Qatar announces deal for medicine delivery to hostages and aid for Gaza; Lebanon preparing for 'long-term stability' in south, says Mikati: Day 102 of Hamas-Israel war

Thank you for following our LIVE coverage from day 102 of the Hamas-Israel war.

We'll be back tomorrow with more news updates and analysis, right here at L'Orient Today.

A deal to allow the delivery of medicines to hostages in Gaza and aid into the territory has been agreed upon following mediation by Qatar and France, Doha announces, according to a report from AFP.

In a statement to the official Qatar News Agency, the foreign ministry announced the deal "between Israel and [Hamas], where medicine along with other humanitarian aid is to be delivered to civilians in Gaza ... in exchange for delivering medication needed for Israeli captives in Gaza."

The United States is "hopeful" that talks brokered by Qatar could lead to a new deal between Israel and Hamas to release hostages in exchange for a cease-fire in Gaza, the White House says, as reported by AFP.

"I don't want to say too much publicly here as we have these talks, but we're hopeful that it can bear fruit, and bear fruit soon," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told a briefing.

This photograph taken from Rafah shows leaflets dropped by the Israeli military over Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Jan. 16, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and Hamas. (Credit: AFP)

UK police  say that specialist officers will assess whether to open a war crimes probe into Israel's war with Hamas, following a referral from an advocacy group for Palestinians, AFP reports.

The Met, the UK's biggest and best-resourced police force, confirmed it had received a "referral" last Friday "relating to allegations linked to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict."

"The information within the referral will now be assessed by specialist officers as part of a scoping exercise to determine whether any further action or formal investigation will be carried out," a police spokesperson said.

The referral was filed by the UK-based International Center of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), an independent organization of lawyers, academics and politicians advocating for Palestinian rights.

👉 Read more here.

Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh left the Palestinian territory today, he told AFP, after Israeli strikes killed his wife, multiple children and a colleague.

Scenes of Dahdouh mourning his family and fleeing on foot from Gaza City have been broadcast globally over the weeks since Oct. 7.

Dahdouh has crossed over into Egypt and said is due to travel onward to Qatar where he will undergo surgery for a wound sustained in an Israeli strike last month, which killed the Qatar-based network's cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa and several others.

👉 Read more here.

The United States wants a "de-escalation" in the Middle East despite its strikes on Houthi positions in Yemen, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said at the World Economic Forum earlier today, AFP reports.

"We seek to stop the spread of conflict and to create the conditions for de-escalation," he said. A US and UK coalition targeted Yemen for three consecutive days starting on Friday, with another missile strike claimed by the US today.

"We are eagerly working with partners throughout the region to try and pursue a pathway. But in the meantime, we have to guard against and be vigilant against the possibility that, in fact, rather than heading towards de-escalation, we are on a path of escalation that we have to manage," Sullivan said.

👉 Read more here.

The Israeli Shin Bet security service says that an Islamic Jihad commander who was captured by the Israeli army in Gaza told the forces how members of the organization have trained in Iran, Haaretz reports.

According to the Shin Bet statement, Bassel Mahdi, an Islamic Jihad commander who was captured last month in the Gaza Strip, told Israeli forces that members of the organization used to train in an Iranian military base under the supervision of Iranian soldiers.

The Iranian forces trained groups of about 20 fighters at a time, including Islamic Jihad members from Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, according to the Haaretz report.

It's not clear under what conditions Mahdi shared this information. In November, 2023, Amnesty International published a report detailing the use of torture by Israeli officials on Palestinian detainees.

👉 Read the full Amnesty International report here.

Yemen's Houthi rebels says they targeted the ship Zografia that was heading to Israel, Reuters reports, citing the Houthi military spokesperson. The attack was carried out with naval missiles and resulted in a "direct hit," Yahya Sarea said in a statement.

The Malta-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier sustained material damage but no injuries after it was hit in the Red Sea near the Yemeni port of Saleef, a security firm and two Greek shipping ministry sources said. This confirms the attack on a Greek ship earlier this afternoon was indeed carried out by Houthi rebels.

