Israel must consider the 'deterioration of the situation' in the north, says Gallant: Day 104 of Hamas-Israel war

Thank you for following our LIVE coverage from day 104 of the Hamas-Israel war.

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

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims that Israel has destroyed around two thirds of Hamas' fighting regiments in Gaza, Reuters reports. Netanyahu vowed to press on with the war until "complete victory," which the army has stated several times to be the dismantling of Hamas.

"There are two stages to the fighting; The first is destroying the Hamas regiments, those are their organized combat frameworks," Netanyahu said at a news conference in Tel Aviv. "Up until now sixteen or seventeen out of twenty four have been destroyed. After that there is the [stage] of clearing the territory [of militants]. The first action is usually shorter, the second usually takes longer."

On Jan. 14, Reuters reported the Israeli military as saying it has killed around 9,000 Palestinian fighters in the war on Gaza so far. The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel believes Hamas had 30,000 fighters in Gaza prior to Oct. 7.

👉 Read more here.

Defense systems shot down an armed drone over Erbil airport in northern Iraq, where US and other international forces are stationed, Reuters reports, citing security sources.

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The Hezbollah press office issued a statement condemning "the assassination of journalist Wael Fanouneh." The news director of the al-Quds TV channel was killed by Israeli bombardment in Gaza City today, according to Al Jazeera.

"Hezbollah's press office calls on all human rights, humanitarian and media institutions to condemn Zionist [Israeli] crimes against journalists and media institutions," reads the statement.

More than 100 Palestinian journalists have been killed in the last three and a half months, a rate unprecedented in the history of modern warfare.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says that there is no "complete solution" to the pockets of Hamas resistance that have so far withstood the Israeli offensive in northern Gaza, Haaretz reports.

According to Gallant, "After the completion of the operation in the north of the Gaza Strip, and its completion in other places as well, the main organizational frameworks were dismantled." However, he continued, "Due to the fact that there are pockets of resistance, there is still fighting."

Having announced the withdrawal of troops from northern Gaza last week, Israel recalled one of four battalions operating there on Monday of this week. However, on Tuesday Reuters reported that several Israeli tanks returned to areas they had previously withdrawn from, and fighting intensified to levels not seen since before the new year.

In regards to the situation on the Lebanon-Israel border, Gallant said that the army "may have to force the return of the residents to their homes through military means. We must take into account the possibility of a deterioration in the situation."

👉 Read more about the Israeli army's latest claims about its operations in Gaza here.

Aidarus al-Zubaidi, vice president of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, says that its military forces need foreign assistance to launch a ground operation that would back US and UK air strikes against Houthi rebels, AFP reports.

"An international and regional alliance is necessary to secure international navigation in the Red Sea," Zubaidi said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Zubaidi said foreign military aid should center around intelligence sharing, capacity building, training and equipment.

"This approach enables local credible and effective forces to join up the effort with the Western targeted air strikes," Zubaidi said. "This is a discussion we are having with the US and UK. The lack of a joined-up approach would only repeat the mistakes of past efforts," he added.

👉 Read more here.

In a statement, Hezbollah denounced Washington's recent decision to once again label the Houthi rebels as a "terrorist" entity, as the group continues its attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

"This is a cruel, arbitrary and invalid decision, which is a continuation of the US aggression against Yemen that has lasted for several years, and extends to the recent strikes [against Yemen]."

"We believe that this decision will not diminish the determination of the Yemeni people or their active and influential role in lifting the blockade of the Gaza Strip," Hezbollah said. 

Further updates from southern Lebanon:

• A salvo of rockets was recently fired from southern Lebanon at Israeli positions, a security source told L'Orient Today.

• Around the same time, Israeli artillery fired on the outskirts of Ramiyeh and Beit Lif, Bint Jbeil district, according to a security source.

Updates from southern Lebanon:

• According to a security source speaking with our correspondent in the south, Israel's artillery has fired shells on the Jabal Blat area, located in the outskirts of Marwahine, as well as on the outskirts of Boustane, Sour district, in southern Lebanon.

• Hezbollah announces that it hit the Israeli site of al-Malikiyah, located opposite the southern Lebanese village of Houla, Marjayoun district, at 2:30 p.m.

• Hezbollah also announces that it hit the Israeli site of al-Sumaqa in the heights of the occupied Kfarshuba and Shebaa Farms with missile weapons at 3:30 p.m.

