Hamas rejects Blinken’s visit to Ramallah, saying there are “no differences between Israel and the Americans,” as U.S. and UK naval forces shoot down 21 Yemeni drones over the Red Sea. Meanwhile, Corbyn is set to join South Africa’s ICJ delegation.
Casualties
- 23,357+ killed* and at least 59,410 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
- 385 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.
- 520 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 2,193 injured.**
*This figure was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health on January 10. Some rights groups put the death toll number closer to 30,000 when accounting for those presumed dead.
**This figure is released by the Israeli military.
Key Developments
- Former UK opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn to attend ICJ hearing as part of South African delegation to hold Israel accountable over genocidal actions in Gaza.
- White House describes South Africa’s lawsuit in ICJ as “meritless and counterproductive,” EU countries remain silent.
- Nissim Vaturi, backbench Likud member in Knesset, says no regrets over writing “burn Gaza now” in November.
- Israeli forces destroy hundreds of historical and cultural sites in Gaza and kill dozens of Palestinian intellectuals, writers, artists, and academics, according to PA’s Ministry of Culture.
- Hamas’s Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades ambush Israeli infantry unit in Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, firing anti-tank shells at Israeli military vehicle.
- Abu Hamza, spokesperson of Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades, tells Israeli settlers, “Netanyahu’s promises for you to return to Gaza’s envelope are a mirage.”
- Hezbollah denies that commander of air unit killed by Israel on Tuesday.
- British and American naval forces allege destroying 21 combat drones and missiles launched by Yemen’s military forces, led by Ansar Allah.
- U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visits Ramallah to meet PA President Mahmoud Abbas, says U.S. supporting “concrete measures” to realize Palestinian state.
- Hamas rejects Blinken’s visit and says it “is to support the security of the occupation. There are no differences between Israel and the Americans.”
- High Death Toll, Humanitarian Crisis, and International Legal Challenges. Recent reports from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza highlight a severe health crisis, attributing it to Israel’s use of banned weapons and intense bombings. As of January 10, 2024, Gaza has witnessed 147 deaths within 24 hours, contributing to a total of 23,357 fatalities since October 7. Injuries have affected over 59,410 individuals, many of whom face difficulties accessing medical care. The Israeli military persists in its campaign against Hamas, focusing on Khan Yunis and Al Maghazi. This operation includes targeting more than 150 Hamas locations, resulting in casualties and the discovery of tunnels and weaponry. Additionally, Israeli forces fatally shot an unarmed Palestinian in Beit Rima, West Bank, suggesting a trend of civilian targeting. The humanitarian situation, particularly in Gaza, is worsening, with its health infrastructure nearing collapse. The Israeli army reports the loss of one soldier in the past day, raising its total fatalities in the Gaza conflict to 186, with another soldier injured in central Gaza. Simultaneously, Israel faces genocide accusations at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, marking its first appearance in the court. South Africa has charged Israel with committing genocide in Gaza, sparking concerns about diplomatic repercussions and the ongoing conflict with Hamas. Statements from Israeli ministers have become central to these allegations. Furthermore, an Israeli delegation is in Cairo discussing a hostage deal, while the US foiled a major Houthi attack in the Red Sea. The IDF revealed a senior Hamas official’s luxurious lifestyle, contrasting with Gaza’s plight. Israeli actions included striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and intercepting hostile aircraft. Diplomatic tensions arose with discussions on Palestinian statehood and accusations against Israel at the International Court of Justice. The Israeli parliament reduced the budget for war efforts, and the IDF expanded operations in Gaza.
Israel’s Genocide War in Gaza Continues
5 Reasons the Israel-Palestine Conflict Won’t End Any Time Soon;“Because Israel was never held accountable by its principal patron and protector” — the US government — “successive Israeli governments never felt any need to compromise or consider the long-term consequences of their actions,” such as their apartheid.
Pro-Palestinian Americans Explain Why Biden Has Already Lost Their Vote
“The perception of Joe Biden on his stance on Gaza has been firmly imprinted on the consciousness of many young Americans. It appears to be a defining moment: regardless of future actions, Biden may not be able to regain the votes already lost,” (me)
How Israel’s “Send Palestinians to Congo” plan Evokes British Colonial Plans to send Jews to Uganda. Nothing illuminates the mutant perversion of Zionism under Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi) more clearly than this: He proposes to forcibly evict all Palestinians from Gaza (Palestine), and move them to Congo. This is what Great Britain proposed in 1903, as a solution to the “Jewish problem.” Rather than allow Jews to immigrate to Palestine and create a new Jewish homeland, they proposed to move them to Uganda, where the British Crown had plenty of room.
Bibi’s empowerment of “Israeli Proud Boys” such as Itamar Ben-Gvir and Belezel Smotrich, gives him the chutzpah and hubris to openly discuss a “forced” migration, couched in Orwellian doublespeak to call it a “voluntary” migration. Some Israeli leaders deny that the Congo proposal is the agenda, and others object; this proposal will hopefully go nowhere, especially with US State Department’s expressed disapproval, calling it “inflammatory and irresponsible.”The global focus now is to strengthen efforts by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to heal, nurture and heal as many refugees as possible, and whatever can be done to mitigate Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza.
For fleeing Palestinians, Gaza has shrunk—by two-thirds. Palestinians are fleeing into an ever-shrinking section of the Gaza Strip as Israel’s military asks residents to leave more areas it says are unsafe. The Israeli warnings are pushing people to concentrate into just one-third of the strip, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees says. In effect, the ground available to its 2.2 million people has shrunk to an area slightly larger than the Bronx.
Was Saleh al-Arouri Special, or Is Israel Just Getting Started? The first assassination outside of Gaza may be a sign of what’s to come. If Israel is intent to kill all Hamas leaders, Qatar may have to alter its policies and show Hamas honchos the door, This would be the first time, after decades of pressure, that Qatar is forced to back down from its policy of supporting Islamist radicals.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said today it has hit approximately 150 sites in Gaza over the past 24 hours, with ground troops directing aircraft to strike “several terrorists” in the Maghazi area in central Gaza. The military added it uncovered more than 15 underground tunnel shafts in the area. Yuliya Talmazan reports for NBC News.
The U.N. special representative on sexual violence in conflict accepted Israel’s invitation to investigate allegations of sex crimes committed by Hamas on Oct. 7, a spokesperson for Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Adam Sella reports for the New York Times.
The political leader of Hamas, Ismael Haniyeh, said yesterday that Hamas will release Israeli hostages from Gaza only after all Palestinian prisoners are released from Israel. Kareem Khadder and Celine Alkhaldi report for CNN.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza reported receiving dozens of casualties following heavy overnight airstrikes that killed 57 people, at least 10 of whom were children, the hospital said. The hospital said at least 70 people were wounded. Abeer Salman, Kareem Khadder and Tim Lister report for CNN.
U.S. RESPONSE
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday that the charge of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice is “meritless,” but that the daily toll of war on civilians in Gaza, particularly on children, is “far too high.” Blinken, speaking at a news conference in Tel Aviv, added that Israel must do more to remove aid delivery barriers into Gaza, noting the U.N. says that 90% of Gazans are experiencing food insecurity. Blinken also reiterated that a Palestinian state is key to lasting peace and that Gazans must be allowed to return to their homes. BBC News reports.
President Biden’s top Middle East adviser Brett McGurk met with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdelrahman al-Thani in Doha yesterday and discussed regional tensions amid efforts to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza, according to a U.S. source and two other sources familiar with the visit. The visit was not announced by the White House, and the Qatari Embassy in Washington declined to comment on the trip. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting the West Bank today for a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, following talks with Israeli leaders yesterday. The visit is part of Blinken’s fourth trip to the region since the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas. Yuliya Talmazan reports for NBC News.
On Gaza, Most Congress Members Have Been Moral Failures. Don’t Grade Them on a Curve. The vast majority of Congress members have refused to call for a ceasefire in Gaza during three months of slaughter by Israel’s military. Capitol Hill remains a friendly place for the Israeli government as it keeps receiving massive arms shipments courtesy of U.S. taxpayers.
“Israel would not be able to conduct this war without the U.S., which over time has provided Israel with about 80 percent of the country’s weapons imports,” Vox reports. The distance between the Capitol and Gaza can be measured by the vast disconnect between the standard discourse of U.S. politics and the terroristic carnage destroying Palestinian people.
It’s Not Too Late for Biden to Restrain Israel
Israeli officials are openly discussing ethnic cleansing. The world must say no. “The Biden team’s record of holding Israel to account on anything to do with [Gaza] is extremely weak, and its willingness to stand up to Israel by denying it military or political support still seems close to nil.” Still a green light for war crimes.
Does Biden Have a Middle East Peace Plan? Sort of. The U.S. hopes to revive the Saudi option, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is an obstacle.
Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sit beside each other in brocade chairs in an ornate meeting room with several patterned rugs and engraved wall details. Both men are dressed formally as they pose for a camera during a meeting in Jeddah.
State Antony Blinken is in the Middle East this week mainly as a firefighter rather than a peacemaker. For the most part, Blinken’s nine-nation tour—the latest démarche by the Biden administration in a frenetic, monthslong campaign to avert a wider regional war—is about tamping down the conflagration in Gaza and preventing the United States from being pulled in any further.
The Saudi crown prince has long been indifferent to the Palestinian people. The only question is whether the Saudi public’s outrage at Israel’s bombing and besieging of Palestinian civilians will force him to feign concern in any meaningful way.
IRAN-BACKED MILITANTS
The Israeli military said it killed another senior Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah commander yesterday. The commander, identified as Ali Hussein Burji, led Hezbollah’s aerial unit in southern Lebanon and was responsible for a drone strike yesterday morning on Israel’s northern command in Safed, the Israeli military added. Hezbollah denied Israel’s claims about Burji’s role in the drone strike and called the allegations “baseless.” Euan Ward, Anushka Patil, and Matthew Mpoke Bigg report for the New York Times.
The U.N. Security Council will vote today on a resolution that would condemn and demand an immediate halt to attacks by Yemen’s Houthi group on merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea. The U.S. draft resolution says at least two dozen Houthi attacks are hampering global commerce and “undermine navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security.” The draft resolution also demands the immediate release of the first ship the Houthis attacked on Nov. 19, a Japanese-operated cargo vessel with links to an Israeli company. Edith M. Lederer reports for AP News.
The U.K. and U.S. Navy intercepted 21 Houthi missiles and drones launched from Yemen, in one of the largest Houthi attacks to take place in the Red Sea in recent months, U.S. Central Command said . The barrage was launched last night toward international shipping lanes in the Red Sea where “dozens” of merchant vessels were traveling. CENTCOM added that no ships were damaged from the attacks and no injuries were reported. Oren Liebermann reports for CNN.
Iraq wants a quick and orderly negotiated exit of U.S. military forces from its territory under a “process of understanding and dialogue,” Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said yesterday, describing their presence as destabilizing amid regional spillover from the war in Gaza. Longstanding calls by mostly Shi’ite muslim factions in Iraq, many close to Iran, for the U.S.-led coalition’s departure have gained traction after a series of U.S. strikes on Iran-linked militant groups that are also part of Iraq’s formal security forces. Timour Azhari reports for Reuters.
What Comes After the Missiles in Yemen? The United States appears overly confident that military strikes will put the Houthi threat back in the box.
The United States is now, according to multiple reports, preparing strike packages to target Houthi missile and drone sites as well as fast boat facilities in Yemen. The message the United States is sending, both through diplomatic channels as well as the media, is clear: stop or we’ll shoot. But what if the round of missile and airstrikes doesn’t stop the Houthis?
South Africa’s Genocide Case Against Israel ‘s Apartheid
Dahlia Scheindlin argues why Israel can’t understand how they could be accused of Genocide. “Israel is my country and I do know that Israel has done terrible things to innocent people – 8,000 dead children in Gaza did not commit the slaughter of October 7. Let’s call it my “terrible things” theory, since I’ll wait for the court to decide on the [genocide] accusation.”
Is Israel’s treatment of Palestinians a form of apartheid? LA Times reports that “Experts said Israel will be left with only two ways to shed the apartheid label: allowing the creation of a Palestinian state or granting equal rights to all Palestinians under its control.:
In defending against charges of apartheid in occupied Palestinian territory, Israeli authorities cite “security,” but that doesn’t explain the seizure of Palestinian land and resources, the restrictions on Palestinian homes, or the demographic engineering.
“Israeli prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin, Ehud Barak, and Ehud Olmert all warned that Israel was becoming an apartheid state. Indeed, it is already committing the crime of apartheid in the occupied Palestinian territory.” @KenRoth
Jewish groups & Israel have accused the ANC & South Africa of antisemitism, but ICJ case stems from party’s longstanding support for Palestinians. Chris McGrea, who writes for Guardian US and is a former Guardian correspondent in Washington, Johannesburg and Jerusalem argues that 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.
Hundreds of Israelis support South Africa’s ICJ case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza In a slap to the government of PM Benjamin Netanyahu, hundreds of Israelis have signalled that they’re backing the case at the International Court of Justice brought by South Africa accusing Israel of Genocide in Gaza. More than 600 Israelis have signed a petition calling on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to rule in favour of South Africa’s lawsuit against the state of Israel, calling for a decision that will bring an immediate end to the war.
John Pilger on Apartheid and Post-Apartheid Injustices: “South Africa is Where Much of My Political Education Took Place”
John Pilger, who died in his hometown of Sydney aged 84 on December 30, was a unique journalist, equipped with the combination of moral outrage, relentless sleuthing and unparalleled interviewing skills required to understand South Africa’s deep structural injustices. Setting aside all the scoops and awards elsewhere, no one else could have periodically parachuted into this country – first in 1967 when he was banned by apartheid, and lastly in 2017 – and then fit that half-century of dramatic turmoil into a hard-hitting film, Apartheid Did Not Die, and a dozen influential articles and book chapters.
Above all, John represented a chronicler of what can be considered the independent-left critique, one who connected the dots from imperialism to local power relations to suffering individuals with passion and eloquence. No one was spared his savage pen. He wrote in 2013,
The oral argument on behalf of South Africa in the genocide case against Israel which it has initiated at the International Court of Justice will take place from 0900 to 1100 GMT (1000 to 1200 Central European time) tomorrow, with the oral arguments on behalf of Israel following at the same times on Friday.
Those in a convenient time zone can watch the arguments live on the ICJ’s website (https://www.icj-cij.org/calendar) and on UN Web TV (https://webtv.un.org/en).
John Whitbeck, John V. Whitbeck is a Paris-based international lawyer writes “Prominently featured on the South African legal team is my distinguished recipient John Dugard, the highly distinguished South African jurist who has served as UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in occupied Palestine and who is author of the excellent book Confronting Apartheid: A Personal History of South Africa, Namibia and Palestine (2018).”
“John has advised me that he anticipates that the court will probably issue its decision in early February. Since Antony Blinken announced in Israel yesterday that, while too many Palestinians are being killed, the United States will stand with Israel until it achieves all of its objectives, which would necessarily require emptying the Gaza Strip of its entire Palestinian population, the “provisional measures” being sought by South Africa should still be relevant next month.”
Other excellent analyses of South Africa’s application, by David Hearst, MIDDLE EAST EYE’s co-founder and editor-in-chief, and by Craig Mokhiber, former Director of the New York Office of the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, and my distinguished recipient Phyllis Bennis, can be accessed at https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/war-gaza-fate-global-justice-hangs-south-africas-icj-case and https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/south-africa-genocide-case-against-israel. https://johnmenadue.com/the-us-the-icj-and-gaza