"We have started preparing for long-term stability in southern Lebanon," says caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati in an interview with the al-Hadath channel.

"The decision for peace is in the hands of the Lebanese state," Mikati added, emphasizing that "war is a loss for everyone ... Lebanon must stay away from any escalation."

The US military carried out a new strike in Yemen today against four Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles, two US officials told Reuters, the latest move against the Iran-aligned group over its targeting of Red Sea shipping.

One of the officials said the missiles were struck because they were being prepared to target ships in the region. The US strike came a day after Houthi forces hit the US-owned and operated dry bulk ship Gibraltar Eagle with an anti-ship ballistic missile.

Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping have continued even after the US and Britain last week launched an initial wave of strikes to degrade Houthi capabilities.

👉 Read more here.

European Union member states have given initial support to a naval mission to protect ships from attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi movement in the Red Sea, European diplomats announce, as reported by Reuters.

The diplomats said the bloc's Political and Security Committee, which is responsible for foreign and defense policy. had given a first nod of approval for the mission, which would work with like-minded partners.

👉 Read more here.

Here are the latest updates from southern Lebanon:

• Hezbollah says its fighters targeted a group of Israeli soldiers at 4:20 p.m. in the vicinity of the Israeli Ramia site, facing the southern Lebanese town of Aita al-Shaab, Bint Jbeil district.

• Hezbollah says it targeted the northern Israeli town Prophet Yusha at 3:30 p.m., which faces the Lebanese village Aitaroun, Bint Jbeil district.

• Beit Lif, Bint Jbeil district, was targeted by Israeli artillery, according to local residents who spoke with our correspondent in the south, Muntasser Abdallah.

• Hezbollah says it targeted the Israeli Samaka position, located in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms, at 2 p.m.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister says the kingdom could recognize Israel if a comprehensive agreement were reached that included statehood for the Palestinians, Reuters reports.

"We agree that regional peace includes peace for Israel, but that could only happen through peace for the Palestinians through a Palestinian state," Prince Faisal bin Farhan told a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Prince Faisal said this was something Saudis "have been indeed working on with the US administration, and it is more relevant in the context of Gaza."

👉 Read more here.

Here's are the reports from our correspondent in southern Lebanon from the last half an hour:

• Several rockets were launched from southern Lebanon towards Israeli positions, security sources told L'Orient Today. According to Haaretz, sirens were heard in northern Israel.

• Israel shelled the outskirts of the southern Lebanese town of Aitaroun in Bint Jbeil district.

• An Israeli drone targeted a house in the town of Mahaybib, Marjayoun district.

• Israeli artillery shelling targeted the northern neighborhood of al-Merj in the town of Mais al-Jabal, Marjayoun district, near the main road.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has sharply criticized a military decision to withdraw an army division from the northern Gaza Strip in a post on X.

The Israeli army withdrew its 36th Division from the Gaza Strip yesterday (Monday) for rest and training, while three other divisions remained in the bombarded and besieged Palestinian territory.

The move was seen as part of the Israeli army’s plans for a long-term war in the Gaza Strip.

“The decision to withdraw the Israeli army from Hamas strongholds in Gaza is a grave and dangerous mistake that will cost human lives,” Ben-Gvir said on X.

According to a statement from the UN agency, OCHA, of the 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip, 378,000 are at what it classifies as phase five, or catastrophic levels of hunger.

Phase five refers to starvation, extreme lack of food, and exhaustion of coping capacities.

The statement added that 939,000 people face phase 4 “emergency” levels of hunger.

According to OCHA, nutrition-focused NGOs and other UN agencies can only meet 25 percent of the nutritional needs for malnourished children and vulnerable mothers in the next two months.

The Israeli army says that it intercepted a rocket launched from Nasser Hospital earlier today that was targeting its forces in Khan Younis, according to a report from Haaretz.

