “day after” in Israel have been equally rocky. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has revealed his plans for Gaza after the war, which include continued Israeli military intervention along with civil administration of Gaza by a “Palestinian entity” – consisting, according to reports, of “clans” deemed friendly with Israel. This proposal has, unsurprisingly, been rejected by Netanyahu’s settler allies, who reject any form of Palestinian self-rule, however limited, in Gaza, deeming even the complacent Palestinian Authority as an unacceptable option.
The Palestinian Authority expressed on Friday its rejection of Israeli-made plans for future Palestinian leadership, with a statement from the presidency emphasizing “the unswerving, clear Palestinian position that prioritizes ending the Israeli aggression against our people in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem.”
“The enemy’s leadership’s statements about forming local committees subservient to the occupation, and an international administration overseeing Gaza in partnership with the occupation, are nothing but a cover for continuation of the war. The enemy knows well that its goals are impossible to achieve,” the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said in a statement on Friday. “The day after the war will be a day of defeat and complete withdrawal of the aggression and a day of victory for the resistance.”
The Times of Israel has reported that Israeli military officials were feeling under pressure due to continued international outcry and the very real possibility that the ICJ may rule against Israel next week. Unnamed sources told Israeli media that Palestinians may be able to return to northern Gaza in the next phase of the conflict and that Israel may open several more routes to allow aid into Gaza.
Families of Israeli hostages are meanwhile continuing to stage protests outside the homes of several ministers, calling for a deal to be reached to obtain their release. Since the end of a weeklong truce and hostage swap deal on December 1, Israel has claimed it will free remaining hostages through combat operations, but has so far failed to do so – with a number of Israeli hostages dying since, some directly shot and killed by Israeli soldiers.
Israel Army Kills Palestinian Teen In The West Bank
Israeli forces have continued to raid the occupied West Bank, killing 17-year-old Palestinian Osaid Tareq al-Rimawi and injuring seven others in the town of Beit Rima overnight.
Armed confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli forces were reported in Sir and Sanur in the Jenin governorate, as well as in the Tulkarem, Nur Shams, and Balata refugee camps.
The PA condemned the Israeli army raids in Tulkarem and Nur Shams for three days in a row. At least two Palestinians were meanwhile shot and wounded in Balata.
WAFA reported that Israeli forces have detained at least 12 Palestinians across the West Bank since Thursday. A 16-year-old shepherd was among those detained on Thursday evening, the news agency wrote, adding that his 60 sheep were confiscated.
In occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli forces once again prevented many worshippers from praying at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.
Settlers meanwhile violently attacked Palestinians in the Bethlehem-area village of Kisan, seriously injuring a 40-year-old man. Israeli forces meanwhile began construction work on a settler-only road in the area of Masafer Yatta south of Hebron.
Settlement watchdog Peace Now issued a report on Thursday warning of an “unmatched surge” in illegal Israeli settlement activity since October.
“The permissive military and political environment allow the reckless construction and land seizure almost unchecked,” the group said. “The result is not only physical harm to Palestinians and their lands but also a significant political shift in the West Bank. The unchecked rampage of the settlers must be stopped now.”