Biden urges Congress to “swiftly pass” a $118bn bipartisan deal that includes $14.1bn in military aid to Israel after the ICJ ordered Israel to halt its ongoing attacks on civilians in Gaza.
Casualties
- 27,365+ killed* and at least 66,630 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
- 380+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
- Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.
- 562 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 were injured.**
*This figure was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health on its Telegram channel. Some rights groups put the death toll number at more than 35,000 when accounting for those presumed dead.
** This figure is released by the Israeli military.
Key Developments
- UNOCHA: Israeli attacks from “air, land, and sea” kill 127 people in 24 hours.
- UNOCHA: Israeli forces carrying out “significant destruction” of residential blocks across Gaza, particularly in the city of Khan Younis.
- Unnamed Israeli bank notified UNRWA that it is blocking its bank account due to “tangible suspicions it is transferring funds to terror groups in Gaza,” reported Haaretz.
- PRCS: Israeli forces detain al-Amal Hospital general manager and administrative director.
- Israeli army admits to operating unofficial psychological warfare Telegram channel called “72 Virgins – Uncensored.”
- PRCS: Fate of 6-year-old Hind Rajab and two emergency service workers who went to rescue her remains unknown a week later.
- Hamas says it targeted six Israeli tanks, shot soldier, fired shell at building housing troops in separate attacks in Gaza City on Sunday.
- Israel plans to hire 65,000 foreign building workers from India, Sri Lanka, and Uzbekistan to replace Palestinian laborers.
- PRCS releases video footage showing destruction of headquarters in Jabalia, northern Gaza.
- Emergency funding bill released by U.S. senators on Sunday includes $14.1bn in military aid to Israel, including $4bn for Israeli Iron Dome and David’s Sling defense systems.
- NBC poll: Biden ratings drop, fewer than 3 in 10 approve of handling of Israel Gaza attacks.
- Israeli protestors block trucks carrying aid from Ashdod to Gaza again on Sunday.
- Israeli cabinet approves extension of citizenship law targeting Palestinians
- At least 28 Palestinians detained during overnight raids in occupied West Bank.
Israel’s Genocide in Gaza Continues
- Palestinians huddling under bombardment in Gaza said they hoped a visit to the region by the US secretary of state would finally deliver a truce, in time to head off a threatened new Israeli assault on the last refuge at the enclave’s edge.
Hamas is still weighing a proposal to pause fighting in Gaza and release Israeli hostages, a broadcaster affiliated with Hamas, Al Aqsa, said yesterday. Meanwhile, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that “the ball is in Hamas’s court.” “We’re going to press for it relentlessly, as the president has done, including recently in calls with the leaders of Egypt and Qatar, the two countries that are our central brokers in this effort,” Sullivan said. Aaron Boxerman and Michael D. Shear report for the New York Times.
Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has said he would oppose any deal with Hamas that would release thousands of Palestinians detained for terrorism or end the war before Hamas was fully defeated.Ben-Gvir holds enough support in the ruling coalition to undermine Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rule, and said he is willing to use it. Ben-Gvir also said his plan is to “encourage Gazans to voluntarily emigrate to places around the world” by offering cash incentives and criticized the Biden administration for hampering Israel’s war effort against Hamas. Meanwhile, Israel’s war Cabinet minister Benny Gantz said that Ben-Gvir’s comments “harm the strategic relations of the State of Israel, the security of the state and the current war effort.” Dov Lieber reports for the Wall Street Journal.
At least 27,365 people have been killed and 66,630 others injured in Gaza since the Oct. 7 attacks, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Mohammad Al-Sawalhi, Abeer Salman, Amir Tal, and Eyad Kourdi report for CNN.
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
Canada will impose sanctions on Israeli settlers who incite violence in the West Bank and introduce new sanctions on Hamas leaders, Foreign Minister Melani Joly announced yesterday. The decision follows similar actions taken by the United States last week. Reuters reports.
U.S. RESPONSE
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to arrive in the Middle East on his fifth tour of the region since October, where he is expected to visit Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Israel, and the West Bank over the next five days. Blinken stated ahead of the trip that the humanitarian situation in Gaza must be “urgently” addressed. BBC News reports.
Itamar Ben-Gvir is driving Benjamin Netanyahu further to the right.
Israel’s national security minister has enough support in the ruling coalition to undermine Prime Minister Netanyahu’s rule, and says he is willing to use it, reports WSJ’s Dov Lieber. In a WSJ interview—his first with the foreign press since joining the government—the firebrand lawmaker warned he would oppose any deal with Hamas that would free thousands of Palestinians or end the war before Hamas was fully defeated. Ben-Gvir also spelled out a plan for resettling Gaza and said Trump would be better for Israel than Biden.
U.S. STRIKES AIMED AT RESTORING DETERRENCE WITHOUT ESCALATING CONFLICT WITH IRANBottom Line Up Front:
* The United States’ opening salvo in response to the attack in Jordan that killed three U.S. troops last week included attacks against targets in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.
* The U.S. response is expected to be multi-tiered and unfold over weeks, targeting an array of groups that form part of Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance,” including militias in Iraq and Syria that operate under the umbrella of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.
* The Biden administration is facing a difficult challenge, attempting to craft a forceful response that seeks to at once deter Iranian-backed militias from conducting future attacks on U.S. troops, while also avoiding further escalating and therefore risking a broader regional conflagration.
* Until a formal battle damage assessment (BDA) is conducted, it remains unclear how effective the U.S. strikes will be or how significantly they will impact the force posture of Iran-backed groups operating in the region.
| Are we headed for a new global conflict? References to it are proliferating – and it’s easy to see why. The Israel-Hamas war that’s raging on with no end in sight, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, North Korea’s test barrages of new missiles on an almost weekly basis, and growing tensions in the Pacific over China’s muscle flexing and its territorial claim on Taiwan. The list goes on.While the US insists it won’t be dragged into a deeper conflict in the Middle East, it’s vowing more strikes against groups supported by Iran after three days of retaliatory attacks in response to assaults on its bases in the region. That’s as the US and UK are targeting Houthi rebels in Yemen for disrupting shipping in the Red Sea. |
RAN-BACKED MILITANTS
President Biden has ordered a further response to the killings of three U.S. personnel by Iran-backed militias, top U.S. national security officials said yesterday. “The president was clear when he ordered them and when he conducted them that that was the beginning of our response and there will be more steps to come,” U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said, adding he did not want to “telegraph our punches” by revealing further details. Michael D. Shear reports for the New York Times.
The United States destroyed or damaged 84 out of 85 targets in its airstrikes on Friday in Syria and Iraq, according to two U.S. defense officials, with no indication of Iranian casualties. The strikes marked the first time Washington carried out strikes on both countries simultaneously, with the director of Joint Chiefs of Staff saying the targets were chosen “with an idea that there would likely be casualties associated with people inside those facilities.” Oren Liebermann and Natasha Bertrand report for CNN.
- The US intends to launch further strikes at Iran-backed groups in the Middle East, the White House national security adviser said, after hitting Tehran-aligned factions in Iraq, Syria and Yemen over the last two days. How far will the US go? Listen to correspondent Phil Stewart on the daily Reuters World News podcast.
- Reuters Graphics analyzes reported commercial ship attacks in the Red Sea, showing how Houthi drone and missile strikes have escalated since the Gaza conflict erupted.
- At least 6 Kurdish fighters are killed in a drone attack on a Syrian base housing US troop.The U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said Monday the attack hit a training ground at al-Omar base in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour and accused “Syrian regime-backed mercenaries” of carrying out the attack. No casualties were reported among U.S. troops. Read more.
- Why these matters:The drone strike is the first significant attack in Syria or Iraq since the U.S. launched retaliatory strikes over the weekend against Iran-backed militias that have been targeting its forces in the region.
- U.S. Carries Out Retaliatory Strikes on Iran-Backed Groups in Iraq, Syria, YemenU.S. forces conducted ( NYT) dozens of air strikes on targets in Iraq and Syria on Friday in what National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan described as “the beginning of our response” to the killing of U.S. troops in Jordan last month. On Saturday, U.S. and United Kingdom (UK) forces launched strikes against dozens of Houthi targets in Yemen in reaction to Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping. Yesterday, U.S. Central Command said it struck a Houthi cruise missile that was preparing to launch. Sullivan told CNN that Iran-backed militia attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria are “distinct but related” to those on shipping in the Red Sea. While top U.S. officials “are not looking to take the United States to war,” he said, they aim to respond to the attacks “with force and clarity.”
The U.S. barrage of retaliatory strikes come as officials continue to negotiate a potential hostage deal between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled ( WSJ) to the region yesterday to participate in talks. Iraq’s government said Friday that U.S. attacks killed at least sixteen people in Iraq. - Analysis“Iran’s core logic was that it could inflict pain on its adversaries mostly through proxies in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen while denying any direct involvement and therefore minimizing retaliatory attacks on its own territory,” CFR expert Ray Takeyh writes in this In Brief. “Today, the deaths of three Americans are pressing the Joe Biden administration toward a more determined response, including targeting Iran itself.”
“[U.S.] enemies have options, space and time and can decide when to turn up the heat—they also have largely supportive constituencies outraged by the Gaza war,” the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Emile Hokayem tells the Financial Times. “The only way the U.S. can end this cycle is to quickly move to a diplomatic track to end Israel’s war in Gaza.”
MILITARY CONFLICT WITH HOUTHIS
The U.S. military carried out further strikes against the Houthis overnight, U.S. Central Command said in a statement, saying its forces struck a land-attack cruise missile and four anti-ship missiles that “were prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea.” It marks the second round of attacks in Yemen over the weekend after the United States and the United Kingdom jointly launched similar air strikes on Saturday. In response to Saturday’s attack, the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Sarea wrote on X, “These attacks will not deter us from our moral, religious, and humanitarian stance in support of the resilient Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and will not go unanswered or unpunished.”BBC News reports.
Italy will become a target if it participates in attacks against Yemen, a senior Houthi official said today, following Italy’s announcement Friday that it would provide the admiral in command of an E.U. Red Sea naval mission it has joined to protect ships from Houthi attacks. The mission, which will be launched mid-February, will be mandated to protect commercial ships and intercept attacks, but it will not take part in striking the Houthis, E.U. foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said. Reuters reports.