A group of people — led by the People's Democratic Party, which is in turn headed by Mohammad Hachicho — hoisted a large South African flag alongside a Palestinian flag in Martyrs' Square in Saida, southern Lebanon, so reports L'Orient Today's correspondent, Muntasser Abdallah, who was on the scene.

South Africa has opened a case with the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing Israel of genocide in the Gaza Strip. A banner at the solidarity march read: "From southern Lebanon, thanks to South Africa. In solidarity with the Palestinian resistance and the trial of Zionist war criminals."

(Photo credit: Muntasser Abdallah)

The European Parliament calls for a "permanent cease-fire" in Gaza — but on condition that all Israeli hostages are released immediately and Hamas dismantled, AFP reports.

The parliament called in a resolution "for a permanent cease-fire and to restart efforts towards a political solution provided that all hostages are immediately and unconditionally released and the terrorist organization Hamas is dismantled."

The non-binding resolution was backed by 312 lawmakers, with 131 voting against and 72 abstaining. 

👉 Read more here. 

The European Union will adopt sanctions Monday against Hamas in response to the Palestinian group's Oct. 7 attack on Israel, France announces, as reported by AFP.

Brussels will adopt "a regime of sanctions against Hamas," French foreign ministry spokesperson Christophe Lemoine told reporters, saying they would target "individuals and transfers of funds."

Denmark announces its interest in joining the US-British coalition against Houthi rebels in Yemen, AFP reports. The coalition, which has bombed dozens of sites in Yemen since last week, was established, according to the US, to protect ships in the Red Sea, through which about 12 percent of the world's commercial shipping passes. Houthis say they are attacking ships headed to Israel in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

"We have responded to Denmark's wish to be part of this coalition," Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told reporters. Copenhagen, having already announced it was sending a frigate, will also contribute to the coalition with a staff officer who will take part in planning operations.

"This is not pseudo-military work. This is a serious situation in which Denmark affirms that it will also assume political responsibility for putting an end to what is happening," insisted the Minister.

As the home to the world's second largest shipping company, Maersk, which has halted transit of its vessels through the Red Sea due to Houthi attacks, Denmark is particularly active in its interest for maritime safety.

Residents of Jabal Mohsen, an Alawite neighborhood in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, organized a march in support of Palestinians in Gaza, as reported by the state-run National News Agency (NNA).

Speaking on behalf of the demonstrators, an attendee paid tribute to "the sacrifices of the men of the resistance in Gaza and southern Lebanon, who are showing heroism in the face of the enemy army." The people gathered there carried Palestinian and Yemeni flags and denounced the US-British strikes on Houthi rebel sites in Yemen.

(Photo credit: NNA)

Wael Fanouneh, news director of the al-Quds channel, was killed in an Israeli bombardment in Gaza City, according to Al Jazeera.

Fanouneh is the channel's ninth employee to be killed in Israeli attacks. Ahmad Kheireddine, Jaber Abou Hadros, Hassan Farajallah, Mohammad Nabil al-Zaq, Mohammad al-Thalathini, Hamada al-Yaziji, Mohammad Abou Huwaidi and Mahmoud Mushtaha were all journalists from the al-Quds channel, killed since the war on Gaza began.

Over 100 Palestinian journalists have been killed in the last three and a half months, a rate unprecedented in the history of modern warfare.

Hezbollah announced that it had targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the Adamit barracks (opposite Dhairah, in the district of Sour) at 11 a.m.

Israeli artillery fire targeted the village of Kfar Kila (Marjayoun), reports our correspondent in southern Lebanon, citing residents of the region.

The surroundings and center of the Khiam plain and Tal al-Nahas (Marjayoun) were also bombarded.

In total, seven Israeli missiles targeted these villages.

Israel shot down an “aerial target” over the Red Sea after alarm sirens sounded in Eilat, reports Haaretz.

A Palestinian woman embraces a lightly injured boy as they check the rubble of a building following Israeli bombardment, on Jan. 18, 2024 in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (Credit: AFP)

Residents of Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun district) told our correspondent in southern Lebanon that Israeli artillery shelling has targeted many different parts of the village's outskirts, these are the targeted areas:

- The Zaytoun neighborhood in the southwestern outskirts

- The area of Khelat al-Khashab in the western outskirts

- The area of Mashab al-Kharouf in the northern outskirts

An Israeli warplane also targeted the outskirts of Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil), residents told our correspondent.