The military reiterated its claim that Hamas operates from within hospitals in the Gaza Strip — claims which have yet to be confirmed by a third-party or investigative body. The army has used this claim to justify besieging and attacking several hospitals in Gaza, rendering them unable to function.

The European Union has added Hamas Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar to its "terrorist" sanctions blacklist over the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, AFP reports.

The move means that Sinwar is subject to an asset freeze in the 27-nation EU and also bans EU citizens from conducting transactions with him. Hamas, the party as a whole, is already listed as a "terrorist" organization by the bloc.

Here's what happened in southern Lebanon the past half an hour:

• The town of Rab al-Thalathine, Marjayoun district, was targeted by Israeli artillery shelling, which struck a house and started a fire in it. Civil defense teams from the Resala Association worked to extinguish the fire, local residents tell L'Orient Today.

• The outskirts of Houla, Marjayoun district, were targeted with five missiles, two of them landed on houses in the town, according to local residents. Eyewitnesses report that ambulances are heading to the location of the airstrikes in Houla.

• An Israeli airstrike targeted the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab, Marjayoun district.

Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health published an updated cumulative emergency report of the Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon.

According to the ministry, since the beginning of the fighting, there have been 147 deaths, 650 injuries and 114 hospitalizations. Moreover, 82,012 people are displaced.

These numbers published by the Ministry of Health are based exclusively on hospital figures, while other data are made public by other sources. Thus, according to a count published in L'Orient Today, the number of Hezbollah fighters killed (in Lebanon and Syria) is already 158.

The caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, said that “a cease-fire in Gaza is the cornerstone of a solution in the region,” in an interview with the Qatari channel Al Jazeera. He also warned against a widening of the conflict.

“We must put pressure on Israel to stop the escalation,” he said.

“We are working for diplomatic solutions. This is the best option...We are ready and the Americans have already started in this direction,” declared Mikati.

Regarding the situation in Lebanon, Mikati said that “the solution lies in the full application of resolution 1701 and the end of Israeli hostilities.”

A Greek-owned cargo ship was hit by a missile off Yemen, AFP reports citing the maritime risk company.

The ship had visited Israel since the start of the war in Gaza on Oct. 7 and was headed to the Suez Canal. It changed course and headed for port following the incident, Ambrey stated.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) says it has seized advanced Iranian conventional weapons "bound for" the Yemeni Houthi rebel group. In a statement published on X, it said it conducted a night-time seizure of "Iranian-made ballistic missile and cruise missiles components," on board a dhow, on Jan. 11 near the coast of Somalia. The boat was subsequently sunk.

"This is the first seizure of lethal, Iranian-supplied advanced conventional weapons (ACW) to the Houthis since the beginning of Houthi attacks against merchant ships in November 2023", CENTCOM adds.

It added that two Navy SEALs involved in the operation were lost at sea and that an exhaustive search is being done for the "missing teammates.”

Iraqi Kurdistan's prime minister, Masrour Barzani, accused Iran of killing innocent civilians following IRGC strikes on Irbil and dismissed claims by the Iranians that there was a "spy headquarters" in the area that was targeted, Reuters reports.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Davos World Economic Forum, Barzani said, "What's surprising – we are not a part of this conflict. We don’t know why Iran is retaliating against civilians of Kurdistan, especially in Irbil."

Iran insists that it targeted a spy center used by Israel's external intelligence agency, the Mossad. Four civilians were killed and six others wounded in the strikes.

Update on what has been happening in the past hour on the Lebanese-Israeli border:

An Israeli drone struck a house in the village of Mhaibib (Marjayoun), a security source told our correspondent in southern Lebanon.

Meanwhile, a security source told L'Orient Today that an interceptor missile exploded over the village of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil). The source added that the missile's shrapnel fell on a house, causing damage.

France condemned Iran's strikes on Iraqi Kurdistan that targeted an Israeli "spy headquarters" as "unacceptable," according to Reuters.

