Israel’s war on Gaza: List of key events, day 89

A drone strike in Lebanon killed senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri – here are the latest updates.

Here’s how things stand on Wednesday, January 3, 2024:

Latest updates:

  • The Israeli army has launched attacks on Syria and Lebanon. It announced on X on Tuesday that it attacked Syrian military infrastructure and Hezbollah “terrorist infrastructure”.
  • A drone strike hit a Hamas office in Beirut’s Hezbollah stronghold Dahiyeh, killing six people including senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri on Tuesday, Lebanon’s state news agency reported.
  • The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) posted on X that on Tuesday night, “Iranian-backed Houthis fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen into the Southern Red Sea.”
  • While multiple commercial ships reported their impact on surrounding waters, none reported damage.
  • The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting to discuss peace and security regarding the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea at 3pm New York time [20:00 GMT] on Wednesday.

Human impact and fighting:

  • The number of Palestinians in Gaza killed since the outbreak of violence on October 7 is now 22,185, said Gaza’s health ministry on Tuesday. At least 57, 000 have been injured.
  • UN humanitarian affairs agency OCHA reported more demolitions of Palestinian structures. The latest destruction took place on Tuesday in the At-Tur neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem.

Diplomacy:

  • Israel has not officially responded to the killing of al-Arouri but Netanyahu’s adviser Mark Regev, told the US outlet MSNBC that Israel does not take responsibility for this attack.
  • He added, “Whoever did it, it must be clear: this was not an attack on the Lebanese state.”
  • “We need to avoid conflict between Israel and Lebanon,” Nicolas de Riviere, the current UN Security Council president and French UN envoy, has told Al Jazeera.
  • US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller rejected statements from Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir about the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza.
  • “Gaza is Palestinian land and will remain Palestinian land,” said a statement published on Tuesday.
  • Israel is not “another star on the American flag”, said Israeli National Security Minister Ben-Gvir after the US State Department issued the statement.
  • Gaza team leader of the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, Gemma Connell, condemned the Israeli attack on the Red Crescent-run El Amal City Hospital in Khan Younis, which killed at least five people, including a five-day-old child.
  • She said that “there is no safe space in Gaza, and the world should be ashamed”.
  • WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus echoed Connell’s sentiments about the bombing. “Today’s bombings are unconscionable,” he said.
  • In a statement released on Tuesday, Malaysia endorsed South Africa’s appeal to the International Court of Justice against Israel.
  • The court hearings are scheduled for January 11 and 12 at The Hague.

Raids in the West Bank

  • Israel continues its raids in several areas of the occupied West Bank.
  • Israeli military vehicles are infiltrating the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem and bulldozers are destroying infrastructure, Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut reported from occupied East Jerusalem.
  • They are also surrounding the Tulkarem governorate hospital and preventing the team at Al Jazeera Arabic from covering the raid.
  • There is another Israeli raid on Nablus, where fierce clashes have been reported. In Qalqilya, the army is arresting multiple Palestinians, Salhut reported.
  • Since October 7, 324 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank, Salhut reported.

 

Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies

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