Israeli warplanes struck the outskirts of the village of Rab al-Thalathine (Marjayoun), eyewitnesses told our correspondent in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah announced that it targeted the Israeli site of Birkat Risha, facing the Lebanese village of Boustan (Sour), at 1 p.m.

Meanwhile, Israeli artillery shelling targeted a house in the village of Blida (Marjayoun), residents told our correspondent in southern Lebanon.

Several Israeli artillery shells have targeted Wadi Hamoul, south of Naqoura (Sour), residents told our correspondent in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli army said that its air force attacked Hezbollah infrastructure in the village of Adaisseh (Marjayoun), according to Haaretz.

Haaretz also reported that two launches were "fired from Lebanon towards the village Arab al-Aramsha in Israel [earlier], falling in open areas."

L'Orient Today earlier reported that Israeli warplanes fired two missiles on the hill of Oweida, located between Taybeh and Adaisseh (Marjayoun), and a third missile on an area between Odaisseh and Markaba (Majayoun).

Israeli artillery is currently bombarding the outskirts of Marwahine (Sour), according to testimonies from residents collected by our correspondent in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah rejected Washington's initial proposals to calm the fighting with neighboring Israel, notably by moving its fighters away from the border, but remains open to American diplomacy to avoid a ruinous war, Lebanese officials have said, according to official Lebanese sources quoted by Reuters on condition of anonymity.

"Hezbollah is ready to listen", said a senior Lebanese official familiar with the group's thinking, while stressing that it considered the ideas put forward by US envoy Amos Hochstein to be unrealistic. Hochstein, who visited Beirut last week, recently attempted to open a dialogue to restore security on the Israeli-Lebanese border.

According to testimonies from residents, the Israeli army is currently bombing the outskirts of the towns of Yarine and Dhairah (Sour) in southern Lebanon.

The Russian Foreign Minister called on the United States to stop its "aggression" against Yemen, after the American army bombed Houthi rebels there for the fourth time in less than a week.

“The most important thing now is to stop the aggression against Yemen, because the more the Americans and the British bomb, the less the Houthis will want to talk,” Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow.

Speaking live at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that Israel wanted "a future where [Israelis and Palestinians could] live together, where Gaza could be well managed," ruling out any possibility of including Hamas in this equation.

"We have to go and negotiate with those who could be a potential partner," he added, according to remarks picked up by Haaretz.

"When nations come forward and talk about a 'two-state solution,' we must first ask ourselves whether we [Israelis are] offered real security," the Israeli president went on to say, adding that "the normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia was essential in order to emerge from the war and open up to new horizons."

In other remarks relayed by CNBC, Isaac Herzog also assured "Israel was not there," the threats posed by Hezbollah and Hamas would spread to Europe and the United States.

The Israeli army says it killed "40 terrorists in ground operations and airstrikes in the Khan Younis area of the Gaza strip in the past day," according to Haaretz.

Hundreds of ships have diverted around the southern tip of Africa, adding 10 to 14 days to their journey, in order to avoid Houthi drone and missile attacks, reports the Al-Jazeera channel.

"Ships are diverting from the Red Sea to bypass the coasts of South and West Africa. This increase in traffic has created huge congestion in bunkering ports around Africa and put considerable pressure on port infrastructure," said John A Bassadone, CEO of fuel supplier Peninsula.

Container ships were the first to turn away from the Red Sea; tankers and bulk carriers are following suit.

(Photo: AFP)

Palestinians check the rubble of a building following Israeli bombardment, on Jan. 18, 2024 in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (Credit: AFP)

Three Israeli artillery shells fell in the Khiam plain (Marjayoun), residents of the region told our correspondent in southern Lebanon. 

Missiles were fired from southern Lebanon towards Israeli positions, our correspondent reports, citing a security source.

Israeli warplanes fired two missiles on the hill of Oweida, located between Taybeh and Adaisseh (Marjayoun), and a third missile on an area between Adaisseh and Markaba (Majayoun), residents told our correspondent in southern Lebanon.

Residents told our correspondent in southern Lebanon that a shell fired by Israeli artillery recently fell between houses in the al-Merej neighborhood of Houla (Marjayoun).