"Such acts represent blatant, unacceptable and worrying violations of Iraq's sovereignty and an attack on its stability and security, as well as that of Kurdistan within it," France's foreign ministry said in a statement. "They contribute to the escalation of regional tensions and must stop."

Iraq recalled its ambassador to Iran following strikes by the IRGC on the Iraqi Kurdish capital of Irbil in northern Iraq, AFP reports.

Iraq's ambassador, Nassir Abdel Mohsen, was called back to Baghdad for "consultations" amid outrage in Iraq over the strikes.

Earlier in the day, the Iraqi government summoned Iran's ambassador to the country, Abol Fadl Azizi, in which the government, in a letter, said that it "condemns the attack carried out in several areas of Irbil which claimed civilian lives."

Update on what has been happening in the past hour on the Lebanese-Israeli border:

Israeli warplanes fired 25 missiles, while artillery shelled Wadi Slouqi and the outskirts of Houla (Marjayoun) in southern Lebanon, a security source told our correspondent. As a result, clouds of smoke covered the sky of Houla and its surroundings.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah says fired missiles a a group of Israeli soldiers east of the Israeli village of Even Menahem, at 10:45 a.m. this morning.

Gaza's health ministry says that at least 24,285 people have been killed since the start of the war on Oct. 7, Reuters reports.

The ministry added that 61,154 others had been wounded with 158 having been killed and 320 injured in the last 24 hours.

Al Jazeera is reporting a surge of Israeli artillery shelling and air strikes in northern Gaza. Israeli forces are being redeployed to the northeastern part of Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia and Jabalia right now.

They also say an evacuation center in the Daraj neighborhood in eastern Gaza City was targeted, alongside a home on a major road that connects northern Gaza City with its southern neighborhoods. It adds that this is "especially concerning" as this area has been largely destroyed with "no functional hospitals whatsoever".

The Israeli army has given an update on its operations in Gaza. Writing on its official account on X, it says it has found "60 ready-to-use rockets in Beit Lahia in Gaza. It has also conducted aircraft and helicopter strikes in Northern Shati and air strikes in Khan Younis, killing "armed terrorists" who were near soldiers.

Israeli artillery shelling continues on the outskirts of the town of Houla (Marjayoun), targeting Khallet Ballout. Seven shells have fallen so far, according to residents cited by our correspondent.

Update on Gaza:

During the night, Israeli planes bombed the Khan Younis, the epicenter of ground fighting and air raids in recent weeks where, according to the army, the local leadership of Hamas is hiding.

At the same time, Israel says that the "intensive" phase of fighting in southern Gaza "will end soon."

Read the full story here.

Hamas has released a video claiming that two Israeli hostages have been killed by Israeli airstrikes.

In the video, 26 year 26-year-old hostage, Noa Argamani, says two men who she was held in captivity with have been killed. However, it is not clear when or where the video was filmed.

The three hostages appeared in a video released on Sunday where Hamas urged the Israeli government to spot its bombardments.

Update on what happened since last night on the Lebanese-Israeli border, according to security sources who have been speaking to our correspondent in southern Lebanon:

- At 9:45 p.m.: Israeli warplanes struck a garden in the town of Maroun al-Ras (Bint Jbeil).

- After 11:30 p.m.: Israeli artillery launched a number of flare bombs over Alma al-Shaab and Naqoura (Sour).

- After 12 a.m.: Israeli artillery fired phosphorus shells on an area between Mais al-Jabal and Houla (Marjayoun).

- ⁠This morning: Three Israeli artillery shells fell on the hill of Hamamis, south of the town of Khiam (Marjayoun district), according to residents. Another two Israeli shells have fallen on the outskirts of Kfar Kila (Marjayoun), according to residents.

Be sure to take a look at the Morning Brief to ensure that you are caught up with everything that has been happening.

Morning Brief

Israel strikes southern Lebanon, floods in Akkar, over 24,000 killed in Gaza: Everything you need to know to start your Tuesday

Good morning!

Thank you for joining us for our live coverage of the war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza.