As worries of a regional war intensify, UNICEF says the children of Gaza are running out of time to be saved as they face “severe acute malnutrition” amid Israel’s ongoing siege.
Casualties:
- 22,313+ killed* and at least 57,296 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
- 321 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.
- 506 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, at least 2,193 injured.
*This figure was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health on January 3. 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
- UNICEF: Children of Gaza face “severe acute malnutrition” with risks of intensifying into famine as Israel continues to deny Palestinians basic aid.
- Wafa: Violent Israeli raid on Tulkarem in Occupied West Bank continues for second day.
- Hezbollah Chief: The killing of al-Aruri will not go unpunished, warns unrestrained war with Israel in the event that Israel attacks Lebanon.
- Palestinian Ministry of Health: 29-year-old Palestinian shot dead during military raid on Tammoun, occupied West Bank.
- Nine Hezbollah members reportedly killed on Wednesday as exchange of fire continues along Israel-Lebanon border.
- Imam shot dead outside New Jersey mosque in U.S., attacker remains at large.
- International Court of Justice confirms public hearings on January 11 and 12 in genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel.
- Senior U.S. education official resigns over Biden administration ignoring “atrocities” in Gaza.
- Israeli airstrike targets Palestinian Red Cresent: one dead, six injured.
- Two families killed near evacuation zone west of Khan Younis, majority under ten years old.
- Following Hezbollah Chief’s speech, Israel attacks three-floor residential building in Lebanon’s Naqoura, killing four Hezbollah members.
ISRAEL-Israel’s Genocide in Gaza Continues
Israel said yesterday it dismantled a 250-meter tunnel below Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City as part of an underground military complex. The tunnel “led to a number of significant terrorist centers and was used for carrying out terrorist operations,” the Israeli military added. Daniel Victor reports for the New York Times.
The chief of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, David Barnea, vowed yesterday that the agency would track down every Hamas member involved in the Oct. 7 attacks, irrespective of where they are located. Barnea made a comparison k to the aftermath of the Munich 1972 Olympic massacre, the strongest indication yet that Israel was behind the blast, although it has not formally claimed responsibility. Fadi Tawil, Tia Goldenberg, and Sami Magdy report for AP News.
Fourteen people, including nine children, were killed this morning in a strike on Al-Mawasi, the Hamas-run health ministry said. Separately, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said at least one person was killed and six others wounded in an Israeli strike that hit its headquarters in Khan Younis. Tim Lister and Abeer Salman report for CNN.
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
European nations condemned comments made by Israeli officials calling for the resettlement of Palestinians out of Gaza. In a post on X, the Dutch Foreign Ministry said, “This does not fit a future two-state solution, with a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.” A spokesperson for the UK government also denounced the comments, saying, “Gaza is Occupied Palestinian Territory and will be part of a future Palestinian state. The UK firmly rejects any suggestion of the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza.” Irene Nasser, Alireza Hajihosseini and Manveena Suri report for CNN.
- Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards and First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber vowed revenge for explosions that killed nearly 100 people. No one claimed responsibility for the blasts. A senior US official said it appeared to represent “a terrorist attack” of the type carried out in the past by Islamic State militants.
- Israeli shelling killed 14 Palestinians this morning in a southern coastal area of Gaza packed with people who had fled attacks in other parts of the enclave, local officials said. Concerns that the war was spreading beyond Gaza are heightened after a drone strike killed a Hamas leader in Lebanon.
- Members of the U.N. Security Council called on Yemen’s Houthis to halt their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, saying they are illegal and threaten regional stability, freedom of navigation and global food supplies. Ocean freight rates are surging after new attacks.
- Stakes high as South Africa brings claim of genocidal intent against Israel.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby calls South Africa’s 84-page suit accusing Israel of genocide “meritless, counterproductive, and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.”
South Africa seeks to prove “the measures Israel has taken go beyond self-defense and into the destruction of the Palestinians,” citing the “death toll, forced displacement, deprivation of food,” hospital attacks, as sufficient to infer genocidal intent.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby calls South Africa’s 84-page suit accusing Israel of genocide “meritless, counterproductive, and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.”
- In 2017, Smotrich published his plan for a “final solution” for Palestinians which included taking over Gaza & the West Bank & giving Palestinians the choice between dying or leaving or remaining in small numbers without rights. Not a single Western capital can claim plausible deniability.
- On Tuesday Israel’s Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, told Channel 14 that Israel will occupy the Gaza Strip with Israeli soldiers and civilians “for a long time” and that countries around the world would have to take in forcibly displaced Palestinian refugees from Gaza.
U.S. RESPONSE
The White House now gets that Israel cannot “destroy Hamas.” How many more Palestinian civilians must die before Netanyahu can be made to recognize that. Or at least admit that his personal political ambitions don’t justify pretending he doesn’t know this.
WH spokesman walks back the original US-backed goal of “destroying” Hamas. While saying that Hamas capabilities can be degraded, he acknowledged that Hamas ideology will not be eliminated, that it still has “significant force posture” and it will not be “erased from existence”
Blinken Heads to Middle East as Risks of Broader Regional Conflict Grow
Another Blinken trip to try to persuade Netanyahu to stop killing Palestinian civilians and to allow enough humanitarian aid into Gaza. But without consequences for Netanyahu continuing to ignore these messages, why will this time be any different?
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to the Middle East this week amid intense diplomatic efforts to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid into the war-ravaged Gaza Strip and increasing international pressure on Israel to reduce civilian casualties among Palestinians.
| Blinken’s visit would come as Israel’s war with Hamas militants approaches its three-month mark. U.S. Secretary of State Reportedly Dispatched for New Mideast Trip as Tensions RiseSecretary of State Antony Blinken will leave today (VOA) for a trip to several Middle Eastern countries that include Israel, an unnamed U.S. official told reporters. He is expected to discuss increasing humanitarian aid and ramping up pressure on Israel to reduce Palestinian civilian casualties. It comes after the leader of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah warned of retaliation following the killing of a top official of Palestinian militant group Hamas in Beirut on Tuesday. Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also pledged to respond (NYT) after two explosions in Iran killed around one hundred people yesterday. The United States and its allies, for their part, have warned Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis of consequences if they do not stop attacking ships in the Red Sea. Tensions related to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas have also spread to Iraq, where an Iran-backed militia group reported a local group commander was killed (Reuters) in an air strike today. Iraq blamed the U.S.-led coalition fighting in the country for the incident; the United States did not immediately comment on the attack. |
| Analysis“If the United States wants to protect freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and its environs, it is going to have to take the fight directly to the Houthis. There is precedent for this,” CFR expert Steven A. Cook writes for Foreign Policy. “A sudden escalation is still possible on [several Middle East] fronts. However, a slow metastasising of the violence over months across the region, including a possible Hamas insurgency against Israeli troops in Gaza, is a more likely, but no less concerning scenario,” Columbia University’s Kim Ghattas posts. Read the full suite of Foreign Affairsand CFR.org resources on Israel and the current conflict. |
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to the Middle East today for the fourth time since the Oct. 7 attacks. Blinken will visit “a number of capitals including Israel” an official said. Meanwhile, U.S. Special Envoy Amos Hochstien is visiting Israel today to meet with senior officials in an attempt to prevent escalation with Hezbollah following the killing of Saleh Arouri in Beirut on Tuesday. BBC News reports.
The United States has not observed “any acts that constitute genocide” in Gaza, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said yesterday. The remark follows the launch of genocide proceedings by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, with the ICJ announcing yesterday that it will hold public hearings next week. Miller added that he has no assessments on whether war crimes or crimes against humanity have been committed. Daphne Psaledakis and Simon Lewis report for Reuters.
A second Biden administration official resigned yesterday in protest of Biden’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza. Tariq Habash, a Department of Education policy adviser, is the first known official of Palestinian origin to quit over Biden’s approach to the war. Ellen Knickmeyer and Collin Binkley report for AP News.
IRAN-BACKED MILITANTS
The U.S. called on the U.N. Security Council yesterday to take action against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi group for their attacks on ships in the Red Sea. U.S. Deputy Ambassador Christopher Lu told an emergency meeting that the Houthis have conducted over 20 attacks since Nov. 19, emphasizing that Iran has supplied money and advanced weapons systems that have been used into for the attacks, in contravention of U.N. sanctions. Edith M. Lederer reports for AP News.
The United States and 12 other allies issued what is widely considered a final warning to the Houthi group yesterday. “Let our message now be clear: we call for the immediate end of these illegal attacks and release of unlawfully detained vessels and crews,” the countries said. “The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways.” A senior Biden administration official said the Houthis should “not anticipate another warning,” but declined to detail next steps should attacks continue. Zeke Miller and Aamer Madhani report for AP News.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nassralah responded yesterday to the killing of a top Hamas official in Lebanon, saying “if the enemy considers waging a war against Lebanon, our battle will be without boundaries or rules.” He added, “we are not afraid of war. Those who think of going to war with us will regret it. War with us will come at a very, very, very high cost. Yesterday’s crime will not go unpunished.” Euan Ward, Hwaida Saad, and Ben Hubbard report for the New York Times.
A high-ranking militia commander was killed today in an airstrike on the logistical support headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Force (PMF) in central Baghdad, a coalition of Iran-backed militia that is nominally under Iraqi military control. The PMF claimed the United States was behind the attack. Qassim Abdul-Zahra reports for ABC News.
Four members of Lebanese Hezbollah and nine civilians were killed last night in Lebanon following an Israeli air strike in the village of Naqoura, according to Lebanon’s state-run media. BBC News reports.
| The ‘CEO’ of Hamas Who Found the Money to Attack Israel |
| U.S. and Israeli officials say Zaher Jabarin manages Hamas’s financial relationship with its main benefactor Iran, looks after a portfolio of companies that deliver income annually for the Islamist group and runs a network of private donors and businessmen who invest for it. Jabarin’s influence over Hamas’s finances is so significant that current and former U.S. and Israeli security officials believe he enabled the group to pay for weapons and fighters’ wages to mount the Oct. 7 attacks, WSJ’s Rory Jones, Benoit Faucon and Ian Talley report |
MIDDLE EAST ON EDGE AS CONFLICT IN GAZA EXPANDS THROUGHOUT THE REGION
Bottom Line Up Front:
* Iran’s “axis of resistance,” comprised of groups such as Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Houthi rebels in Yemen, and mostly Shia militia groups in Iraq and Syria, demonstrates the success of General Qassem Soleimani’s blueprint for spreading Iranian influence throughout the Middle East.
* Yesterday, on the day marking Soleimani’s death, a pair of explosions at a memorial near his grave resulted in at least 95 killed and another 211 wounded, according to press reports, although there has been no claim of responsibility by the perpetrators of the attack to date.
* In a long-awaited speech delivered on Wednesday, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah called the recent killing of Hamas senior leader Saleh al-Arouri “dangerous” and assured that Hezbollah will retaliate while making certain to differentiate between retaliation and unbridled, open warfare with Israel.
* Nasrallah’s address also reiterated the point that all members of the axis of resistance “operate independently of each other, each in its own country,” noting that “we consult with each other, but each one makes decisions based on its interests and those of its population.”