The head of the municipality of Mais al-Jabal, in the district of Marjayoun, told our correspondent in southern Lebanon that the village and its surroundings were the target of artillery shells containing white phosphorus, around 7:30 a.m. this morning.

Residents also told L'Orient Today, about an hour ago, that Israel had again targeted the locality with this type of munition, the use of which against civilian targets is prohibited by international law.

The head of the municipality of Mais al-Jabal added that two shells fired by Israeli artillery fell inside the town, without causing any casualties. “No one can leave their place, and no one can move around due to the intensity of the bombing,” he said.

An Indian Navy ship deployed in the Gulf of Aden responded to a distress call from a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel following a drone attack, according to Reuters.

The distress call was made late Wednesday. 

“Australia is deeply concerned by the continuing violence committed by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank,” said Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Wednesday evening on X, following a meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh in the West Bank.

“I met today with representatives of the communities concerned. I am grateful to them for having the courage to share their experiences,” she added.

Quoted by Haaretz, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) indicates that 431 attacks by settlers against Palestinians have been recorded in the West Bank since Oct. 7. The OHCHR also states that in almost half of the cases, soldiers accompanied or helped the settlers.

Five shells fired by Israeli artillery fell in the outskirts of Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil) and Blida (Marjeyoun), residents told our correspondent in southern Lebanon.

In addition, Israeli artillery fired four shells on the outskirts of Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun), according to residents.

Also, in southern Lebanon, two shells fired by the Israeli army fell in the locality of Kawkaba (Hasbaya), one of which exploded in the garden of a house, without causing any casualties, according to testimonies of residents.

A drone also fired two missiles on the road linking the town to Souk al-Khan, a car was targeted, but no casualties were reported.

The situation in southern Lebanon this morning, according to information from our correspondent in the region:

Residents of Mais al-Jabal, in the Marjayoun district, reported that Israeli artillery fired two shells in the Al-Dabaka area in the northeast of the town, around 7 a.m.

The outskirts of the town of Houla, in the same district, were also bombed between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., according to testimonies from residents, who reported three shells falling, and no damage caused.

Here is what happened on the border between South Lebanon and Israel last night, according to security sources relayed by our correspondent in southern Lebanon:

- After 10 p.m.: three shells fired by Israeli artillery fell on Tallet al-Hamamis and the Khiam plain (Marjayoun).

- After 11 p.m.: machine gun fire from the Israeli army rang out in Houla (Marjayoun). Tallet al-Hamamis and the southern part of Khiam were bombarded again.

- After 3 a.m., seven shells fired by Israeli artillery fell on the outskirts of Khiam, Wata Khiam and al-Maslakh area, which is located in the same area.

The situation in Gaza:

Medicines intended for hostages kidnapped in Israel on Oct. 7 during the Hamas attack were sent to the enclave on Wednesday, according to a Qatari mediator, according to AFP.

The Jordanian army on Wednesday accused Israel of damaging one of its military field hospitals in the Gaza Strip and injuring two people during bombings on the Palestinian territory, according to news agencies.

According to the American television channel NBC, cited by Haaretz, the United States is encouraging a plan to rehabilitate the enclave, of which Saudi Arabia would be the spearhead, once Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is no longer in power. 

Tensions are not easing in Yemen and the Red Sea, according to several AFP and Reuters reports:

The American military targeted the Houthis on their territory in Yemen for the fourth time in less than a week, with, during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, ground strikes on 14 missile sites belonging to the rebels.

According to the rebel channel al-Masirah, the nighttime strikes targeted "the governorates of Hodeida, Taiz, Dhamar, Al-Bayda and Saada."

A Houthi official, for his part, declared to al-Masirah overnight that his group would "continue to target ships heading towards the ports of occupied Palestine, regardless of the American-British aggression in an attempt to prevent us from doing so."

A ship was also hit by a drone in the Gulf of Aden, the British Maritime Safety Agency (UKMTO) reported on Wednesday evening.

Finally, on Wednesday, British Foreign Minister David Cameron called on Iran to stop providing weapons and information to the Houthis.

Before we get started, be sure to read the Morning Brief so that you are caught up with what has been happening.

Morning Brief

Two casualties in southern Lebanon, Baalbeck farmers protest, Beirut airport not recovered from cyberattack: Everything you need to know to start your Thursday

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